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[SatoAilDarko]

Breath of the Wild has some striking disc artwork. While it's also on the Switch cart you can see they don't really compare with how much the game's title covers what little is visible.

With Switch using cartridges and Breath of the Wild being the last Nintendo Wii U game it's going to be a while (possibly forever) before a Nintendo game will be on disc again.

Of course Nintendo started with discs for their home console games (barring the Famicom Disc System) with the minidiscs for GameCube. With the smaller disc size the title of the games took a lot of the area and many labels were monochromatic and appeared to be etched.

Then came the Wii Optical Disks which were standard size but early titles still suffered from monochromatic/few colors and essentially just the title on the disc like the GameCube discs.

Spoiler

The Fire Emblem disc is from the OP of a worse disc art thread
http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=477922

Of course later titles began to see more elaborate full color labels. See the change in sequels:

Finally with the Wii U optical discs Nintendo perfected the medium...

...those wonderful soft edges!

Oh yeah they also were able to produce some of the best disc art ever.

Most of the Nintendo games released had wholly new art for their discs:

Even the ones that use art from the cover still looked very nice. Personal favorites are the Xenoblade Chronicles X (wish the West got that black Wii U label) and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Also say goodbye to Lens Cleaner discs.

Now I want one.

Any alternate region disc arts I missed? Personal favorites? Aren't they just GORGEOUS?

Bonus Game: I took one of these pictures myself because I couldn't find a good one online. If you think about it which one makes sense.

 

[Greatest Ever]

No butts

 

[Bass260]

The BoTW disc is gorgeous.

 

[Friend of Sonic]

I love that NES Remix disc art. Had no idea!

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

The Wii U's discs were great. I'll never forget the first time I touched those soft edges.

That's fascinating you noted the changing trend in Wii discs. The more "monochrome", GCN-style early discs always stuck out to me, but I guess because I started paying less attention, I'd never noticed how they started making them more colourful and using artwork later on. That's cool.

I'm going to treasure my physical copy of BOTW forever. That disc art is just soooo good.

 

[Neptonic]

I like the feel of the Wii U disks
Those rounded edges are incredible nice to hold.

 

[Peltz]

Damn... I'm already getting feels for the Wii U artwork and it's been less than a month since Switch came out, and I still have a bunch of Wii U games in my backlog.

Switch game cards are really cool, but they are way too small to contain cool art.

 

[ThatsMytrunks]

Thank you for this beautiful thread. I went digital on so many Wii U games that I never saw most of these discs. They did some great stuff with a different medium.

The more "monochrome", GCN-style early discs always stuck out to me,

Just for the sake of correction, it's Duotone. Two tones. And hell yes they look good.

 

[Solobbos]

I just realized I will never again buy a DVD with soft edges

 

[mavo]

I will never forget when my ex opened the splatoon case and she went ¨daily dose¨ as soon as she saw the disc.

But i agree, most first party games on Wii U have really good box and disc art.

 

[Menitta]

I would sleep in a bed of sideways Wii U discs.

 

[Platy]

Now I am sad that I bought most games digitally... That Kirby one is glorious

 

[maxcriden]

Awesome thread idea! Thanks for sharing these. My faves are NSLU, Pikmin 3, WWHD, Kirby, YWW, 3DW, El Capitan Todd, and DKC: TF.

 

[Rebel Leader]

Forget the art.

It's the smoothness was the best

Spoiler

I'm gonna miss both

 

[-Horizon-]

Yeah, the breath of the wild disc is so dang good. Glad I got it.

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

Just for the sake of correction, it's Duotone. Two tones. And hell yes they look good.

Oh yes, thanks. I figured there was a better word for it; I'll have to remember this for the future.

 

[perfectchaos007]

I would sleep in a bed of sideways Wii U discs.

I wish the inner ring of those disks had the curved edges so it would feel better when I finger it.

I'm not trying to be dirty, I can't be the only one that carries disks with their index finger in the hole

 

[Alex_Mexico]

That Zelda WW HD disc art is amazing!

 

[Kikorin]

Edges of Wii U disks were something Amazing, but I think holding Switch is a similar feeling, so good.

 

[Snkfanatic]

Edges of Wii U disks were something Amazing, but I think holding Switch is a similar feeling, so good.

Stole my post. I loved how smooth the edges of the disc were. Sounds silly but I always thought that was nice

 

[Carlisle]

Wow that Breath of the Wild disc art is a real stunner. Can't tell what it is at all on the Switch cart. Thought it was just some map or something. But damn, they should list it in the Switch vs Wii U BotW pro/con list.

 

[MrFortyFive]

The soft edges the were most memorable part of the Wii U launch for me. I had no intention of getting one but decided to at the last minute, so I had very little information about the system and its games going in. Taking Nintendo Land out the case for the first time blew my mind.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

Wow, I think I've already got optical disc nostalgia.

And thanks for reminding me that NoA were the only region to never give us a physical version of Maiden of Black Water :/

 

[Choomp]

Nintendo was always amazing at this. Love that Amiibo Festival one.

 

[ShadowElliot]

Those Wii U discs, truly the best. I'm still surprised by the smoothness whenever I swap out games.

 

[J@hranimo]

The best thing about the Wii U were the rounded edges on the discs, bar none.

 

[Ludist210]

Aside from amiibo Festival and NintendoLand, I went all-digital for the Wii U, and I regret it for a number of reasons...seeing this thread just adds another reason to that list. Man, those were gorgeous.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

Surprised at all the big love for round edges. I put it in with "perfected the medium" as a bit of a joke. But indeed as someone who owns a ridiculous amount of Wii U games they are indeed glorious to hold.

 

[sixteen-bit]

The best thing about the Wii U were the rounded edges on the discs, bar none.

I dunno about "best thing" but they were definitely more fun to hold than traditional optical media.

 

[Aiustis]

loved the Wii U disc soft edges.

 

[J@hranimo]

I dunno about "best thing" but they were definitely more fun to hold than traditional optical media.

Yeah I know

But it is one of my favorite things about the Wii U experience...

 

[phanphare]

loved the Wii U disc soft edges.

they're so good

do they have any functional purpose other than being awesome?

 

[FunkyDealer]

This one is... Questionable.

 

[EmiPrime]

Great thread. The Wii U has so much charm, I wish it got the appreciation it deserved. The little things matter to me.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

No butts

But there is this:

And this...

This one is... Questionable.

I was waiting to reply to Greatest Ever with that. Didn't want to derail my own thread.

 

[Madao]

i own some of these and i didn't even remember their art.

 

[foxuzamaki]

Yeah, the breath of the wild disc is so dang good. Glad I got it.

In jealous

 

[Nanashrew]

That Wind Waker HD disc makes me regret getting it digitally.

 

[samred]

Gotta add this gem from the original Wii, best use of disc hole on the system:

 

[RedToad64]

I'm on mobile and have a data cap, but was Tokyo Mirage Sessions art posted? I like how it resembles the menus.

 

[Yoshimitsu126]

Lol i leave BotW in my wii U all the time so i forgot how gorgeous it actually looks.

Personally favorite in OP list is Pikmin 3. Got it for free during that MK8 deal but I wouldn't mind paying for that disc art.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

I'm on mobile and have a data cap, but was Tokyo Mirage Sessions art posted? I like how it resembles the menus.

I tried to post all Wii U games that were published by Nintendo in all regions with the exception of Hyrule Warriors and Pokken.

I also included the regional differences I could find.

Funnily enough Devil's Third is the only one that has more than a color difference. I prefer the NA box art myself.

 

[ShadowgeistX]

This thread is telling me that I should probably track down Kirby and the Rainbow Curse before it completely goes extinct.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

There's no difference between Nintendo Selects and original releases right?

I only own original releases of all the Wii U Nintendo Selects.

 

[FreedomFighter]

Since I've gone digital after year 2 of Wii U, I missed out on some fabulous disc art. I love that Yoshi's Woolly World disc art. Wow.

Thanks for making this thread.

 

[N.Grim]

The Wind Waker HD disc is the same in europe?? I have it but I don't remember that beatiful art

Edit: I have bought the retail version after playing the digital version, that's why

 

[fabprems]

Thanks OP, guess I never realized the how much an effort they put on these details.
These are really beautiful :

and....

This one is... Questionable.

> <
Ok, cannot unsee... Thread ruined for me !

 

[finalhour]

Great thread! Never really thought about it much these labels, but seeing them all laid out like that, it's easy to see how great they are. I especially like Wooly World and Wind Waker.

 

[hatchx]

This one is... Questionable.

I don't get it...

 

[Captain Chaos]

I like to think Iwata pushed the specification of these awesome Wii U discs through.

Dem rounded edges and dat artwork!