Poll: Box Art Brawl - Ikaruga

I voted for Europe.
I have 2 copies of this game for my Cube.
One still brand new and sealed and one I opened and played.
Love this game.

I don't know that game but I voted for Europe because the box is the most colorful one.

I think I'm going to have to say Nintendo Switch for this one. Is this allowed? It's not on the poll...

(out of the ones here, I think the understated black and white suits the vibe of the game much more.)

The Japan and Europe box art is very similar in comparison, but the Japanese box art just look's lazy. Definitely the Europe cover.

There is absolutely no way that the North American version has a plurality of the votes. The background is so dull and gray, and what's with that IGN review slapped onto it?

I may be from North America, but I went with Europe. The colors are more vibrant (even compared to the Japanese version), and you get an idea of what the gameplay is about. You take one look at that ship, and you know it's a shmup. You don't get that with the North American version.

Japan wins by an inch, the katakana on the lower side pairs gallantly with the Ikaruga Kanji.

NA could win but... IGN quote on half of the cover? Just why.

Aside from the lame quote, I love the simple NA cover. Less is more sometimes.

Dreamcast wins.

I like the Japanese version, the contrast in colors, and the sense of a door opening kind of tells a story, like you (the ship) are entering something (a fiery inferno). The US cover is just terrible.

I liked the European colour scheme.

Brutal game. Dug up a GC copy on Wii after hearing such great things. Struggled. Too hard for me. Can see the attraction of it though but those scrolling shooters just weren’t ever really my jam sadly.

@AstroTheGamosian that’s something i wondered about. How much do we vote here (even unconciously) for our own region….

(Here i voted for europe. Really stands out. Most of the time i vote for the japanese ones).

JP one for me this week. I like that the game's title is written in hiragana. Though, katakana is simpler and easier to remember than hiragana, imo.
@ComfyAko «Japan wins by an inch, the katakana on the lower side pairs gallantly with the Ikaruga Kanji.»
It's not katakana. It looks like hiragana. イカルガ – Ikaruga in katakana.
@JohnnyMind Game's title is in hiragana, am I right?

@Nikki_boagreis if the Japan one is lazy, then wouldn’t the European one also be lazy? It’s the same cover, just a color swap from what I can tell.

This is one of my most disappointing purchases on the Switch. So much hype for this game. For years I read and heard how amazing Ikaruga is. It’s an ok shmup, just too much praise for it.
Box Art Brawl rules!!!

NA would win, why did they fill the top with the IGN review though... I voted for Japan this time around

@BFahey3 True, but the Japanese box art isn't as appealing as the European cover. Most people are attracted to neon colors not dull and faded.

To be fair, I find them all bit dull.

NA all the way if it wasn’t for that big dumb quote. I like Japan otherwise, feels more sci-fi with the cooler tone and all the Japanese small font.

Scrolling down… Hmm, that Europe one is fine but not an absolute belter. Oh, Japan’s is the same but slightly worse. Still Europe for me, but not impressed so far. America? Did they forget to do a cover? Is this the preliminary sketch?

Europe wins.

The Japanese one is a bad scan. The background is actually black, and the orange is brighter. It seems like the image here has a blue/green tint and is lacking contrast

The North American box is a great way to use an impression quote.

I don't really like any of them. I don't think I've ever played Ikaruga either.

The quote is why I voted for the North American box, also black and white just makes more sense for the actual game.

I can't believe I've never seen the European or Japanese versions before. The European one is pretty awesome, but I have a ton of nostalgia for the American version (other than that dumb quote), because it feels closest to the Dreamcast version, which is easily the best.

US would be far superior without the IGN quote. Cringe material.

I don’t mind the monotone NA cover, but frothing should be reserved for cappuccinos.☕️
So it was close, but I voted for Japan. The EU cover looks like an F1 race car with all those logos all over it!

I never played Ikaruga, being too intimidated by the neg/pos gimmick. Can somebody explain Atari’s connection here?

I've always loved that Eu cover, but the NA one is pretty good as well.
With regards to the quote on the NA one: Am I missing something or is it supposed to be written by someone with a shaky grasp of English?

I’m saying the Dreamcast box art is better but there’s no option

Any option works for me. All Ikaruga art is simply stellar

I have both the European and the American version. I love the European more because I bought it in a toy store bargain bin for like the equivalent of 5€ back then, and because it is complete in box, but I have both because I like the American box art better, used to be a collector, and got it cheap because it was incomplete (no manual).

I chose the European cover. Obviously, Japan would be a close second. The NA cover is horrible.

Europe and Japan splitting the votes, leaving it neck and neck, and allowing the terrible one a chance to win, just like in real life.

Japan because the orange is ugly.

The Japanese cover is the best. The European cover seems to have fallen into the ‘00s habit of making all posters/covers orange & teal.

ngl the dinky quote from IGN kinda ruins the american one

I hate the IGN quote on the front (both the wording of the quote itself and the fact it’s there) but I really like the NA cover.

Gotta go with Europe this time. Never liked the NA cover, it's too washed out, and it's just hard to make out what it's even depicting. Not to mention that goofy IGN quote.

@romanista No doubt nostalgia and maybe even patriotism play into these for some but I’m UK based and I voted for the NA one. And I often vote for the Japanese versions in others.

For me the understated visuals of the NA one are really nice, especially with the stark contrast logo on it. I dislike the quote on it, but apart from that it’s classy and sleek.

Lots of colour, even for a colourful game or a game like this where colour is actually a core mechanic, doesn’t mean it’s better. Or even a better representation of the game. The other two use the core colours of the game but they show the ship and it’s firing directly at the viewer and there’s nothing else. They actually give less of an impression of what the game is than the NA one. From the those two you could think this was a Star Fox style game or even a racing game and neither convert that colour is a mechanic anyway. From the NA version is clearly a bullet hell Shoot ‘Em Up. And it looks classy.

The IGN quote is so famously stupid and I am glad it is immortalized on the NA cover, which I actually prefer. So dumb. I also like the understated white simple cover to the others by a large margin, so it has to get my vote.

Never heard of this game but I really like the European cover. The IGN quote on the NA box sure is... something. Frothing.

Went with Japan because the orange and the colors on the bottom labels of the Europe cover take it down a notch for me.

I actually quite like the NA cover itself, but that IGN quote plastered on the top ruins it.

Wow, this poll is a close one between NA and EU

I like the american one but the quote ruins it for me

"Our frothing demand for this game increases".

The cringe.

The IGN quote makes me think of the infamous Daikatana ad. Like it's supposed to challenge the viewer to buy the game and conquer it. I prefer Europe.

@Vyacheslav333 @JohnnyMind is most correct in calling it furigana, because it’s a guide for the intended pronunciation of the Ikaruga kanji characters 斑鳩.

You are also correct that the script for the furigana itself is written in ひらがな, but the Japanese would look at that and call it the furigana for the two characters of the title.

If they wanted to express what @ComfyAko said, they would state “I like the spacing of the furigana of the kanji.”
It would be similar to English while looking at a math equation and saying, “I really like where the exponent is,” which is more natural than saying, “I really like where the smaller Arabic numeral 2 is over the Roman character x.”

North America? Nope. The ign quote loses whatever the cover art may be trying to convey. Maybe if they translated the quote to match the characters in the game logo.

Europe will be this time.

Even with the gaudy quote from IGN at the top, I still love the NA cover. Always thought it looked really classy.

Hate all the cover art for this. Yasushi Suzuki has some of the greatest concept art in the business and none of them do it justice at all.

I do love that NA cover, but geez how much better it would be without that IGN quote. I’m sure there’s a photoshop of that out somewhere.

@Vyacheslav333 I said katakana in the lower part of the cover. The name is in Kanji and furigana is on the right.

@TotalHenshin @JohnnyMind just to clear up the misunderstanding, I was referring to the katakana in the lower part, where it says "geemu no bakkuappu", "shuutingu" and so on. Furigana is on the right of the Kanji and I'm gonna be honest I didn't even notice it until Johnny pointed it out lol

@ComfyAko Ah, got it. Well... Japanese GBA games cover arts do feature thing like this as well(I remember Mario Kart and Metroid cover arts), if I don't confuse. Sorry for misunderstanding.

@TotalHenshin Well, I am the one who called furigana as hiragana. Johnny called it a furigana, without editing a comment. He was right from the very beginning.

I voted NA for the lulz, and seeing the results im so glad i did 🤣

in all seriousness though, without the quote it would be the best artwork here imo. 👍 but yeah the quote ruins everything. i wonder how many people bought the game because they read about ign's "frothing demand?"

The north american one for sure, it's simple and very stylish though the ign thing does hurt it.

The other two I find inredibly generic.

I wish this game still had frothing demand. Been trying to sell my US copy of this game in the UK for ages now

@romanista I may have been born and raised in America, but I know good box art when I see it, and this isn't it.

In fact, it's quite similar to the PS2 game Ico, where the Japanese and European versions of the box art was inspired by the works of Italian artist Giorgio de Chirico, and was quite beautiful.

Compare that to the North American version, which looked hideous. They took a render of the main character and slapped him on the front of the cover. Some argue that it was that box art which contributed to poor sales in North America.

the european box art for Ikaruga is quite eye cathing

Box Art Brawls Current Total:

Europe: 56

Japan: 58

North America: 62

Australia and New Zealand: 1

@AstroTheGamosian @ogbert. Thanx for your replies.. iwas jist sort of exploring hoe this works inside our minds…

Thinking.about the boxart.. even though i like the european standing out, the designer clear hasn’t played the game, since the white/black mechanic is completely ignored..

So I picked NA on this one. Minus the IGN quote which is just really weird and kinda tacky if that wasn’t there I would probably buy it because the box art lured me in more with the mystery of what is this “ikaruga?” Versus the others where I can tell you if I saw them in the store I would be like yeah no thanks that looks lame.

@JohnnyMind Oh, okay.

EU boxart is close, but i prefer the constrasted layers of the Japan cover