Last time i showed a SNES game- Breath Of Fire with both Japanese and U. S. boxes to compare artwork- i thought it would be interesting to do the same for a RPG on another system- this time Turbografx Neutopia 2- i like the Japanese character depictions a lot better-
I haven’t played this game, but which do you think gives a more accurate feeling about the game? I really dislike it when game marketers put fancy art on the cover that nothing to do with the game, or conveys a false sense as to what the game is about. Same thing with books. The top one conveys to me a more serious tone then the bottom one, and also has a more epic adventure feel. It also gives me a sense of forboding. The bottom one gives me the feeling of good guy vs bad guy type story. It seems a bit more playful and fun then the top one would suggest.
The art on the bottom one- for the Japanese game- is beautiful video game art- the top one- the American Turbo Grafx one is crappy amaturish junk.Looks like gradeschool art.
I don’t like either one.
They’re both ugly but I can understand why the NA one isn’t anime. Three reasons: at the time there may not have been much in the way of anime being shown in NA at the time so that may have been seen as something that could injure sales, secondly the more American crap there is on the game the more jobs the American game industry creates adn lastly…thats some of the worst anime I’ve ever seen. The art on the NA box is far better.
They’re both really ugly.
I like the NA box more, too. I also like how she completely ignored Taran’s question (the only really relevent thing in this topic). He asked her a question and all she did was give her biased opinion on something no one cares about or didn’t ask for.
Yeah. I find it slightly humorous that as soon as someone questions her opinons she basically says “Fuck you, the american box sucks. The japanese box is better because it’s japanese.”
She’s right though. Not that the Japanese box art is better because it’s Japanese, but because the American Box Art is just plain godawful.
Let me explain something about box art for Japanese games. These games (Classic RPGs in particular) are almost invariably designed under an anime influence. Thus, the conceptual art and the actual graphics are usually anime-influenced. So, it makes sense for the covers to convey the same artistic style as the game itself.
When American publishers slapped on a hackneyed American, realistic style cover to their games, it just didn’t fit. If I get a game with serious looking art, I would expect the game to be graphically and thematically serious. But if it’s an old Japanese RPG, it’s almost always anime-influenced, creating a rough juxtaposition between the presentation and the actual product.
It would be like if World of Warcraft had a box cover with a bunch of cutesy anime orcs or something. Even if the art was fantastic, it simply wouldn’t fit with the game, and would therefore be bad. So it’s not really a matter of “anime is good, “western art” is bad”, but it’s a matter of fitting the art to the game. Which Neutopia II’s box art simply doesn’t do.
No, she’s not right. You can’t use biased opinions as proof for other biased opinions.
Let me explain something about box art for Japanese games. These games (Classic RPGs in particular) are almost invariably designed under an anime influence.
Thats also not true. You show me an anime themed Ultima, Might & Magic, or Wizardry and I’ll buy you a coke. And most importantly, all VRPGs bow and pay homage to D&D, which was most certainly not anime-influenced. The reason why Japanese games (not just RPGs) have anime art is because anime art is more popular in Japan. Its really that simple. Not everyone likes anime in the US, which is the biggest reason (I’m guessing) they didn’t use anime for the NA releases.
Fine. I’ll just use the asinine internet custom of adding “IMHO” after everything I say so people don’t get so butt-hurt when somebody expresses an obvious opinion. Even though jumping through so many hoops is stupid when everybody knows what I meant, <b>IMHO</b>.
Did you even read what I wrote? First of all, I said almost all classic Japanese RPGs are anime-influenced. Then you list three non-Japanese counter-examples? How is that relevant at all? And further, I said “almost”, anyway, even if you had listed Japanese counterexamples.
And yes, Japanese RPGs “bow and pay homage” to D&D. I never said they didn’t. But does that mean that they can’t be anime-influenced? Perhaps, I should have made myself more clear by saying their ART STYLE is anime influenced. But I figured I wouldn’t have to, since that’s the only thing being discussed in this conversation is art styles.
People in America may not like (or have liked) anime, but the fact of the matter remains that when they pick up Dragon Warrior, they’re playing a game with graphics entirely composed of Anime graphics. It doesn’t make sense to abandon the art style of a game just to try to appeal to a certain group. I can understand how it may be a wise move financially, but it simply doesn’t fit with the product.
You were stating it as a fact, not an opinion:
She’s right though. Not that the Japanese box art is better because it’s Japanese, but because the American Box Art is just plain godawful.
Its no big deal though.
Thats not what you said, but again, its no big deal.
Wait, now you’re talking about art styles? And not video games, as you stated above? Well I guess this really isn’t a big deal, either.
Yes, it does. Also, the art style on most games doesn’t change as it makes the trek across the Pacific. The art style in DW1-4 was the exact same as DQ1-4. The same can be said for every Square game as well. I just quickly came up with those two examples, yet I know there’s probably 100s more. Anyway, its probably not really a big deal.
The problem is that those examples you gave are not JAPANESE.
I’m getting a deja-vû feeling, just by chance this guy isn’t Freddy Pickle is he?
I always disliked the box art for Neutopia 2, but seeing the Japanese box, I’m not really any more impressed. I do agree that US box art gives a few more jobs to the US divisions, though that would have been one less expenditure on a TG16 game, since they didn’t sell well anyway.
In my previous sentence, I mentioned I was going to talk about Japanese RPGs. Then in my next sentence, I omitted the word “Japanese” because it was no longer necessary since I already defined the topic for that paragraph. I can see where you would be confused if the sentence was just floating alone, but as a part of a paragraph clearly defined to be about Japanese RPGs, I didn’t think writing “Japanese RPGs” instead of “RPGs” was necessary for each sentence. “These games” in the second sentence referred directly to the Japanese RPGs mentioned in the previous sentence. So, the sentence really read “Japanese RPGs (Classic RPGs in particular) are almost invariably designed under an anime influence.”
I’ve been talking about the art style of video games, since that’s the matter that directly relates to box art.
I was referring to the box art, and that time I wasn’t particularly clear with what I meant, and I apologize for the misunderstanding. Specifically, taking anime-box art from anime influenced games, and replacing it with “serious” box arts (like the aforementioned games did).
Also, how would you feel about a serious American RPG being released in Japan with Anime art that was contrary to the game’s design? Would it be OK, since Anime appeals more to the Japanese, or would you think that it would be stupid to do such a thing? If you think the former, we just have a different interpretation on the purpose of box art (which is perfectly fine), and if you think the latter, you’re basically agreeing with me, I think.
I don’t see how changing a few pictures on a box I’m going to throw away is going to change the style, enjoyment, or fun of a game. The Wizardry games were released in Japan, and honestly, I think they would have benefitted from anime art on the box. As its been said above, the box art sometimes has nothing to do with the game itself. If Michael Jackson’s head was stuck on the box of FF3us, it would still have been just as awesome as Mog.
He said that Japanese games tend to be anime-influenced and you said that not all of them are and gave those examples to base your statement. The problem is, those games weren’t Japanese, so whatever influenced them has nothing to do with classical Japanese RPGs.
And what you’re basically saying here is that the cover art isn’t important at all, which makes me wonder why the heck you’re arguing this.
Fact is though, that she didn’t answer Taran’s question - which is pretty relevent. I can care less of whether or not the art is better. If it conveys the emotion of the game, then it serves it’s purpose. Did it work, or not?
Box art is really unimportant in the long run, but it’s still a worthy topic for debate I think (then again, what isn’t? =P). I don’t think that having attractive box art is that vital (I do own Mega Man 1 for instance =D), but I think having native art (that is, box art in the style of the game itself) can only help.
And yeah, box art doesn’t always have anything to do with the game:
<img src=“http://www.retrogames.co.uk/stock/assets/images/US_SNES_-_Phalanx.jpg”>
Then there’s Fabio on Ironsword:
<img src=“http://www.ninretro.de/boxarts/boxart_of_the_moment/ironsword.jpg”>
Fact is though, that she didn’t answer Taran’s question - which is pretty relevent. I can care less of whether or not the art is better. If it conveys the emotion of the game, then it serves it’s purpose. Did it work, or not?
But the game ISN’T some serious, heart-wrenching epic that the American box art would suggest. It’s more of an anime style Zeldaish romp, that the Japanese box art would suggest. Official art usually does the best job in conveying the emotion of the game, since that is what the game is based around.
#1 Fabio, nuff said.
#2 Neutopia looks cuter than Zelda. The graphics remind me of Crusader of Centy on the Genesis. I like the art on the NA box more, but the art on the Japanese box fits much better…but really only cuz of the cutesy nature of the game.