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[cormack12]

So it was around the time of the 7800 and the NES right. As an example of box arts from these boxes

Then we have the master system doing its own thing. What the fuck happened?

 

[YCoCg]

Unifying the look so it stands out, even now if you see a box with that pattern you know it's from that Master System era, the fact that you remember it for good or bad reasons show it worked.

 

[Fake]

I like the basic ones, but there are more complex box arts on Master System.

Sonic 8-bit, Asterix, Luck Dime,etc...

 

[omegasc]

I guess Atari era games relied a lot more on the art to jumpstart your imagination. 8 bit graphics were good enough to do that via screenshots on the back.

 

[Crayon]

The grid motif did make a shelf look recognizable from a mile away. The actual art on those is pretty shitty tho.

 

[AV]

Sat near a few myself right now funnily enough. The Sega ones are horrible but there's some good third-party stuff in there.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

As a kid who constantly browsed the Sears catalog during the weeks before Christmas, I thought the box art was great. I wanted a NES, but coveted the Master System as well. I feel this artwork is equivalent to the "black box" NES games.

 

[Holammer]

The graph paper look is iconic and later boxes (as shown from other posts) combined good art and the then established trade dress.
But in retrospect this is 100% a localization issue. Just look at the Japanese Mark III boxes. Heck, Americans even localized Bri'ish box art and replaced them with horrible art. Like Epyx's American release of Barbarian as "Death Sword".

SG1000 - Mark 3 - Master System boxes shown Source

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Unifying the look so it stands out, even now if you see a box with that pattern you know it's from that Master System era, the fact that you remember it for good or bad reasons show it worked.

Oh yeah, I remember when Master System just dominated the NES thanks to its iconic box art.

You could love the Master System box art or hate it, but the one thing you couldn’t do was ignore it.

 

[RoboFu]

Yeah but the genesis red box theme was the best ever.

 

[TGO]

Yeah but the genesis red box theme was the best ever.

I prefer the Blue

Although the design before was also good

 

[Saber]

I will not tolerate this offense against the glorious Master-system.

Anyway yeah, some are way too lazy for its time. But its not like all of them were that way. I remember even some edited versions, like Monica games(which are basically Wonderboy games), having an enterilly draw box art.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

I don't care much for Master System art, though it is distinctive. I love Genesis, Sega CD, and Saturn cases though.

 

[SantaC]

 

[Fermbiz]

SMS cover art will always hold a special place in my heart.

 

[ChazAshley]

Best one

 

[buenoblue]

Memory unlocked

I haven't thought or heard about transbot for like 35 years

I played that game loads when I was like 11 years old. I'm gonna go play the rom right now . Good times.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Cover art changed during NES and SMS as they are Japanese systems so they'll go cute and colourful.

Before that, the Atari and Intellivision days you got stuff like this, which was the hand drawn painted look like in movie posters.

 

[Fat Frog]

What were Sega west thinking ?

I guess this:

"Hey stupid parents, look at our video games, it's fun and suited for your little bastards

look ! It's like their school notebook"

 

[nkarafo]

Yeah, the first batch of games had that ugly art style but i liked the unified pattern.

For instance, this looks pretty nice overall:

Also:

PAL Game gear/Mega Drive/Mega CD/32X art > Whatever they were doing in US

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

I mean... people didn't know how to market video games back then. Most companies in the US considered games to be toys at the time, and the box art for Master System games was arguably a lot more fitting for targeting that audience.

 

[Shin-Ra]

Nerds like maths
Nerds like games

Math(s) is cool – nerds are cool.

N-GAGE boxes look the best though. I bet SCEA were PISSED NOKIA beat them to the red and black strip design. You can just imagine it with the SPIDER-MAN and redesigned PS3 logos.

Even the silver matches the original PS3 design.

 

[cireza]

Later releases looked really good in my opinion. They had a large picture. We got a ton of them in Europe.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I mean... people didn't know how to market video games back then. Most companies in the US considered games to be toys at the time, and the box art for Master System games was arguably a lot more fitting for targeting that audience.

? How is ugly minimalist design more appropriate for toys? Atari 2600 had much more attractive box art.

 

[midnightAI]

Meh, its just the time it was released, design trends change, they were perfectly fine when they were released.

 

[SmokedMeat]

What a hilarious idea for a thread OP!

Yeah, Master System’s box are was beyond bad. Especially coming from a time when box art was often the selling point!

 

[SmokedMeat]

Cover art changed during NES and SMS as they are Japanese systems so they'll go cute and colourful.

Before that, the Atari and Intellivision days you got stuff like this, which was the hand drawn painted look like in movie posters.

God tier art back then. Master System was the only system with such terrible packaging.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Meh, its just the time it was released, design trends change, they were perfectly fine when they were released.

Nah they sucked compared to Atari and Nintendo box art

 

[radewagon]

They were thinking, "Man, I sure hope that, decades from now, cormack12 doesn't call us out on our lack of effort."

I dunno, I've got a soft spot for the grid covers.

 

[RickMasters]

I prefer the Blue

Although the design before was also good

The OG black mega drive cases for me. Man the memories….

 

[Davesky]

Yeah but… it had the Sega logo.

 

[marquimvfs]

Looking back, it may look stupid. But at the time the designers were edgy. It's just a combination of game elements inside a virtual reality white room
(like this

), not relying on deceiving arts to sell a game. Compared to the competitors, the were bringing virtual reality to your home, and the arts were trying to reflect that.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

? How is ugly minimalist design more appropriate for toys? Atari 2600 had much more attractive box art.

It looks more like the art you'd see on toy packaging from that era. I'm not saying it's good.

 

[TheDarkPhantom]

Oh sweet nostalgia! Still arguably the most visually distinct box art design, SEGA were ahead of game (heh heh) in so many different ways throughout the years.

 

[yansolo]

i love the master system

 

[Ozzie666]

Cheaper to get drawings from the employees kids.

I think the uniformity was good but the later generation box art was much better.

 

[Danjin44]

Is he wrestling with his own decapitated head?

 

[Fat Frog]

Is he wrestling with his own decapitated head?

Best covert art ever !

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

Hahaha sega... we sure have come a long way. Next time someone complains about bad box art... we should put up one of these sega ones.

 

[Danknugz]

ah yeah, these box arts take me back

 

[Trunx81]

So many great box arts and no one mentioned Phalanx for SNES yet.

It was a simpler time back then, OP. Personally I found the NES art worse, especially since Mario was about to die on the Super Mario Bros. picture.

 

[digdug2]

I think the Master System artwork is iconic, and as said above- love it or hate it, you still remember it.

I love that the Alex Kidd in Miracle World remake calls back to the SMS box art style.

 

[MiguelItUp]

I'll always remember these boxes. I know the art wasn't the best, but you could recognize them from a mile away, which I think was impressive.

 

[cireza]

The console is awesome and I am currently developing a game for it. Thought I would share a few screens.

Nothing planned yet about publishing/selling it (I do have a Game Gear game planned for this year though). I am purely sharing this to show people that there is an active development scene for SEGA's 8 bits consoles, including tools that help achieving good results, even if it is not as elaborated as the MegaDrive scene. Still these tools are awesome and a lot of thing originate for smspower website, if you are interested.

 

[nush]

Looks like a parody game cover.

 

[Mahnmut]

So it was around the time of the 7800 and the NES right. As an example of box arts from these boxes

Then we have the master system doing its own thing. What the fuck happened?

I know it looks weird but I just love it... It reminds me this undescribable joy from 80's video games that younger generation will sadly never know. Absolutely not an "old man yelling at cloud" answer.

 

[Rudius]

Cover art changed during NES and SMS as they are Japanese systems so they'll go cute and colourful.

Before that, the Atari and Intellivision days you got stuff like this, which was the hand drawn painted look like in movie posters.

Those are absolutely magnificent. I often imagine how those games would look with PS5 level graphics in an alternative time-line, like in Blade Runner's Atari.

 

[Little Chicken]

Nah they're iconic

 

[DAHGAMING]

Fucking Transbot, I didnt realise the woke brigade were about back then.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Those are absolutely magnificent. I often imagine how those games would look with PS5 level graphics in an alternative time-line, like in Blade Runner's Atari.

The awesome thing about those old school Intellivision covers is they often did a montage of circle art and what you saw drawn is what was in the game.

Everything in these covers is 100% in the game except in L n C, there's only 4 enemy cops, not 7. Even the key and crown prizes are in the game.

Imagic covers were cool too in a different way. One part cheese, but one part fun. So different than the Atari and Intellivision styles.