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Ugliest title screens in good games

nkarafo

Member
Fired up Space Harrier again after some time and i just remembered...

Space-Harrier.jpeg


..man that looks atrocious. The guy who made this simply took a few in-game sprites, plastered them on the screen and then took the time (5 minutes) to draw this strange figure on the shoulder of this robot. It just doesn't look like the title screen of a game that was the state of the art when it was released...
 
The majority of NES games, partly due to technical reasons I guess, simply have a black screen with white text and a colored logo.

Bomberman is a particularly ugly example.

Bomber_Man_NES_ScreenShot1.jpg
 
god-hand.jpg


The Game is great. The title screen is boring ... but well. You don't spend much time there anyway.
 
Fired up Space Harrier again after some time and i just remembered...

Space-Harrier.jpeg


..man that looks atrocious. The guy who made this simply took a few in-game sprites, plastered them on the screen and then took the time (5 minutes) to draw this strange figure on the shoulder of this robot. It just doesn't look like the title screen of a game that was the state of the art when it was released...

Wow, the master system screen actually looks better. They drew a complete background, gave it a pleasant blue color rather than that rainy day gray and made the shadows look a bit better. The title actually looks better too, has a nice color gradient.

Space_Harrier_SMS_ScreenShot1.jpg
 
Recently, Diablo III title screen. Can't really put a finger on why, but I don't like it (this is for ultimate evil edition).
 
4fd01cbf63220.png


they fixed it in the HD version, but seriously...

Menus in general were awful in that game. I didn't even remember how bad it was until I was playing the HD remaster and looking for info and saw the Aeon menu in the PS2 version...urg

wait
wait
PlayOnline was actually part of it? I blocked that garbage out of my memory. Ugh.
 
Probably far from the worst but only one that springs to mind.

Gears of War 2 with the fake fireplace. Cheap and nasty.

605805-gears-of-war-2-xbox-360-screenshot-title-screens.png
 
"Hey guys! I found this awesome Photoshop filter called Distort>Glass that we can put over a gradient and it'll look magic!"

"Don't use on all of the screen, it's hard to make out the picture... but damn it looks good, so make sure the actual title image is small and slightly off center so they both get their time to shine."
 
Really bland for how stylish the game actually is.

Wow. Never really payed attention because with Vita games I'll see the intro screen maybe once (then complete the game while never quitting).

Agreed, though. Given how vibrant and striking EVERY OTHER piece of keyart for that game is, that is a perfect example of someone phoning it in.
 
Funny thing is, I still like the old FFX start menu despite being overdesigned. It reminds of the turn of the millennium; right after starting the game, you're thrust into Zanarkand, some sort of prophetic technological wonderland like Japan prior to the bubble bursting (albeit with the fashion sense of the '90s). And then it gets ruthlessly destroyed. The start menu has almost no bearing on the game itself, just showing the goofing off of Squaresoft's designers. I tend to believe vanity plates are the most widespread cinematic import in games today, and this is a good example.
 
Though it is similar to XIII, this one fell flat, the text aside from the title is just a regular font just sat there. Then again, it wasn't much of a good game til nearer the end of it's life.
1024px-FFXIV_Title_Screen.jpg
 
Can't find a better quality version but NBA 2k13 irked me with the amount of bling it wanted to throw at me.
nba2k13lteval.jpg
 
The best arena shooter of all time has the the most uninspired menu of all time.

h0YCSu8.jpg
 
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