Support NeoGAF

[The Lunch Legend]

Surely there's nothing worse than this one, right?

It's the actual box art from the North American release of Mega Man on the NES. Is it a monkey? Is it a man?

Does Mega Man actually use a handgun?

So, GAF, my challenge is to present a box art even more ridiculous than the infamous MM1, if you can!

 

[Spyxos]

Looks good.

This one is also very well done.

 

[bender]

 

[Hohenheim]

Yeah, that's rough. The artist can't possibly have bothered playing/looking at the game. But since the artist seems to be a 5 year old, it's also quite impressive!

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

lol no nothing can beat that masterpiece. Gotta love that “we need to make it look ugly and realistic because the gaijins hate anime” era. Mega Man 2 was pretty fugly too

 

[Spyxos]

 

[Hohenheim]

lol no nothing can beat that masterpiece. Gotta love that “we need to make it look ugly and realistic because the gaijins hate anime” era. Mega Man 2 was pretty fugly too

And the hand gun is still there. Amazing!

 

[ReyBrujo]

For a long time I thought he was twisting in such a way his butt was showing to the screen. So yeah, it's hard to beat.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

And the hand gun is still there. Amazing!

Yeah they evidently removed the pole that was stuck up his ass but he still has that handgun. At least it has some recognizable characters + locale from the game.

Because I guess we American dudebros would never buy something that looks like this

 

[Deerock71]

 

[Hohenheim]

That's just brilliant.

 

[diffusionx]

No, it's one of the best.

The point of box art is to be eye catching and memorable, and you just made a post about a box made almost 40 years ago.

 

[bender]

No, it's one of the best.

The point of box art is to be eye catching and memorable, and you just made a post about a box made almost 40 years ago.

 

[Raven117]

It’s one of the best.

It lives in infamy. It seared into my brain as a young kid when my cousin pulled it off the rack. Been there ever since.

 

[cireza]

Still talking about it in 2024. Must be one of the best.

 

[The Lunch Legend]

Still talking about it in 2024. Must be one of the best.

Galaxy brain, best of the worst.

 

[Bring Back Scalebound]

It is, but I think it's important to judge things based on a "Did they know any better?" scale.

This was still somewhat early on in the whole "Americans get a epilepsy attack when they see Anime" thing, that some publishers(?) Bought into.

At the time, anything that wasn't Japanese or Anime, and I mean ANYTHING, was automatically considered better...

I'm not defending the cover, it is awful, or great (Ironically speaking). But I have a hard time shiting on it.

 

[Hypereides]

Are you kidding me? That cover is a piece of art. We're still having discussions about its composition to this very day. That's timeless in itself.

 

[N0S]

 

[Pallas]

This has to be one of the best box arts, wym!?

 

[Deerock71]

This has to be one of the best box arts, wym!?

It's good because it's bad!

 

[El Muerto]

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

No, it's one of the best.

The point of box art is to be eye catching and memorable, and you just made a post about a box made almost 40 years ago.

Pretty sure the point of box art is to make people want to buy the game when they see it on the store shelves. Not for people to reminisce about how ugly it was decades after the fact.

 

[amigastar]

It's an abomination that's for sure, lol.

 

[adamsapple]

OP said worst, not best.


On topic:

 

[Spyxos]

nvm.

 

[MrA]

really?

or this

 

[digdug2]

Pretty sure the point of box art is to make people want to buy the game when they see it on the store shelves. Not for people to reminisce about how ugly it was decades after the fact.

The game must have sold OK because I think it got a couple sequels.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

The game must have sold OK because I think it got a couple sequels.

There are a ton of NES games that sold well and got many sequels that didn’t have butt-ugly box art. So I highly doubt that this art deserves any of the credit for the series’ success.

Also my memory of the time was fuzzy but I seem to remember Mega Man 2 as the game that really gained mainstream popularity for the series in the US (it even got a Nintendo Power cover). Most people I know were introduced to the series with MM2 then went and played 1 after the fact (and said “what the fuck is up with that cover?” when they did)

 

[RayBoy]

 

[Mr Hyde]

 

[KimDongHwan]

Surely there's nothing worse than this one, right?

It's the actual box art from the North American release of Mega Man on the NES. Is it a monkey? Is it a man?

Does Mega Man actually use a handgun?

So, GAF, my challenge is to present a box art even more ridiculous than the infamous MM1, if you can!

Serious question, is there a background story to why they did that, was it purposely bad looking?

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

lol no nothing can beat that masterpiece. Gotta love that “we need to make it look ugly and realistic because the gaijins hate anime” era. Mega Man 2 was pretty fugly too

This box art was created by Marc Ericksen

This man is a complete fucking super chad who created more box art than most of us have played games.
It was completed in a span of two days* based off of an art brief provided by Capcom USA.

Details from "The Art of The Box" highly recommend a purcahse.

Other covers created:
After Burner
Strider
2020 Super Baseball
Thunder Force 2
Herzog Zwei
And mutherfuckin' Bad Dudes just to name a few.

 

[Dacvak]

Is the Mega Man 1 box art (US) the worst in history?​

 

[Ge Os]

Same energy:

 

[poodaddy]

Na.

Cuz it's the best!

Makes me laugh every time I see it, gotta be worth something.

 

[ChazAshley]

Look at Castle Shikagami 2 cover art first:

Which was localized as Mobile Light Force 2, which simply took Mobile Light Force 1's cover art (which was actually Gunbird) using the same abomination twice.

 

[SHA]

I have no f clue what does that even mean.

 

[Krathoon]

The US Wind Waker box art was kind of shit compared to the Japanese box art.

That happens a lot with Nintendo games. The US gets the crappy art.

 

[IAmRei]

And this...

 

[diffusionx]

When I wanted to get a copy of Dawn of Sorrow I actively sought out this version because it's so hilarious.

 

[RoboFu]

You mean the best in history.

 

[DeepSpace5D]

 

[Jinzo Prime]

When I wanted to get a copy of Dawn of Sorrow I actively sought out this version because it's so hilarious.

Hey dawg I herd u like box art so I put box art on yo box art

 

[Kssio_Aug]

When I wanted to get a copy of Dawn of Sorrow I actively sought out this version because it's so hilarious.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

When I wanted to get a copy of Dawn of Sorrow I actively sought out this version because it's so hilarious.

Agreed this is way better than the original release in every way.

 

[violence]

 

[Dirk Benedict]

Again?! Didn't we have a similar thread to this, not too long ago?
Ah well, my answer still stands:

 

[ByWatterson]

Kinda metal, honestly

 

[DryvBy]

Surely there's nothing worse than this one, right?

It's the actual box art from the North American release of Mega Man on the NES. Is it a monkey? Is it a man?

Does Mega Man actually use a handgun?

So, GAF, my challenge is to present a box art even more ridiculous than the infamous MM1, if you can!

Is this better?