Which system/games had the coolest packaging?

[Lee9977]

Which system/games had the coolest packaging?

 

in some cases, people who knew little about consoles and just wanted to get in the game may have got sucked in by slick displays, boxes etc. On the other hand, for some the great looks of the packaging just add to the overall greatness of the system/games.

 

Always enjoy the informed opinion of the fine people at AtariAge,

 

 

cheers

Lee

[kevincal]

Let's see.. Always had a soft spot for colorfull NES boxes... BRIGHT yellow Super Mario Bros. 3 comes to mind... Genesis plastic snap lock boxes are really nice and sturdy and display really well. I actually like the bright yellow 32X boxes too. Jaguar boxes look great being all black. Really makes the cover art come out nice. Neo Geo cart boxes are AWESOME. I like Saturn and PS longboxes... SNES & N64 boxes are just so so. Of course Japanese boxes are AWESOME with all kinds of art etc.

[darthkur]

The original VCS ones of coarse.

 

[Mazerati]

this right here...when i saw this box the christmas of 81 i flipped out lol

 

 

[pinball22]

The Activision boxes for the 2600 are probably my favorites of all time. I also really like the simplicity of the Master System boxes. The Saturn cases look really nice on the shelf too... too bad they break so easily.

[iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin]

I am big fan of the Parker Brothers boxes (2600)!

[rpgfaker]

Atari VCS / shiny silver Imagic boxes..oh how I treasured the likes of Cosmic Arc, Demon Attack ect.

[Lord Helmet]

I love all of the Atari/Inty era boxes. The artwork is really cool.

[godslabrat]

Props:

 

NES - Bright, colorful boxes held each game like a holy relic.

Gameboy/Virtual Boy - teensy little boxes with very classy templates.

Genesis/SMS - Box doubles as a display case to protect the game. Doesn't really explain why so many games I find look like crap. *shrug*

 

Notsomuch:

 

SNES/N64 - Goofy oblongish boxes make me think they tried to emulate the NES look and got it all wrong. Those cases would NEVER sit straight on a peghook!

SegaCD - Jewel cases don't tolerate much abuse, even new games would look like crap.

PS1/PS2 - Doesn't look any different than regular CDs and DVDs. Way to make your product look boring!

 

As far as systems, the NES was always pretty cool with its giant boxes (especially the deluxe set!). It really felt like you were bringing home $200 worth of stuff. I feel the same way about most of the PS1 releases. On the other hand, I can't think of an Xbox system that didn't look totally boring from the packaging (good thing the games make up for it!)

[+Ransom]

I think the best were the silver Imagic boxes.

 

Second best were the Intellivision gatefold boxes, which they used extensively.

 

Third best were the original, plastic boxes used for Sega Genesis carts.

 

Although I gotta give props to Atari's 8-bit line: a box about 9" by 12" by 2", metal cartridges, and full-color 8.5"x11" manuals pre-drilled for a three-ring binder. That was classy.

[Atarifever]

Despite the games contained therein, I think Froggo boxes are nice. Makes you sad their 2600 output wasn't a little more like their 7800 output (at least there the package holds a decent cart).

 

That's something I don't get about Froggo. I mean, they had the money for nice packaging (the boxes are even shiny), and they had an attractive enough logo, and on the 7800 it appears they knew what was at least marginally fun. So why not buy some mediocre games from someone at least. Why Karate?

[iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin]

And the HES plastic boxes!

 

 

[Lee9977]

My fave has always been the Odyssey 2 packaging. They were very unique with their combination black and orange glossy boxes . And games like quest for the rings and conquest of the world with the gold trim and labels, their game instructions remind me of a wedding invitation. completely over the top.

[stonestn]

Atari 2600 games all the way.

[ddaniels]

The early Intellivision games. The game box opens up like a book and on one side you had the cartridge nicely tucked in a cut-out piece of plastice that held the cartridge firmly and on the other side you had a nice cut out slot where both the color manual and two overlays stayed in place.

 

As time went on this design changed (for cost savings) manuals became black/white and they became cheaper looking and feeling.

[Gabriel]

I was fond of the Atari silver era. I kept my Atari 5200 system box and the boxes for the games for a long time (until the late 90s) because I thought they looked so cool.

 

Imagic game boxes weren't quite as cool because they were too flashy. The Atari silver boxes had an understatement about them which I felt was a very good aesthetic.

[gdement]

My fave has always been the Odyssey 2 packaging. They were very unique with their combination black and orange glossy boxes . And games like quest for the rings and conquest of the world with the gold trim and labels, their game instructions remind me of a wedding invitation. completely over the top.

 

A friend of mine had an O2, and I remember when we got out "Quest for the Rings". Wow, that was a classy production, never seen anything else like it.

It would have been awesome to combine those production values with a Dungeons & Dragons license.

[nonner242]

Imagic!

[lushgirl_80]

I always thought Legend of Zelda had the most beautiful packaging ever. It was a surprise back in 1987 to open up the box and it was a gold plated cartridge!....the instruction booklet was well done too.....

[Lord Thag]

For old stuff, definately the atari 2600. All thos bright, colorful boxes from activision, Imagic and atari.

 

For the 16-bit era, I'd go with the PC-Engine (damn sexy consoles and those awesome Hucards) and the Neo Geo, which is huge, sexy, and has some awesome box art on the hardback-novel sized carts.

[shadow460]

My faves:

I like the 7800 for early systems, since the boxes are all pretty uniform to each other.

 

In later systems, the Saturn and the Hyperscan have it hands down. The Saturn's long boxes, if you can keep them in good shape, add a kind of polish to the artwork. The metallic red on Hyperscan boxes reminds me of the excitement I feel when entering a theater to see a particular movie for the first time. That red kinda looks like a theater curtain to me.

[famicommander]

Cardboard boxes are cheesy and terrible if you ask me. That's one thing I've always faulted Nintendo and Atari for.

 

Here are my picks:

1. Neo Geo AES

 

Simply glorious. Great art, hard shell, and absolutely massive.

 

2. SEGA Genesis

 

Again hard shell, and these were actually colorful and interesting as opposed to the bland checkers of the Master System boxes.

[BSA Starfire]

I would say the finest packaging for a game ever would have to be Quest for the Rings on the Videopac/Odyssey2.

Lovely board, metal pieces, fabulously high quality manual & even a gold cart label.

[pinball22]

Quest for the Rings is amazingly snazzy. I had one I picked up at a flea market... I don't have an O2, so I sold it on CtCW, but I was tempted to keep it just because it was so cool-looking.

[Mike 01Hawk]

Star Tropic's "Water letter"

 

When I figured that out, ran to the sink w/ the manual and 'found' the invisible #, I thought I had reached gaming Nirvana... lol

 

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