20 Worst Video Game box arts!

[Chris Leach]

I found this Video Game Box Art to be pretty neat. Seen some box art I almost forgot about and some new stuff I've never seen before....

 

How many do you agree with or do You think they left something out.

 

POST YOUR UGLY BOX ARTS HERE!

[jaybird3rd]

No collection of bad video game box art is truly complete without a picture of the Atari 800 Pac-Man cover.

 

And what is the Phalanx box doing in that list? I thought the old banjo-strumming hillbilly in the rocking chair was a brilliant idea! It was certainly a change of pace from the kind of art one would expect to see on a side-scrolling space shooter box.

[Cebus Capucinis]

OI! I love Atari 800 Pac-Man's box! It's hilarious!

 

I remember buying that 'Bad Cat' game on a clearance shelf for $.99 or something. Really God-awful game, not surprisingly.

[Koopa64]

Edited May 13, 2010 by Koopa64

[Reaperman]

[Chickybaby]

I want the 'Ninja Scooter' and 'Bad Cat' game, lol, can't help it as they look hilariously awful.

The Gun Mega Man is holding looks more like a 1911 .45 acp clone rather then a 'Desert Eagle' - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1911_pistol but I digress...

I also think Most Master System Box Art is Awful and the 'I Want My Mommy' art isn't bad at all.

[The_Laird]

I had Ninja Scooter Sim for the Spectrum

 

A pretty good list although I disagree with I Want My Mommy and Xenon 2 which suited the game perfectly.

 

Master system boxes did suck hard.

 

Is that Charlie Sheen doing maths?

[SoulBlazer]

I personaly would have included the game box picture for The Guardian Legend for the NES. What that had to do with the game, I have no clue.

[DickNixonArisen]

well, mega man 1 is famous for it...

 

I actually like the master system box style. My mom is a teacher and she has a lot of boxed book collections for remedial reading, and one series has a similar aesthetic. So yeah, it looks like a textbook for fourth graders. Kinda helps cement my idea of the master system as the Ghetto NES

 

not that I don't love it, I do

[BassGuitari]

I love the ridiculousness of "Crack Down." Apes + Stormtroopers + pair of Chevy Chases gone postal + Satan = YES.

 

Bonus points for the fact that the game is supposedly about destroying cyborgs in an underground factory...that's clearly what the artist was going for here.

[+FujiSkunk]

Not sure what the guy has against Trevor McFur, unless he's a closet furry trying to convince himself it's a Bad Thing. Does he hate Starfox and and Sly Cooper, too?

 

Otherwise, pretty good picks, though he should have included the Atari 8-bit release of Pac-Man.

[Nesbroslash]

Mininature golfI find this box to be completely 70's. It's not necessarily bad as it is corny.(Those people are having waaaaaayyyyy too much fun. ) Edited May 21, 2010 by Nesbroslash

[Tr3vor]

ninja turtles NES. Why do they only have red headbands on? why are they on a spaceship?

Edited May 21, 2010 by Tr3vor

[BassGuitari]

ninja turtles NES. Why do they only have red headbands on? why are they on a spaceship?

 

This is why.

 

This cover predates the later cartoon series and video games, and the comics and cartoons/games seldom have much to do with one another.

 

And honestly, I think the turtles are pretty bad-ass in this cover.

Edited May 21, 2010 by BassGuitari

[Tr3vor]

ninja turtles NES. Why do they only have red headbands on? why are they on a spaceship?

 

This is why.

 

This cover predates the later cartoon series and video games, and the comics and cartoons/games seldom have much to do with one another.

 

And honestly, I think the turtles are pretty bad-ass in this cover.

 

 

In the game, the turtles have thier own color, but not in the cover art, so couldn't they stick with one or the other? Space isn't the place I would see the turtles being, they live in the sewers.

 

Its not BAD, but it lacks consistency, the game is opposite from the art. there are plenty of other games similar, like Blaster Master,

[Mirage]

I also love the A8 Pac-Man art. It's certainly goofy. Maybe liking it is more nostalgia than actual like.

[DickNixonArisen]

Well, it's true that the game clearly uses the kiddy turtles and the cover uses the comic book violent turtles, but it's still a good cover.

[BassGuitari]

In the game, the turtles have thier own color, but not in the cover art, so couldn't they stick with one or the other? Space isn't the place I would see the turtles being, they live in the sewers.

 

Its not BAD, but it lacks consistency, the game is opposite from the art. there are plenty of other games similar, like Blaster Master,

 

Call it artistic license. It's been used to market games since forever. How many Atari 2600 games look anything like the artwork on the box?

 

The TMNT game came out after the cartoon/toy/merchandising tour-de-force (which abandoned the "all red" turtles for individual colors) had already hit, so Ultra/Konami were tying in with that. Why they didn't use a more "current" cover, I don't have an answer for. Probably just cheaper to use an awesome-looking one that already existed.

 

If you read the page I linked (from which you can actually read the entire comic that this cover came from) you'd see that the Turtles are not in outer space.

 

I actually think this cover serves the game pretty well; although the actual game features a few things from the cartoon series (notably Bebop and Rocksteady, and the differently-colored headbands), it does retain the darker elements of the comics, which come out increasingly as the game progresses. There's definitely something darker about these Turtles than, say, the cartoon goofballs on the cover of TMNTII.

 

Anyway, there's no way this cover is a contender for worst video game box art.

[DickNixonArisen]

Also, the bombs in the water level aren't as hard as everyone says they are.

[Austin]

[Tr3vor]

Also, the bombs in the water level aren't as hard as everyone says they are.

 

 

Getting the bombs is easy, except for the electric grass stuff. I have to almost commit suicide with one turtle to get past that, even when I'm trying to get through alive.

[DickNixonArisen]

I can reliably get through the water without taking a hit. I don't tend to do as well later in the game (the actual platforming parts are harder for me). Great game, but it's hard to argue with TMNT arcade, turtles in time, manhattan project or even tournament fighters.

[Tr3vor]

I can reliably get through the water without taking a hit. I don't tend to do as well later in the game (the actual platforming parts are harder for me). Great game, but it's hard to argue with TMNT arcade, turtles in time, manhattan project or even tournament fighters.

 

 

I loved turtles in time on the SNES. I borrowed it from a friend and didn't stop playing it untill I beat it.

[DickNixonArisen]

oh, and the GB fall of the foot clan isn't too bad either

[Tempest]

Mininature golfI find this box to be completely 70's. It's not necessarily bad as it is corny.(Those people are having waaaaaayyyyy too much fun. )

http://www.atariprotos.com/other/sears/arcadegolf.htm

 

Tempest