Has cover art ever been a factor when buying a game?

[Gamerforlife]

I don't think I ever used to care about cover art until I started actually viewing game buying as a "collectible" hobby. Also, Sony has made me care about cover art more as well, since all their consoles these days are region free. So I have a lot more freedom in choosing now. I try to check for regional differences whenever I can, whether it's box art or extra content, like the Euro version of Metal Gear Solid:Portable Ops

Things like that really shouldn't matter to the average gamer, but I'm certainly not the average gamer anymore. Heck, I got two copies of Mega Man Maverick Hunter X on the PSP just because the American and Japanese versions both had different intro themes.

[porygon]

I do if I have no clue on the games, and they're incredibly cheap. haha

[VincentX]

It's funny, I bought Ranger-X about a year ago from a local retro store because I thought the box art and description sounded cool.

Usually I don't judge based on the cover art though I do get disappointed when games like FF4 DS get amazing cover art in Japan and we got a black background with the Golbez silhouette here.

[CRTGAMER]

Some of the older computer game cover art were pretty cool.

When EGA VGA PC's were the best game in town, the game packaging were very unique.

The Infocom series had some huge boxes:

http://infocom.elsewhere.org/gallery/su ... -mask.html
Big boxes for a text adventure game.

Spectre VR and Marathon had some odd shape packages that drove the retail store merchandisers nuts:


http://www.answers.com/topic/marathon-infinity-1

Velocity Jet Fighter II had an Origami box that opened in the middle triangle:

http://www.listal.com/game/jetfighter-ii-25074
The Sim was actually pretty cool the way you could pan the camera all the way around the aircraft.

Remember all the huge manuals that came with the various Flight Sims.
I have Falcon 4.0, literally a Pilot Flight 3 Ring Binder Manual:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2 ... 362,00.asp

Now if I can only convert my CH Flightsticks to work with USB ...............

[scrotumwound]

i didnt buy the game phallanx because of its coverart
i looked at it and thought, what the hell is this shit?

[J T]

That's the whole reason I bought Mobile Light Force 2.

[Luke]

Wow. That's not a rip off.

Box art attracts me to some games, but I've always checked the back of the box to see the game footage. I thought the box art to Strider (nes, which box I still have) looked awful, but the shots of game footage led me (my parents) to pick it up. Same goes for Mega Man 2.

This thread bums me out because I wish I would have kept all (yes, all) of my boxes. Especially my Ninja Gaiden box. Luke misses that box. And yes, I referred to myself in the third person.

[MrPopo]

Wow. That's not a rip off.

It's not nice to point out that it's a completely rip off of Mobil Light Force 1's box art.

[J T]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Hobie-wan]

Wow. That's not a rip off.

It's not nice to point out that it's a completely rip off of Mobil Light Force 1's box art.

What? That's crazy talk. No exploding cars or purple glancing blows on the ground of the first one. The robots are completely different too.