indigozeal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
indigozeal) wrote2014-09-10 08:42 pm
indigozeal) wrote2014-09-10 08:42 pm
Favorite covers
Just a selection of some of my favorite game box covers. A warning in advance here: LiveJournal's odd formatting and my general ham-handedness when it comes to HTML and working with graphics might lead to some presentation issues when pairing my text with the images. Hopefully, though, the art here speaks for itself.
I haven't played the romance-heavy RPG Traysia, but its rich Japanese box art evinces both awe at the majesty of the greater world and a longing for your own little treasured familiar piece of it. Though the two pieces have completely different attitudes, Traysia's cover has a Christina's World vibe to it - the entire world, for good or ill, may stretch out before the subject, but they can't tear their eyes away from the object of their fixation.
.
I like the Mana covers in general: it's unusual to see a video game celebrating an overwhelming suffusion of nature, the people small before its vibrant majesty, yet sharing a connection with it. I think SD2's cover is the purest distillation of the aesthetic. (I prefer, however, the SNES's cover for the touch of gold the U.S. logo provides - still warm and natural, yet providing a visual counterpoint.)
I like the tension of the cover to No More Heroes - Travis's sharp gaze and pose; the beam saber held like a guitar string about to be plucked; the strong color contrasts.
Despite being murder on your DS's shoulder buttons, Big Bang Mini has terrific art and great charm. Its fun stereoscopic slipcover captures its spirit well.
Phantasy Star II's U.S. cover has its share of Good Show Sir influences, and as with much box art from this era, the characters are not on-model physically (to the point where Nei actually complained about it in the Dreamcast title SegaGaga). It does accurately reflect the game in other ways, though: the palette emphasizes the bright colors found in the game, civilization is reverting to a chaotic, mad state, and Nei and Rolf's faces, while slightly older, aren't angry or happy but stolid, which befits the story's more mature subject matter. I'm not sure if I could call the cover a favorite, but it's one that's stayed with me. It effectively captures the game's central relationship - two exotic people reaching for and supporting each other in an angry world.
Likewise, I'm not sure I can call this cover a favorite, but as I've gone over before, Akihiro Yamada's cover for the Super Famicom version of Dracula X was groundbreaking, and trendsetting, in how it sexualized the hero and villain. If I had more of an art background, I'd be able to communicate better what I like about Yamada's style here. (The whole "flat visual plane" thing of Art Nouveau that he seems to have applied to the shading, I think.)
Every Extend Extra itself is not hot stuff gameplaywise or visually, but its rave-'80's-sci-fi box art is a shock of style. This is the only game I've bought primarily for its cover. (All right, it was three bucks, but still.)
The Angelique series usually suffocates itself in pink and ribbons, so seeing the love interests for the spin-off Maren no Rokukishi gently embraced in cool grey and white is a breath of fresh air. That these colors are in Japan associated with death is a fitting nod if (as do most Angelique fans buying the title) you know how the story ends.
This isn't a box cover per se, but it was used as the back-of-the-box art for PSI's Mark III Mega Drive version. It has a fairytale feel - Alis still in her armor but dreaming like a enchanted princess, framed by an Air Castle that's more once-upon-a-time palace than evil stronghold - yet it's rendered with a slight touch of Art Nouveau, with suits the Phantasy Star blend of traditional RPG elements with sleek modern influences.
Clock Tower's cover is elegant and mysterious - a classical beauty under subtle threat of death. What better way to set the tone for horror in a stately manor than to immortalize a lass in patinaed antique iron, in a tableau evocative of a grand, mysterious old house.
Everyone agrees this game isn't any good, but it seems to be rattling around in the subconscious of everyone who lived through the NES era. I like the cover's softly intense palette, though: purple and pink balanced with hot orange and blue. The colors plus the visuals feature "girly" elements and make them look kickass, like Barbie Horse Adventures crossed with Ray Harryhausen.
Sports games are usually all about confrontational aggro, and that's fine. I like the carefree tack that California Games takes, though, in literally cutting aggression- and tension-filled faces out of the picture altogether. (For it's the face through which such combative emotions can be the most easily signified, after all.) By focusing on the relaxed bodies of the athletes, clad in bright '80's colors, the cover opts to welcome the player instead of issuing a challenge and puts the emphasis back on breezy outdoor fun.
.
The heroes in Outbreak aren't S.T.A.R.S. special forces members but ordinary Joes caught in their daily lives by the disaster. The Japanese covers for the series do an excellent job of bringing Resident Evil back to the level of individual human struggle. The first visualizes the threat as a mob of grasping ghouls, yet they're conspicuously adorned with the detritus of their former lives - watches, wedding rings. The second offers another turn on the theme of outstretched hands: again, a clamor of hands reaching out in malevolence and hunger, but one reaching out for help (and one offering it). Both covers emphasize the humanity amidst the horror in their own way.
.
First pic from here; second pic from IGN
I like the sleek, minimalist packaging of the bit Generations series of GBA titles. It's an excellent visual statement of the goals of the series: bringing the gameplay back to basics yet looking damn good while doing so.
.
.
Fucking Checkers from here
The more rudimentary the graphics, the more the supplementary materials have to make up for them. The high-profile Atari 2600 games had these dramatic airbrushed/watercolor collages, all in a single style, that illustrated the high concepts and vivid imagery that the games couldn't possibly communicate on their own. It's a tribute to the power of imagination: you'd never be able to divine this info from what's onscreen, but if the game is doing its job, these are the stories going on in your head.
Also, have a couple neat articles about the actual paintings used for the covers and their creation.
.
I haven't played the romance-heavy RPG Traysia, but its rich Japanese box art evinces both awe at the majesty of the greater world and a longing for your own little treasured familiar piece of it. Though the two pieces have completely different attitudes, Traysia's cover has a Christina's World vibe to it - the entire world, for good or ill, may stretch out before the subject, but they can't tear their eyes away from the object of their fixation.
.I like the Mana covers in general: it's unusual to see a video game celebrating an overwhelming suffusion of nature, the people small before its vibrant majesty, yet sharing a connection with it. I think SD2's cover is the purest distillation of the aesthetic. (I prefer, however, the SNES's cover for the touch of gold the U.S. logo provides - still warm and natural, yet providing a visual counterpoint.)
I like the tension of the cover to No More Heroes - Travis's sharp gaze and pose; the beam saber held like a guitar string about to be plucked; the strong color contrasts.
Despite being murder on your DS's shoulder buttons, Big Bang Mini has terrific art and great charm. Its fun stereoscopic slipcover captures its spirit well.
Phantasy Star II's U.S. cover has its share of Good Show Sir influences, and as with much box art from this era, the characters are not on-model physically (to the point where Nei actually complained about it in the Dreamcast title SegaGaga). It does accurately reflect the game in other ways, though: the palette emphasizes the bright colors found in the game, civilization is reverting to a chaotic, mad state, and Nei and Rolf's faces, while slightly older, aren't angry or happy but stolid, which befits the story's more mature subject matter. I'm not sure if I could call the cover a favorite, but it's one that's stayed with me. It effectively captures the game's central relationship - two exotic people reaching for and supporting each other in an angry world.
Likewise, I'm not sure I can call this cover a favorite, but as I've gone over before, Akihiro Yamada's cover for the Super Famicom version of Dracula X was groundbreaking, and trendsetting, in how it sexualized the hero and villain. If I had more of an art background, I'd be able to communicate better what I like about Yamada's style here. (The whole "flat visual plane" thing of Art Nouveau that he seems to have applied to the shading, I think.)
Every Extend Extra itself is not hot stuff gameplaywise or visually, but its rave-'80's-sci-fi box art is a shock of style. This is the only game I've bought primarily for its cover. (All right, it was three bucks, but still.)
The Angelique series usually suffocates itself in pink and ribbons, so seeing the love interests for the spin-off Maren no Rokukishi gently embraced in cool grey and white is a breath of fresh air. That these colors are in Japan associated with death is a fitting nod if (as do most Angelique fans buying the title) you know how the story ends.
This isn't a box cover per se, but it was used as the back-of-the-box art for PSI's Mark III Mega Drive version. It has a fairytale feel - Alis still in her armor but dreaming like a enchanted princess, framed by an Air Castle that's more once-upon-a-time palace than evil stronghold - yet it's rendered with a slight touch of Art Nouveau, with suits the Phantasy Star blend of traditional RPG elements with sleek modern influences.
Clock Tower's cover is elegant and mysterious - a classical beauty under subtle threat of death. What better way to set the tone for horror in a stately manor than to immortalize a lass in patinaed antique iron, in a tableau evocative of a grand, mysterious old house.
Everyone agrees this game isn't any good, but it seems to be rattling around in the subconscious of everyone who lived through the NES era. I like the cover's softly intense palette, though: purple and pink balanced with hot orange and blue. The colors plus the visuals feature "girly" elements and make them look kickass, like Barbie Horse Adventures crossed with Ray Harryhausen.
Sports games are usually all about confrontational aggro, and that's fine. I like the carefree tack that California Games takes, though, in literally cutting aggression- and tension-filled faces out of the picture altogether. (For it's the face through which such combative emotions can be the most easily signified, after all.) By focusing on the relaxed bodies of the athletes, clad in bright '80's colors, the cover opts to welcome the player instead of issuing a challenge and puts the emphasis back on breezy outdoor fun.
.The heroes in Outbreak aren't S.T.A.R.S. special forces members but ordinary Joes caught in their daily lives by the disaster. The Japanese covers for the series do an excellent job of bringing Resident Evil back to the level of individual human struggle. The first visualizes the threat as a mob of grasping ghouls, yet they're conspicuously adorned with the detritus of their former lives - watches, wedding rings. The second offers another turn on the theme of outstretched hands: again, a clamor of hands reaching out in malevolence and hunger, but one reaching out for help (and one offering it). Both covers emphasize the humanity amidst the horror in their own way.
.I like the sleek, minimalist packaging of the bit Generations series of GBA titles. It's an excellent visual statement of the goals of the series: bringing the gameplay back to basics yet looking damn good while doing so.
..The more rudimentary the graphics, the more the supplementary materials have to make up for them. The high-profile Atari 2600 games had these dramatic airbrushed/watercolor collages, all in a single style, that illustrated the high concepts and vivid imagery that the games couldn't possibly communicate on their own. It's a tribute to the power of imagination: you'd never be able to divine this info from what's onscreen, but if the game is doing its job, these are the stories going on in your head.
Also, have a couple neat articles about the actual paintings used for the covers and their creation.
.