Video game box art has come a long way since its inception. Games released for the Atari and its contemporaries give off a distinct vibe from their cover art that bleeds a weird sort of retrofuturism. Some of it looks plain weird or goofy. That didn’t stop when gaming came into its own with the NES and SNES. Video games have continued to release with some truly abhorrent box art.
Some studios take their box art seriously though. Regardless of how the saying goes, we do judge things by their cover, especially when it’s our first interaction with the work. Great box art uses this opportunity to its advantage, using it to show off a game’s unique art style and set the tone for the experience you’re about to play.
10 Best: Final Fantasy X (Japanese Cover)
Covers change in localization, and often for the worse. Whether it’s Kirby being made to look angrier than his Japanese appearance, or another example we’ll get to later in this list, these changes usually end up losing their cohesion. After all, these decisions are usually made by marketers trying to garner sales, not remain faithful.
The Final Fantasy series has fallen victim to this too. Several covers boast only the game’s title on top of a white background. Final Fantasy X is a prime example, with the addition of some gorgeous blue and gold art. It’s striking and confident in its simplicity. Even the remaster release sticks to this style.
9 Worst: Irritating Stick
This cover looks like it was made with the easiest to find images in Microsoft’s ClipArt and WordArt galleries. The lightning bolts would be right at home on a ’90s energy drink or soda aimed at the cool kids. All in all, the cover for Irritating Stick looks like it was made in an elementary school computer lab.
Who knows how this was supposed to sway anyone into purchasing this game. It doesn’t tell anyone anything about the game, its gameplay, its mood, or anything like that. Only that there’s a stick and it’s irritating. At least they got that right. This cover sure is irritating.
8 Best: Dark Souls Remastered
Now, this is a good cover. The bonfire is one of the most iconic images of the Dark Souls series. They represent solace, a moment of rest amongst the horrors of Lordran. So much of the game is about making it to the next bonfire, hoping there’s one right around the corner. It’s even on the loading screens.
So it’s nice to see the Dark Souls Remastered cover pay homage to these precious moments of quiet. Lighting the fire is exactly what Dark Souls is about, after all.
7 Worst: Super Duper Sumos
Midway must not know much about sumo wrestling, because the three fellas on this cover are doing it wrong. Unless sumo wrestling of the Super Duper variety is different than what most of the world is familiar with.
Super Duper Sumos was already a weird cartoon series, but the box art for this game tie-in is bizarre. Apparently, this was the first GameBoy Advance title to bring us “giant buttocks.” Someone approved the phrase “they got guts… and big butts,” for the back. This was marketed to kids. Children. Someone should be ashamed.
6 Best: Metal Gear Solid 3
Whether it’s the original Snake Eater, the Subsistence rerelease, or one of the localized covers, every version of Metal Gear Solid 3’s box art is astounding. With its stark colors and framing with The Boss overlooking the back, the original feels like a movie poster for the old action and James Bond movies the game alludes to throughout.
Other versions focus more heavily on Yoji Shinkawa’s inimitable art, focusing on Snake and his mentor or on that iconic closing shot from the game’s final cinematic. You can’t go wrong with Shinkawa’s art.
5 Worst: Snow White And The 7 Clever Boys
What is even going on in this cover? Phoenix Games didn’t get the memo that box art didn’t have to look awful, and they sure tried to make it as bad as they could. There are almost no words for how terrible this box art is. These were professionals. This was someone’s job.
And – seven clever boys? They’re dwarves, not kids. Were they trying to avoid a lawsuit with the Mouse himself? Respectable, but not at this cost. Nothing was worth this.
4 Best: Katamari Damacy
Katamari Damacy is so unique. Between its art style, music, and gameplay, Katamari has garnered no direct imitators. How could they even hope to mimic a game that is so distinctly itself? That wacky-yet-a-little-odd style extends to its box art too.
The first Katamari title has one of the most recognizable covers in all of gaming history. The gigantic ball rolling up the city in the background contrasts with the peaceful, pastoral scene with the cows at the bottom. It shouldn’t work – it should feel out of place – but it doesn’t. Then again, making things stick together to create a star is what Katamari is all about.
3 Worst: Mega Man 1
When viewed, the cover for the original Mega Man raises only one question: “Why?” For such a good game, why this? This guy does not look mega at all. He looks a little ill, actually. Or in pain. Or like he’s begging to be freed from this hell.
Thankfully, Mega Man was a great enough game to succeed critically despite its cover doing everything it could to hold it back. Where’s Mega Man’s blaster arm? What’s even going on in the background? What were they thinking?
Correction: it’s bad enough to raise more than one question.
2 Best: Ico
This is one of the most sublimely beautiful game covers out there. Inspired by the artwork of the early 20th-century artist Giorgio de Chirico, the cover for the Japanese and European versions of Ico focuses on light and shadow while displaying the towering importance of the structures in comparison to the two protagonists – defining traits of the game itself.
It also gets to the core gameplay right on the cover too. A boy and a girl holding hands, trying to run away together. Perhaps the only way this cover could be improved would be to remove the title from it, if only to give the gorgeous artwork even more of a chance to shine.
1 Worst: Ico
They got it so right with the Japanese and European release. How did they get it so, so wrong with the North American release? Not only is this one of the worst examples of poorly localized art compared to the original, but it’s also plain ugly. The horned boy looks like he was ripped out of an animated movie with a shoestring budget.
Nothing about this cover speaks to the experience that Team Ico created. It’s disrespectful. Surely this was changed by marketers to try to appeal to North American audiences. Maybe they wanted a cover with more action and went with the boy holding a stick as a weapon to demonstrate that the game had some combat, even if it wasn’t what the game was about. Either way, if the cover was changed for marketing reasons, who in the world did they have in mind?
NEXT: 10 Of The Worst Video Game Box Art Mistakes
