Sega Mega Drive Box Art Comparison: US vs. EU vs. Japan

[timewarpgamer]

I know this magazine has quite a few Sega fans, so I wanted to share this recent feature:

http://timewarpgamer.com/features/genes ... rison.html

Box art variation across regions continues to fascinate me. I just can't let go. And there's good reason. Once upon a time I owned a U.S. copy of Castlevania Bloodlines—still do, actually—and I loved the game and went on about my life merrily. Then one day the evil Interwebs took away my innocence, revealing the awesome and far superior European box art for the same game (albeit retitled Castlevania: The New Generation).

Anyway, I'm sure I only scratched the surface of the interesting variations out there, so please fill me in on any interesting ones. And if you're interested in this sort of feature, you can find my original installment, devoted to the TurboGrafx-16/PC-Engine here.

[Zetr0]

@timewarpgamer

Fascinating project there, and a good antithiesis of critque of the art too!!

Its a quite enjoyable article and one I am sure would make a great project, I hope you dont stop at Megadrive games and perhaps include more console/computer game distribution's =)

[lostSUNDAY]

Think Herzog Zwei is the only box art that looks better in US/EU. =)

[Cauterize]

You've gotta love the American Turbografx 16 art work... America really got screwed over big time!

[McBoosh]

Great work there - i have been fascinated by the differences in box art for ages now - it all began with the Strider box art. By the way, for Streets of Rage 2, on the US box, you ask 'wheres Max?' - i always thought that the grinning goon top left (next to the unnecessary girder) was Max. Bear with me here - i know it looks nothing like him, but scan down a bit, and look at the trousers he is wearing (blue with stars on) - same as what Max wears. Just a thought really. Keep up the work though chap!

[timewarpgamer]

@timewarpgamer

Fascinating project there, and a good antithiesis of critque of the art too!!

Its a quite enjoyable article and one I am sure would make a great project, I hope you dont stop at Megadrive games and perhaps include more console/computer game distribution's =)

Thanks, Zetr0. I'm definitely going to round out this box art series with the other consoles covered at my site. Maybe afterwards I could take a foray into computer releases...

[timewarpgamer]

Great work there - i have been fascinated by the differences in box art for ages now - it all began with the Strider box art. By the way, for Streets of Rage 2, on the US box, you ask 'wheres Max?' - i always thought that the grinning goon top left (next to the unnecessary girder) was Max. Bear with me here - i know it looks nothing like him, but scan down a bit, and look at the trousers he is wearing (blue with stars on) - same as what Max wears. Just a thought really. Keep up the work though chap!

Thanks for the feedback, McBoosh. Interesting point about SoR2 and Max. I was thinking the same thing, but his totally different facial appearance threw me off. Silly Sega. Maybe I'll have to edit that critique. I appreciate the help!

[Megamixer]

JPN Streets of Rage 2 box looks the biz. The characters on the front of the PAL version don't even look right - Axel having the wrong colour hair, Blaze the wrong clothes and Max been bald. The poses don't look right either.

Tempted to get some JPN MD games for the art alone - only cheap stuff mind.

[GigaPepsiMan]

I can see what they mean, I own the Japanese version of Quackshot on the megadrive and the boxart looks much better in that version.

[Tepid Snake]

Very nice article, but I particularly liked the inclusion of Dune II's boxarts- I never knew about that before, that UK art is good stuff. Guess it proves it's not just Japan that gets the better art! That said, have you seen the Japanese Alien Storm art? It's quite a bit better than what we got.

Oh, and I liked the joke about the UK Landstalker box bringing the hero's crotch into focus. Heh.

[TwoHeadedBoy]

Great work there - i have been fascinated by the differences in box art for ages now - it all began with the Strider box art. By the way, for Streets of Rage 2, on the US box, you ask 'wheres Max?' - i always thought that the grinning goon top left (next to the unnecessary girder) was Max. Bear with me here - i know it looks nothing like him, but scan down a bit, and look at the trousers he is wearing (blue with stars on) - same as what Max wears. Just a thought really. Keep up the work though chap!

Thanks for the feedback, McBoosh. Interesting point about SoR2 and Max. I was thinking the same thing, but his totally different facial appearance threw me off. Silly Sega. Maybe I'll have to edit that critique. I appreciate the help!

Yeah, but look at both versions of the box art - at Max's elbows mainly. They both have elbow pads, they both have the same trousers, they're both big beefy guys, they're both Max!

Nice article though, not as hilarious as the PC-Engine/TurboGrafx one, but good nonetheless. Well done

[Overheat]

great article - nice to see European and Japanese box art getting some recognition

[timewarpgamer]

I'm thinking next up will be the SNES. I've got tons of US and Japanese box art, but tracking down the PAL stuff seems a lot harder. Anyone know some good PAL-focused sites with images? Maybe an online game store that included pics of the game boxes?

[Overheat]

dare i say ebay.co.uk?

maybe amazon.co.uk?

I'm not sure...

[McBoosh]

If you are interested in doing Mega/Sega-cd, then this might be a useful site (lots of good images of different variations of covers):
http://www.sega-mega-cd-library.co.uk/