Welcome, everyone, to this week’s edition of the Box Art Brawl! Wait, are we… poets??
Last time we pitted two covers for the NES’ Urban Champion and after a weekend of voting, North America took the win. The classic pixel art cover w on 59% of the votes, while the European and Japanese colorful alternative won the remaining 41%.
This week we’re jumping from brawling to pinball as we look at two regional covers for Kirby’s Land of Pinball. Originally released on the Game Boy in 1993, the pink puffball pinball adventure wasn’t quite what you’d expect in Dreamland, but it spawned the excellent Pokémon Pinball (which used the same engine) on the GBC, so we can be thankful for to that.
Europe and North America have opted for the same design on this one, so we have a good old Japan vs. Japan duel.
Be sure to cast your votes in the poll below; but first, let’s look at the box designs themselves.
Europe / North America
This is a classic piece of Kirby art if we ever saw one! It’s a comical take on the puffer, with Kirb looking particularly surprised as it bounces off one of the fins, presumably into the path of an obstacle ahead. It has Kirby, it has a pinball table. What more do you need?
Japan
The Japan cover is much more about Kirby iconography than pinball. Of course, the latter is still present and accurate here (we especially like that the fin is included in the title), but the focus is on Kirby, Dedede, and a host of other familiar faces. It is certainly more colorful than these two designs.
Thanks for voting! See you next time for another round of Box Art Brawl.
