Why did Japan have so much better box art for SNES games? Is that typical for other systems? I know I've seen some alternate cover art and disc art for symphony of the night and a few others.
>>2906315
grass is always greener ya fucking faggot.
>>2906319
Compared to the clean design of the Japanese version, the American one seems really cluttered with unnecessary selling points and branding. pic related
>>2906315
Wait wait wait. WAIT wait wait wait wait. You're bitching that Japan had better box art that us, and as your pictured example you choose a game that had THE EXACT SAME PICTURE as the box art for both versions?
>>2906324
There's a lot more to the design than the picture, anon. Also, they cropped out most of the original image.
>>2906329
Okay, whatever. The game also came with a poster of the full image.
>>2906319
This. OP needs to take off his weaboo glasses.
>>2906320
There are plenty of counterexamples where the Japanese box art is more cluttered than their Western counterparts.
Watch this thread quickly turn into anti-moe shitposting.
I wonder why the boxes have always been different for us. NES was obvious, but why were SNES boxes horizontal while SFC boxes were vertical? Why did the same go for N64? Why were GC sold in DVD cases in the west but in mini-disk cases in Japan? Why did GB/GBA games have different size/shape boxes too?
it depends on whether you like anime style or not, really
>>2906378
Basically, Nintendo's marketers thought the west wouldn't like change. That's why you have them trying their best to emulate the look of other consumer electronics, especially VCRs and tape decks. As for the box art thing, in the 80s the anime art style was virtually unknown in the west except for Astro Boy and Speed Racer, so, again, they chose not to try to introduce anything new or "multi-cultural." Say what you will, but obviously the strategy worked.
>>2906315
This is a pretty interesting question actually.
West prioritizes the game system over the game itself. That's why even using the same picture the design it's totally different. As you can see in the SFC version you only have a little logo that tells you that's a SFC game, while in the SNES version there's a Nintendo logo, a SNES logo as big as the game logo and the Nintendo Seal of Quality.
>>2906378
SFC boxes are both vertical and horizontal.
Because it's a Japanese console and at that time no western developer really bothered with it. I mean, Europe was busy with it's home computers and Psygonsis provided fantastic cover art, while America... I don't even know what America did!? I think they were busy celebrating there freedom with Asian products.
For the same reason English translations were bad. They knew there had to be changes for the sake of appealing to a different market, but they didn't care/were too stupid/too limited in resources to do it properly.
>>2906315
That Jap Vortex box art was incredible
>>2906891
In the immortal words of Nick Roxx, Americans were not playing "Eurotrash" games. Loved how Gamefan took a shit on all things Amiga.
>>2906886
that must be annoying
>>2906376
I like both of those for different reasons.
>>2906320
It must have been an American thing. They probably thought that clueless parents and legit idiots wouldn't know which platform the game was made for if it wasn't for the huge branding.
It was the same thing with the PlayStation covers.
NTSC-J covers: Simple PS logo in the corner.
NTSC-U/C covers: "PlayStation" written sideways in big ass letters just in the case the smaller logo wasn't enough.
>>2907164
OP here. For reference, this is the japanese box art.
>>2907164
and this is the US box art for FF7.
>>2907460
At least FF always had decent cover art in the west.
Also about the PlayStation logo, that's what i was saying. In the west the game system it's the most important. You're not buying a game that happens to work in a PlayStation but a PlayStation™ experience.
>>2907520
>At least FF always had decent cover art in the west.
Beside the point.
Why settle for decent when original was already superb.
>>2907542
Differente sensibilities, anon. Anime/manga aesthetics are ingrained in japanese society so there's nothing strange about Rockman looking cute in the covers, specially when the concept is so closely related to Tetsuwan Atom.
On the other side, American media was going through a "cool & edgy" phase at the time, most kids found cute characters to be boring or lame and that just wouldn't sell.
>>2907710
What are you on about? Anime was wildly popular in the US in the '90s. Between power rangers, DBZ, and anime-ish vidya like Chrono Trigger and Megaman, anything Japanese had an exotic appeal to it.
>>2907734
And I'm talkng about the 80's with my Rockman example
>>2907004
What is Nick Roxx up to nowadays?
I know that shidoshi is atranny.
>>2907802
>What is Nick Roxx up to nowadays?
He's a furry now, believe it or not.
>>2907783
>Secret of Mana
>FF7
>Terranigma
>B-But I was talking about the '80s anon
This entire discussion has been about how odd it is that in the '90s, Nintendo avoided the anime aesthetic and chose a radically different marketing approach for the US than they did in Japan.
Welcome to the conversation. If you'd like to add anything constructive, you're welcome to it.
Does someone have that cover with that clown above a circus?
>>2906361
That box is so much better than the American box art.
>>2906315
because americans have no beauty to their culture other than freedom and explosions
find a game that's mainly about freedom and things exploding and it probably has a pretty good cover
>>2906329
the image on the american box art is actually a higher detail image of the same painting though, and the composition is pretty good
that wraparound box art though on the original, god it's sexy
I wonder how hard it would be to steal that thing actually
do you figure it's hanging over at squeenix main offices somewhere?
Some European box art was better then Japan and U.S versions. It all depends really...
>>2906315
I'm gonna have to go with OP. The aesthetics of the SFC boxart always seemed better to me. More professional, somehow.
>>2908161
Occasionally, I have seen this as well. Still, it's rare I prefer the NA boxart.
>>2908197
Chrono Trigger had pretty badass box art in Japan too. The US ended up with a weird picture where Marle is wearing some robe that she never wears in the game. odd.
>>2906395
VHS tapes are stacked on shelves vertically, though.
>>2908314
I guess Japan and Europe and maybe the early prints of the NTSC version of Symphony of the Night all had the same art, but it was changed for later versions of the US release.
>>2908319
I had this version growing up. What an unnecessary, terrible design choice to change it.
>>2908324
>>2908319
Nip version for reference
>>2907164
>They probably thought that clueless parents and legit idiots wouldn't know which platform the game was made for if it wasn't for the huge branding.
And they'd be right. The retards calling themselves 'parents' still don't understand the ratings system, let alone the difference in platforms.
>>2908006
Even at that japs are better.
Never understood what they were going for with this boxart.
Or this commercial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d15qmRzn2Pc
Different cultures meant different marketing strategies. End of thread.
>>2911289
And by that you mean that bad art is the right strategy for NA, since they're uncultred swines!?
I like Enix stuff.
>>2911484
Those Enix covers are 100% western and doesn't look bad at all but they feel really generic too.
>>2908990
this game has a lot of monsters in it? (it does)
>>2908943
If they are so good how come their industry is receding?
Would Dragon Warrior have done better had it used Toriyama's art in the west?
>>2911512
Because they can follow the technology and high budgets, also for some reason Japan isn't cool anymore to western audiences.
>>2908314
>The US ended up with a weird picture where Marle is wearing some robe that she never wears in the game. odd.
Don't forget Marle casting a fire spell when she's Ice in game.
It's a completely different character on our cover art.
>>2908324
At least you can go and visit that castle someday if you're interested.
>>2906319
>implying nips are jealous of murrican covers
>implying shoddy photoshops by the marketing team are of the same quality as work made by a professional artist
>>2907104
They fit just the same in your shelf either way since it's the same shape. Why would it be annoying?
>>2912572
It can be kinda annoying cause the labels aren't always uniform. Like on western gameboy boxes.
>>2912472
Yeah well I doubt there are the japanese equivalent of faggoty weebs either.
>>2911512
Pachinko and stupid idiots thinking Mobile games are the better market.
Miles better than the nipshit
>>2913725
>sup u ho's
>>2911512
Market size. The US alone can bruteforce pretty much anything on its own market, even if the products are not as good, and still print a shit ton more money than what Japan will ever be able to.
See Microsoft not giving a shit about Japan, for instance.
Japan seems to have generally better packaging and item quality overall. For instance, SD cards manufactured in Japan seem to work faster and have greater longevity. And most of the games I import come in large, sturdy casing with thick manuals that detail frankly a lot more about the game than their English counterparts do.
My best guess is that because Japan is a smaller country than the U.S., products are being distributed to a comparatively much smaller demographic, therefore manufacturers don't have to cut corners to reduce manufacturing costs.
>>2913776
It must be said that difference only applies to the console market. Pc and other computer games always had a really good packaging in the west.
>>2913783
>Pc and other computer games always had a really good packaging in the west.
Earlier PC games certainly did, but now PC games tend to be distributed in jewel cases without printed manuals, which will instead appear on the disc in PDF format.
Then there's the difference between audio CD distributions. Japanese versions (of non-Japanese musicians) usually get bonus tracks and way better packaging compared to the West. Of course, the Japanese releases usually come much later, which is probably why there are so many extras thrown in.
>>2913792
Well yes, today everything is DVD shitty boxes and no manuals at all, while people preffer to download shit with jewsteam.
I was talking about the 80-90's and those great pc and Amiga big boxes.
Phisical editions like the Psygnosis games had, they look just astonishing.
>>2913776
I'm convinced also that the cost of things has something to do with it. Japanese games cost way more new than the same games in the US.
Also I think there's a different culture of things. There's less treatment of items being 'disposable' in Japan than in other cultures, if that makes sense.
Also I think shipping cost is a big part of it, the US for example is a huge country to ship products across, and that affects how much stuff will be put in a product that's shipped (more weight means more money after all).
I'm not an expert on this in any way though, just throwing out suggestions for what might be, based on things I've either heard others say or have reasoned out myself. I'd be interested to hear anyone with more knowledge of such matters weigh in on them.
>>2913792
Japanese CDs are more expensive too. For example, Blackstar (the new bowie album from last week) is 12 bucks on amazon right now (out of stock) while the same album is 3880 yen on amazon.jp, or the equivalent of about 30 bucks.
Then there's anime blu-rays. Don't even get started on anime blu-rays.
>>2913851
Well, that's probably a holdover from the early days of western music import where they would usually get it afterwards but it would have extra tracks.
Amongst vinyl collects the japanese version of some albums are quite sought after because of this.
>>2913882
>that grammar
What kind of third-rate education are they offering in your country? Read a book sometime.
>>2911484
Are you being sarcastic? In a sense, yes, that's how it is.
The "culture" here is not culture in general, of course. It's just one facet of culture. One can be an unskilled appreciator of graphic design or whatever yet also a skilled appreciator of something else. It wouldn't be reasonable to claim that Americans are inferior to Japanese people because they can't appreciate this stuff as well. But yeah, they can't appreciate this stuff as well.
That said, there are cases, as people above have pointed out, where it goes the other way. Manga style is sometimes terrible, yeah. Manga-style faces, in particular, often look really goofy and simplistic (rather than elegantly simple, which of course is also a possibility) compared to the boringly realistic faces the American style usually produces. Those realistic faces at least aren't actively, pointlessly ugly (usually). They're just bland (usually).
I think glorious nippon it's just superior but sometimes they fucked up too.
Here's an example of a bad adaptation.
This one always comes to mind. The American cover is almost so cheesy it's good status. Japanese one is obviously better though.
>>2916661
To be fair that's one of the few times that happened.
>>2917419
And here's another cheesy one for shits and giggles. It's obvious the guy who drew it knew next to nothing about the series.
>>2917419
Japanese one is kinda shit though. The Rika with the cyborg arm on the back is the best part of the Japanese box.
>>2908943
I really want to play this someday.
>the boxart is better then the game
>>2917530
They spent more on making the Japanese boxart than making a quality game.
>>2917530
Also true for Battlemech and Mechwarrior.
