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Thread: Packaging that enhances the experience

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    Banana (Level 7) klausien's Avatar
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    Default Packaging that enhances the experience

    Having recently gotten Tool's 10,000 Days, I started thinking about which games I had where the packaging actually adds to the experience. Nothing really approaches the intensity of the the album's stereoscopic lenses, but I singled out one that really does it for me.

    When SFII came out for the SNES, I couldn't wait to get my mitts on it. SFII was an addiction for most at the time, and the chance to practice and play at home was a revelation. The SNES game was fantastic and lived up to expectations for the most part, but one thing truly sucked: the Box Art. It was bad enough that it had to be on a US SNES cart brick, but the art is so hideous that it detracts from the experience. If I remember correctly, the manual was also B&W (I might be wrong). All of this is an insult to the spectacular piece of software it houses. It may be a bit superficial, but it really does matter, especially when the game was $70. I will never understand why American marketing departments feel they need to do this to us. (Well, I guess it is more a Japanese misunderstanding of Americans)



    The japanese version is cool though:



    The lack of finesse with the American SNES SFII contrasts perfectly with my personal favorite packaging: Street Fighter II Dash for the PC Engine. I have had non-gamer friends comment on how great the packaging is. It is stylish and sophisticated. An excellent color scheme permeates this release. That light Champion Edition blue and a complementary light gray is everywhere, even on the spine card, and the cover art is a recognizable SFII piece as opposed to an American bastardization. The manual is large and in full color. Color manuals are basically the rule in Japan, but it adds to the package. The double CD case is totally unecessary, but truly luxurious. It being white and housing the HuCard in the case style with the indentation and pins that hold the Hu slipcase is gravy. It does help that I have an affinity for white CD trays, but you have to admit its cool. The final piece is the actual HuCard itself. It has that little raised section to fit the extra memory and just feels, not to sound corny, special. It helps that the conversion is so great (second only to the SNES version of Turbo in my book), but this package really makes the game feel like the treasure it is.



    Kind of ridiculous, I know, but rarely does a game get such VIP treatment in a standard release. The whole thing feels like a collectors' edition.

    As for some current games, the US Halo 2 LE is a pretty cool package, as is the LE Doom 3 for XBox. I'm a sucker for metal DVD cases.

  2. #2
    Bell (Level 8) CosmicMonkey's Avatar
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    Metal Gear Solid. I like the UK boxart and I though it quite cool that if you look on the back of the box you find one of the frequencies to use on your radio thingy. Excellent.

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    Peach (Level 3) Slimedog's Avatar
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    Suspended for C64 and other Infocom games. The box durable, high gloss cover folded out to a map and the box included pieces representing your robots that you could use on the map to track their various positions. Uber slick.

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    Cherry (Level 1)
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    When it comes to "extras" the US gamers get screwed. Very rare that we get anything extra. Only 1 I can recall is the snes Earthbound game. It came with the guide and smelly stickers of the different odors in the game. Pretty cool and added to the experience. Usually we just get some hideous poster or inserts that people throw away. For the Japanese games, I have weird extras like pencils and calendars that came with the games and other odd extras. Gotta love that SEga. But they do it with other systems. One oddity is a sega saturn racing game that comes with a racing car kit that you can build. The game is crap but the model kit actually makes it worth owning.

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    Apple (Level 5) Lord Contaminous's Avatar
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    Don't forget Working Designs. They seemed like the only company that gave a damn about extras. Lunar 2 and their finger puppets, Lucia's pendant, and a cloth map, can't beat that! And Growlanser Generations was one hell of a package.

    I got 50 cents to add to this. The box cover for the curtain fire shmup series "Shikigami no Shiro" particularly 2.




    I love those dark ambient pictures the Japanese draw, the dreamcast one is my favorite though. I also like that display where only 1/2 to 3/4 of the protagonist's face covers up one side of the box.

    What do we get?

    They look like the fuckin' Brady Bunch

    We gotta be grateful for what we got, because Europe totally killed off the essence of the SnS2, and generically naming it "War of the Worlds"

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    Was it Project ICO or something like that that had a really crappy cover for PAL and NTSC was alot better?

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    Bell (Level 8) GrayFox's Avatar
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    Our ICO was absolutely terrible, while the Europeans got some swank Ico cover art.

    Actually, didn't it release with a limited edition in Europe? I think the limited edition had their swank cover then.

    I don't know, I can't remember. Moral of the story though? We get screwed with box art because....survey says... Americans like CG!
    ~~~GrayFox~~~
    Current thoughts and published articles = http://grayfoxtastical.1up.com/

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    Pretzel (Level 4) LiquidPolicenaut's Avatar
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    I would've added Working Designs, but somebody already did. I would also point out that even their release of Lunar EB on the Sega CD had such nice packaging and made me feel all special when I bought it and read the manual There's a good amount of other games I can think of that I liked the box art, manual, packaging, etc. to. Here's a few:

    Snatcher - The Sega CD was nice enough (though not in color. Boo!) but the PC-Engine version had a nice manual and a beautiful extra booklet dealing with the game universe. Plus it had a sheet of nifty stickers....and it also came in a double white cd case.

    Metal Gear Solid - I thought the American release had a nice cover and manual. Nicely done.

    Some quick ones I find nice were: Chrono Trigger SNES, Actraiser (came with a nifty poster), Policenauts 3DO (even moreso with the Deluxe box set), Mega Man:The Wily Wars (PAL MegaDrive)..gotta love reading the back in German!...Diesmal wird's Ernst!!

    One I have to add that is bad, though, is the American version of Streets of Rage 2....*shivers*

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    Pretzel (Level 4)
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    I've always been fond of Working Designs artwork. I seem to prefer the US
    versions of both SFII and Castle Shikagimi 2 from the pictures I'm seeing
    though. I guess beauty is definately in the eye of the beholder.

    Let me ask which do you prefer. The artwork of the American SNES Super
    Pinball: Behind the Mask or the Japanese?




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    Pretzel (Level 4) LiquidPolicenaut's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Spartacus
    I've always been fond of Working Designs artwork. I seem to prefer the US
    versions of both SFII and Castle Shikagimi 2 from the pictures I'm seeing
    though. I guess beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder.

    Let me ask which do you prefer. The artwork of the American SNES Super
    Pinball: Behind the Mask or the Japanese?



    Agh! Although the American isn't anything special, it's also not ugly either to me. The Japanese one first looked like a newpaper ad about the game...then I realized I actually was looking at the game itself. Talk about not even trying...tsk tsk.

  11. #11
    Insert Coin (Level 0)
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    Quote Originally Posted by Spartacus
    I've always been fond of Working Designs artwork. I seem to prefer the US
    versions of both SFII and Castle Shikagimi 2 from the pictures I'm seeing
    though. I guess beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder.

    Let me ask which do you prefer. The artwork of the American SNES Super
    Pinball: Behind the Mask or the Japanese?



    They both look pretty bad to me =/
    But yea, in general, American box art is bad.

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    Pretzel (Level 4) Austin's Avatar
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    Steel Battalion, without a doubt. I still remember my jaw dropping when I first saw the sweet ammunition-looking box the controller came in.

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    Apple (Level 5) Lord Contaminous's Avatar
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    How bout the classic method of Cut and Paste that the Americans whore out alot.

    Take Guilty Gear XX #Reload for Japanese PS2 and XBox


    Box Covers like these complement the fast furious fighting action inside the game.

    But look at this:


    These same two images of I-No and Sol Badguy have been whored out alot. This also proves that American publishers have not only no taste in art, but just plain lazy.

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    Peach (Level 3)
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    I am gonna throw Halo 2 into this:





    Even though I don't like the game that much the cover really did give you goosebumps.

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    Insert Coin (Level 0)
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    They've already been mentioned, but damn the Halo 2 and Doom 3 LE cases for xbox were damn sexy.


    Also, back in the day I was a huge mortal kombat fan.. and so when I saw this on the store shelves I just had to have it... could not wait to get home that day...


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