Professor Layton and the Unwound Future - BAB
Image: Nintendo Life

We are back for yet another edition of Box Art Brawl, are you ready to rank some covers?

Before we introduce this week's challengers, let's take a look at what went down last time. We pitted two cover variants for the SNES classic ActRaiser against each other and the results were very close indeed though the minimalist European / North American cover just clinched it with 51% of the vote compared to Japan's 49% — oof.

It seems fitting that we should make such a time jump this week, as we are looking at the different box designs for Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (or 'the Lost Future' in Europe and Australia). Originally released for the DS in 2008, this was the third game in the series which wrapped up the original trilogy with a helping of emotional damage that we're still not completely sure we have recovered from (iykyk).

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There are a whopping three different covers to choose between this week, so get those puzzling hats on and let's dive into it!

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

North America

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future - NA
Image: Nintendo

One look at the North American cover for the Unwound Future and you know exactly what the game has in store. Layton and Luke stand front and centre (as they should) while the bottom third is taken up by screenshots of some of the in-game puzzles on a bright green banner. It might not be the neatest cover we have ever seen (the screenshots make it look something like an ad pop-up, in our opinion), but at least it's clear what the game has to offer.

Europe

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future - EU
Image: Moby Games / Nintendo

Okay, now this one is taking a different approach. The European cover looks more like an old book, with the clock logo taking centre stage surrounded by smaller pictures of some of the puzzles. Our detective duo still sit in the background of the central logo (and above in the comparatively smaller title) and there's even a neat little plot summary to be read along the bottom.

Japan

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future - JP
Image: Moby Games / Level-5

The Japanese cover borrows much of the same format that we saw with NA, though there are a couple of noticeable differences. The title font is a lot smaller and less centralised, leaving a much clearer view of Luke and Layton, and what happened to all those puzzle screenshots? There's no indication of the puzzles in-store on this one, though a little plot summary once again sits across the bottom banner.

Which region got the best Professor Layton and the Unwound Future box art?

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