Star Fox 64 - BAB
Image: Nintendo Life

Open the wings and check your G-Diffuser system because it's time for another edition of Box Art Brawl!

Before we fly into combat this week, let's hit the brakes and recap what happened last time. In our previous match-up, we looked at two covers for Wario World on GameCube — two very different designs that produced a pretty tight contest. The Wario-centric North American/European cover sealed the win with 57% of the vote, while the gold Japanese variant followed behind with 43%. Waaah, indeed.

With Takaya Imamura's hopes for Star Fox on Switch 2 ringing in our ears, we're throwing it back to 1997 and the series' best entry, Star Fox 64. You don't need us to tell you about this one. It was brilliant then. It's still brilliant now. We want to see more from McCloud & co. so very badly.

With Europe and North America opting for very similar designs (bar the European N64 border and 'Lylat Wars' title, of course), it's a good old-fashioned 1-on-1 dogfight this week, with the horizontal artwork facing off against Japan's vertical variant. We see em’ up ahead. Let's rock and roll!

Be sure to cast your votes in the poll below; but first, let's check out the box art designs themselves.

North America / Europe

Star Fox 64 - NA/EU
Image: Nintendo / Launchbox

Talk about an iconic piece of artwork, eh? The Western design is all about space combat (makes sense, really), with Fox and his Arwing flying right towards us while ships and explosions dominate the background. It's a slightly strange composition, looking at it now, but this image is so burned into our brains that we can't help but love it.

Japan

Star Fox 64 - JP
Image: Nintendo / Launchbox

Wow, the Japanese design sure does cram a lot more in. The Arwing still takes centre stage, but this cover also showcases Fox and his crew outside their ships, running into action while the dogfight explodes behind them. We particularly like the looming Andross head peering out of the central flames, and the way that it's all contained within a 'Space Outlaw' badge is pretty sweet, too. Oof, we've got some competition!


Which region got the best Star Fox 64 box art?

Thanks for voting! We'll see you next time for another round of Box Art Brawl.