What’s the laziest/most boring game boxart you’ve ever seen?

[freebie#47]

Old Nes box art(mostly nintendo own games) black box with pixilated graphics....while japan got nice art. Course I really enjoy the Nes ones that took the concept of japan art and took it up a notch. Example...Dragon Warriors...sadly they stopped after that.

 

[Spike's iconSpike]

Old Nes box art(mostly nintendo own games) black box with pixilated graphics....while japan got nice art. Course I really enjoy the Nes ones that took the concept of japan art and took it up a notch. Example...Dragon Warriors...sadly they stopped after that.

I think this has to do with the previous video game market crash.
Nintendo purposely didn't use art on covers that might misrepresent what the game really looked like. So they used literal sprites. After memories of the crash faded and the brand was stablished they went back to full artist conceptions. At least that's what I heard.

 

[kingofdragons]

what was that meme again?

 

[RebelofDaNeonGod]

Any of the covers from the Sega Master System, woof, talk about uninspired and insipid.

 

[AkiraSO4]

CVS1 Dreamcast cover is pretty lame. Just slap Ryu and Terry portraits on there then call it a day.
View attachment 71674

And they're both artwork from OTHER GAMES, mind you. That's Alpha 3 Ryu and Wild Ambition Terry, lol. Which is a shame because the Japanese cover kinda kicks ass. CVS2's cover isn't any better, they slapped Kim from the previous game in it, lol.

 

[sandogma sandogma]

View attachment 71558

Yeah, I know. I just did that. I can't say that I felt good about it either... But c'mon. Was the advertising budget for this title that low that they got this old banjo playing grandpa that didn't even smile and then photoshop some blurry ship and text and call it a day? And what about this guy and his banjo infers "HYPER-SPEED"?? I'm sure at some point I saw this at the rental and skipped right past it because of this cover, as probably did many people well before this became an internet sensation for its art.

I'm sure this thread will spawn many more postings of equally as bad box arts.

I was checking to see if someone had posted this yet lol

 

[kingofdragons]

I was checking to see if someone had posted this yet lol

and yet, in a way, the phalanx box cover has now become a cultural icon and is remembered for many generations while if it was a normal looking shmup art it would have been lost in the sea of the rest of the covers and nobody would really talk or remember it. So in a way you could argue the old man banjo with some space alien ship blasting off in the background, is better box art than most of the snes boxes simply because of how memorable it is.

 

[sandogma sandogma]

and yet, in a way, the phalanx box cover has now become a cultural icon and is remembered for many generations while if it was a normal looking shmup art it would have been lost in the sea of the rest of the covers and nobody would really talk or remember it. So in a way you could argue the old man banjo with some space alien ship blasting off in the background, is better box art than most of the snes boxes simply because of how memorable it is.

Has it become a cultural icon though? I mean yeah 80's/90's kids remember it but I don't know if the younger generations would see it that way.
You are right in that it is memorable, but when I read the post title about "lazy/boring boxart", this memorable boxart was the first to come to mind

That said, the Japanese cover for the x68000 computer version of the game that @What's His Face posted earlier is gorgeous!

 

[Deleted member 77791]

Has it become a cultural icon though? I mean yeah 80's/90's kids remember it but I don't know if the younger generations would see it that way.

When you put it like that, then the "icon" status becomes trivial so cannot even give a definitive answer. Because it would be like asking the same about some iconic American movie posters like "The Thing".

Another aspect is why what younger generations think or believe even matters? Why their opinions cancel out the whole culture and icon status of ideas?

If you ask younger generation they cannot comprehend why radio was so important in daily live and was like some magical object lol. Rather they probably have no idea what radio is despite they are high school kids now. So when I say how iconic and "advanced technology" radio was at its time and then you say "it may be but we as younger generation is not that amazed" then I would have no idea what to tell them.

If you are in video game culture you would know the existence of Phalanx because it's rather a popular game so you would know its artwork. I don't mean to say the game is "widely know fundamental video games everyone knows" like Super Mario because it's in another level, but if we have to take it in "new generation kids" aspect then you shouldn't surprise if they have no idea GTA 5 exist because they are mostly mobile gamers or online competitive gamers who only like Counter-Strike, Valorant, Genshin Impact and whatnot. Then in this context opinion of new generation kids doesn't even matter to consider when you work for a video game company and you add their subjectivity into statistical studies to decide which video game would be a hit. Because still to this day age range of video gamers are way older than younger people who play video games and it keeps being older.

Even around 2000 video game age range perhaps was around 15-20, now these kids grew up and became like 30-50 years old gamers. In that context when you care a lot about what new generation kids thinks then you mistakenly develop a video game like Concord and expect it to sell well. It obviously won't and I shouldn't have to explain it to Sony when they have way more experience than me but they have way less common sense and knowledge than me lololol. Concord is judged by people who are old enough to have their grown up kids, those who know what Phalanx is, those who witnessed either all video game history or half of it, so excuse them for not being interested in Concord. And then high price childish video game that's so generic copy paste won't sell at all for not many adult would buy such a digital rubbish game to their kids and not many would play themselves so no wonder Concord crashed hard.

Everyone will be wise if they just ignore what new generation kids think because they mostly do instead of thinking. Their whole sense of self is sucked by trends and popularity, way more than in any era in the history of world. As a result they are part of mindless customer types that only can be attracted by playing on their primitive urges. This method is also used by any company who are in pet industry lolol.

So to answer your main idea: They would have no particular opinion about how it looks like. It was just a weird decision to even make it look like that so it meant something for people in that era, but that's why it was iconic.

For example why was Greek mythology was a big thing? It satisfied people. It was a fun story and a religion to believe in. Gotta admit it was the best scientific explanation people could came up with to make sense their nonsense universe and existence. Naturally when people didn't know much but they knew about Greek mythology they thought it's very important than they should. It became a sign of their life, and therefore important part of their lives. That's why anything can be an icon. Something very different and something familiar.

Now kids are exposed to many stories, so it would be hard for them to comprehend why people literally lived their life with Greek mythology. It's also why religion keeps being a something people don't care much anymore, especially because they are distracted with many things anymore. Kinda, if something cannot distract them in a huge way it cannot be iconic.

So what to think about what kids think now is all about fake robbing for Youtube videos, Tiktok dance, Tiktok challenge, attracting opposite sex on Instagram, tons of dating apps, some random gacha game, internet memes and whatever is popular and trends. On top of it they are more pressured in academic pursuits because to get a decent job that will help you to survive you rather necessarily require university diploma and one diploma is not enough. You need experience with personal projects on top of being a student because when you are fresh out of university they will demand 10 years experience and you should be younger than 21 then. As a result new generation kids grow up without able to realize they are a child or they should live their childhood, they are brainwashed into thinking instead of being a person they should fill their CV. As a result new generation is a corporate zombie material who will be mindless customer type more than ever. So what they think won't matter because they don't even think. However among them there are rare kids who think too much. Their only Jesus who has the potential to fix their generation is these kids lol.

However if a 10 years old kid today who really has an interest in video game culture, they would know Phalanx and understand the icon situation about the box art. It's all about the culture you care about instead of being in the age-range or whatever generation you belong to. This is why people who care about specific art cultures can understand what certain paintings and whatnot is really an "icon" like "The Garden of Earthly Delights". For example Mona Lisa is an icon but if some kid says "I don't understand why it's liked or why it's icon" then it mean the kid doesn't even care about visual art culture. Mona Lisa is not icon because it's liked or "legendary", it's because "different" on anything about it. However Mona Lisa is not "legendary" akin to how Super Mario is legendary in video game industry despite like it or not.No one has to be 1000 years old to understand icon status of ancient stuff, so this logic applies to every aspect of a culture.

 

[kingofdragons]

When you put it like that, then the "icon" status becomes trivial so cannot even give a definitive answer. Because it would be like asking the same about some iconic American movie posters like "The Thing".

Another aspect is why what younger generations think or believe even matters? Why their opinions cancel out the whole culture and icon status of ideas?

If you ask younger generation they cannot comprehend why radio was so important in daily live and was like some magical object lol. Rather they probably have no idea what radio is despite they are high school kids now. So when I say how iconic and "advanced technology" radio was at its time and then you say "it may be but we as younger generation is not that amazed" then I would have no idea what to tell them.

If you are in video game culture you would know the existence of Phalanx because it's rather a popular game so you would know its artwork. I don't mean to say the game is "widely know fundamental video games everyone knows" like Super Mario because it's in another level, but if we have to take it in "new generation kids" aspect then you shouldn't surprise if they have no idea GTA 5 exist because they are mostly mobile gamers or online competitive gamers who only like Counter-Strike, Valorant, Genshin Impact and whatnot. Then in this context opinion of new generation kids doesn't even matter to consider when you work for a video game company and you add their subjectivity into statistical studies to decide which video game would be a hit. Because still to this day age range of video gamers are way older than younger people who play video games and it keeps being older.

Even around 2000 video game age range perhaps was around 15-20, now these kids grew up and became like 30-50 years old gamers. In that context when you care a lot about what new generation kids thinks then you mistakenly develop a video game like Concord and expect it to sell well. It obviously won't and I shouldn't have to explain it to Sony when they have way more experience than me but they have way less common sense and knowledge than me lololol. Concord is judged by people who are old enough to have their grown up kids, those who know what Phalanx is, those who witnessed either all video game history or half of it, so excuse them for not being interested in Concord. And then high price childish video game that's so generic copy paste won't sell at all for not many adult would buy such a digital rubbish game to their kids and not many would play themselves so no wonder Concord crashed hard.

Everyone will be wise if they just ignore what new generation kids think because they mostly do instead of thinking. Their whole sense of self is sucked by trends and popularity, way more than in any era in the history of world. As a result they are part of mindless customer types that only can be attracted by playing on their primitive urges. This method is also used by any company who are in pet industry lolol.

So to answer your main idea: They would have no particular opinion about how it looks like. It was just a weird decision to even make it look like that so it meant something for people in that era, but that's why it was iconic.

For example why was Greek mythology was a big thing? It satisfied people. It was a fun story and a religion to believe in. Gotta admit it was the best scientific explanation people could came up with to make sense their nonsense universe and existence. Naturally when people didn't know much but they knew about Greek mythology they thought it's very important than they should. It became a sign of their life, and therefore important part of their lives. That's why anything can be an icon. Something very different and something familiar.

Now kids are exposed to many stories, so it would be hard for them to comprehend why people literally lived their life with Greek mythology. It's also why religion keeps being a something people don't care much anymore, especially because they are distracted with many things anymore. Kinda, if something cannot distract them in a huge way it cannot be iconic.

So what to think about what kids think now is all about fake robbing for Youtube videos, Tiktok dance, Tiktok challenge, attracting opposite sex on Instagram, tons of dating apps, some random gacha game, internet memes and whatever is popular and trends. On top of it they are more pressured in academic pursuits because to get a decent job that will help you to survive you rather necessarily require university diploma and one diploma is not enough. You need experience with personal projects on top of being a student because when you are fresh out of university they will demand 10 years experience and you should be younger than 21 then. As a result new generation kids grow up without able to realize they are a child or they should live their childhood, they are brainwashed into thinking instead of being a person they should fill their CV. As a result new generation is a corporate zombie material who will be mindless customer type more than ever. So what they think won't matter because they don't even think. However among them there are rare kids who think too much. Their only Jesus who has the potential to fix their generation is these kids lol.

However if a 10 years old kid today who really has an interest in video game culture, they would know Phalanx and understand the icon situation about the box art. It's all about the culture you care about instead of being in the age-range or whatever generation you belong to. This is why people who care about specific art cultures can understand what certain paintings and whatnot is really an "icon" like "The Garden of Earthly Delights". For example Mona Lisa is an icon but if some kid says "I don't understand why it's liked or why it's icon" then it mean the kid doesn't even care about visual art culture. Mona Lisa is not icon because it's liked or "legendary", it's because "different" on anything about it. However Mona Lisa is not "legendary" akin to how Super Mario is legendary in video game industry despite like it or not.No one has to be 1000 years old to understand icon status of ancient stuff, so this logic applies to every aspect of a culture.

 

[Tonberry]

This thread takes forever to load, so I'll post this and hope nobody has posted it yet.
In any case it's so awful that it warrants a repost if so:

 

[_Lorenzo_]

Langrisser/Warsong

 

[Deleted member 77791]

Once I invented a time machine in a Wendy's by being inspired by what an employee said while we were talking about how it would be great to have a system that accepts even the money that shouldn't be in circulation anymore. Money is money so their value should exist but their value relative to time right? Then I ordered Dave's Double and came up with the idea of how spacetime is filled with different layers of quantum states and how to pass between them to travel back in time, it means something like parallel universe but more like copy-paste state of our current time line but imagine it also exist as a "delayed time" that actually progress slower than our own timeline so imagine right now also the year 1500 exist!!! (true story lololol)

 

[zacharinolongpants]

This one doesn't necessarily suck, but I think it's a pretty frail cover for the debut of a very energetic and charismatic mascot:

Is it implying that Crash blasted through the wall Kool-aid Man style? Because it looks like he's just kinda casually walking through a previously made hole. Crash just isn't very lively or animated here lol. Also did they just texture map a picture of real teeth over the mouth? Haha

 

[Fray Guillermo]

what was that meme again?

View attachment 71834

Europe winning

Post automatically merged: May 22, 2025

the phalanx box cover has now become a cultural icon and is remembered for many generations

I unironically love that Phalanx boxart because it's so out there. Also the ship on the original artwork looks like a dildo

 

[Deleted member 77791]

I unironically love that Phalanx boxart because it's so out there. Also the ship on the original artwork looks like a dildo

For example, when Eiffel Tower was in construction French people were really bothered by it. They didn't want it, they didn't think it would be necessary and whatnot. They disliked the way area was changing. They said "What an ugly creature of metal killed here and they dropped its metallic corpse on my beautiful city of Paris hiding her soul with this dark evil. My eyes were shut due to shame, these lands are forever dirtied" But after it was built fully and some time passed it became an icon just because it looks like a dildo lololol.

Because of it, Paris turned into a "romantic" place from a scientific and artistic, rather, an academic city. Seeing that long tower there, humanity's subconscious urge to have sex was triggered but they have no idea about it lollololol.