Which box art looks the best? - #42 (Kirby Super Star)

[NyaNyaLily]

Welcome to the topic where the purpose is to vote for the box art which you prefer the most. Each poll will last a week and a new one will be added when I feel like it.

Most of the time, you'll be able to choose between 3 options: NTSC-U, NTSC-J and PAL. The discussed box art will be edited in at the first post of the topic (this one)

Poll #42: Kirby Super Start

NTSC-U



NTSC-J



Previous box arts:

Poll 1: "Rayman (2) Revolution" - Winner: PAL (75%)

Poll 2: "Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)" - Winner: PAL (57%)

Poll 3: "Ratchet and Clank 3/Up Your Arsenal" - Winner: PAL (50%)

Poll 4: "Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc" - Winner: PAL (87%)

Poll 5: "Rayman Raving Rabbids 2" - Winner: NTSC-U (60%)

Poll 6: "WarioWare: Smooth Moves" - Winner: PAL (100%)

Poll 7: "Rayman 2: The Great Escape" - Winner: PAL (78%)

Poll 8: "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" - Winner: NTSC-J (83%)

Poll 9 : "Rayman Legends (Wii U)" - Winner: NTSC-U/PAL (90%)

Poll 10: "Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped" - Winner: PAL (50%)

Poll 11: "Spyro the Dragon" - Winner: PAL (100%)

Poll 12: "Rayman DS" - Winner: PAL (55%)

Poll 13: "Kirby's Adventure Wii/Kirby's Return to Dreamland" - Winner: PAL (86%)

Poll 14: "Mega Man 2" - Winner: NTSC-J (80%)

Poll 15: "Ratchet and Clank 2/Going Commando" - Winner: PAL (100%)

Poll 16: "Rayman (PS1/PC/Saturn)" - Winner: PS1/PC/Saturn - PAL/NTSC-U (67%)

Poll 17: "Shatterhand" - Tie: PAL/NTSC-U (50%) NTSC-J (50%)

Poll 18: "Castlevania Bloodlines / Castlevania the New Generation / Vampire Killer" - Winner: PAL/NTSC-J (100%)

Poll 19: "Super Smash Bros." - Winner: NTSC-U (83%)

Poll 20: "Splinter Cell" - Winner: PAL (86%)

Poll 21: "God of War" - Winner: PAL (50%)

Poll 22: "Beyond Good & Evil" (Ran from Aug 7, 2019 - Aug 14, 2019)



Poll 23: "Burnout 2: Point of Impact" (Ran from Aug 15, 2019 to Aug 22, 2019 – Suggested by Aaron)



Poll 24: "Persona 3 Portable" (Ran from Aug 27,2019 to Sep 3, 2019 - Suggested by StelzenBomber)



Poll 25: "Klonoa: Door to Phantomile" (Ran from Sep 9, 2019 - Sep 16, 2019 - Suggested by Aaron)



Poll 26: "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" (Ran from Jun 14, 2020 to Jun 21st, 2020)



Poll 27: "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" (Ran from Dec 16, 2023 to Dec 23, 2023)
Winner: NTSC-J (80%)


Poll 28: "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess" (Ran from Dec 26, 2023 to Jan 2, 2024)



Poll 29: "GTA III" (Ran from Jan 2, 2024 to Jan 9, 2024)



Poll 30: "Super Mario Bros" (Ran from Jan 14, 2024 to Jan 21, 2024)



Poll 31: "Crash Bandicoot" (Ran from Jan 23rd, 2024 to Jan 30, 2024)



Poll 32: "Resident Evil 4" (Ran from Feb 23rd, 2024 to Mar 1st, 2024)



Poll 33: "Metal Gear Solid" (Ran from Mar 3rd, 2024 to Mar 10th, 2024)



Poll 34: "Rayman Forever" (Ran from Apr 2nd, 2024 to Apr 10th, 2024)



Poll 35: "Little Big Planet" (Ran from Apr 20th, 2024 to Apr 27th, 2024)



Poll 36: "Super Bomberman (SNES)" (Ran from Sep 2nd, 2024 to Sep 9th, 2024)



Poll 37: "Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction" (Ran from January 27th, 2025 to April 29th, 2025)



Poll 38: "Dark Souls II" (Ran from April 29th, 2025 to July 25th, 2025)



Poll 39: "Crash Bash" (Ran from July 25th, 2025 to August 15th, 2025)



Poll 40: "Metroid Prime 3: Corruption" (Ran from August 15th, 2025 to August 29th, 2025)



Poll 41: "The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening" (Ran from August 29th, 2025 to October 11th, 2025)



Poll 42: "Kirby Super Star" (Ran from October 19th, 2025 to ?)

[Adsolution]

I used to like the NTSC one the best, since the green background, the logo and the pose all look sick. It's kind of messy though (the Ly thing LOL), and I just can't deny how well-composited and classy the PAL cover is, complete with the gorgeous Ly and teensies renders.

[Fifo]

I’ve just voted.

[Master]

Tough 'un between NTSC and PAL covers, I'm leaning slightly towards PAL since it looks more refined.

[Cairnie]

Good ol' PAL one with the Japanese one being a close second.

[Tomazo]

It's interesting how the Japanese one looks quite different from the others. Rayman's colours are changed (his sweater is blue, his hair is lighter), and what are those colourful bricks in the title? While the NTSC-U and PAL versions show the actual darker atmosphere of the game, the NTSC-J is made for the Japanese taste. I don't like it.

[Ray502]

Voted for the NTSC-U, mostly because of the green surrounding the characters, and Rayman's serious look as he poses like a determined hero.

[Master]

It is interesting, I think the Japanese one gives a more adventurous feel, while the Western 'uns give more of a atmospheric vibe.

[NyaNyaLily]

To me, Razorbeard doesn't really look threatening in the Japanese box art. It looks more like a love story between Razorbeard and Rayman rather than a battle.

[Fifo]

This one looks best imo:

[RibShark]

Let's go through these 1 by 1.

NTSC-U: I feel like this was made by some intern just copying and pasting some art over a background without caring what it actually ended up looking like. You've got Rayman, placed in a way that makes it look like they were trying to put him in the centre, but centred the whole art instead of centring his torso/head, which would have looked a lot nicer. The choice of art for Rayman also feels odd, with his hand seeming very oversized (more of the area is taken up by his hand than his actual head!) and his feet completely missing for some reason.

To the right of Rayman is a Henchman, which, sure, you battle a lot of, but surely it would have made more sense to put Razorbeard here? I mean, he's the main baddie in the game after all. The art for the Henchman once again seems to be placed a bit haphazardly, with his arm-cannon being obscured by Rayman, some of his right (well, left in his perspective) side cut off, but overall this seems to be the best art on the box.

And then we come to Ly, and oh wow does this art look awful on this particular box-art. The shading is done completely differently to all the other characters, making it look very two-dimensional. There's random swirls and effects that look good in concept art, but really don't on box-art, and Ly is just too small compared to the other characters. Choosing more appropriate art for Ly (and Rayman, in order for his giant hand not to cover everything) and scaling her up to the size of the Henchman would have made for a good contrast between the good side and the bad side of the battle and just improve the look of the box-art overall.

The logo is another thing that gets on my nerves. If you are going to localise it for a US release, at least change the logo and title in-game too! This inconsistency annoys me a lot, and to top it off they ruined the logo in other ways, by putting a glowing outline around it rather than a shadow, making it look almost too cartoony. I also think the choice of font for "Revolution" doesn't suit the game particularly well. Such a font would have been better suited to something like Rayman 3.

And finally, we have the background. While I don't hate it, I feel like such a bright green might not have been the best colour to use. A softer gradient rather than random dark lines would have also looked better.

PAL: This is my favourite box-art of the three. At the top is the logo, which matches the one seen in-game and with the soft shadow and less random-looking font I feel it's a large improvement over the NTSC-U one.

Underneath the logo covering the entire right side of the box is some nicely placed and drawn Rayman art, perfectly sized to fit the space given, proportioned correctly and with no jarring cut off on any side. The shading on this art is good, although the edges can seem a bit flat. For a reason I can't quite place this art feels a lot nicer and closer to the in-game depiction of Rayman, which is also a bonus.

On the left hand side of the box are depictions of Ly, Globox and some Teensies, all shaded consistently with the Rayman art, and all blended into the blue of the background. All of these characters have been placed in a way where not too much of them is cut off. I like the fact that this is showing the three main characters you end up saving at one point or another. The fact that they are blue and "in the background" represents their state of near hopelessness, and Rayman being in the foreground with vibrant colours represents their one hope, the person who will save them all.

The background is minimal, just some blue gradients, but I prefer it that way. There's not a lot going on and it really puts more of the focus on the characters themselves.

NTSC-J: I don't really like this one, although I don't hate it as much as the US version. I get that it's meant to be geared towards a different culture, though, so just read this from a purely Western standpoint.

At the left of the box is some Rayman art, recoloured to fit his Japanese colour scheme. While I don't hate Rayman's design change (changes to characters like Clark and Ly who aren't featured on the box-art are a lot worse), it does seem rather pointless and it was ultimately reverted in the later games with Japanese releases. The art itself is OK, certainly nicer than that of the US version. I almost prefer it to the PAL version, as it better shows Rayman's pure determination to free his friends.

Unfortunately, that's ruined with the rest of the box-art. On the top-right is Razorbeard, or should I say, Razorbeard's head. While I appreciate the fact that they used the main bad guy in this box-art, how is an uninformed player even supposed to tell that this is the main antagonist? The parts of Razorbeard that suggest his character are missing entirely: Razorbeard is missing his razor beard! His hat bearing the skull is cut-out, and his eyes show more of a pondering expression than that of evil.

In the background are various mockups of the gameplay. These are placed very messily in the background, all cropped into an oval with the edge blurred. I get that it's meant to show gameplay, but it just means that there's too much going on in the image. The main point of front box-art is to represent the overall tone of the game, to draw you in and make you look at the game in more detail. When the game was released, more detail would have meant the back of the box, which (in my opinion) is where the gameplay images should have been placed.

And finally we have the logo. I'm pretty ambivalent about this. It's a bit too cartoony for my tastes, at least for Rayman 2, but ignoring that I quite like the design, especially the top part where they cleverly made the font match Rayman's hair.

[Tomazo]

To me, Razorbeard doesn't really look threatening in the Japanese box art. It looks more like a love story between Razorbeard and Rayman rather than a battle.

Yeah, it quite looks like Rayman is thinking about Razorbeard and misses him. How sad their paths completely divided.

[Serza5]

Who knows, maybe the plot of Rayman 2 in the Japanese version has hidden homoerotic subtext between Rayman and Razorboard.

[NyaNyaLily]

No wonder they were too afraid to give it an age rating.

[nr0r]

PAL because tbh the NTSC-U looks like someone just copy pasted promotional images on a canvas. And the japanese one is... well... yes.

[Harpic fraîcheur]

The PAL cover is clearly the best one.

[raymanHUN]

To me, Razorbeard doesn't really look threatening in the Japanese box art. It looks more like a love story between Razorbeard and Rayman rather than a battle.

Made me laugh harder than it should have But seeing the cover after reading this kinda makes me feel the same way. I won't be able to unsee that ever again. Ohh and for the topic, I think PAL version is my favourite, it has this dark atmosphere, along with the title Revolution.

[Master]

So, uh...how long is this poll running?

[NyaNyaLily]

So, uh...how long is this poll running?

For 7 Days

[NyaNyaLily]

(Sorry for the double post)

The new poll is up!