SectionEight Yeah I gotta agree but I also liked Dead Space 2's box art as well. A bit of blood on the helmet along with complete darkness covering the helmet with only the light of the helmet. Dead Space 3? It was practically Modern Warfare 2's box art and it really showed that there's gonna be a lot of action
Fun fact: Takeshi Kitano is somewhat known here in Spain because of his program Fūun! Takeshi Jō which I think it was localized as Takeshi's castle in the US. It was a very popular program here during the early 2000s and I loved it as a kid.
I like the Doom box art. The original Doom had that cheesy 90’s action scene where the hero is surrounded and just blasting his guns into a crowd of horrible demons. It’s almost generic, but that’s what I love about it. And I love that the new 2016 Doom has an alternative cover that paid homage to the old school game. Wolfenstein the New Order had an awesome cover as well, just some silhouettes of Nazi’s in a style that seemed nearly 60’s. The sequel had an alternative cover with the protagonist on his knees, ready to be executed by the Nazi commander and the flip side had a cool collage of the main characters that reminded me of the older Star Wars covers.
God Of War has to be up there. It goes straight from Kratos' face staring menacingly at you into a cutscene. Shit my pants the first time I played it. Doesn't get much better than that tbh.
The increasing terribleness of game cover art is so weird to me. The point of cover art is to get people interested as they're browsing the shelves, right? Something that stands out and gets you interested. Yet we're lead to believe that what draws most eyes is "some guy scowling with a gun #94876." Who the hell is going out browsing for games and thinks "Oh look, there's a game with no distinguishing features and a really uninteresting uninformative cover! I've got to try that out!"?
Scrustle As a kid browsing game shops I always looked at the cover art and the pictures on the back to get a feel for the game and what they're about. One game I bought out interest as a kid was Battle stations Midway. The cover of a Japanese battleship being attacked by aircraft with a submarine submerged below it, told me that this game had 3 areas of warfare and I was not disappointed with the naval warfare that game had. Game covers these days are just more of the same, generic car on the cover for a racing game nothing about what cool features the game might have. Or random soldier number 578 walking towards you, I don't purchase games at a glance anymore because nothing catches my eye anymore. Everything now is mainstream, generic either out of fear for being different or just plain laziness, gaming is not what it once was a decade ago it's saddening.
One of my favourite things from recent history is reversible box art. So you get all the standard stuff on one side and then, quite often, a minimal opposite side, sometimes with nice artwork. After putting a disk in the first time the next thing I do while that loads is check the inside of the box to see if I can reverse it.
I'm a fan of any Final Fantasy Cover featuring Yoshitaka Amano; particularly the original Japanese FFVI cover and the GBA cover for Final Fantasy IV. His artwork makes you expect an otherworldly journey moreso than an anime flavored JRPG romp
I like the covers to Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2. Really cool Kazuma Kaneko artwork of the protagonists, Serph and Sera, over a white background with their demon forms in the background, their arms actually turning into those of their demon forms to indicate the idea of the game is transforming into these things. Its a really cool sort of case where the two covers act as two parts of a larger image of these two. I can't really say it does anything so bold as the Yakuza covers or God Hand, but its still a cool image that gives you a great sense of the kind of style of the game.
I'd like to give a shoutout to Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3's cover, which accidentally layered Hawkeye's arrow on top of his hand, so it looks like he doesn't even know how to use his own weapon.
I've always enjoyed the cover art for _Indigo Prophecy._ It's dark, mysterious, and foreboding with the creepy image of the faceless man dropping the murder weapon from his bloody hands with condemning words in the background.
DAVID CAGE IN A TUTORIAL POSSESED IN A TOILET DINER MOPPING BLOOD BUG FIGHT AT THE OFFICE SNEAKING ON A MILITARY BASE APARTMENT TRYING TO KILL YOU OFFENSIVE CHINESE STEREOTYPE IN A LIBRARY OFFENSIVE BLACK STEREOTYPES OFFENSIVE WOMEN STEREOTYPES OFFENSIVE WHITE STEREOTYPES OFFENSIVE COP STEREOTYPES MILDLY OFFENSIVE GAY STEREOTYPE CREEPY HANGOUT IN A CHICK'S ROOM CREEPY OBSESSION FOR SHORT HAIR WOMEN TAKING SHOWERS CREPPY OBSESSION WITH SHORT HAIR WOMEN WALKING IN UNDERWEAR IN THEIR APARTMENT PROTAGONIST DREAMING ABOUT A LITTLE GIRL BREAKING INTO AN OLD BLIND LADY'S HOUSE MATRIX KUNG FU FLIPS SUPERPOWERS HELICOPTER MAGIC CHASE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS RIP OFF/HANNIBAL WANABE PROTAGONIST STEALING A LITTLE GIRL MAYAN DREAM BEING CHASED BY A JAGUAR BADLY ANIMATED MATRIX/DARK CITY/DRAGON BALL FIGHT IN THE AIR RADIOACTIVE PREGNANT WOMAN RADIOACTIVE BABY ILLUMINATI WANABE SECRET SOCIETY UNDEAD COLD SEX IN A HOBO TRAIN THE INTERNET IN PHYSICAL FORM WANTS KILL YOU SACRIFICING A CHILD INTO A VOID THE SECOND ICE AGE what just happened? I blacked out when I read your comment...
I still can't get over the fact that Sunny spent however long living with Snake and Otacon on that plane and NEITHER of them just went "yo sunny, if the yolk breaks just scramble that shit."
Okay, so do you know that creator of Ultima, *Richard Garriot* , is also responsible for the popularization game boxes and box arts (before which, games were distributed in small plastic bags with names written on it). And the PC games through out 80s and 90s had some nice box arts as well as manual arts, which really evoked the experience they were going for, even if the graphics didn't match that. *Check out any SSI Gold Box series game, their cover screams "old school DnD".* Also, I urge you to check out the cover of *A Mind Forever Voyaging* . I was never interested in trying a text adventure game until I came across that.
Some of those Psygnosis covers really scream "we fucking love metal" to me. I can really see some similarities to Judas Priest and a little bit of Iron Maiden cover art from the time period. Also a bit of Predator one one of them, but ofc you gotta' do Predator.
Quite a few of the artists they hired actually did metal covers as well, so that's a large part of why it looks like that, even though the overall stylisation is also very similar.
I really love the first Deus Ex cover, because its pretty much sums up the game on. The ideas we face, the philosophy of JC as a character (being an empty but charismatic container for players choices), the cyberpunk destopian vibe and the simplicity. All of it is in one image.
Shit like this is why I love TBGS: a well thought out critique on something so important, yet so often ignored. Mad kudos man. Also, was this finally the video without a DMC reference???
Nobody can beat Yoji Shinkawa's boxarts but one thing that I've always considered really underappreciated is Metro 2033's box art with Artyom's cracked gas mask reflecting a monster with ruined Moscow in the background.
A series that really deserves better covers is the main Pokémon series. Pretty much every game just has a png of a legendary Pokémon pasted over a generic background. What am I supposed to know about a game that just has a picture of a weird looking animal on the cover. The Mystery Dungeon and Pokémon Ranger games have way better covers with new art of what is in the game. Hopefully now that the series is going to Switch where the cases aren’t just squares they can be more creative with the box art.
They always could have been more creative, everyone else has been more creative since forever. In Pokemons case though it seems they just decided that this is just how Pokemon covers look. They've looked that way for over 20 years, so they figure "eh, if it ain't broke don't fix it.". Not unlike the core games themselves IMO, it's outstanding how little these games actually change from version to version yet they get no criticism for it.
I get that they want to really show which version contains which legendary. But, if they want to go that lazy route they could at least make just one really neat box art where both legendaries take up equal space and just zoom in on the legendary for their respective version. Kind of like how Fire Emblem fates does it where it's one big picture just divided between versions.
TheKripox There are quite substantial changes from generation to generation but unless you know the in depth mechanics of the games you’ll probably never notice them.
The biggest one are probably Gen IV and Gen V where in the former you had the physical special split where useless pokemon from before had some use, or got new evolutions. In the latter, a bigger empahsis on story and a whole new region with only new mons definitely helped. On the surface they're quite samey yes, but deeper in they're quite different
I know the mechanics, I played competitive Pokemon for a while and wasn't that bad at it either. Sure there are changes from generation to generation, but the games never really felt all that different. In game after game after game there is the same starting premise with the same general goals to reach the same general endgame. Each game has alway added more and more to the series but generally has not felt like it CHANGED anything to a sufficient degree to feel impactful. There are certain exceptions here, like the physical/special split which improved combat significantly, the switch from 2D grid to 3D in later titles and a few other things, but last time I sat down with a Pokemon game I couldn't help think about how remarkably similar it was at its core to the games I played 20 years ago. It's actually crazy similar for how many games there's been. Counting only main series English releases we got: Red & Blue Yellow Gold & Silver Crystal Ruby & Sapphire FireRed & LeafGreen Emerald Diamond & Pearl Platinum HeartGold & SoulSilver Black & White Black 2 & White 2 X & Y Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Sun & Moon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon That's 16 entries split between 7 generations. This series has not evolved as much as I'd like for the ton of games it has.
I really love the North American box art for Breath of the Wild (the European version, not so much). Say what you will about the game itself, but the cover let's you know exactly what the game is. One guy looking out over a beautiful, massive landscape, free and open for adventure.
Boo Machine that's subjective, I don't find the game boring at all. But I also find games like uncharted and call of duty to be boring, and those are filled with explosions and flashy set pieces.
One of my favorites has to be Wonderful 101. All the playable heroes bunched together with their unique weapon leaping up from a city toward the viewer with a rising fist perfectly captures the spirit and gameplay it has to offer.
Saints Row 4 boxart will always be memorable to me. The world's on fire, aliens are invading earth, the Washington Monument behind you has been ripped off by a 50-foot soda can monster... And you're just sitting there at the Oval Office with your legs crossed, sunglasses on, and cigar on your hand, sporting no less than a firm salute and a smug look on your face telling the aliens to fuck off. Man, what a boxart.
I hope people never stop caring, I love having my physical collection, looking at box arts, special editions, having long awaited games finally in my hands, etc etc.
Always think my favorite cover art is Knights of the Old Republic for perfectly capturing the look of a Star Wars poster, it made the game look like proper Star Wars experience worthy of the franchise, rather than just another Star Wars themed game.
I really love the old, old Assassin's Creed covers, where it's just a shadowy rogue in a blurry / glitched-out (NARRATIVE SYMBOLISM IN BOX-ART!!!) crowd of people holding a glinting Hidden Blade. That's it. Simple. The cyberpunk element, the disappearing into a crowd, the signature armanent of these renegades who strike down tyrants. You do NOT need anymore than that.
The first persona game's Japanese cover. It's not fully minimal, yet it leaves you curious. It gives that striking look of deep thought. Making you thinking about the demons inside this black hair kid. Only to make you realize it's real depth when you actually play the game.
My Favorite box art is Dead Rising 1, there is something about it that not only symbolizes the chaos you can cause in the gameplay, but the desperation as Frank charges head on into a seemingly hopeless situation, outnumbered by zombies, but does it with confidence. Symbolizing how Frank charged head on into the mall, with no weapons or experience with zombies, just him and his camera, ready to get the scoop at all costs. Also, Stip0 made a great video showcasing how the boxart was very weirdly put together, but it's also the same with the Dead rising 2 boxart seemingly, i enjoy the other boxart's, 3 being my least favorite box art of the series, but still fine.
Everytime i see that box cover of just Frank holding up a T.V While surrounded by the hoard of Zombies the song "Justified" by Drea (which played during that games ending credits) pops in my head. Powerful yet Haunting.
The Ryu ga Gotoku (Like a Dragon) silhouette was so damned good, they even threw it in Ryu ga Gotoku/Yakuza 0 when Kazuma Kiryu discovers his secret fourth style; The Dragon of Dojima (Or in other words, he discovers his future-self's signature fighting style), accompanied by one of the most beautifully intense rearrangements of "Receive You" I've yet heard. Even as someone whose not played any of the games for myself as of yet (Believe me, they're pretty high on my list!), I had to stop myself from roaring with outrageous cheer at the mere spectacle! And boy do I remember the Resident Evil GameCube covers in my local GAME shop. They had my wimpier younger self shivering just to pick up the box and see what was on the back! And when did the UK continue to be so tastefully hardcore when it came to Metal Gear Solid? "Flabby CGI face" is all I remember of seeing Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots on any shelf I've browsed in England (Boy does Yoji Shinkawa's legendary artwork get a straight up "Bloody hell" out of me!). As for boxart examples, Borderlands 2 comes to mind, taking the first game's "shoot self, then fill in cranial matter", but now with two 'guns' and filling the spray matter with Handsome Jack, robots & Helios on the left with the Vault Hunters on the right, all with the crazed Psycho with the Vault Symbol on his mask straight in the middle. I am glad the Japanese boxart for The Wind Waker got used for the Wind Waker HD UK/EU release full to the brim with the game's colour & cast with Link conducting the performance with Wind Waker in hand, as even though North America uses it too, they couldn't resist smearing everything but Link & the Title in yellow (Probably to harken back to the North American boxart for The Wind Waker the UK got as well, which to it's credit still shows the most defining element of the game; a little boy with a big smile on his face riding his boat across the vast seas).
My two favorites are Borderlands 2 (psycho pointing fingers at his head, heroes in a splash going from the metaphorical headshot) and Prince of Persia Sands of Times (the prince, dagger in hand, doing a wallrun). They just sum up the game so perfectly.
You might've mentioned around the 7:00 mark that the MGSV Definitive Edition boxart was fantastic; shows you all the major characters in an artistic style that fits the setting and the tone perfectly.
I'm pretty sure sin and punishment star successor is my favorite box art ever, and disk art for that matter. At the time when everyone was basically doing variations of the COD box art you had this amazing water colour painting that I really don't think has been topped since even though box art has gradually gotten better this gen
Also, I have to disagree on the Yakuza 6 cover. The Japanese one is Kazuma and a bunch of people you meet in the game for the first time (and let's be honest, "Beat" Takeshi is only a big deal in Japan, not so much in the West), while the Western one is an almost moving piece focusing on Kazuma and his family, which is appropriate since this is the end of his story.
Oh yeah i forgot about that one, the moment you get to that scene it fucking hits you hard and really makes you appreciate the title and box art way more
Let's go another Brit upload! I really hope physical media stays in the gaming community. Also I thought of the Nakeyjakey vid as soon as I saw the title of this video, cool that you addressed it. 👍
I really like the Dead Space covers. The first game has this creepy shot of a dismembered hand floating in space over the ship you traverse over the course of the story. The second game got this awesome close up of the main characters helmet, as the eyes illuminate the void he’s standing in. Then the 3rd game has said lead character walking alone in a winter wasteland, his weapon in one hand, the mountains in the background, along with a planet that looks like it’s slowly decaying.
One thing I'm grateful to Steam for is that when you look at your library they have what's essentially a videogame box art cover for each game as long as it's been bought on Steam, even then if you add a non-Steam game to Steam you can add a custom one!
Great video! Also, thanks for the NakeyJakey shoutout. More people need to know about that certified hotboy. He's one of the most charismatic people on CZcams, just a bit behind Endless Jess.
I really like the sobriety and minimalism of the Elder scrolls boxarts. The fact that the background of these box covers are some sort of leathery texture makes it look like you are about to open a book, that tells the story of Tamriel. Really nice when you think about it.
I really love Gears of War 2 box art. Yes it's another guy with a gun cover, but Marcus holding cog-tags, all moody with his head down perfectly catches game atmosphere and theme about lost.
I love the dark souls 1 cover. Man walking into what is obviously danger. But you don't know what's out there. Its very reminiscent of the game and very well done.
i absolutely adore the non japanese crash bandicoot ps1 box arts, incredibly iconic and the visuals of those 4 games are basically timeless to me, its such a unique style(until ape escape anyway which i also adore)
I don't get why American publishers think we are all obsessed with big manly bearded protagonist with a gun/sword on the cover and we all have been shown to be more interested in simple yet stylish covers that we could hang in the wall and be proud when someone look at it and say "that's a cool art"
i honestly love the box art for the release versions of dead island and dying light, i love the stylised explosion of colour with dead island's with the greens, blues, pinks, reds and white while keeping a horror tone with how it is all depicted. dying light's is still stylised but more subdued, using only blacks, whites and yellows, the smear graphic on the zombie makes it feel more urban like the setting as it looks like paint dripping down a wall while also showcasing the duality of it's day to night system. yes, i do love both games unironically XD
The game certainly has its issues, but I don't think any video about game box art is complete without talking about Metroid: Other M's Japanese box art. It's a minimalist, hypersaturated slipcase with a cutout for Samus's visor that you take off to reveal a subdued, black and white shot of Samus when she was younger. It has a bit of CGI-closeup syndrome, but the effect and effectiveness of what it does is super unique and beautiful.
Every time I just have to ask...why? Publishers literally have work done for them with covers, why bother shoddily slapping together stuff with in-game models?
It's even worse than that, virtually every bigger game also pays artist to do make promotional art for them, that strangely seems to be rarely featured anywhere. But they get it commisioned and still release those bland abominations.
But it was rarely the case anywhere else, nor did it nearly ever look good. And games being 3D stopped being important in like a year or so around that time, given how fast games evolved in the 90's. hell. Quake was released in 1996.
DMC3SE Western: Guys stand in middle DMC3 JPN: Guys engaged in intense fight, Vergil takes more space on the cover to establish power, while you can see Dante's expression of struggle. I.E. You are going to play a hard ass game. Mwah. Bellissimo.
I also tend to notice how there is a second box art on the reverse side for some games. And it's usually better than than the front so I just flip them over and now I got this better looking game. Exp, God of War box reverse box art. On the front we got Kratos and Atreus on a boat on a lake with a nice looking mountain behind and I thought that was nice, but then flip it over and I see Kratos and Atreus in the middle of a fierce battle with numerous of the games enemies surrounding them. Father and Son fighting side by side and was pretty god damn sweet. But new favorite box art is the MGS4 japanese box art that you just showed in this video. Never saw it before, but now I'm blown away by how good it looks. Thank you.
Psygnosis has some of the coolest box art I've seen. They made a lot of games for the Amiga and Commadore. A lot of it has a kind of gritty futurism that sums up the alien-like tone a lot of the games have. aND BY god do they look rad af
You gotta see this cover art for Turok: Battle of the Bionosaurs. Its just Turok looking bad ass with his bow ready to shoot and if you look real close you can see the FINAL BOSS in the scope! How cool is that. The whole point of the game is to get to that one awesome moment.
The fact that Yakuza 1's japanese box art still gets referenced in the series to this very day.
original Doom boxart is timeless. The artist passed away RIP
Dead Space 1's box art tells you everything you need to know (i.e. everyone's dead, you're in space, and you'll be severing a lot of limbs off).
Yeah Dead Space 1's box art was pretty amazing and unique. Wish I can say same about Dead Space 2 and 3's box arts though... :/
SectionEight Yeah I gotta agree but I also liked Dead Space 2's box art as well. A bit of blood on the helmet along with complete darkness covering the helmet with only the light of the helmet. Dead Space 3? It was practically Modern Warfare 2's box art and it really showed that there's gonna be a lot of action
@@Bloodhurl67 *and mediocrity(in 3)
i appreciate the snakeboy shoutout
Dog bless
Dog bless you all
ITS JOEY POCKETT
Dog bless
Did u move in yet lul
i'm a fan of the rising trend of people making videos just geeking out about their favorite box art. Good shit
Good. Savor it, because chances are soon noone will do this anymore.
Are Yakuza referrences now the new DMC referrences?
Saborsora a I hope so
Sounds pretty rad to me.
They are the new Jojo references
No that's on his other channel hyperbithero
Fun fact: Takeshi Kitano is somewhat known here in Spain because of his program Fūun! Takeshi Jō which I think it was localized as Takeshi's castle in the US. It was a very popular program here during the early 2000s and I loved it as a kid.
MXC: Most Extreme Elimination Challenge.
I dont think I watched a TGB video, there was no mention of Devil May Cry.
Liam Horton well he did shit on mgsv, that's something
Well there was DmC music.. lol
SonicKick wait what when ? I didn't notice
Karim Alemshaty at 0:43
I like the Doom box art. The original Doom had that cheesy 90’s action scene where the hero is surrounded and just blasting his guns into a crowd of horrible demons. It’s almost generic, but that’s what I love about it. And I love that the new 2016 Doom has an alternative cover that paid homage to the old school game.
Wolfenstein the New Order had an awesome cover as well, just some silhouettes of Nazi’s in a style that seemed nearly 60’s. The sequel had an alternative cover with the protagonist on his knees, ready to be executed by the Nazi commander and the flip side had a cool collage of the main characters that reminded me of the older Star Wars covers.
Good to see Yakuza 4's boxart get some love. Easily my favourite of all time.
I challenge you to do something similar to this concept but with video game title screens.
JC4R oh I loved the Rayman 2 title screen.
God Of War has to be up there. It goes straight from Kratos' face staring menacingly at you into a cutscene. Shit my pants the first time I played it. Doesn't get much better than that tbh.
For nostalgic value, I'd also add Supermario 64. Booting it up and seeing an interactive 3D mario face felt magical at the time.
@@ngubod16 That's every god of War game's title screen. Well, I mean #4 zooms it out a bit but still.
Nakey Jakey did that too
The increasing terribleness of game cover art is so weird to me. The point of cover art is to get people interested as they're browsing the shelves, right? Something that stands out and gets you interested. Yet we're lead to believe that what draws most eyes is "some guy scowling with a gun #94876." Who the hell is going out browsing for games and thinks "Oh look, there's a game with no distinguishing features and a really uninteresting uninformative cover! I've got to try that out!"?
Scrustle As a kid browsing game shops I always looked at the cover art and the pictures on the back to get a feel for the game and what they're about. One game I bought out interest as a kid was Battle stations Midway. The cover of a Japanese battleship being attacked by aircraft with a submarine submerged below it, told me that this game had 3 areas of warfare and I was not disappointed with the naval warfare that game had.
Game covers these days are just more of the same, generic car on the cover for a racing game nothing about what cool features the game might have. Or random soldier number 578 walking towards you, I don't purchase games at a glance anymore because nothing catches my eye anymore. Everything now is mainstream, generic either out of fear for being different or just plain laziness, gaming is not what it once was a decade ago it's saddening.
freaking love nakey jakey! dog bless you man
One of my favourite things from recent history is reversible box art. So you get all the standard stuff on one side and then, quite often, a minimal opposite side, sometimes with nice artwork. After putting a disk in the first time the next thing I do while that loads is check the inside of the box to see if I can reverse it.
Fidgie0 The switch cover for Bioshock Infinite was really cool for me.
I always liked Resistance 3's cover. Simplicity and purity at its finest.
A GamingBrit video with Yakuza in the thumbnail...never clicked a video so fast!!!
Also mentioning Nakey Jakey! Two legends...collab please!
The original twilight princess boxart, was very simple and to the point, I liked it alot
"You see, people judge books by their covers."
I'm a fan of any Final Fantasy Cover featuring Yoshitaka Amano; particularly the original Japanese FFVI cover and the GBA cover for Final Fantasy IV. His artwork makes you expect an otherworldly journey moreso than an anime flavored JRPG romp
Xenoblade Chronicles, Deus Ex, JP Dark Souls, MGSV: DE and JP Super Metroid are my all time favorites.
I like the covers to Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2. Really cool Kazuma Kaneko artwork of the protagonists, Serph and Sera, over a white background with their demon forms in the background, their arms actually turning into those of their demon forms to indicate the idea of the game is transforming into these things. Its a really cool sort of case where the two covers act as two parts of a larger image of these two. I can't really say it does anything so bold as the Yakuza covers or God Hand, but its still a cool image that gives you a great sense of the kind of style of the game.
Kaneko got some great covers like SMT 1 and 2, If... , american Persona 1 and japanese Persona IS and EP
GreenTengu97 the Megaten Series best Box Art was Majin Tensei 2: Spiral Nemesis
Hell most of the original box art for the 90's entries look great.
Everytime someone mentions digital devil saga i just smile, its easily one of my favourite game duologys of all time.
I'd like to give a shoutout to Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3's cover, which accidentally layered Hawkeye's arrow on top of his hand, so it looks like he doesn't even know how to use his own weapon.
I've always enjoyed the cover art for _Indigo Prophecy._ It's dark, mysterious, and foreboding with the creepy image of the faceless man dropping the murder weapon from his bloody hands with condemning words in the background.
and then the game happened
Thats how they got me
DAVID CAGE IN A TUTORIAL
POSSESED IN A TOILET DINER
MOPPING BLOOD
BUG FIGHT AT THE OFFICE
SNEAKING ON A MILITARY BASE
APARTMENT TRYING TO KILL YOU
OFFENSIVE CHINESE STEREOTYPE IN A LIBRARY
OFFENSIVE BLACK STEREOTYPES
OFFENSIVE WOMEN STEREOTYPES
OFFENSIVE WHITE STEREOTYPES
OFFENSIVE COP STEREOTYPES
MILDLY OFFENSIVE GAY STEREOTYPE
CREEPY HANGOUT IN A CHICK'S ROOM
CREEPY OBSESSION FOR SHORT HAIR WOMEN TAKING SHOWERS
CREPPY OBSESSION WITH SHORT HAIR WOMEN WALKING IN UNDERWEAR IN THEIR APARTMENT
PROTAGONIST DREAMING ABOUT A LITTLE GIRL
BREAKING INTO AN OLD BLIND LADY'S HOUSE
MATRIX KUNG FU FLIPS
SUPERPOWERS
HELICOPTER MAGIC CHASE
SILENCE OF THE LAMBS RIP OFF/HANNIBAL WANABE
PROTAGONIST STEALING A LITTLE GIRL
MAYAN DREAM
BEING CHASED BY A JAGUAR
BADLY ANIMATED MATRIX/DARK CITY/DRAGON BALL FIGHT IN THE AIR
RADIOACTIVE PREGNANT WOMAN
RADIOACTIVE BABY
ILLUMINATI WANABE SECRET SOCIETY
UNDEAD COLD SEX IN A HOBO TRAIN
THE INTERNET IN PHYSICAL FORM WANTS KILL YOU
SACRIFICING A CHILD INTO A VOID
THE SECOND ICE AGE
what just happened? I blacked out when I read your comment...
And that's how my story ends. I mixed prescription medication and alcohol, and lost consciousness.
I got what I deserved.
Killed by my own apartment
Kingdom Hearts 1's original cover always makes the happiest boy in town whenever I see it.
The most impressive thing in MGS 4 for me were those eggs, damn I could eat those right now.
If I'm not mistaken, that was live action footage? Pretty sure the "actress" was listed in the credits.
With how some of the egg scenes happened I'm pretty sure it's CG. (Like, is it even possible for an egg to have two yolks? Or three?)
In the "Making Of" documentary which is also viewable on CZcams, they had a million billion eggs to crack to get the right combinations.
I mean, it's absolutely possible for an egg to have 2 yolks, and it rules because then you have more yolk, but it's not especially common.
I still can't get over the fact that Sunny spent however long living with Snake and Otacon on that plane and NEITHER of them just went "yo sunny, if the yolk breaks just scramble that shit."
I always thought the MGS3 Subsistence box art was great.
the one with big boss saluting the boss grave? yeah that was amazing 👍
Okay, so do you know that creator of Ultima, *Richard Garriot* , is also responsible for the popularization game boxes and box arts (before which, games were distributed in small plastic bags with names written on it).
And the PC games through out 80s and 90s had some nice box arts as well as manual arts, which really evoked the experience they were going for, even if the graphics didn't match that. *Check out any SSI Gold Box series game, their cover screams "old school DnD".*
Also, I urge you to check out the cover of *A Mind Forever Voyaging* .
I was never interested in trying a text adventure game until I came across that.
Neato.
80's game covers were often so utterly gorgeous.
Psygnosis espeically, just look web.stanford.edu/group/htgg/cgi-bin/drupal/?q=node/435
Damn, those Britishers made some awesome stuff.
Some of those Psygnosis covers really scream "we fucking love metal" to me. I can really see some similarities to Judas Priest and a little bit of Iron Maiden cover art from the time period.
Also a bit of Predator one one of them, but ofc you gotta' do Predator.
Quite a few of the artists they hired actually did metal covers as well, so that's a large part of why it looks like that, even though the overall stylisation is also very similar.
I really love the first Deus Ex cover, because its pretty much sums up the game on. The ideas we face, the philosophy of JC as a character (being an empty but charismatic container for players choices), the cyberpunk destopian vibe and the simplicity. All of it is in one image.
MultiMicals yes, and even without knowing anything about the game, it just looks so cool and intriguing!
Shit like this is why I love TBGS: a well thought out critique on something so important, yet so often ignored. Mad kudos man.
Also, was this finally the video without a DMC reference???
in before the very end is half a frame of the "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" scene from dmc4(its not but that would be hilarious)
Batman arkham city game of the year edition is the best video game box art cover
megamonmon there's even an improved version
img.gawkerassets.com/img/17kkqy5onl67ljpg/original.jpg
lol
Nobody can beat Yoji Shinkawa's boxarts but one thing that I've always considered really underappreciated is Metro 2033's box art with Artyom's cracked gas mask reflecting a monster with ruined Moscow in the background.
A series that really deserves better covers is the main Pokémon series. Pretty much every game just has a png of a legendary Pokémon pasted over a generic background. What am I supposed to know about a game that just has a picture of a weird looking animal on the cover. The Mystery Dungeon and Pokémon Ranger games have way better covers with new art of what is in the game. Hopefully now that the series is going to Switch where the cases aren’t just squares they can be more creative with the box art.
They always could have been more creative, everyone else has been more creative since forever. In Pokemons case though it seems they just decided that this is just how Pokemon covers look. They've looked that way for over 20 years, so they figure "eh, if it ain't broke don't fix it.". Not unlike the core games themselves IMO, it's outstanding how little these games actually change from version to version yet they get no criticism for it.
I get that they want to really show which version contains which legendary. But, if they want to go that lazy route they could at least make just one really neat box art where both legendaries take up equal space and just zoom in on the legendary for their respective version. Kind of like how Fire Emblem fates does it where it's one big picture just divided between versions.
TheKripox There are quite substantial changes from generation to generation but unless you know the in depth mechanics of the games you’ll probably never notice them.
The biggest one are probably Gen IV and Gen V where in the former you had the physical special split where useless pokemon from before had some use, or got new evolutions. In the latter, a bigger empahsis on story and a whole new region with only new mons definitely helped. On the surface they're quite samey yes, but deeper in they're quite different
I know the mechanics, I played competitive Pokemon for a while and wasn't that bad at it either. Sure there are changes from generation to generation, but the games never really felt all that different. In game after game after game there is the same starting premise with the same general goals to reach the same general endgame. Each game has alway added more and more to the series but generally has not felt like it CHANGED anything to a sufficient degree to feel impactful. There are certain exceptions here, like the physical/special split which improved combat significantly, the switch from 2D grid to 3D in later titles and a few other things, but last time I sat down with a Pokemon game I couldn't help think about how remarkably similar it was at its core to the games I played 20 years ago. It's actually crazy similar for how many games there's been. Counting only main series English releases we got:
Red & Blue
Yellow
Gold & Silver
Crystal
Ruby & Sapphire
FireRed & LeafGreen
Emerald
Diamond & Pearl
Platinum
HeartGold & SoulSilver
Black & White
Black 2 & White 2
X & Y
Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire
Sun & Moon
Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon
That's 16 entries split between 7 generations. This series has not evolved as much as I'd like for the ton of games it has.
I really love the North American box art for Breath of the Wild (the European version, not so much). Say what you will about the game itself, but the cover let's you know exactly what the game is. One guy looking out over a beautiful, massive landscape, free and open for adventure.
The variant cover isn't too shabby either.
Boo Machine that's subjective, I don't find the game boring at all. But I also find games like uncharted and call of duty to be boring, and those are filled with explosions and flashy set pieces.
@@ezzy384 which are just covering up how actually barron the games are of stuff to do most of the time, if youre not a completionist
One of my favorites has to be Wonderful 101. All the playable heroes bunched together with their unique weapon leaping up from a city toward the viewer with a rising fist perfectly captures the spirit and gameplay it has to offer.
Saints Row 4 boxart will always be memorable to me.
The world's on fire, aliens are invading earth, the Washington Monument behind you has been ripped off by a 50-foot soda can monster...
And you're just sitting there at the Oval Office with your legs crossed, sunglasses on, and cigar on your hand, sporting no less than a firm salute and a smug look on your face telling the aliens to fuck off.
Man, what a boxart.
I hope people never stop caring, I love having my physical collection, looking at box arts, special editions, having long awaited games finally in my hands, etc etc.
Its all about Final Fantasy 4-12 with the minimalist logo and amazing Yoshitaka Amano gradient that has a vague hint to the story.
Always think my favorite cover art is Knights of the Old Republic for perfectly capturing the look of a Star Wars poster, it made the game look like proper Star Wars experience worthy of the franchise, rather than just another Star Wars themed game.
Deathlygunn Yes! I was tempted to put in my list. But went for JK2 instead. So many good SW ones though, XWing Alliance, FoCom, EAW, Rogue Squadron.
The first Dead Space cover is simply amazing, gets the feeling and theme of the game trough very well
then EA strong armed the devs into taking the trilogy into the complete wrong direction with 3... and then shut down the studio
I really love the old, old Assassin's Creed covers, where it's just a shadowy rogue in a blurry / glitched-out (NARRATIVE SYMBOLISM IN BOX-ART!!!) crowd of people holding a glinting Hidden Blade. That's it. Simple.
The cyberpunk element, the disappearing into a crowd, the signature armanent of these renegades who strike down tyrants.
You do NOT need anymore than that.
The first persona game's Japanese cover. It's not fully minimal, yet it leaves you curious. It gives that striking look of deep thought. Making you thinking about the demons inside this black hair kid. Only to make you realize it's real depth when you actually play the game.
Yeah, also with innocent sin. (I dont know if its the us eu or jp cover art but its the one with tatsuya with barbed wires.
I JUST BOUGHT MY YAKUZA 1&2 HD and not only great boxart, but it also includes manuels
why our 60 buck games has no manuels for god sake
I, too, _HATE_ that they took out manuals! 😡😡😡
Dead Rising 1's box-art is my favorite.
That's nice
Heritage for the future japanese cover art, best cover art ever
talking about resident evil 4 but not about the eu ps2 cover and steelbook?!?
still one of the best ever.
Doom 2016 had amazing box art... On the reverse side.
My Favorite box art is Dead Rising 1, there is something about it that not only symbolizes the chaos you can cause in the gameplay, but the desperation as Frank charges head on into a seemingly hopeless situation, outnumbered by zombies, but does it with confidence. Symbolizing how Frank charged head on into the mall, with no weapons or experience with zombies, just him and his camera, ready to get the scoop at all costs. Also, Stip0 made a great video showcasing how the boxart was very weirdly put together, but it's also the same with the Dead rising 2 boxart seemingly, i enjoy the other boxart's, 3 being my least favorite box art of the series, but still fine.
The rendering on Frank and the zombies look so fucking badass
Everytime i see that box cover of just Frank holding up a T.V While surrounded by the hoard of Zombies the song "Justified" by Drea (which played during that games ending credits) pops in my head. Powerful yet Haunting.
> Yakuza 6
Is Ryuji just out of shot?
Me too..
I wish he was too.
Dead Space has a great cover imo
The Ryu ga Gotoku (Like a Dragon) silhouette was so damned good, they even threw it in Ryu ga Gotoku/Yakuza 0 when Kazuma Kiryu discovers his secret fourth style; The Dragon of Dojima (Or in other words, he discovers his future-self's signature fighting style), accompanied by one of the most beautifully intense rearrangements of "Receive You" I've yet heard. Even as someone whose not played any of the games for myself as of yet (Believe me, they're pretty high on my list!), I had to stop myself from roaring with outrageous cheer at the mere spectacle!
And boy do I remember the Resident Evil GameCube covers in my local GAME shop. They had my wimpier younger self shivering just to pick up the box and see what was on the back! And when did the UK continue to be so tastefully hardcore when it came to Metal Gear Solid? "Flabby CGI face" is all I remember of seeing Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots on any shelf I've browsed in England (Boy does Yoji Shinkawa's legendary artwork get a straight up "Bloody hell" out of me!).
As for boxart examples, Borderlands 2 comes to mind, taking the first game's "shoot self, then fill in cranial matter", but now with two 'guns' and filling the spray matter with Handsome Jack, robots & Helios on the left with the Vault Hunters on the right, all with the crazed Psycho with the Vault Symbol on his mask straight in the middle.
I am glad the Japanese boxart for The Wind Waker got used for the Wind Waker HD UK/EU release full to the brim with the game's colour & cast with Link conducting the performance with Wind Waker in hand, as even though North America uses it too, they couldn't resist smearing everything but Link & the Title in yellow (Probably to harken back to the North American boxart for The Wind Waker the UK got as well, which to it's credit still shows the most defining element of the game; a little boy with a big smile on his face riding his boat across the vast seas).
My two favorites are Borderlands 2 (psycho pointing fingers at his head, heroes in a splash going from the metaphorical headshot) and Prince of Persia Sands of Times (the prince, dagger in hand, doing a wallrun). They just sum up the game so perfectly.
I also like that God hand cover where the hand goes inside the guys mouth.
I love nakey, and now I love you
You might've mentioned around the 7:00 mark that the MGSV Definitive Edition boxart was fantastic; shows you all the major characters in an artistic style that fits the setting and the tone perfectly.
I'm pretty sure sin and punishment star successor is my favorite box art ever, and disk art for that matter. At the time when everyone was basically doing variations of the COD box art you had this amazing water colour painting that I really don't think has been topped since even though box art has gradually gotten better this gen
Metal Gear Solid 1 - absolute fucking legendary masterpiece. 4 was also amazing. Ah, the nostalgia...
Also, I have to disagree on the Yakuza 6 cover. The Japanese one is Kazuma and a bunch of people you meet in the game for the first time (and let's be honest, "Beat" Takeshi is only a big deal in Japan, not so much in the West), while the Western one is an almost moving piece focusing on Kazuma and his family, which is appropriate since this is the end of his story.
SMT art is pretty sick. The if... one in particular is pure kino.
I miss buying a game just by looking at the box art in a game shop.
Hotline Miami 2`s was pretty iconic for me.
Oh yeah i forgot about that one, the moment you get to that scene it fucking hits you hard and really makes you appreciate the title and box art way more
That and the Japanese Box for the 1 & 2 collection ( 9:28 ) are some of the sickest I've seen.
Doom 2016's alternate cover is the best image man has ever created
Let's go another Brit upload! I really hope physical media stays in the gaming community. Also I thought of the Nakeyjakey vid as soon as I saw the title of this video, cool that you addressed it. 👍
I really like the Dead Space covers.
The first game has this creepy shot of a dismembered hand floating in space over the ship you traverse over the course of the story.
The second game got this awesome close up of the main characters helmet, as the eyes illuminate the void he’s standing in.
Then the 3rd game has said lead character walking alone in a winter wasteland, his weapon in one hand, the mountains in the background, along with a planet that looks like it’s slowly decaying.
One thing I'm grateful to Steam for is that when you look at your library they have what's essentially a videogame box art cover for each game as long as it's been bought on Steam, even then if you add a non-Steam game to Steam you can add a custom one!
Great video! Also, thanks for the NakeyJakey shoutout. More people need to know about that certified hotboy. He's one of the most charismatic people on CZcams, just a bit behind Endless Jess.
Everything about Madworld's logo and box art are perfect
I really like the sobriety and minimalism of the Elder scrolls boxarts. The fact that the background of these box covers are some sort of leathery texture makes it look like you are about to open a book, that tells the story of Tamriel. Really nice when you think about it.
This game really makes you feel like a box art
I really love Gears of War 2 box art. Yes it's another guy with a gun cover, but Marcus holding cog-tags, all moody with his head down perfectly catches game atmosphere and theme about lost.
The first Kingdom Hearts has beautiful box art
The very rare Resident Evil PowerVR PC version has an all black cardboard box with the first zombie you meet in the game, that one is my favorite !!
I love the dark souls 1 cover. Man walking into what is obviously danger. But you don't know what's out there. Its very reminiscent of the game and very well done.
Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 had brilliant box art, purely minimalist but you instantly get an idea of what the game is about.
i absolutely adore the non japanese crash bandicoot ps1 box arts, incredibly iconic and the visuals of those 4 games are basically timeless to me, its such a unique style(until ape escape anyway which i also adore)
The alternate cover for UMVC3 is my favorite box art for any game. Seeing Vergil and Strider drawn in Marvel’s style is amazing.
It may sound weird, but the series with the most consistent box art design over regions and ages is Pokémon.
I love the Doom (1993) Box Art , It basically just tells you what the games about on the cover.
the very simple designs of final fantasy boxarts in japan
I really love those for some reason
I don't get why American publishers think we are all obsessed with big manly bearded protagonist with a gun/sword on the cover and we all have been shown to be more interested in simple yet stylish covers that we could hang in the wall and be proud when someone look at it and say "that's a cool art"
The og Yakuza boxart is my favorite box art of all time
I always liked how the Wii version of RE4's cover art was white instead of red. It really made it stand out from the other 100 versions of that game.
i honestly love the box art for the release versions of dead island and dying light, i love the stylised explosion of colour with dead island's with the greens, blues, pinks, reds and white while keeping a horror tone with how it is all depicted. dying light's is still stylised but more subdued, using only blacks, whites and yellows, the smear graphic on the zombie makes it feel more urban like the setting as it looks like paint dripping down a wall while also showcasing the duality of it's day to night system. yes, i do love both games unironically XD
Metal Gear Rising Revengence’s cover of Raiden diagonally slicing a cyborg in half, with his pieces used to focus frame on Raiden is perfect
The game certainly has its issues, but I don't think any video about game box art is complete without talking about Metroid: Other M's Japanese box art. It's a minimalist, hypersaturated slipcase with a cutout for Samus's visor that you take off to reveal a subdued, black and white shot of Samus when she was younger. It has a bit of CGI-closeup syndrome, but the effect and effectiveness of what it does is super unique and beautiful.
Every time I just have to ask...why?
Publishers literally have work done for them with covers, why bother shoddily slapping together stuff with in-game models?
It's even worse than that, virtually every bigger game also pays artist to do make promotional art for them, that strangely seems to be rarely featured anywhere. But they get it commisioned and still release those bland abominations.
Probably some bullshit focus testing that states Americans are more likely to buy games with CG renders on covers.
In late 90s and early 2000s it was a way to show that game is 3D, because it was hot shit back then, and I guess it kinda stuck a bit.
But it was rarely the case anywhere else, nor did it nearly ever look good. And games being 3D stopped being important in like a year or so around that time, given how fast games evolved in the 90's. hell. Quake was released in 1996.
I mean, I totally agree, but I imagine SOME of it is just licensing issues that couldn't get sorted out for certain games.
Jakey’s video feels like a century old now
I always loved the Kingdom Under Fire boxart, both Crusaders and Heroes are great!
I was always fond of Dead Space's box art. Just a single dead arm floating in space.
DMC3SE Western: Guys stand in middle
DMC3 JPN: Guys engaged in intense fight, Vergil takes more space on the cover to establish power, while you can see Dante's expression of struggle. I.E. You are going to play a hard ass game. Mwah. Bellissimo.
I still love to get them in the box. Its nice to be able to see all my games together in real life.
XCOM 2 default box art is one of my favorites,
that alien face made of human skulls is so cool looking
I also tend to notice how there is a second box art on the reverse side for some games. And it's usually better than than the front so I just flip them over and now I got this better looking game. Exp, God of War box reverse box art. On the front we got Kratos and Atreus on a boat on a lake with a nice looking mountain behind and I thought that was nice, but then flip it over and I see Kratos and Atreus in the middle of a fierce battle with numerous of the games enemies surrounding them. Father and Son fighting side by side and was pretty god damn sweet. But new favorite box art is the MGS4 japanese box art that you just showed in this video. Never saw it before, but now I'm blown away by how good it looks. Thank you.
Psygnosis has some of the coolest box art I've seen. They made a lot of games for the Amiga and Commadore.
A lot of it has a kind of gritty futurism that sums up the alien-like tone a lot of the games have.
aND BY god do they look rad af
Maybe it’s just because I love this game but I really like the first BioShock box art with the big daddy and little sister looking iconic af
I'd like to submit the biggest boxart fumble with Castlevania Aria of Sorrow into Dawn of Sorrow.
Funny, it's was like exactly a year ago that I discovered Nakey Jakey by CZcams randomly suggesting his box art video. I love that dude.
I will always love the minimalist final fantasy covers, thank god im from europe, since they always add something to them in the us
Bioshock infinite art: generic man with a gun
Yakuza 4 art: SEX
You gotta see this cover art for Turok: Battle of the Bionosaurs. Its just Turok looking bad ass with his bow ready to shoot and if you look real close you can see the FINAL BOSS in the scope! How cool is that. The whole point of the game is to get to that one awesome moment.
The Borderlands box art is so good they used it twice.