Box of Art

IGN blemishes the cover of a game that is ironically enough all about art


Again, this was written back in September of 2007. Box art actually took off as an internet entity not to long after I wrote this. Soon MTV Games started a weekly article that addressed new games and their box art, 1UP actually made a few editorials about some of the worst box art to ever see the a store shelf, and even Okami has had its fair share of giggles with the IGN watermark gracing, or should I say ruining, its cover. So here is my proof that I was ahead of the game at one point even though I am now posting it eight months to late. Oh well. Anyway here is the editorial I promised you on Nintendo box art, enjoy:


Box of Art

Arguably the most important aspect of pushing a game to an unknown crowd is the boxart. A lot has been said in the past couple months about crappy, false, and fixed art for boxes. The most recent addition has been the fixed Super Mario Galaxy boxart and a new Brawl placeholder/boxart that pops up every couple weeks. The Metroid Prime 3: Corruption boxart caused quite a stir because of its lack of parallel with the quality of the game. I believe within the past couple years Nintendo has felt boxart is not as important as it used to be. Where there was once only one way to buy a game, in a box, there are now multiple ways. This may also explain the lack of boxart on the virtual console, which is one thing I find particularly disturbing.

It seems that album art is a million times more important in the acquisition of CDs and records than boxart for games and DVDs. The actual band spends time and treats the album cover with respect and allows it to live up to the proper name that is art. The album cover for The Beatles’ Revolver will always go down as a work of art alongside the cover for Banjo-Kazooie, but more current covers like Super Mario Sunshine from last generation makes me want to paint the wall with already digested chicken soup. Even the cover to Banjo-Tooie was just the three main characters’ from the neck up, no wonder why the game sold so poorly. BK sold approximately 2 million copies worldwide since release while N-Sider.com shows BT at only 892,136. Could this positive correlation between good boxart and good sales have anything to do with each other?

Great boxart has been harder to find within these past two generations. Games like Resident Evil 4: GCN Edition and Super Smash Bros. Melee both had sub par boxes as compared to the quality game found from within, but they still sold well anyway. Very recently Nintendo has not been letting down boxart fanatics. The new Super Mario Galaxy box is very reminiscent of Super Mario 64 while the Twilight Princess box is probably the coolest thing on the earth. And there has been a wonderful continuity with all of the Legend of Zelda art from the NES game all the way up to TP as you can see here:

Every boxart has a nice diligent Legend of Zelda and its respective subtitle and background. They all are fairly simple except perhaps for the TP box which has plenty of subtle Hyrulean detail. I think Nintendo is starting to get it. They need the game to look pretty in order to capture that casual gamer they are going for. Because is it true; people do judge a book by its cover and a game by its boxart.

Okami picture special thanks to: The Globe and Mail
Revolver picture special thanks to: Home.Att