Poll: Box Art Brawl - Duel: Pokémon Stadium

The NA one has nothing about it that would make me want the game. Sometimes simple is better, but isn’t this case I prefer Japan’s.

that North American/European box art feels so hollow.

the Japanese box art is like, "everyone is here!"

I choose you NA/EUR!

Don't get me wrong artistically Japan wins this hand down, but the Western one is better at telling us what the game is.

@Fizza The Japanese one looks better on display, that's a major plus.

I love outdated 3d visuals!!!!!

I like the idea of the Western one a lot more but I don’t think it was executed as well as it could have been so Japan

I really thought I’d be voting for the NA/EU cover but when I saw the Japanese one I had to pick it. Looks so much better imo and shows many more Pokemon.

Japan's is just so much more colourful and I love it. Western one isn't bad but it's a little bland by comparison.

I went Europe on this one.

I think the JPN artwork is significantly better, however I think the Euro one better conveys what the game is all about, rather than just being a nice picture of a load of Pokemon.

I'm giving my vote to the Japanese box art.

But the European one is Pokémon Stadium 1 and the Japanese version is Pokémon Stadium 2... Why not compare 1 with 1 and 2 with 2??

Going by this, I think the Japanese one is too cluttered so I'd go with the other one (even though Charizard using a fire move on a water Pokémon makes zero sense).

The western one feels cheaply made, with PNGs slapped onto a background. The Japanese one feels like a dramatic experience, showcasing the ensemble cast.

The Pokémon not being lined up to actually be inside the arena in the background on the western box is pretty awful really makes it looks like it’s just renders pasted onto a background image without much thought. The Japanese box is busy but it does a good job emphasizing what the game is going for and that is seeing all these Pokémon in dynamic polygonal fashion free of the constraints and off model oddness of Gen1 on the original Gameboy.

Japanese one definitely has my vote but Charizard's face on it bothers me for some reason.

Japan for me. Gotta catch 'em all! I do like the NA/EU art too, but it seems a bit bland in comparison.

@NinjaNicky
Exactly my thoughts!

Even though the Japan cover has a lot of Pokemon on it, I just chose the NA/EU cover just because it has a Stadium on it XD.

@NinjaNicky The article sort of explains this but I appreciate it doesn't make it wholly clear that they the Japanese Pokemon Stadium 2 is what we received as just plain old Pokemon Stadium. The very first Pokemon Stadium game had far less Pokemon in it and was pretty much considered redundant by the time America and Europe had jumped on the Pokemon bandwagon, so they released Pokemon Stadium 2 in lieu of the actual first game there.

Part of what might be lost is the significance that, at the time, allow players to battle their Pokemon not just IN COLOR but also IN 3D was a big draw.

Love my boy Poliwhirl was still getting love at this point

"incl. Transfer Pak", 'nuf sed.

NA/Europe for me. It's not the prettiest box out there but it's iconic and to the point. Great use of Red and Blue box mascots alongside the transfer pak text to instantly communicate that you can transfer Pokémon from your GB games and battle on the big screen.

@Lady_Galadhiel @NinjaNicky The article answers your question. They are the same game. We just never got the original Pokémon Stadium which featured 40 Pokémon and no minigames. Our Stadium 2 was known as Pokémon Stadium Gold ＆ Silver in Japan.

NA wins because it has an actual stadium, and shows combat.
Japan is better composition, but it could be box art for ANY Pokemon game... Snap, Pinball, or Puzzle League. It just doesn't give me any idea what the game is like.

Why are we combining PAL and NA?
The American box art is slightly different from Europe

@CharlieGirl that feeling of "everyone is here!" is probably what it is going for, considering the previous Japan-only Pokémon Stadium that had like 41 of the first 151 Pokémon and no minigames.

I'm voting the Japanese cover because it makes it feel like Mewtwo is commanding a Pokémon army, much like the first Pokémon movie.

EDIT: Cartridge art


The North American cartridge has "This game pak belongs to..." and the ESRB logo that ruin the art, particularly Blastoise. Meanwhile, the European one doesn't, which looks better than the one we got in NA.

NA/Eur for me, as it does a better job at conveying what the game is about. Incidentally, the Japan visual was used on the underside of the box for the Pokémon Stadium N64 set (game + console + two controllers + Transfer Pak). The console was the normal gray color; if that packaging was done today, the console would have Pokémon-specific visuals.

I remember letting my grad school roommate talk me into buying that edition at Target, weakly protesting that it would prolong my time in academia. I was right.

As much as I like the classic American version, that Japanese cover is absolutely glorious. I'm surprised I'd never seen it before.

I'm a bit surprised to hear so many people really like the Japanese cover. I saw that thing and just thought it was a mess. I'm not especially fond of either cover here, really. But Japan is too messy for me, so I picked the western cover.

Though Zelda's gold cover may have won the three-way battle, the two Japanese designs were so similar with the same key art that it's clear they split the vote and that a clear majority preferred the overall Japanese design, which makes me happy, or a feeling somewhat resembling that.

Edit: The US cover uses the same art as the Euro cover, but it has the typical US N64 cover nonsense like the red border strip and the corner peel. All that makes it much worse and I'd pick the Japanese version over it.

Box Art Brawls Current Total:

Europe: 61

Japan: 62

North America: 67

Australia and New Zealand: 1

Gotta go with the Japanese one on this one I love the color for this one and all the Pokémon on it it looks like a poster I would absolutely love to have hanging in my room. I absolutely love it.

The Japanese one is so awful and so cluttered oh my goodness. It looks like a Las Vegas showgirls advertisement.

I voted Japan, because wow that's beautiful!

But I love the box I grew up with!!

Yeah, the JP one is way too messy to work imo, whereas the EU one, while basic, at least works as representative box art (i.e. it conveys what the game is).
Also, personally I prefer the US version of the EU/US cover, the extra stuff just seems to frame the art better imo https://www.lukiegames.com/assets/images/N64/n64_pokemon_stadium_p_j68m69.jpg

While I'm not particularly fond of the Western art, I ultimately went with that because the Japanese artwork looks... messy and rather unappealing, and I generally prefer covers with heaps of characters on them.

And also... 64GB? Um... hello?

I looked it up and it's referring to the (Nintendo) 64 GB (Game Boy) transfer cable/pak.

I like the Duell on the western Boxart more, also it is one of the few Boxes without black Border.

Wasn't the japanese Boxart on the Hint Book?
Or was it just similiar in Color haha.

@Munchlax I love this! Almost all older magazines, manga, games promote Poliwhirl! It's so fun to see a nice pokemon that went almost nowhere. (of all 1000 pokemon he's certainly one of then)

@NinjaNicky Pokémon stadium 2 in Japan is the same game as Pokemon Stadium 1 that we received in the west. Pokémon stadium 1 Japan only had 30 Pokémon and never left the region