Regional Box Art and Title Changes

[theshiningpath]

"American Kirby is hardcore."

 

[RageBurner]

View attachment 74401

"American Kirby is hardcore."

Or Kirby is angry that the logo takes almost half the box. I would be.

 

[RunicOrangejuice]

View attachment 73861

Post automatically merged: May 27, 2025

here's another one I quite like.
View attachment 74179View attachment 74180
Now witch one you like more is all a matter of taste but I have to applaud the effort of Working Designs for making such a sick model of the final boss.
View attachment 74183View attachment 74184

Oh Working Designs LOL

 

[Viviana Santos]

Final Fantasy VII's USA box art is way better and more iconic then the Japanese/European box arts:

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The same applies to Final Fantasy VIII and IX:

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

Oh Working Designs LOL

Working Designs wasn't all bad! They may have made a lot of questionable decisions but at least they where releasing games in the west all the other publishers where passing on. I kind of enjoy the "unique" charm their translations have, dated references and all.

 

[RageBurner]

Yeah. Again I think it is a case of brand reinforcement, here, as with N's boxes. For FF9, anyway, I don't like that weirdo Steiner looking at me, anyway.

 

[YoshifreakZX]

Some might disagree, but what came into my mind was Mega Man 6's US boxart.
I'm sure we can all agree that US 6's boxart is at least better than all the previous US boxarts, right?

 

[RageBurner]

Some might disagree, but what came into my mind was Mega Man 6's US boxart.
I'm sure we can all agree that US 6's boxart is at least better than all the previous US boxarts, right?

I agree, but I never liked the overuse of (what I assume is) airbrushing on the U.S/western boxes of the era.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

Final Fantasy VII's USA box art is way better and more iconic then the Japanese/European box arts: View attachment 74429View attachment 74431View attachment 74432

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The same applies to Final Fantasy VIII and IX: View attachment 74447View attachment 74448View attachment 74449View attachment 74450View attachment 74451View attachment 74452

I'm split on the Final Fantasy boxes. On one hand I like how each games unique logo/symbol pops on the white, but on the other I do actually like seeing more of the games artwork. It's a case of minimalism done right.

 

[RunicOrangejuice]

Final Fantasy VII's USA box art is way better and more iconic then the Japanese/European box arts: View attachment 74429View attachment 74431View attachment 74432

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The same applies to Final Fantasy VIII and IX: View attachment 74447View attachment 74448View attachment 74449View attachment 74450View attachment 74451View attachment 74452

idk know why they didn't use the tatuso art like in the spanish retranslation:

other ones i like:

 

[Viviana Santos]

Yeah. Again I think it is a case of brand reinforcement, here, as with N's boxes. For FF9, anyway, I don't like that weirdo Steiner looking at me, anyway.

But I like Steiner

I'm split on the Final Fantasy boxes. On one hand I like how each games unique logo/symbol pops on the white, but on the other I do actually like seeing more of the games artwork. It's a case of minimalism done right.

I understand why you like the FF VIII box art (since it has the symbols that I've always thought were pretty cool), but I always thought that the FF VII and IX box arts were incredibly bland in general.

Post automatically merged: May 28, 2025

idk know why they didn't use the tatuso art like in the spanish retranslation:
View attachment 74472

This isn't official box art, it's fanmade.

 

[RunicOrangejuice]

Working Designs wasn't all bad! They may have made a lot of questionable decisions but at least they where releasing games in the west all the other publishers where passing on. I kind of enjoy the "unique" charm their translations have, dated references and all.

I totally agree/ true

 

[RageBurner]

Steiner clanging sounds when he runs make me laugh, but that's the extent of my liking for him.

 

[Viviana Santos]

Steiner clanging sounds when he runs make me laugh, but that's the extent of my liking for him.

I've always found him amusing, and he becomes less annoying and better towards the end of the game.

 

[RunicOrangejuice]

Steiner clanging sounds when he runs make me laugh, but that's the extent of my liking for him.

this is my favorite scene (and song) in ff9:

Post automatically merged: May 28, 2025

this is my favorite scene (and song) in ff9:

when i played this game first time through, i just put the controller down and listened for over 15 min. straight. /true

 

[Viviana Santos]

I understand why you like the FF VIII box art (since it has the symbols that I've always thought were pretty cool), but I always thought that the FF VII and IX box arts were incredibly bland in general.

I think an example of a minimalistic cover that I find better is the Japanese box art for Chrono Trigger:

Since this more minimalistic box art shows most of the main characters from the game.

 

[stealthRUSH stealthRUSH]

Psychic Force 2012 (Sega Dreamcast)



although they edit / modified / censored Regina's cleavage

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

I think an example of a minimalistic cover that I find better is the Japanese box art for Chrono Trigger:View attachment 74673Since this more minimalistic box art shows most of the main characters from the game.

That Chrono Trigger cover looks really clean. All Toriyama art is good (rip). Think it was either the GBC port of DQ3 or DQ7 where the US covers started to use it. I like the US cover of 3 here more.

 

[secreto7]

That Chrono Trigger cover looks really clean. All Toriyama art is good (rip). Think it was either the GBC port of DQ3 or DQ7 where the US covers started to use it. I like the US cover of 3 here more. View attachment 74691View attachment 74695

The japanese one looks like a children storybook.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

The japanese one looks like a children storybook.

I think the idea was to shrink the characters down for the handle held version.

 

[RunicOrangejuice]

But I like Steiner

I understand why you like the FF VIII box art (since it has the symbols that I've always thought were pretty cool), but I always thought that the FF VII and IX box arts were incredibly bland in general.

Post automatically merged: May 28, 2025

This isn't official box art, it's fanmade.

thank you for the clarification :)

 

[Turbo Kid]

While I think the Japanese version of Contra Hard Corps is the best one, it has the most boring cover art. I think American style art looks way better for these games than the heavy anime look. Plus the American cover is actually showing you some action.

Streets of Rage 2 is another one, I hate all that red and the characters look awful in the Japanese cover

But man, they really turned it around for the next game. The Japanese art is awesome and clearly the winner.

Now if you want to see the best box art for Streets of Rage 4, it comes via a reversible cover

 

[aviaovrumvrum]

Many games have multiple cover arts thought to be more appealing for a specific region, many times actually getting the opposite effect, what are some of the most disappointing cases of this happening?

I'll start with a classic:

 

[Turbo Kid]

This was a downgrade in more ways than just cover art.

 

[Rox00]

Mega Man in general had this happen a good amount with the European releases.