no
Ahh yes phoenix games purveyors of games that are of as questionable legality as they are of being games.
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Is the Mega Man 1 box art (US) the worst in history?
- Thread starter German Hops
- Start date
Barakov
Member
Not even close.
Surely there's nothing worse than this one, right?
It's the actual box art from the North American release of Mega Man on the NES. Is it a monkey? Is it a man?
Does Mega Man actually use a handgun?
So, GAF, my challenge is to present a box art even more ridiculous than the infamous MM1, if you can!
MayauMiao
Member
This one takes the cake. Old man with the banjo takes 60% of the photo and the space ship looks like a magical sword being thrown towards him.
Soodanim
Gold Member
I gave up on Amnesia early because I was bored, but I'd reinstall it here and now if the enemy(s?) make duck sounds like this suggests they shouldNot even close.
Hypereides
Member
Now that's some hilarious subliminal messaging. Kinda would've been funny if they hadn't revised it just for the sake of the reactions people would have upon seeing the cover.
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nkarafo
Member
Megaman 1 is the most baffling to me for sure. Because it's not a case of bad or weird "artistic impression" like most others. It's not even a lazy ass effort like those early Master System covers where it's obvious they didn't care.
It's just a bad/amateurish drawing. Someone made an effort to draw this. But it was either a kid or someone completely talentless/unprofessional.
So i wonder what's the story behind this.
It's just a bad/amateurish drawing. Someone made an effort to draw this. But it was either a kid or someone completely talentless/unprofessional.
So i wonder what's the story behind this.
MALpractice311
Member
I get that they're trying to make it legally distinct from Disney's interpretation, but why was nightmare fuel their inspiration instead?
Oh, come on! You're fucking with us. You have to be fucking with us.
German Hops
GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
JohnnyTropics
Neo Member
This box art was created by Marc Ericksen
This man is a complete fucking super chad who created more box art than most of us have played games.
It was completed in a span of two days* based off of an art brief provided by Capcom USA.
Details from "The Art of The Box" highly recommend a purcahse.
Other covers created:
After Burner
Strider
2020 Super Baseball
Thunder Force 2
Herzog Zwei
And mutherfuckin' Bad Dudes just to name a few.
One of the best posts I've seen on here, thank you for this link, looks like an amazing book.
Mega Man 1 is"bad" box art in the sense that it doesn't align with the product as it was marketed in the future, but this is true for all of the classic nintendo franchises-- the first iterations of: Final Fantasy, Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Donky Kong, Pokemon, Dragon Quest, (and probably others I'm forgetting,) are all done in a much different tone than the hyper-polished, consumer-friendly forms they hold now.
The box art of Mega Man tells the story of Nintendo. Even though, at that time, they hadn't landed on the formula of "super star, kid-friendly, cartoon-like marketing pillars" they still strictly controlled the image of the games on the platform, so this boxart was going through (what looks like from the post above) a third party channel. Nintendo was taking a product out of a dev teams hands, and sending it through an "Americanizing" process to market it a certain type of way. Nintendo, at the time, had no way of knowing which series were going to stick around, and which ones weren't. Not to say that Mega Man 1 was shovelware, but they weren't going to have a marketing team pouring over the possibilities of every game they were releasing, and focus group testing the appearance of the protagonist. The NES era was more of a "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" time of game development., so long as there wasn't swearing, pornography, or excessive gore.
The fact that Mario 2 is Doki Doki Panic, or the possibility that Square would drop game development from their operations if Final Fantasy 1 didn't hit, are two examples of the uncertainty of back then.
All that is to say, the boxart for Mega Man 1 has sovl.
JohnnyTropics
Neo Member
4 white men + 4 white women =
diffusionx
Gold Member
It's a dictionary. So the name, on DS, where touch was very novel at the time, makes a lot of sense. It's Korean, too, so it wouldn't surprise me if that it was actually not intentional.
Now that's some hilarious subliminal messaging. Kinda would've been funny if they hadn't revised it just for the sake of the reactions people would have upon seeing the cover.
BlackTron
Member
really?
or this
Are you kidding? These are works of art. They must be, because 40 years later, we're still bringing it up!
Seriously though, being memorable for being the very worst ever is certainly a...way of doing it. Maybe they were onto something when they made Superman 64 because there's a reason I always remember that game as well...
buenoblue
Member
But it is state of the art and high resolution
Surely there's nothing worse than this one, right?
It's the actual box art from the North American release of Mega Man on the NES. Is it a monkey? Is it a man?
Does Mega Man actually use a handgun?
So, GAF, my challenge is to present a box art even more ridiculous than the infamous MM1, if you can!
TheUsual
Gold Member
Still looks better than Disney's upcoming live action
German Hops
GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
Superman 64 is horrible, cousin.
AngelMuffin
Member
At Elsa they have an excuse for this one. The artist never saw the game!
Now, what I want to know is, how in the heck does he still not have his hand cannon by the MM2?
Now, what I want to know is, how in the heck does he still not have his hand cannon by the MM2?
Black_Stride
do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Yo I want to play this game just to find out if the banjo-man is in it somewhere.
P.S How the fuck is Kemco still in business but weve lost so many of the good ones?
BlackTron
Member
You figured out why I remember it.
delfrickintree
Member
This is an excellent write-up, to the point that the parody is so real it will inevitably become true.
Deerock71
Member
Good bean counters. They're satisfied being mid. They don't take risks.
MrMephistoX
Member
To me the Megaman US Bo art falls into the so bad it’s good territory.
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Pallas
Member
!? That’s the GOAT of box arts. We are looking for the worst box arts, not the greatest.And this...
DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
That’s amazing. I still think it’s ugly but charming. Like some weird Soviet-era bootleg or something.This box art was created by Marc Ericksen
This man is a complete fucking super chad who created more box art than most of us have played games.
It was completed in a span of two days* based off of an art brief provided by Capcom USA.
Details from "The Art of The Box" highly recommend a purcahse.
Other covers created:
After Burner
Strider
2020 Super Baseball
Thunder Force 2
Herzog Zwei
And mutherfuckin' Bad Dudes just to name a few.
Frwrd
Member
Oh hell naw
diffusionx
Gold Member
It has really solid box art though
NiiloPielinen
Member
Entire video about the subject:
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TerribleAtThisGame
Member
Loool what a fucking graphic design nightmare.When I wanted to get a copy of Dawn of Sorrow I actively sought out this version because it's so hilarious.
Sethbacca
Member
Jesus that is the most painfully 80s thing I’ve ever seen.
kurisu_1974
is on perm warning for being a low level troll
TerribleAtThisGame
Member
I just imagine they're all looking at their very first black person from their ET-ass suburban home in Wisconsin.
DaGwaphics
Member
Morrie’s wig shop
Member
Yeahhhh, I don’t know if the word existed at that time in history lol….. I was 10 when the fist game released and we’re talking like Christmas time 87’ here.Yeah they evidently removed the pole that was stuck up his ass but he still has that handgun. At least it has some recognizable characters + locale from the game.
Because I guess we American dudebros would never buy something that looks like this
In fact I don’t think anyone over the age of 18 played video games lol I jest.
For the record, this box art turned me off from this gme that it wasn’t until I played the second game around my 12th birthday that I went back to this game. 2 years felt like 10 back then..
As it stands today… I think it’s the greatest box art ever.
Sethbacca
Member
I don't know that it's one of the worst in history, but I'm going to nominate it simply because it's attempting to market games to teenage boys using Fabio, a guy mostly known for being on the cover of women's romance novels at the time. The art for the first game was so on point, then we got this.
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German Hops
GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
Is that Fabio?? 
Morrie’s wig shop
Member
If you squinted and used your imagination really really hard, it’s Arnold in his Conan the barbarian days….I don't know that it's one of the worst in history, but I'm going to nominate it simply because it's attempting to market games to teenage boys using Fabio, a guy mostly known for being on the cover of women's romance novels at the time.
Remember when Fabio was on a roller coaster and a bird flew into his face breaking his nose…..HA
Sethbacca
Member
Yes...... yes it is.Is that Fabio??
German Hops
GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
EverydayBeast
thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
We’ve seen bad box art work before
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DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
Totally, everyone I know started with 2 then went back to play 1.Yeahhhh, I don’t know if the word existed at that time in history lol….. I was 10 when the fist game released and we’re talking like Christmas time 87’ here.
In fact I don’t think anyone over the age of 18 played video games lol I jest.
For the record, this box art turned me off from this gme that it wasn’t until I played the second game around my 12th birthday that I went back to this game. 2 years felt like 10 back then..
As it stands today… I think it’s the greatest box art ever.
Why? Because the only source of Nintendo info in America had this kickass cover and it looked awesome:
ssringo
Member
I spent way too much time wondering what the problem was before realizing this wasn't a picture of an in store display or online posting.When I wanted to get a copy of Dawn of Sorrow I actively sought out this version because it's so hilarious.
Now I can't stop chuckling. Like holy shit Konami...
Unknown Soldier
Member
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Kilau
Gold Member
When I wanted to get a copy of Dawn of Sorrow I actively sought out this version because it's so hilarious.
It’s pulling me in!
wondermega
Member
It is a little fascinating to me that we can still have modern gaf posts about this freaking cover. The story is pretty well-known at this point (last minute decision to get a new cover with about a 24h turnaround time, someone at Capcom knew someone, they were likely given the vaguest description of the game and probably a couple of screenshots with little context). In hindsight a lot of that makes sense - the JPN cover looks fine now but in 1987 wouldn't really have flown in the West, that degree of very-cutesy manga style was not yet really accepted over here especially for what the game style was being promoted as (they probably figured it would look appealing only to very young children, and even then not the audience for any kind of a run 'n 'gun). The cover is funky but in context, it was not so outrageously out there compared to what else was on the market (to the point that it would have been chucked anyway in favor of the manga style one).
As for Anticipation, Ironsword, etc - yeah all these covers are basically 40 years old. They stand out a bit out of context, but again if you look at them through a time-appropriate lens, nothing seems really striking. These box designs are famous because the games have maintained any kind of profile over all this time, for whatever reason (these were not tiny niche games by no name devs/publishers). If you started peeling the layers back and looking at, say, marquee art for like 80% (at least) of arcade machines from the day, there'd easily be a lot to pick apart/laugh at as well.
I guess for me, I can look at this stuff with nostalgia because it was "how things were" and there is always going to be residual feeling about the design & marketing of some of these games. Mega Man had a funky cover but the game itself was mind-blowing at the time and it was extremely easy to immediately forget about whatever the cover looked like when you actually played the game. Wizards & Warriors was a massively-advertised game that you saw on the back of every 5th comic book at the time and the sequel Ironsword was no different (and both games were above average at the time). Anticipation was noteworthy for being an unusual "party game, approachable by adults"
and of course one of the earlier Rare games popping up on the NES which was always pretty noteworthy in those days - Pictionary, Win Lose or Draw, those kind of games were really in the zeitgeist at that point and completely made sense to "branch out" and sell a game for the NES with that kind of branding. It was interesting and compelling, and honestly it worked (well enough). Phalanx? That was a bit of an odd duck because at that point shmups ("shooters" at the time) were basically an exhaustively-represented genre on home consoles and they'd been fairly generic by then in cover designs and game titling. It made sense to do.. literally ANYTHING to break from the norm, in fact I am a little surprised they didn't retitle the game to something a little more out-there as well.
All of this stuff is handled very differently now of course, between game cover designs and messaging, game naming - everything is labored over and rigorously A/B tested and decided upon by committees, back then it was more "throw it at the wall and see if it sticks, we have a slew of other products that are coming out so if this one fails, hopefully one or two of the other games will at least break even." There are plenty of other similar cases which have failed to maintain stickiness after all these years which could just have easily been the butt of jokes in 2024. How many people here would even give the time of day to a game called Arkanoid, without knowing it's history? Syvalion? Katamari Damacy? The list can go on and on..
As for Anticipation, Ironsword, etc - yeah all these covers are basically 40 years old. They stand out a bit out of context, but again if you look at them through a time-appropriate lens, nothing seems really striking. These box designs are famous because the games have maintained any kind of profile over all this time, for whatever reason (these were not tiny niche games by no name devs/publishers). If you started peeling the layers back and looking at, say, marquee art for like 80% (at least) of arcade machines from the day, there'd easily be a lot to pick apart/laugh at as well.
I guess for me, I can look at this stuff with nostalgia because it was "how things were" and there is always going to be residual feeling about the design & marketing of some of these games. Mega Man had a funky cover but the game itself was mind-blowing at the time and it was extremely easy to immediately forget about whatever the cover looked like when you actually played the game. Wizards & Warriors was a massively-advertised game that you saw on the back of every 5th comic book at the time and the sequel Ironsword was no different (and both games were above average at the time). Anticipation was noteworthy for being an unusual "party game, approachable by adults"
and of course one of the earlier Rare games popping up on the NES which was always pretty noteworthy in those days - Pictionary, Win Lose or Draw, those kind of games were really in the zeitgeist at that point and completely made sense to "branch out" and sell a game for the NES with that kind of branding. It was interesting and compelling, and honestly it worked (well enough). Phalanx? That was a bit of an odd duck because at that point shmups ("shooters" at the time) were basically an exhaustively-represented genre on home consoles and they'd been fairly generic by then in cover designs and game titling. It made sense to do.. literally ANYTHING to break from the norm, in fact I am a little surprised they didn't retitle the game to something a little more out-there as well.
All of this stuff is handled very differently now of course, between game cover designs and messaging, game naming - everything is labored over and rigorously A/B tested and decided upon by committees, back then it was more "throw it at the wall and see if it sticks, we have a slew of other products that are coming out so if this one fails, hopefully one or two of the other games will at least break even." There are plenty of other similar cases which have failed to maintain stickiness after all these years which could just have easily been the butt of jokes in 2024. How many people here would even give the time of day to a game called Arkanoid, without knowing it's history? Syvalion? Katamari Damacy? The list can go on and on..
DeepSpace5D
Member
1988 release, so checks out.
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