Best and worst game packaging?

[diskoboy]

This is not your typical 'who has he worst boxart' question... This has nothing to do with the box's artwork (Well, maybe just a little...). But really, just the actual packaging, itself.

Who, in your opinion, has or had the best and worst packaging for their games?

For example: Were the Sony PS1 Longboxes your favorite? How 'bout the early NES packaging? Or maybe the Atari Colored boxes, or maybe those god awful Sega Saturn plastic cases....

My favorite, believe it or not, would have to be the cart boxes for the Odyssey 2. They're sturdy (most of my O2 boxes are still in pretty good shape, and I've owned them since the late 70's and early 80's and have gone through 8 different moves), they had a little slot for the cart, and a the seperate slot for the instruction manual and catalog. Plus, the boxes were so colorful.... But man, could those things take some abuse! The Master Strategy series still have the best all-around packaging, though. Massive, sturdy boxes, great artwork. The Packaging is the only thing Magnavox got right about the Odyssey.

My least favorite - Again, the Sega Saturns' huge plastic longboxes. Every Saturn game I own has at least one crack in it's case. Cheap ass plastic. Plus the boxes are just friggin' obese. Sega never did seem to understand the word 'overkill'.

I did check to see if this had been asked, I couldn't find a thread, BTW..

[pragmatic insanester]

i much prefer the snes boxes to the genesis ones. they're more slim and easier to manage, where as i have a pile of my sega 16biters in the closet.

[dbiersdorf]

PSP has the best.
Genesis has the worst.

[Chrome]

I'm reallly liking the DS's cases. They fit nicely on a shelf and hold DS and GBA games. Eventually, when I get around to it, this will let me join in on the GBA cover project over at www.snackbargames.com.

The cases I like the least were the PS1/Dreamcast cases. I always cracked those little guys with seemingly no effort. I've always found the plastic current cases to be much more durable.

Later,
Chrome...

[eightbitonline]

the current gen stuff has it right. a nice durable case, the same size as a DVD, and a spot inside for a memory card. this lets me keep my PS2 and GCN games on the same shelf.

[2Dskillz]

I would have to say out of the current packaging I love the DS cases, handy with the GBA slot and they look great on a shelf with out consuming excessive space.

I also love Genesis clamshell cases, while they are a little bit space consuming, I just prefer the greater durability they offer.

[pragmatic insanester]

yeah, the ps1 ones are fragile, but very easy to replace. i feel sorry for people with the american saturn cases when some of them break and they have to find another person with a saturn (good luck in most cases, i know two other people in my entire town).

[roushimsx]

US Saturn / SegaCD gets another vote for worst from me.

As far as best, I'm torn between the DS and PS2 cases.

The DS cases are very attractive, perfectly sized, and the included GBA cart spot is just a wonderful idea.

PS2 cases look good (very similar on the outside to normal DVD cases) and have the memory card slot, something I'm happy as hell that they standardized. I disliked the green color on Xbox games and the odd shape of the Gamecube boxes

With regard to jewel cases, I really liked the standard single disc japanese Saturn and Playstation cases. Double disc cases for both break the mold a bit (such as Super Dimension Fortress Macross and Deep Fear on Saturn or Biohazard 3 and Beatmania on Playstation), but I loved the uniform looking single disc cases. I think the solid black color on the US Playstation cases just kinda made them all blend together and made it more difficult to pick out games, but maybe that's just me.

So yea, DS and PS2 for the win!

[poloplayr]

Have to go with the DS cases on this. Simply perfect.

[Lozza]

DS or PSP are the best.

Playstation/Dreamcast cases are the worst.

[tom]

MegaDrive and SMS cases are excellent, sturdy plastic, decent place for cart and manual.

European and Japanese plastic boxes for the Neo Geo handheld range is also very nice (clamp-shell type). Japanese B&W Neo Geo pocket had plastic boxes, later, the Japanese Color Neo Geo pocket changed to cardboard boxes, why?

European Dreamcast are the worst, what were they thinking with this awful double-opening CD case? No one can open these properly.

Cardboard cases are also very easy damaged, a lot of my stuff suffered from moving between different countries. Although European Xonox boxes (book fold-out) are very well built.

Those 3DO cardboard long boxes are also very badly designed.

And also very awful, those HUUUGE Atari 800/XL cardboard boxes for their cart range (early 80s), little cart place holder in top of box, huge A4 sized manual, that's bound to get squashed.

[chrisbid]

my top priority is durability, then second i want a gatefold

the modern systems with modified DVD cases are probably the best method yet. though the number of "special editions" with larger boxes is starting to annoy me.

The DS and PSP rank at 1.5, its a shame that people are throwing these away, game stores should not accept loose DS or PSP games

next up are the SMS and Genesis games. as far as cart system go, these are the best ever made. they are very durable, and can be easily replaced with a case from an el-cheapo sports game if you really need one.

longbox PSX (cardboard) and 3DO boxes - great function and duribility, but a lousy size

next up are the cardboard gatefolds, the INTV, O2, Neo Geo Pocket and a few others. These have held up quite well over the years, i always groan when i come across a cheaper INTV box

cd jewel cases come in next, they are far too brittle, but since they are easy to replace its not that huge an issue.

TG16 jewel cases - same as a cd jewel case, but harder to replace

saturn/sega cd/early PSX longbox - they have the function down, but they are not durable at all, and are getting harder to replace with each passing day.

chipboard el cheapo boxes - most nintendo and atari boxes fall here, even with those sliding trays in SNES boxes, these are not durable whatsoever, and the only appeal is for collectors value. i do not display these boxes, and simply tear them down and store them elsewhere

[Nez]

Best Small standard cd jewl cases and dvd case styles.

Worst Pal DC hate that damn case it doesn't fit anywere.
3do So damn ugly so many color such a weird size.
AES early soft case rubbish they go bad too easily. And the plastic tray breaks easyer then saturn cases. Absolute shit construction.

[dreamcaster]

Best:
JAP Saturn
JAP PlayStation, later USA and PAL stuff
PAL Sega Mega CD
JAP and USA Dreamcast

Know why? Because they're in easily replaceable STANDARD FRICKING CD CASES. NOT SOME CRAZY ASS MOULDED SHIT THAT BREAKS IF YOU TOUCH IT.

*breathes*

They're easy to store, easy to maintain and look fine.

Worst:
PAL Dreamcast - refer to aforementioned breaking if you touch it.
PAL Saturn (except EA games) - look dodgy and fall apart easily.
USA Sega CD/Saturn/early PSX - Oversized. Understrength.
Anything in cardboard boxes - not very strong and often missing because people throw them away (e.g. NES, SNES, N64, Atari 2600/7800, GB, GBC, GBA etc.)

Average:
PS2/XB/GCN - Functional, though a little boring.
SMS/Mega Drive/Genesis - sturdy, functional. athough again, a little boring.
DS - look nice, though feel a little weak. Haven't had much experience with 'em yet.

[Slimedog]

Just on the topic of splitting hairs, the Sega CD cases were slightly worse than the Saturn cases. They enlarged the hinge for Saturn making the cases slightly less likely to fall apart and break. Personally I disliked the 3DO boxes, specifically the cheap cardboard ones for being oversized and flimsy. But the worst by far is the the plastic clamshell things for Game.com. You have to carefully cut them with scissors in order to keep and reuse the package. Plus, the name of the game isn't on any of the sides, so they are pretty much useless on a shelf. Worst. Package. Ever.

[Vectorman0]

Best:
NGP/C snapcase (UK/JP cases)
DS Cases


Worst:
Anything cardboard
Any longbox

[Julio III]

Best:
NGPC - the clamshell ones which also came with a small plastic case for the cartridge like original GB
DS - After so many horrendous cardboard things Nintendo make a good case, strangely the European ones are bigger than the US/Japanese ones but same style so all is good. I actually don't like the thinner black US/Jpn ones as much.

Mega Drive and Master System cases are also pretty damn good.

Worst is easily any kind of cardboard case. Especially the GBA ones because they don't have that plastic cartridge holder like the original GB ones did.
US Saturn cases are also pretty damn horrible.

[tholly]

Among the best are.... the Odyssey 2 (I have a complete set...amazing boxes with attractive colorful cover art), the Xbox / 360 (I love the green DVD cases), the PSP (Small, clear, and neat), and the NES Black Boxes (again, awesome artwork).

Honorable mentions ... DS (small and uniform), N-Gage (small and silver), and PSX (Long Box).

The worst.... TG-16 (they just seem ackward and people found it hard to keep the outside cardboard), PSX (Non-longbox) & Dreamcast (just very plain, but they do save space), 32x (while I do love the system and almost have a full set, the boxes aren't consistent (varying yellow shades, and that damn Doom box with has the 32x on the spine backwards).

[ProgrammingAce]

N-Gage games have the absolute worst packaging, It's damn near impossible to get the game out without breaking either the case or the game...

[Griking]

I personally liked the Genesis and Master System cases the best. They were very durable and think enough that a full sized manual can fit inside had anyone bothered to print one.

My least favorite has to be the Saturn and Sega CD cases. As everyone has already said, their too damn fragile and difficult to replace. I'd rather have a cardboard box like Atari or Nintendo games over them.