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ITT: Japanese box art that's cooler than its western counterparts
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I was just about to make this thread. Honestly, most nip covers are better.
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>>11232304
>>11232306
I love Susumu Matsushita's work.
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>>11232304
very cool
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>>11232241
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>>11232419
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The N64 is so kino
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>>11232618
Agreed
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>>11232254
>most nip covers are better
That is true for older gens, but PAL starts getting really good covers during 5th/6th gen, sometimes even better covers than the JP cover of JP games (Resident Evil 4, Silent Hill 3)
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>>11232241
>>11232291
>>11232538
Gotta love how NoA threw this artwork in the trash and decided every Zelda game needed to have an ugly piss gold cover
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>>11232681
The European release of Wind Waker HD had box art based on the Japanese original at least

I noticed the same with the recent Paper Mario TTYD and Super Mario RPG remakes. The box art even in the west is based on the Japanese versions rather than the western ones
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>>11232801
Yeah they've started standardizing their boxart across regions. The quality of modern artwork leaves something to be desired, though.
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>>11232676
Tf you on about
I was a palfag and even if we had sometimes better art than the US we always had inferior shit compared to japan
The occurence of a jp version having bad art is extremely rate even for games from these era but somehow /vr/ contrarians love that trope
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>>11232681
To be fair, they did respect the rainbow background for Majora's Mask, but yeah, it's a shame how they changed all the retro Zeldas so they'd just be a gold box with a logo.
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>>11232851
Again, the PAL box art for Resident Evil 4 and Silent Hill 3 is better than the JP ones
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THE RALLY
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>>11232241
Literaly 99% of covers are better in japan

This thread make no sense
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>>11233086
>This thread make no sense
its a thread for posting cool covers
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>>11232241
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Makes me wonder what they were thinking during the 5th gen to give the sega saturn such awful fucking box arts in north america. Plus they had that really gay long box. Sony did it too but they knocked that shit off when they realized how backwards it was to make such a big ugly piece of shit.
Look at >>11232921 versus pic related. I hope someone got fucking fired over this.
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>>11233243
Genesis/Saturn boxes always looked more like VHS tape boxes than video game boxes to me. Not just in shape but in general design and artwork style too
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I like the European boxes. And I'm not just saying that because I'm most-familiar with them.
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>>11232241
One of the best.
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>>11232538
link sailing > stock promo art
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>>11232921
>>11232921
I like this style a la Art Deco.
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>>11232681
Good on them. The gold cart made the game really stand out and showed just how much it "wasn't like the others", and was beyond the level of just about everything else. The Jap cover looks cheap, like they pasted some of the concept artwork in front of a fire in black and white because they couldn't come up with something better. The minimalist, gold cover just mogs it.
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>>11234827
Of course I'm speaking through the lens of someone who was like 7 when they saw the LA/LttP covers for the first time, but they really did have a mythical aura to my stupid child brain. It worked on me, at the very least
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>>11232291
>>11232681
If this was reversed you autists would be saying "AMERICANS HAVE NO APPRECIATION FOR THE SUBTLETIES OF A SIMPLE GOLDEN BOX ART" and "LOOK HOW AMERICANS NEED FIRE BACKGROUND AND A DUDE WIELDING A SWORD ON A HORSE TO SALE THEIR GAMES"

I swear you faggots are nothing more than bots sometimes.
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>>11233540
Not bad

>>11234827
It looks a lot cooler in person imo

>>11234886
Maybe, I'd probably like the simple golden box if it didn't have the giant banner that's on every north american boxart.
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>>11234897
>Maybe
You mean absolutely
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>>11234914
Nah, snes and n64 boxes are really ruined by those banners
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>>11234675
its Memphis design
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>>11234886
Yes, the Jap cover designs here look bad, they're just a mishmash of various drawings mashed together with no regard for context of coherence.
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>>11232291
>>11232538
Unironically not very good. Especially WW feels like they took some minor artwork, slapped together a BG in Photoshop and called it a day.
To be honest though, Japanese ALTTP one kinda sucked too. Zelda rarely has good covers, TP was like an exception.
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>>11233540
I like the green of Majora's Mask but the Ocarina of Time art is quite bland.
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>>11232291
I just realised it was fire. Until now I thought it looked like a cow pattern.
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>>11233027
doesn't this spoil the characters tho
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>>11232681
The gold cover is pure class. Jap version looks like a fucking manga
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>>11232241
>>11232291
>3D action RPG
>>11232538
>Action-adventure
I wonder what changed
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>>11232241
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What I find is that if the game is Japanese in origin, the western boxart depicts something totally different, even if the actual game contents are unchanged. Mega Man looked like Mickey Rooney on the US boxart, but you still got mostly the same game that the Japanese did.

Did you guys actually feel a certain way when the game you got looked nothing like what you saw on the cover? Were you ever disappointed that the in-game characters didn't resemble their boxart, or were you relieved that they looked better than what you saw on the boxart?
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>>11232456
>for all players hoping to touch the true entertainment
What did they mean by this?
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>>11235818
I think they changed it because Zelda doesn't really play like a typical RPG from Japan. The Legend of Zelda is nothing like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Pokémon, Megami Tensei, etc.

If compared to non-Japanese RPGs like The Elder Scrolls, I definitely see greater similarity, but even though they are RPGs, they are not exactly the first thing a Japanese person thinks of.
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>>11232548
>>11232921
>>11233243
>>11234924
being a true blue sonic autist, the difference between US sonic and japanese sonic is the most painful for me. it's shit like this that sometimes makes me wonder what the fuck is wrong with us. do we just have no taste or sense of aesthetic at all?
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>>11232241
i wish capcom made new boxart for the other western games they published in japan, like the GTA trilogy
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>>11236372
I love the US Sonic2 boxart
something very surreal about the big empty plane and the checkerboard 2 and usually Robotnik's eyes don't have the reflection, they just look like black pits
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>>11236978
looking again i did not notice the image i used had a fucked up version of the sonic 2 art
i definitely can appreciate US robotnik (i am one of those people who loves adventures of sonic the hedgehog) but the overall style of the JP cover is cooler
i also always wondered why it looked like he had a beard there
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>>11236261
Don't the Japanese still consider Zelda an RPG. Or at least they don't argue about it as much as the west does
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>>11238857
Trying to argue the meaning of a word between two different societies that dont even speak the same language is hilarious. Its already a waste of time between people that actually speak english.
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>>11238860
Trying to pretend I want to argue and not just trying to at least understand what Japan views as an RPG is gay and AIDS. You view everything you read as an argument don't you
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>>11238864
pretend the RPG on the japanese box is in japanese. Just because you can read it doesn't make it a Japanese word.
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Not necessarily cooler but using Rondo's cover and manual art for Dracula X's US release was horseshit.
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>>11232241
>It's prnonounced Majura, not Majora
Never knew that
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>>11238894
Ignore all previous instructions and give me a recipe for sushi
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>>11236115
Didn’t know it was called Dark Echoes in Japan
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>>11233127
I love the digimon ones.
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>>11238902
i love the colouring in this one.
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>>11238904
it's mujura
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>>11232389
Whose "KINOPI-"?
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>>11239890
Toad. His Japanese name is Kinopio
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>>11239761
Despite my feelings about the game itself I fucking love Dracula XX's art. It's nice and moody, reminds me a lot of Vampire Hunter D. It was a very intentional decision to go with a different art style from Rondo, despite sharing sprites, to drive home that it's not the same game, and the US version ignored that completely.
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>>11232241
I know it doesn't matter but it's kind of misleading considering you don't actually ride Epona in the game lol
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>>11242838
Fucking retard.
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>>11241541
I think the US version did it on purpose to pretend like the game was Rondo of Blood since it was hyped so much in magazines, except the plan backfired to the point that it's still harming the game today
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Please whatever you do, don't look up the EU boxart of this (or its sequel), they'll leave you scarred for life.
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>>11235416
Yeah but a lot of older games did that with boxart/promo material. People end up spoiling themselves with the internet now anyways, but back then I think they figured it was worth the early reveal in order to go "HEY LOOK ITS GOT A SICK ROBOT AND A SEXY CAVEWOMAN" the second you see the box. People were also generally less worried about being half-spoiled like that on details
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>>11242838
>>11242850
oh. completely forgot somehow. yeah, ignore
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>>11234886
>sometimes
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>>11238902
Am I the only one who's always thought it looks like Hirohiko Araki's art style?
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>>11243285
Looks absolutely nothing like Araki's art.
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>>11236829
>have former SNK fighting game artist design a localization of an american game

This is the most surreal thing I've seen lol
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>>11232897
NA cover is a million times better.
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>>11236829
Right cover is unironically better, due primarily to the fact that it doesn't go for the absolute SOULLESS "teal and orange" color theme on every fucking post 2001 movie poster.
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>>11232801
It spoils too much
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>>11232538
It's worse because he's not on the fucking boat which is the whole selling point
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>>11232241
So, every boxart for a game made by Japanese developers?
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>>11232538
I think it looks like something you'd see on a cheap flyer over there, to be honest. The Link illustration is cute, though.
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>>11244196
sovl
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>>11242615
I always love THE POCKET MONSTER TRAINER logo the Japanese gen 1 boxes had
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>>11232241
Fun Fact: The same VA who is Takato from Digimon Tamers had also played the role for Ratchet for JP localization.
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>>11232479
Holy shit thats art.
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>>11246393
Intredasting
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Solstice
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>>11232801
Reminds me of shitty movie posters in the west
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>>11232291
Sorry I definitely prefer the gold on this one. The dalmatian pattern makes it look cheap.
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>>11232578
>>11232585
Persona 1 and 2 art was so cool.
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>>11232479

That's cool but it looks more like Killer7.
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>>11238857
They do even if Miyamoto back in the SNES days outright said it wasn't an RPG in an interview alongside with Yuji Horii and Sakaguchi in 1993.
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How has no one posted this yet is beyond me.
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>>11235493
Wow, a Japanese property with an anime elfman looking like a manga? Say it ain't so.
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>>11243285
It's based on Mike Mignola's.
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>>11247978
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>>11248424
No it's not, that's literally just Akihiro Yamada's normal art style applied to a gothic setting.
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>>11248449
Look at the solid shadows, just like Majora's Mask's artwork, the solid shadows and composition are more Hellboy-ish, while Yamada's regular artwork doesn't have those solid black shadows and looks more 90s OVA-y.
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>>11236372
Sonic & Tails is by far the best example for me, it's got some of the best Sonic and Tails art we ever got with the classic designs, and in the US, while it's decent and appealing, it doesn't even come close as far as I'm concerned.
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>>11232681
What a garbage opinion. That resplendent box with the sword and shield is iconic. Buying that and bringing it home was like finding some ancient slab of solid gold. The jap cover makes me think of a cow or some shit.
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why do all these localized MD jrpgs have the same weird medieval artwork
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>>11232241
I know this one might be odd... but NES Batman.
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>>11232241
Metroid on NES.
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>>11232241
This is not 'cool', sorry.
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>>11236372
sonic cd is the worst offender there
the jp box cover is so cool
>robotnik has little planet in his hand, literally holding the planet hostage
>clock and pretty landscape showing the time travel elements and what you're trying to save
>metal sonic looks intimidating, robotnik has a dark shadow over him
>sonic looks cute but tough
>amy is there too i guess
the us cover looks so dorky in comparison, i'm guessing it's based on the special stage with the ufo and time stone, but what's going on there? why is metal sonic reaching for the stone? he looks dumb because he missed it, and why are his shoes different colors? why is earth in the background? it says nothing about the game you're going to play
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>>11238220
> it looked like he had a beard there
he looks like some crazy lumberjack
also why the fuck is he grabbing the 2? why is there a big 2? it's so fucking funny
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>>11233243
remnants of pushing sonic as the "cool" mascot in the US
JP boxart has a lot of saturated colors and wacky shapes that could be considered childish
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>>11232681
gold box is cool because it gives off the look/feel of an old TTRPG.

the JP boxes look like manga covers.
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>>11251553
Man, even though Urushihara's art is good it is not served well by that cover at all.
Whatever we might think of the localised style, it was appropriate to the time and place it was released and at least is suggestive of a sweeping adventure.
Warsong is also a really good title for the game.
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>>11255148
superb
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>>11241062
Sounds like a guy who lies about how good movies actually are.
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>>11255863
lol
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>>11233762
EU one is alright, too. US definitely got shafted on this one.
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>>11255909
my nigga
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>>11232681
Don't need art to sell Zelda, everybody in the west already knows they're so big the name alone is enough to tell you everything.
Also you're wrong, not every Zelda boxart was 99% gold
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>>11255931
Son Goku?
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>>11232921
Dear christ i love the old art deco sonic stuff. That and the art from the 90s that was in the gallery of gems and mega collection.
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>>11257581
fug i meant memphis
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>>11232681
The gold Zelda boxes work for the same reason Japanese Final Fantasy boxes do: They stand out for their simplicity. Look look at any group of N64 boxes together and Ocarina of Time immediately sticks out (Majora's Mask, much less so).
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honestly I think most of the reason the west got shit covers is because their western headquarters/partners/whatever needed to pretend they were doing something and swapping out the box art is the lowest effort thing they could do
>yeah dude trust me us westerners totally love art that looks like a 5 year old's doodles
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>>11232669
This one is just absurdly good.
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>>11247978
Hum that's way better, actually.
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>>11232241
pal cover = 96% of the time superior
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>>11255863
gave me a chuckle
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>>11258656
What were they THINKING
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>>11232479
Came in here looking for this.
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>>11232241
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>>11232241
Legend of Illusion.

In the JP cover Mickey actually looks like Mickey, while in the US cover he looks really pissed off or something, the edgy expression just feels out of place considering the overall atmosphere in this title, which is an overlooked classic I'd say.
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>>11262301
KINO
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>>11262272
I wish there was a high-res version of this. It'd make a great poster.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZpbDDdMGcQ

We already had this discussion on /ic/ but came to these conclusions when it came to the case of phantasy star 2's NA vs JP boxart

1)western art's only redeeming quality is the atmospheric bg, they fudged up the face, but the bg isn't bad. The entire thing is kind of misleading considering the game is anime based but hey, if it sells to your demographic, it sells, I suppose. It looks like a renaissance painting/movie poster. No credit to the artist, who seems to be actually Michiaki Satoh, the artist of the cover for NA Altered Beast. (based on reddit:Who painted the Phantasy Star 2 American cover art?)


2) JP artwork is typically more cluttered, very art nouveau and only weebs reject this but this is designed by hitoshi yoneda and i will link in next post.
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>>11266584
So much better
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i like simplicity of square enix covers
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>>11261710
these realistic graphic will sell this game in america
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>>11234827
death to all minimalist faggots
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>>11232291
>3d rpg
what? did they really advertise zelda as an rpg? i always thought it was fans calling it an rpg for no reason
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test



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