Japan vs USA - Game Box Art

[Metal Jesus]

http://youtu.be/76SvR8WxWGs

The Video Game BOX ART you see often depends on where you buy it. This video will compares the Japanese Box Art to US/North American Box Art on the Playstation 2.

Which console should I cover next? What are some of your favorite box art variants?

[ninjainspandex]

Great video, you should do Japanese megadrive to Genesis comparisons. It's a proven fact that the Japanese Megadrive had the best video game art of all time.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Good vid. I always hated the American Ico artwork. Interesting how they reverted back to Japanese art for the PS3 HD collection.

In general, if the game originated in Japan I prefer the Japanese version of the art. There are some exceptions though - like The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Ys Book I & II - where I prefer the American covers.

A retro gaming art comparison would be interesting. There were some big stinkers here in the States - especially when you starting looking at TurboGrafx covers...

[pierrot]

Great video, you should do Japanese megadrive to Genesis comparisons. It's a proven fact that the Japanese Megadrive had the best video game art of all time.

True fact:


Alisia Dragoon




Grind Stormer


Steel Empire


Beyond Oasis

[ninjainspandex]

such a shame that JPN Megadrive versions of games are almost always 2-3 times more expensive than their US Genesis version. Or else my whole collection would be just Japanese Megadrive

[CRTGAMER]

Nice video, so true how the cover makes the game seem completly different from the buying perspective. I really like Japanese PS2 covers overall in comparison to the US editions. Your mention of Silent Hill 2, surprisingly the US cover looks better then the Japanese cover. Strange how the PAL cover is different as well.

Its not only the cover but also the manuals and sometimes extra stickers inside. The Japanese manuals are usually thicker paper with beautiful artwork inside. NTSCJ REZ really has a nice "nickel anodize look" manual and matched disc inside.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Mega Drive art does rule. As does Super Famicom. Hard to beat some of those Amiga covers though...

[pierrot]

such a shame that JPN Megadrive versions of games are almost always 2-3 times more expensive than their US Genesis version. Or else my whole collection would be just Japanese Megadrive

For serious. There are a number that are better deals as imports, though: Phantasy Star series, Crusader of Centy, Truxton, Landstalker, Herzog Zwei, etc.


At the risk of sounding like a broken record, one PS2 game that I think received far better box art in Japan compared to the US version: Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter. (I think I like the EU cover more than the US cover, even.)

US cover



JP cover



I tend to kind of prefer the US box art for Dreamcast games, even though the majority of my collection is made up of JP region games, but I really like the JP box art for Jet Set Radio/De La Jet Set Radio. I think it really gets the game's style across to the consumer much more quickly than the US box art does. I always really loved the US cover, too, though.





I don't think pictures really do these box arts justice (in any region) though.

[Metal Jesus]

One place where US box art really sticks is in the Sega Master System. The US box art looks about as exciting as using Word Perfect 5.1

[Stark]

Hey at least they were conscious of the fact that it looks like a kid drew it, so they put it on graph paper.