Hey everyone, welcome to another edition of Box Art Brawl!
Before we get into this week’s fight, let’s take a look at how things turned out last time. We took a look at Balloon Fight for the NES, a true Jousto-inspired classic from legendary developers like Satoru Iwata and Yoshio Sakamoto. This was close, but in the end the pixel art black box seen in the US won with 42% of the vote. Japan managed 33%, while Europe achieved 24%.
This week we’re sticking with the NES and looking at another classic: Kid Icarus. Released in 1986 in Japan and 1987 in the West, Kid Icarus became a firm favorite among Nintendo fans. Masahiro Sakurai’s 3DS sequel, Kid Icarus: Uprising, is also widely regarded as one of the best handheld games ever.
It’s another three-way feud this week, with the participants sharing a lot in common with last week’s Balloon Fight in terms of their overall approach. Let’s go for it.
Be sure to cast your votes in the poll below; but first, let’s look at the box designs themselves.
North America
So yes, this is the quintessential pixel art frame design seen in many US NES titles. It’s not quite the ‘black box’ we’re used to, but the overall design is very familiar. It shows the possible gameplay pretty well, and we still really like that Pit sprite.
Europe
We get a better look at Pit in this unusually calm image that graces the European box. Hovering in the air as he aims his trusty bow, Pete’s design is quite different from what we’re used to today, but it’s quite pleasing in its simplicity.
Japan
Japan shares the same image of the Pit as its European counterpart, but get this… It’s tilted a bit more (inspired!) and given an angelic yellow glow (shiny!). The overall color is also much lighter, and we absolutely Japanese text used for the title of the game. Nice stuff.
Thanks for voting! See you next time for another round of Box Art Brawl.
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