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Why Japanese box art is better...

... except when it's not. Nine astounding differences between East and West

Words: Charlie Barratt, GamesRadar US

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The following comparisons don't really prove any point, but we had to include them out of sheer puzzlement and wonder. Why are these covers so similar, yet so completely dissimilar? Some simply switch the background color, or title, or time of day. Others flip a character from left to right or from front to back, with no discernable reason. One cuts the world in half - before putting it back together - while another randomly adds a baseball. Okay.

Our best guess? Either the companies had a lot of extra art lying around... or somebody felt they'd better change something if they wanted to justify their continued employment. Blue to red, and another job well done!

Jul 29, 2008

The Worst Box Art of 2007
A look back at the games that fuglied up store shelves the most last year.

Box Art F'Ups
Hilarious printing errors definitely not concocted by our art team.

Mediocre Box Art
The blandest, dullest and all-around boring-est covers we could find.

Box Art that Got it All Wrong
It's not just bad, it completely misses the point.

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22 Comments

Order Comments: Newest First | Oldest First

DARK_SIDE - 1 year 2 months ago

except for the soulcalibur covers i think the USA have got the better covers

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Nitemarish - 1 year 2 months ago

I think the UK gets the original Japanese covers of FF games, not sure though. Never actually bought one (GASP!!!)

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crazycrazy83 - 1 year 2 months ago

japanese shadow of the colossus really emphasizes the shadow more

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secretsearcher - 1 year 2 months ago

I never noticed this before. I don't know why we had to make kirby look so angry...

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eurospek - 1 year 1 month ago

Crackdown or "Riot Act"

The American one is way much better because the people look more aggressive. That's what you would expect in a drug-violence run down city. The Japanese one just looks really kiddish. Just look at Yang or whatever his name. He looks like Omi from Xiaolin Showdown.

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acheron713 - 1 year 1 month ago

how is an aggressive Kirby better? or a sad looking elebit as opposed to the happy one on the Japanese cover? And how is the ridiculous floaty-head Fatal Frame cover for the US aggressive or better?

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FierceDeity - 1 year 22 days ago

hahaha kirby could never look badass so why do they bother trying
and the japanese zelda box art is pretty bad

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Black_X_1111 - 1 year 21 days ago

American PC box art is pretty good i think. And I'm glad america has the bestest zelda

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codzprc - 1 year 20 days ago

Crazy Bump's has to be the best translation in gaming history. Smuggler's Run was pretty fun back in the day (if I remember correctly) - I'll let the name "Crazy Bumps" go - but gotta ask why there's an apostrophe in "Bumps"?

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Cernunnos - 1 year 16 days ago

hmm, seems like my country, norway gets a blend of these, and sometimes none of the above.

we always get the artistic FF covers, but usually the gun-covered covers for shooters...

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yur a fatso - 11 months 20 days ago

All off them make sense for the catagories they're put in except Ace Combat. What are you really going to put on the cover of a game about jets besides jets?

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AFilthyIbis - 11 months 17 days ago

The Japanese ICO box art was great So was the Japanese smugglers run title.
But what isn't great is this latest 360 bomber man game. I saw it in EB and straight away knew just how much it would suck. Bomber man was iconic, now he's just another generic next gen character who doesn't quite have 3D environments (similar 2 pacman).

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Dameon Angell - 9 months 16 days ago

I think we got screwed over with Smuggler's Run. I woulda much preferred to buy a copy of "Crazy Bumps" with my PS2.

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Maikeru_Go - 9 months 15 days ago

Yeah, I always thought that the box art version of Ico looked A) nothing like the kid in the game (I mean I'd excuse the box art if it looked like what he was imagined to look like in concept art, but his face bears no resemblance) B) he looks really annoying and angry for some reason, not sympathetic and scared for his and Yorda's continued existence like he does in the game.

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AuthorityFigure - 5 months 27 days ago

The US ones seem to be aiming for the movie poster look, while the Japanese seem to be comic book style.

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KakashiXIII - 4 months 25 days ago

i wish I lived in Japan.

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ArcturusMengsk - 4 months 23 days ago

I have too say I like the US versions more but the Japanese ones are entertaining none the less.

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Tomsta666 - 4 months 4 days ago

Quite a lot of those Japanese covers are the same as the European covers :)

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civver - 3 months 24 days ago

There's a lot of stuff contradicting other stuff. You prefer the Japanese Trauma Center cover, the one with the multitude of characters, over the simple American design. And then a succeeding section goes on praising how Japanese cover art is simpler. What the hell?

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gangjute8 - 2 months 17 hours ago

Loved the Trauma Center comparison. Makes me wonder though, why do so many Japanese video-game females (Pretty much every other character in naruto, for example) were bandage wrap as clothing?

ReCaptcha: not weeing
Umm... Yeah. thats true.

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