View Poll Results: Which style of box art do you prefer?

Voters
9. You may not vote on this poll
  • Black Label NES Box Art

    6 66.67%
  • Famicom Counterpart Box Art

    3 33.33%
Results 1 to 6 of 6

Thread: NES Black Label Box Art vs. the Famicom Counterparts

  1. #1
    Strawberry (Level 2) Immutable's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    NJ, USA
    Posts
    500
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    0
    Thanked in
    0 Posts

    Default NES Black Label Box Art vs. the Famicom Counterparts

    Which do you prefer - the black label box art of the original 12 NES games or their Famicom counterparts?

    For myself, I prefer the Famicom Box Art since they have more personality compared to a stiff screenshot with a black border.

  2. #2
    ServBot (Level 11) Custom rank graphic
    Graham Mitchell's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Los Angeles, CA
    Posts
    3,623
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    1
    Thanked in
    1 Post
    Xbox LIVE
    Psygnosis8
    PSN
    Psygnosis8
    Steam
    Psygnosis8

    Default

    Same here, I much prefer the famicom artwork. In fact, the American box art for most nes games is pretty bad. The biggest tragedy is the guardian legend, since the box art for guardic gaiden is stunning.

  3. #3
    ServBot (Level 11) Tron 2.0's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Maryland
    Posts
    3,090
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    12
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    31
    Thanked in
    30 Posts

    Default

    Famicom box art over the nes black cover art.

  4. #4
    Peach (Level 3)
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    657
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    0
    Thanked in
    0 Posts

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Graham Mitchell View Post
    Same here, I much prefer the famicom artwork. In fact, the American box art for most nes games is pretty bad. The biggest tragedy is the guardian legend, since the box art for guardic gaiden is stunning.
    Guardian Legend isn't the same as the early Black Label Box Art.

    Personally, I prefer the Famicom Counterparts, but there is some retro charm in the antiquated, pixelated black label box art. But that may be nostalgia talking. The famicom ones are artistically superior while still being charming. I haven't seen them all, though, so there may be a couple that don't fit the scheme, but compare:


  5. #5
    Pac-Man (Level 10) treismac's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Savannah, GA
    Posts
    2,026
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    0
    Thanked in
    0 Posts

    Default

    While I cast my vote for the NES Black Box series, it really isn't an either or situation for me when it comes to my preference over these two styles of box art. They are both charming pieces of retro gaming art with their own merits. Supposedly the NES' Black Box series sported pixel graphics on their cover to assuage any concerns over the game's graphics in the post 2600- sweet box art is deceptive- world. I can't recall the source for that, but it sounds fairly reasonable.

  6. #6
    drowning in medals Ed Oscuro's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Posts
    16,556
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    3
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    1
    Thanked in
    1 Post

    Default

    Indeed, false choice. The Donkey Kong example above is a great example where just going with the sprite art is OK if it means you don't outstrip the artists' capability. The FC art for Donkey Kong doesn't look too great IMO.

    It's not Black Label era, but an interesting example is Kage, versus Shadow of The Ninja, versus Blue Shadow (the PAL release). The original FC cover is mostly an abstract swirl (although good depictions of the heroes and a dragon, exploding out of the title word, appear), Shadow of the Ninja is the usual Westernized attempt which falls a bit short (and the composition of the art and logos, and the choice of font for the title itself, is quite bad), and Blue Shadow looks rather good (although once again the title font is kind of bad).

    The Famicom Disk System versions of Super Mario Bros. games, as well as Legend of Zelda and some others like Metroid (that on the US package design are still borrowing from the black box aesthetic formula, just in gray), are light years ahead of the black label boxes, of course. Our Metroid box looks terrible, the PAL version has an interesting realistic cover design like that of a movie, and the Japanese cover is cartoony but artistically striking. The Classics re-release of Metroid is neat too, and seems like it's biting into '90s 'tude for inspiration.

    For a real Black box-to-FC comparison, check out Kung Fu versus Spartan-X. Spartan-X comes from the epic Jackie Chan film Wheels on Meals, and Wikipedia tells me something I did not know before I wrote this post - not only did it have the sequel Spartan-X 2 (which I did know about), Irem's arcade game Vigilante may have been intended to be the sequel too. Neat. (unintelligible gibberish from big enemy)
    Last edited by Ed Oscuro; 05-08-2013 at 02:41 AM.

Similar Threads

  1. WTB: Minty FF7 Black Label
    By Gooch3008 in forum Buying and Selling
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 08-30-2010, 12:16 PM
  2. Sealed FFX - Black Label
    By Glitch695 in forum Buying and Selling
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 06-26-2010, 08:25 PM
  3. Replies: 0
    Last Post: 12-06-2009, 08:58 PM
  4. Help! Should i buy platinum or black label FF7?
    By tiger86 in forum Buying and Selling
    Replies: 19
    Last Post: 04-03-2009, 08:23 AM
  5. WTB: Legend of Dragoon x 2 (Black Label)
    By maxlords in forum Buying and Selling
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 12-29-2008, 07:38 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •