Neg's Noteworthy Video Game Boxart Collection

I honestly find myself being disappointed with video game boxart a startling amount of the time. Sure, sometimes it’s outright awful; I'm looking at you, Mega Man. But, more often than not, I'm usually displeased with what is objectively decent, or genuinely beautiful art, simply because I somehow find it to be incongruent with what it's trying to represent, and sell a consumer on. Still, I have been able to identify 10 examples that I either appreciate in a purely aesthetic sense, or that have something else about them that I consider worthy of celebrating and elaborating on. Below the cut, you will find all of them, as well as links to my reviews of each associated game.



My reviews are linked in each heading.

Constantine

When it comes to licensed games based on movies, there’s always the possibility that they’ll simply be graced with the theatrical poster itself. This is the case with Constantine, and while this could assuredly be considered cheating, the fact remains that this is the cover of the game, as it was released. Plus, I’m the kind of person who leans into my biases when possible—because why wouldn’t you make yourself happy? I’ve got this framed on my wall, right next to my Revolutions poster.* Keanu watches over me, in duplicate~ The overwhelming use of shadow allows so much to be packed into the central sliver of light: the demons’ faces, John's resigned posture, and especially the almost hidden but ominously thick wisp of smoke.

Admittedly, this rendition has been significantly cropped, compared to the poster, which I was gazing at while writing this entry. Regardless, it’s still so incredibly striking that I can’t blame them for using it in more than one medium. It’s not lazy; it’s inspired.

*My opinion on this film can be found in the comments of Doc's review. His review of Constantine (the film) can be found here.

Final Fantasy XIII

In person, you'll find that this has a sincerely beautiful and understated rainbow hologram effect. Best I've ever seen!

Over the years, I’ve become very attuned to the concept of balance, and extremely leery and critical of its mirror concept, bias. The cover of XIII is one that I enjoy because of its simplicity and the representativeness of its art-style. Lightning is depicted remarkably similarly to her in-game model. As such, there is a near-complete sync between what’s on the box and what’s on the disc. I say 'near' because there is one incongruity, afoot. The best kind! Lightning is on the cover, but she honestly has the least part to play and is the least emphasized member of the party. The only bias she has, i.e., the only privilege she receives that exceeds what is justified by her development as a character, is found in this cover and the player being forced to have her in the lead for one area. The area immediately prior to being given complete freedom of party composition. That’s microscopic! Further, in this way, the least significant character has been given the honor of being the game’s public face.

Yes, having everyone present would be more ideal, but my reading of this works so incredibly well. I refuse to let the sequels retroactively taint this, because to me they do not exist.

Mega Man 6

I addressed this one in my review. I actually addressed the art of every classic Mega Man game! 6’s in particular is wonderful, not only for actually capturing the spirit of Mega Man and much of the original character art of the series, but for perfectly encapsulating a facet of its production process. Fans were asked to submit their own designs for new Robot Masters. The two North American winners were responsible for Knight Man and Wind Man. Both of which appear on this cover! While the game itself permanently honors their contributions, the NA cover specifically highlights the accomplishments of the talented artists springing from that very region!

As I said previously, this was an act of PURE CLASS.

Final Fantasy VI

I know full-well that the original Japanese boxart is gorgeous and perfectly indicative of both Yoshitaka Amano’s artwork (because it is his...) and the game as a whole. However, it’s not the art that I grew up with. Can it truly be called nostalgia if it’s a feeling that has never left me? That has always been present within me since 1994? I’m honestly not even sure what that’s a shadow of. Is it supposed to be Kefka? It doesn’t matter. It’s an ominous purple shadow that’s touching Mog’s shadow and Mog gives NO FUCKS. Because that’s how Mog rolls. He throws shade at deities; he tells the mysterious that it works for him. He’s a mascot of the entire franchise and he’s there to tell you that the wonder and emotion and batshit lunacy of the franchise can help you be as intrepid and confidently chill as he is, in the face of…everything.

I once again have to sincerely thank Doc for fixing it, such that it bears the correct number!

Silent Hill Origins

I adore Silent Hill. The entire series. Its artwork almost universally sucks, though! 3’s is passable, but I prefer a parody version of it that I found once. 1’s is an inverted mess. 4’s could be great if it wasn’t for that damn ghost making it look camp as Christmas. I thought that was Adam with hair, for years, not Alex! Why is Angela on 2’s? Murphy’s is okay. Just okay, though. That means Travis wins by default. I could not tell you if that’s supposed to be Alessa or Lisa. Pretty sure it's not Dahlia. It’s a mysterious woman and in the context of the rest, she’s good, regardless of who she is. That’s not 100% Travis, but it’s sublimely close enough. There's a building barely visible in the background (pretty certain I know what it is, but no spoilers~) and the sepia tone is perfectly fitting. It’s not objectively perfect, but, again, compared to the rest, it IS. It’s the best singular visual encapsulation of the franchise that has graced one of its NA covers. No, I’ll commit to saying it's the best I’ve seen, period, domestic and otherwise.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Zelda has had some pretty nice covers, I’ll concede. Majora’s Mask 3D’s is really great. Much like the game itself, Ocarina’s is iconic, if admittedly a little boring, in context. The art, not the game, obviously. Just a smidge. Blasphemy! Ohhh myyy~

Twilight Princess’s perfectly splits the difference, for me. Again, fittingly, both in terms of TP embodying aspects of those two games, and in how the design of this artwork is both representative of the game and iconic in its own right. There’s a simplicity to how it visually denotes its defining gameplay mechanic, and in its muted, sepia color pallet. However, there’s that wonderful splash of technicolor radiance to be found in the logo. Which, also evokes Midna without her being directly present. There are Twili and Hylian design motifs within their respective ‘halves’ of the piece. Those, while symmetrical, are divided diagonally, as opposed to being split in a much more standard vertical manner. Link’s heads are similarly unconventionally arranged at 90° to one another, as opposed to 180°, even though they would have mirrored one another nicely as such, with Link’s cap trailing in a manner directly akin to his mane.

Still, this was likely intentional, as while they are visually separated by the background(s), there is a nice degree of visual flow and physical connectedness between his two forms because of this arrangement, indicating to an observer that they are one in the same.

Uninvited

This doesn’t accurately reflect the nature and quality of the graphics you will find upon placing the cart into your NES. Or, the ROM into your computer’s active memory. However, it does capture the SPIRIT of what the designers hoped to convey. The fish-eye lens effect lets you know that you’re going to be encountering surreal visuals and happenings, even if they aren’t going to be as technologically impressive as what’s currently filling your vision. I can’t personally claim to find this particularly frightening, but I do think it’s incredibly well-rendered and a joy to soak in. I’m a sucker for hyper-saturated images and this pops off the box/screen because of it. Aesthetics rule the day, here, and I adore this, simply as an image that I have had the pleasure to sense and perceive. It reminds me of scary story-telling sessions with my childhood friends, and that too accurately reflects the nature, mood, and tenor of Uninvited, to a tee.

Xenogears

J's review of the game can be found here.

My relationship with Xenogears is both a long and troubled one. However, that’s very apropos, given specifics of the game itself. I’ve said elsewhere that establishing expectations is important. While XIII does it in an inverse sense, Xenogears does it in the direct, conventional way. Fei’s experiences are the backbone of this story, and the title and frontispiece accurately convey that. Fei’s stance is wonderful, in my eyes. Many, many people seek articulation in their figural representations, but on the whole, I personally do not. To me, figures and mecha standing proud and true is the exact visual I seek for my shelves. In this way, and in this game in very specific, the worlds of tokusatsu, toys, and gaming overlap. Tokusatsu inspired Xenogears, and Xenogears in turn inspired very specific aspects of tokusatsu that came after its release. Mecha are metaphors and they must represent the individuals who pilot them. While I had a bit of trouble seeing that at the outset of my latest return to Xenogears, the ultimate truth is that it does succeed in this manner, with flying colors. Fei’s pose here is exactly mirrored by Weltall and brings to mind an absolutely stellar shot of them facing one another at the very beginning of the game. This is complemented by an image of Sophia and a buried hint of the Zohar Modifier.

This is pretty much exactly what the original Silent Hill was hoping to achieve, but failed to. Instead of a colorless inversion effect, the images behind Fei and the prominent X are simply desaturated, and thus do not get lost in a melange of monochrome monotony like Harry and Cybil.

This tells you so much of what you need to know, and does so while invoking both the design and metaphorical conventions of the genre at play.

Appare!

Resident Evil 5

The strong points of RE5’s original cover aren’t entirely dissimilar to those of Constantine’s. Look closely at what the filled-in silhouette of Africa is hiding. Consider how appropriate the white-hot incandescence poking from the edges of the title, and entirely comprising the number, is to the setting of the game. How the cover as a whole tells you what you’re getting into, in the most elegant way possible. Chris and Sheva standing back to back visually conveys that partnership is thematically central to the game as a whole, from the play mechanics, to the story, to the dialogue itself.


It’s an impossibly strong cover for an impossibly strong game. It is exquisite.

Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest

If you didn’t know, this was plagiarized from a piece of Ravenloft artwork. That’s not MY problem, though~ For me, this is the most iconic piece of Castlevania artwork in existence. Does Strahd here look like the form Dracula takes in this game? No! But, that makes sense logistically and I’m fine with this being a default depiction of…a default vampire… Plus, it doesn’t spoil what he looks like, in the game. THIS, this is what Simon Belmont looks like. Not that monstrosity that the Death Note dude cooked up for Judgement. Though, Smash Simon is really damn cool in his own right. How do you evoke his definitive stride in a still image? You do what they did here. Look at how the whip curls on itself and goes out of frame. Close enough to 3D, for me! Tempered confidence and resolve and apprehension all swirl together in Simon’s stoic visage. This is everything I believe boxart should be.

As much as perfectly matching printed visuals to those on the screen is commendable, the simple truth is that that wasn’t always possible. Striking and stirring pieces of art did result from capturing the spirit and essence of the characters and worlds, enhancing them in appropriate and synergistic ways.

I simply wish that, in my eyes, more had been able to do so, successfully. But, who knows what the future will bring...


Doc and J, I encourage you to do your own posts on this subject, if you feel so inspired. I'd love to read them.