Poll: Box Art Brawl - Duel: Zelda II: The Adventure Of Link

That early link design looks a little bit weird and also slightly terrifying 😂

Japanese cover isn't great but it's miles better than the random fantasy props thing the NES versions of the Zelda games did.

The western one makes me think of wizards and warriors, but my one from the childhood looks basic

The golden NES covers are an elegant classic. They stood out from everything you saw on the Famicom games.

And they helped the franchise to garner attention just by the cover alone. No weird illustrations, no weird 80s manga characters… just pure golden elegance.

Chefs kiss

No wonder why Nintendo kept using this staple elegant golden simplistic style for mainline games until …. sigh …… Breath of the Wild 😒🙄

I chose Christian Link. The environment is also nice and feels a little bit like A Link To The Past.

These less blurry thumbnails are much better than before!
Don’t know how long it’s been changed but it really shows here.

I prefer the cartoon cover of the japanese one. it is part of the vision of the game, the US cover is a marketing adaptation

I'm a sucker for understated cover art, like the NA version here.

Upon seeing the NA simplicity, I thought, "it won't take much for Japan to top that." But then it didn't.

The western one doesn't really have much "art" to speak of; I don't really count a close up shot of a sword. That's... boring. Japan wins by default for me, even if that one isn't too special either.

Hate them both. Love the game. Considering there isn’t even a master sword in zelda 2, don’t even understand the sword which doesn’t even have a scale that makes sense.

Japan for the win similar reasons to the post above

I don't like the hella generic Western Zelda box art from yesteryear. Give me some character... and a little tenderness too.

I bought it because of the box and cutout and golden cartridge, and I did not regret it.

One of my fave Zeldas, my gateway to fantasy gaming, and absolutely iconic box.

Choice based on nostalgia? Yes. I did, however, greatly appreciate the art in the booklet, which is like the JP box art.

Very much a "you both suck for different reasons" choice here.

I will probably die on this hill alone but the western boxart for the older Zelda games was always utter dogs*** and I'm glad they eventually stopped making them like that.

I feel the Western box art was a missed opportunity to cast Fabio as Link, à la Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II.

I mean, it's kind of a no-win scenario here. The box art for either really isn't that great. Personally, I went with the JP box art, because we at least got Link and a shot of Hyrule in the background, even though I am more used to the NA/EU box art. But neither are really, "Oh my God, that's awesome!"

But on the bright side, at least the NA/EU box art told the truth: "Another journey of ultimate challenge." And boy oh boy, is that game the ultimate challenge for the series. Even I, as a veteran gamer and lifelong fan of the series, can have immense difficulty playing the game, even with all of Link's stats being maxed out.

That is slightly different from the original US version!

I voted for that North American/European box art.

Box Art Brawls Current Total:

Europe: 90

Japan: 88

North America: 104

Australia and New Zealand: 1

Going with Japan on this one, just because this art style for Link has always been my favorite.

I don’t mind being in the minority. 😊

Sure Link looks weird in the Japanese version, but at least it looks kind of cool. The western version looks pretty baron. The sword great though. Still, I prefer the Japanese version. But then again- this is coming from the guy who kind of likes the NA Mega Man box art.

@Yoshi3 actually, Majora broke that tradition. The Oracle games, Four Swords Adventures, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks also didn't use gold covers.

Edit: and Triforce Heroes

I have no love for the gold boxes. They stood out at the time for being different, but as far as actual box art it's quite boring. The Japanese one is pretty generic as Zelda art goes. It looks like extra promo art that was meant to be in the manual. Still, it wouldn't take much to beat the gold box, and the Japanese cover is enough to win out for me.

I don't much like either but I do like that they are trying to continue the theme of the first box art for EU/NA with the sword following on from the shield.

Japan one doesn't look great, Link looks like he's struggling to lift that giant shield and the world behind is sparse and empty.

@Jhena

"I chose Christian Link. The environment is also nice and feels a little bit like A Link To The Past."

(question: "Christian Link")

@Mario500 I think it's the big christian-looking cross on the shield.

@batmanbud2 let’s say mainline 3D games. But you’re right, I actually forgot about Majora’s. I remembered it was a golden cartridge but forgot that the box art had a colored background.

NA cover, it's very iconic.

@Mario500
The first three Zelda games had Christian symbolic, like the cross on Link's shield. Furthermore the japanese version of one the games had a bible in it. And a picture shows Link in a church kneeling and praying in front of a crucified Jesus Christ. I think you could also say the Tri Force was the holy trinity of God: The father, the son and the holy spirit.

So he was a Christian, which is why I wrote what I wrote.

Although Link looks weird with that nose, the JP box art represents the game, unlike the NA box art with the sword that don't appear in the game or that curious empty spot that looks like an open space for a shield.

Oooo seminal entry in the brawl compendium

Ooof, who put in the game the wrong way?
You are supposed to see the ridges in the cut-out, not the backside of the cart!

The US one is nostalgic to me, but the Japan one is cooler, because it reminds me of the manual art.

@daftfunk Lol!

NA, easy. The classic sword art and gold background and a cut out revealing the golden cart inside was so iconic that it still stands out in my mind from the first time I saw it.

@Yoshi3
"Elegant classic" : you've nailed it.

@Steel76
"It felt like you held a piece of treasure." : you've nailed it.

@brookeobscura
"Do you have the one with the shield or sword on the box?" : you've nailed it.

@Jhena
"So he was a Christian" : you've nailed him to the wrong cross.
Think Rose Cross. Think pyramid. Think temples. Think tasks. Think bosses with a major and single eye. Think compass (and its other meaning : the tool used to measure/trace circles). Think G(anon)...
Etc.
Link is most definitely a freemason before he is a Christian.

Gonna vote Japan, simply because it shows Link on a game with his name.

Cartridge/Disk art
North America (gold cartridge), shared with Europe,

Japan (FDS Disk)

BONUS
NES Classic Series, featuring a regular cartridge.

@HammerGalladeBro You forgot the yellow Zelda 1 cartridge that was sent to Nintendo authorized repair shops that they were supposed to use to "test" consoles.

I know it is simple but I like the NA cover.

@RogerFederer
I do not know much about freemasonry, could you please be more specific about what you mean. I get that you are trying to say the games have freemasonry symbols or themes or something like that.

It's fascinating how the comments section seems to skew towards Japan this week but the actual vote is leaning heavily the other way. I voted for EU/US because I'm in the camp that old-school Link looks goofy as. It's a fine cartoon for the instruction manual, less so for selling your product to the masses.

I remember back in the day there was some controversy in online forums, around the time of Ocarina coming out, about people being mad that Link was now a child for the first time.

Yes the internet was always stupid.

The thing that drove me crazy though was the people trying to counter argue that "Link was ALWAYS a child!" as if little details like this box art, or really every official piece of art for both the first two games, or even stuff like Link's Awakenings in game cutscenes, didn't consistently portray Link to be the exact dude pictured above. The guy who shows up in the back two thirds of Ocarina.

Neither here nor there but seeing this image fired some neurons and triggered that memory for me lol ^_^;

Anyways even as a child myself I always thought something was kind of off about Z2's box. It was clearly apeing Zelda's box box but it just wasn't as cool. I think it's the ugly sword. Too ornamental and non-functional looking. It's the kind of sword a rich pretender owns, not the kind the hero uses.

@daftfunk That game.... nightmarishly hard.

@HammerGalladeBro That classic series cart art is so clean.

A rare loss for Japan. The JP box art is still wonderful, but that NA/EU box is gorgeous.