It was always clean, clear, and attractive. Konami's NES box art was consistently a cut above the competition's. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (Image: Giant Bomb) The dragon usually turned out OK, but the knight wound up looking like a Hobbit with neck problems. This dragon-and-knight duo appeared frequently on the backs of kids' magazines advertising the game, and I tried to draw them often. FCI spared no expense making the game seem cool, though. Hydlide is another FCI-published title, but unlike Dr Chaos, it's not an interesting experiment in game design: It just plain sucks. High-res images of Dr Chaos' box art are hard to find, so I included an ad for the game, which utilizes the same artwork. Is this another rare instance of Nintendo falling asleep at the censorship machine? The game itself is uglier than sin, but its box art is striking – and uncharacteristically gruesome for an NES title. Dr Chaos (Image: Vintage Computing)ĭr Chaos is a weirdo game that tries to combine action, survival horror, and platforming with mixed results. You can even spot Loto's sword in the foreground. Not only does it look epic, but nearly every weapon and item is a western depiction of Akira Toriyama's original designs. Look at the cover for Dragon Warrior III. While the results were often terrifically generic (Dragon Power turned beloved anime icon Son Goku into a nondescript karate guy), the Dragon Warrior boxes made a real effort. Dragon Warrior III (Image: Box vs Box)īefore Pokémon made anime highly marketable, it was common for western artists to re-draw Japanese box art. The Double Dragon games are supposed to take place in a post-apocalyptic universe, and I find it interesting that buildings and electricity have been restored, but people (women, mostly) still wear tattered clothing.
![box art nes double dragon 3 box art nes double dragon 3](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/doubledragon/images/5/56/Double_Dragon_3_-_The_Rosetta_Stone_-_(GEN)_-_01.jpg)
Just look at that beautiful neon-drenched landscape. Double Dragon II: The Revenge (Image: Box Equals Art) Let's give them all a chance to regain some of their dignity (HA). Since this is a long and involved topic, I'm skipping the Featured Midboss of the Week this time around. Here are ten examples of NES box art that I want to frame and hang on my wall next to the Picasso I don't have. It was a long and difficult lesson, though, which is why I think it's important to celebrate good NES box art instead of just busting up Mega Man's box art yet again – not that it doesn't deserve to get dragged. Now even western publishers understand compelling cover art is a highly effective marketing tool (though it took some time remember the horrid North American cover art for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night? Clip Art-O-Rama!). The state of video game cover art is much better now than it was 30, 20, or even ten years ago.
![box art nes double dragon 3 box art nes double dragon 3](http://drachenfaust.cenocide.de/media/images/content/covers/double-dragon-3-the-arcade-game-gb-europe-front.jpg)
Mega Man 4's box art: It ain't no Appetite for Destruction, but at least we're getting somewhere. NES game publishers, on the other hand, usually had a few dollars in dimes and quarters they shook out of their kids' piggybanks. Even in the '80s and early '90s, the music industry had millions of dollars to spend on commissioning eye-catching album artwork. A bad artist can ruin a good message, even if they're explicitly told what to draw.īut bad album covers are much rarer than bad video game box art. Both are the visual summation of what an artist thinks the game or the album represents. The decline of box / cover art is both a good and bad thing. Now that games and music have largely gone digital, tangible cover art is rapidly becoming an endangered species in both mediums.
![box art nes double dragon 3 box art nes double dragon 3](https://cdn.gamer-network.net/2017/usgamer/good_nes_boxes_02_moby.jpg)
However, said artwork became more of an afterthought as CD jewel cases replaced cartridge boxes, and tapes and CDs replaced records. Early releases on cartridge and vinyl were packaged in boxes and covers that doubled as a canvas.
Box art nes double dragon 3 download#
Box art nes double dragon 3 archive#
This collection is an archive of NES box art images that can be quickly and easily downloaded and used with our NES emulator, UberNES. So the UberNES box art feature sounds like a good idea, but do you really want to spend an afternoon searching around the Internet, downloading NES box art images, and linking them up with the proper NES games in UberNES, one-by-one? Of course not - that's why we created this collection.