Author Topic: Best Cover Art (Read 708 times)

Nemo · « **on:** June 27, 2005, 08:18:58 PM »

My choice is easy:

Valis 3 US So Hot!

I just can't stop thinking about her, she's perfect in every way. The way the soft breeze blows her hair gracefully to the side revealing the face of a goddess, and that chest, OH MY.

But seriously:

US
Lords of Thunder- Amazing full cover portrait.

JP
Rondo Of Blood - I am a Castlevania fanman, but this cover is definitely sexy.

lord_cack · « **Reply #1 on:** June 27, 2005, 08:37:23 PM »

I havent seen alot of japanese cover art, so I am lacking in that department. But, Dungeon Explorer II, Lord of Thunder, Street Fighter II Champion Edition, Order of the Griffon is pretty good....On a lesser note, I think that Night Creatures and New Adventure Island had a nice cover. Oh yeah and Ballistic.....wait...no...that was....

Ninja Spirit · « **Reply #2 on:** June 28, 2005, 03:23:03 AM »

Red Alert > Last Alert

esteban · « **Reply #3 on:** June 28, 2005, 07:08:19 AM »

Ha! I'll never grow tired of the U.S. Valis III hottie. But, the funny thing is that the Valis III cover is still MUCH MUCH MUCH kooler than the Valis II (US) artwork. I'm serious. The Valis III hottie stares at you and really grabs your attention, which cannot be said for Valis II's boring composition (Yuko is chubby, and we don't see her face... I always though this cover composition was inspired by the wonderwoman tv show, by the way. A chubby Linda Carter...).

Anyway, I must have accidentally deleted a whole bunch of cover scans from my folder, so I am only able to recycle a few images for this topic:

This cover deserves some credit: it is totally devoid of action, excitement, and peril... substituting wooden poses, pastel overalls and lifelessness in their stead. For those who've played the game, you might agree with me that an in-game screenshot would have been a better choice for the US cover art (of, say, the mohawk boss on the bridge). Even the Sega Master System (PAL) had cover art that captured the spirit of the game more successfully:

Of course, the best choice would have been to keep the original Japanese coverart. But, I must say, this cover is so goddam kool (and disturbing, and full of violence), that I can understand why it wasn't used:

It is interesting to note that although the US version features a junkyard thug brandishing a mighty scary blade, the Japanese version is simply a work of violent art.

And the Japanese cover isn't gratuitious: all of the violence and fear is suggestive, but there is no actual blood or gore. All the violence is in the clenched fist and glinting steel, all the fear is in Madonna's eyes. CLICHES? Yes, these symbols are some of the most over-used and hackneyed images in pulp fiction and horror movie art. But the composition is so striking, it transcends the cliches.

This cover is friggin' beautiful.

I challenge anyone to find another composition, for any platform that elicits an emotional response like Vigilante JP.

For fans of Dario Argento: The Vigilante JP coverart looks like it could have been inspired by Argento's aesthetics. Not that it actually was, mind you, but there are similar themes (extreme close-ups, eyes, blades, muted mouths, etc.)

/end of sermon[/url]

Nemo · « **Reply #4 on:** June 28, 2005, 06:51:18 PM »

Quote from: "stevek666"

Ha! I'll never grow tired of the U.S. Valis III hottie. But, the funny thing is that the Valis III cover is still MUCH MUCH MUCH kooler than the Valis II (US) artwork. I'm serious. The Valis III hottie stares at you and really grabs your attention,

Hey buddy, don't look at my baby momma like that, she's a one man shim, got that?!

Keranu · « **Reply #5 on:** June 28, 2005, 11:15:08 PM »

Comparing the Vigilante covers was an excellent idea! I forgot how much the Japanese cover ruled.

Since I am too lazy to go find links, the Japanese cover of Final Zone II was way cooler than the US cover of Final Zone II. Not saying that I dislike the US cover, because I absolutely love cheesy covers!

PC Gaijin · « **Reply #6 on:** July 01, 2005, 09:42:53 PM »

The Japanese Vigilante cover art is actually one of the things that originally sold me on the system believe it or not

. That and the cover to Fantasy Zone. I liked the Vigilante arcade game a lot (it had a booming speaker setup that really thumped whenever you were beating on someone), and Vigilante was one of the games that was covered a lot by game magazine articles in the pre-Turbo launch days. Then I saw the Japanese cover art for Vigilante in EGM; just too damn cool. Imagine my disappointment when the Turbo launched

. Not only did we lose the cool little PC Engine design, but all the boxart was horrible. Seriously, what was NEC going for with the art on most of their Turbo releases? It looks like the same artist did most of them, and frankly most of them stank. Oddly enough, many were just redone versions of the Japanese boxart, so why not just use the original art in the first place? Licensing issues? Or an attempt to "Americanize" the artwork? Although I do understand why the Vigilante art was changed

.

One US boxart that I remember liking was Sidearms. Good Western-style art, like something you would see on the cover of a sci-fi novel or the painted covers to old Atari games (late 70s/early 80s Atari):

And despite being a crap game, I like the cover to It Came from the Desert, kind of reminds me of a 50s B-movie poster:

But the beyond bad category winner is Cosmic Fantasy 2. What was Working Designs thinking with this one?

Keranu · « **Reply #7 on:** July 01, 2005, 09:56:30 PM »

Oh yeah the CF2 cover art was hilarious! Piko the cat especially looks freaky. Can't get enough cheesy art.

GUTS · « **Reply #8 on:** July 02, 2005, 06:52:47 AM »

One of my favorites is Exile II. It's another "WTF was Working Designs thinking??" cover, I remember seeing it in VG&CE and thinking it was horrible looking and that nobody would ever take the awesome Turbo Duo seriously if companies kept using stupid covers like that.

It looks like some kid's crappy art festival shoe-box diarama. It REALLY hits you how bad it sucks when you compare it to how awesome the japanese cover was-

Keranu · « **Reply #9 on:** July 02, 2005, 12:56:18 PM »

No way! The US Exile II cover art rocks! I'm a huge fan of clay figures and claymation so Exile II's cover was surely a winner to me, along with Hani game's cover. Personally I think it kicks the hell out of the Japanese cover, but that's just me and my tastes for clay figures and hate for anime

.

In Exile II's case, they did a very excellent job creating the art. I mean just closely look at the demons head and check out all the detail with warts, veins, and facial expression. Sadler also has some excellent detail of folds on his clothes to make it look like wind is pushing it. And the scenary is perfect with the lighting and foggy ground. Truely a piece of art if you ask me.

esteban · « **Reply #10 on:** July 02, 2005, 06:29:58 PM »

Well, I'm too busy to fully comment right now, so here are blurbs:

1. ICFTD art is a reworking of the original computer box art... but it was actually a decent effort and TG-CD fans got some extra cleavage with their box art. Unfortunately, this is not the most desirable cleavage, but it is cleavage nonetheless.

2. On Exile 2 and clay figures / clay dioramas: whether you are a fan or hater of this genre of cover art, you gotta check out the "Hany" games (Hany in the Sky is the best... but Hany on the Road is still nice). There are a bunch of PCE games with cover art like this... but I lost my list. Some of them were really cute.

3. Sidearms is nice... if a bit goofy. I totally agree with the poster, though, and like the style. I'm a sucker for this style of art....

4. NEW COVERART TO LOVE: ASTRALIUS... so, I was looking through a PCE magazine last night and I noticed that the FULL COVER ART for Astralius includes the fabulous FULL BUTTOCKS of the woman.... I can't remember if the PCE CD includes this (I don't think so). I'm adding this new find to my "Sanitzed" article... I'll scan the game art from the magazine for the article of course. ASStralius, indeed. Sorry.

Keranu · « **Reply #11 on:** July 02, 2005, 10:08:13 PM »

Yeah I love the Astralius cover art, too. You know I didn't know anything about that game until I read about it multiple times in Turbo Play from your website. Turbo Play makes it sound like that game is really awesome and I'll have to buy it sometime. Too bad it didn't make it out here like they always mentioned.

esteban · « **Reply #12 on:** July 02, 2005, 10:29:56 PM »

Quote from: "Keranu"

Yeah I love the Astralius cover art, too. You know I didn't know anything about that game until I read about it multiple times in Turbo Play from your website. Turbo Play makes it sound like that game is really awesome and I'll have to buy it sometime. Too bad it didn't make it out here like they always mentioned.

I am 100% totally in agreement with you, Astralius sounded like it had some neat aspects to it. It would be interesting to find out how far along (if at all) the localization of Astralius had gotten . IGS had a few games released for TG-16 (Sonic Spike, Tricky Kick, Sinistron, CyberCore

?) so there wouldn't be any problem on that front...

TR0N · « **Reply #13 on:** July 03, 2005, 12:22:24 PM »

Hello new to the boards here.

My all time favorite TG16/PCE cover is Lords of Thunder.

Heh Shirow Masamune at his best

Keranu · « **Reply #14 on:** July 03, 2005, 01:38:55 PM »

That's a pretty cool Tron gif you have as your signature, Tron.

Author Topic: Best Cover Art (Read 708 times)

GUTS