Covers: US Sword & Sorcery VS. JP Anime

[Bhris]

As a kid I remember MANY of the Genesis game covers having Conan-like, Boris Vallejo-styled covers, even for games that didn't involve barbarians. With the exception of Golden Axe, which I recognized by it's reputation, and liked because it was actually like a video game version of Conan, all the other games with those type of covers I passed up.
I remember though seeing an ad for Renovation's Valis III for the Sega Genesis and thinking that the cover looked like it was for some cool animated cartoon like Voltron but better. On closer examination Yuko looks like Rosie O'Donnel, but overall it looked awesome. Since many anime's were so popular in the US during the mid 80s (Robotech, Transformers, Voltron), why didn't video game developers here capitalize on that and allow their video games to look like the source material, which was manga/anime styled art design? I bought Chiki Chiki Boys for the Genesis JUST because it looked like a Japanese cartoon.
Was the Dungeons and Dragons crowd that much more popular?

[SparTonberry]

Was Sega of America trying to attract a more "mature" look for the Genesis, something to take over the dominant NES, in the early days?

[Edmond Dantes]

I think they just misread their audience and thought showing anime would make the games look too kiddy or cutesy or something stupid like that. It wasn't just Sega either--plenty of Nintendo games did this too (just check out Ranma 1/2 Hard Battle.... an actual anime based game and yet the NA Box art STILL redraws them to be more in line with American artwork!) Hell, even Sony did this early in the PS1's lifespan with Suikoden.

It may also be a bias of preference. Most of the early people in the gaming industry had grown up with stuff like Conan with the Frazetta covers and anime was something new to them which for a lot of such people was a turn-off. Even now I see such people who can't stand the big eyes and small mouths.

Granted, it's not always a bad thing... I may be going out on a limb but for the first four Dragon Warrior games on the NES, I much prefer the US artwork which actually shows battles, whereas the Japanese artwork just shows three anime characters standing there and making faces. Likewise the Final Fantasy JP artwork is just a white box pretty much, while the American one gives the appearance of an epic fantasy that spans the world. Might and Magic is another one... the US Artwork shows a party of adventurers getting ready to battle some giant beastie in a vast dungeon. The Japanese box art? Its just a red box with an owl in the corner.

Simply put, sometimes they thought they could improve on it, or at least make something more palatable to the west. Sometimes they were right.

[Bhris]

That all makes perfect sense. Thanks.