Urban Champion - BAB
Image: Nintendo Life

Hello there! Welcome back to another edition of Box Art Brawl!

Before we dive into this week's content, let's see how things panned out last time. We looked at DK: King of Swing for the Game Boy Advance in what turned out to be a pretty solid contest. In the end, Europe took home the trophy with 50% of the vote. North America settled with 30%, while Japan managed 20%. Well done, Europe!

This week, to mark the addition of seven new NES titles on Nintendo Switch Online, we're looking at Urban Champion. Launched in 1984 in Japan with a worldwide release following in 1986, it was Nintendo's first proper fighting game. It didn't pan out too well though, and most critics found it to be a bit naff. Still, it went on to spawn a successor of sorts in Japan called Joy Mech Fight.

Europe and Japan share fairly similar designs this week, so we're looking at a classic duel. We know folks in the UK have probably done enough voting to last a lifetime this week, but a bit more couldn't hurt, right..?

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

North America

Urban Champion - NA
Image: Nintendo / Moby Games

We suppose this week's brawl kinda boils down to whether you're a fan of pixel art or not. Well, even if you are, we can't claim that this is the finest example we've ever seen. It's your quintessential 'black box' release for the NES, but we do appreciate the fact that its cover art is essentially a pixelated version of what you see in other regions.

Europe / Japan

Urban Champion - EU
Image: Nintendo / Launch Box
Urban Champion - JP
Image: Nintendo / Moby Games

What tickles us about this image is the facial expression on the chap doing the punching; almost like he's not quite aware of what he's managed to do. It's a mildly humourous piece and the art style just isn't something you frequently see these days. Almost like something from The Beano or The Dandy. We dig it.


Which region got the best Urban Champion box art? (1,605 votes)

  1. North America
    North America59%
  2. Europe / Japan
    Europe / Japan41%

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