sdelfin

@bobby_steurer I think this is a good place to jump in. First of all, if you like the characters and the presentation, then you're more likely to stick with it. I think the games are beautiful and well made, so even when I lose I'm enjoying it. These games also come from a time when Capcom was trying to keep their fighting games accessible, starting from Street Fighter Alpha. They wanted casual players to be able to enjoy them, so they're not overly complicated. Worth mentioning, the games in the collection tend to get easier, specifically Marvel Super Heroes is much tougher on its default setting than X-Men vs. Street Fighter, with Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter seeming even easier on default to me, though it has a tougher final boss, as examples. Then, of course, you should be able to adjust the difficulty settings of each game too, so you can lower it until you get better. Capcom's control inputs are pretty forgiving on these games, and the combo system is intuitive.

To the point, I don't like any of them, so my vote is for the one that is least bad. The NA cover is a bit messy because of the trainer face at the top. The Euro cover is the one I think is the best. The desert background doesn't add much since everything looks disconnected from it, but I think the lighter color of the background ends up working out best for this game's cover design.

@Nintendo4Sonic You may have already realized this as it's been a few days since you commented, but just in case you haven't, the game does save your progress, but they decided to do it in a strange way. You have to die in the game and then choose to quit. Then it will save your progress. It's a clunky way to do it, and that's an understatement on my part, but at least it works. I got bit by it last night when I finally sat down with the game on Steam and got a crash in stage four. The game froze and I had to reboot. As I did that stretch all in one sitting, I had not quit the game and had no progress at all saved. I wasn't as hot about it as I should have been, so I guess that's good.

If you take a look, the comment right above mine explains the same thing about the saves to someone else. It's definitely something they should have thought more about. It's probably the biggest flaw of the game. I've seen some really silly complaints beyond that.

I got to the North American cover and thought to myself, this is pretty generic and is just missing something. Then I scrolled down to Europe. While I thought the focus on the ship was better in concept, though still generic, I thought the execution was lacking there as well. So I thought, this should be an easy win for Japan. And then I scrolled down. I wasn't digging that one either. So this is a week when I don't really like any of them. I'd say the one I dislike the least is the North American cover, so that gets my vote this week.

I've been looking forward to the review, and to the game itself. I wish I was more aware of Natsume back in the day so I could have known where to direct my mom's money. I have since come to appreciate Natsume as one of my favorite developers ever. A friend let me know about this one after I had played and loved Shatterhand/Solbrain. Shadow of the Ninja started off a lot tougher, but once I got used to it, I loved it too. I was able to beat it legitimately some years back, maybe 2017-2018, but I have to hone my skills back to that for this remake. But it was very doable. I looked on Steam, and the only negative review so far points out that it's old(and I assume too hard for them), so that's a great sign of the quality and design I like.

I love Tengo project and their updates to the old games. My only complaint was that Ninja Saviors took four years to come to PC for some odd reason unlike all their other games.

@Serpenterror A collection of Capcom vs. SNK could work if you include all three Capcom games, SNK's arcade game, SNK's Neo Geo Pocket fighting game, and the various card battle games. The second one never did get an official English release. That wouldn't be a bad collection. But that's just a thought and the games have come out in other ways and most of them are now available which is the most important thing. It probably is easier to do it with each company releasing their versions on their own.

Japan is way better this week. Whatever issues it may have with its layout, such as the Treasure logo covering some (useless) text and the game title being a bit small, it's still far better as a game cover.

The western cover isn't badly drawn, but that image doesn't work as a cover for me. Plus, the limited space available for the artwork just kills it. The framing is so tight it just crushes it. The logos make it worse. If the perspective was pulled back a bit, so there was a bit more space around Astro Boy and he wasn't cropped by the edges(who thought that was a good idea?) The NA cover is a bit better because it doesn't have five logos on the bottom like the Euro one does, with one being the size of two logos. But even with that change, I'd still pick Japan because the other issues remain.

Capcom really hit their stride with beat-em-ups in 1993 with The Punisher and Cadillacs & Dinosaurs, both of which are some of the best ones they ever did. Both of those have their strengths and weaknesses, but they are both excellent. Glad to see Punisher get a home release of some kind. It's also surprisingly manageable on default settings, so a 1CC as a previous poster mentioned is realistic, perhaps even easy for serious players.

Wow! 30 years. KOF reignited my enthusiasm for 2D fighting games in 1998. I played a lot of other fighting games, but there was always something missing for me. This includes Capcom as some of their decision making and presentation put me off, and I was down on Marvel stuff when they were doing those. Don't get me wrong. Capcom did excellent work. A friend of mine wanted to show me a Street Fighter 3 cabinet when he finally found one at a local shop. While it was technically impressive, the designs did nothing for me. Right next to it was a KOF 97 cabinet and I loved everything about it, especially the stylish character designs. It was one of those moments when I fell in love with a game immediately without playing it. When I finally did play it, it turned out to be excellent in gameplay as well(I love that roll). KOF 97 and 98 remain among my favorite fighting games to this day.

I see others in the comments with the same thoughts I had. The description of the premise and some of the game mechanics make me think this likely won't be for me, but the idea is clever and the presentation looks nice to the point where I definitely am curious how it turns out. Hopefully it ends up being a good experience for those who are interested in what this game eventually offers.

As I scrolled through the options and reached Japan, I instantly knew that was the one. Fastest decision I've ever made. The classic anime look is my favorite, and it's very stylish here. That is a box I would be compelled to pick up. I want to pick it up right now.

The other two are not bad. I like the Probotector designs. They're posed, but posed well. The way it's shaded and colored is so soft and it looks flatter than I think it was intended to be. The NA one goes for a dynamic layout, so kudos there. The composition is very good. I really like the enemy with the teeth. But it also looks overly soft. The main character looks a little off. Maybe it's the way the shading is done, or perhaps it's what we can see of his expression. That's one place where the anime aesthetic(or an authentic western comic book style, which this is not) would add something as the way the character is drawn just comes across as generic and lacking in appeal to me.

I'm definitely not the target audience for this. I don't go to the movies anymore, and I know very little about Borderlands. Obviously, the reviews are not good, and that seems to be both critics and regular people. As others have said, there didn't seem to be a lot of buzz about it. I had not heard this was a thing until a few days before its release. On top of that, the promotional shots like the one above don't look particularly good to me. I don't know if the casting is good or not. It just looks like a bunch of mostly recognizable people playing dress up. It looks cheap to me. And then I wonder if the timing for a Borderlands movie, as the game series seemed to be more popular years ago, so timing is a factor here too, if it was ever a good idea.

Having more "stuff" on a cover doesn't always make it better, but in this case, it does. I've always been indifferent to the "classic" North American gold Zelda box arts like this one. Frankly, I find the box designs lazy. I get it, those games sold themselves, but that doesn't make their boxes good. In this case, NA is covered in logos, so it's not only boring, but doesn't even get the benefit of the "clean" design. Europe's is a bit more interesting, but it has the same logo problem, and the image of Link with one eye open is a bit odd as some have said.

Much like with other Zelda box art polls, I voted for Japan. I think it's clever how they split the box art in half with the sword as the divider. That hurts the overall composition a bit, but the art and character designs are very strong and I find the Japanese box to be the most appealing.

@Zeldork I had to go back and double check that it said he played all the western released games for each platform, so that would explain the omission of Rondo of Blood. That is an amazing game and is my favorite of the pre SOTN Castlevania games. I know Alien Soldier got a European release, but not in North America, and that is, in my opinion, one of the best games of the era.

There's no getting away from bias and taste for something like this. It is subjective, after all. Super Metroid is very good, but it's not upper echelon for me. Contra 3 is great, except for the Mode 7 stages, which really mess with me. I'd put the likes of Castlevania Bloodlines and Shinobi 3 pretty close to the top. Ranger X is another strong effort too. On the SNES side, aside from typical heavy hitters, I recently played Cybernator which was great. And I never get tired of playing The Ninja Warriors for the system.

Japan's box is well drawn with excellent composition. However, I prefer the more dynamic image for the NA cover, and that is enough to get my vote.

The main character's pose looks more awkward when he's alone o the cover. It works better with the other characters there. There's also a significant amount of wasted space on the bottom of the Euro cover, and too many logos overall. So it's NA/Japan for me.

Regarding the switch to a more typical anime aesthetic, I would say the actual art is very good. The issue is that it's not necessarily the best fit for Castlevania. Kojima's art was especially moody and seemed like a perfect fit for the game. If this anime style was for a different game, I don't think it would get as much criticism. It's technically very good and far from ugly as far as I'm concerned.

They both have things going for them. The composition is not great for either of them. For the western cover, the design of Arremer is kind of odd as far as his facial expression. But it's well made and it looks like the artist put some effort into it. The Japanese cover is simpler in style, but it's also more stylish. I think that little bit of anime style is more appealing, and I think this is a case where it's important to make the main character as appealing as possible on the cover. I also like the enemy designs more on the Japanese cover and recognize them from the game. Based on that already, I think the Japanese one is better, but there's still the logo which is much better on the Japanese cover.

I'm not on top of things enough to know where SVC Chaos fell short and I'll take people's word for that, but I did enjoy it when I played it. I would have liked it to have had the roll move from KOF as it felt like it should be there. I always preferred SNK's stuff to Capcom once I discovered KOF, and one reason for that is the really stylish sprites. Don't get me wrong as Capcom had excellent sprite work as well, especially the Marvel stuff. I just have a soft spot for the SNK renditions of the Capcom characters which generally look great. To be fair, both companies seemed to do a good job in how they treated the other's characters. I also liked the idea of the two different end bosses. Athena seemed easier to me, but that might have been luck.

Some would say that Japan is too cluttered, and that would be fair. While there's less on the western box, it's not much less cluttered in terms of overall composition. The Japanese cover is better. It has a fun vibe. The flat, unshaded art is more appealing for Kirby. The NA cover isn't bad for what it is as far as finding a way to depict pinball. As I said, composition is not great, but it's not bad. But Japan's is much better.

I didn't really think Mother Brain in Zero Mission was that big of a deal. Seems the poll respondents agree. I'm not saying I crushed it on my first try, but it did not strike me as much of a thing. I did, however, find the next section of the game annoying and detracted a bit overall. In fact, that to me is a better justification for save states and rewind in Zero Mission. I think Fusion is the better game overall on GBA, but if it was close for me, that stealth section would have been the deciding factor and not to Zero Mission's benefit. It's still good though.

I am a big fan of save states and rewind. I haven't used rewind in a while, but those are great things and I think they improve many games. There's nothing stopping anyone from going on to master games without them. I've gone on to beat a number of games, some which are considered very tough, without those tools because I enjoyed them and the process. Plus, some games cheat, so I don't feel bad about evening things up a bit. But, states and rewind often makes things better in my opinion. Overusing them is possible and that can detract from the enjoyment. I'm aware of that and found the right balance for me, but I am very much in favor of these things.

Now that Tengen is back, I wonder(not really) if they'll offer repair or exchange on faulty Grind Stormer and Gauntlet 4 carts for the Genesis. Great games, but with faulty PCBs.

Sometimes, "because you can" is as good of a reason to do something as there is, and since Tengen was available, more power to him for registering it. I wish him luck answering all the questions about how it's pronounced as that is an issue that persists to this day.

I find the sales issue interesting but also puzzling. Okami was re-issued as one of the "Greatest Hits" line. From what I'm seeing, that means it should have cleared 400,000 for that original(pre "Hits") PS2 version.

I very much wanted to like PS2 Okami. It's well made in many ways, but I found it infuriating for some of the design choices. The intro can't be skipped and is nearly 20 minutes. Dialogue interrupts gameplay a lot and the character gibberish is grating. I found the "brush" to be unreliable which caused problems including having to repeat set pieces with cutscenes I could not skip(again with that). It was just very disappointing considering the high praise the game got. It's one of the number of times I've had to learn that game reviews are less useful to me than they had been in the past. If those issues are a reflection on anything, I'd say that goes to the director of the project.

To be clear, that's for the PS2 version specifically. I have heard that the game has been improved in significant ways, like being able to skip things. However, I'm not eager to try it again, but clearly it has its fans so it has succeeded as an experience that some people love.

Whenever one of these involves a black-box game, I immediately assume I'll be voting for something else before I even see it. The black boxes just are not very good. The pixel art blown up like that simply makes for a poor cover. Is the art for the Euro/Japan version all that great? Not really. But it's still better.

Japan's is too basic in a way that doesn't work. It's just random placement of things on a random background. On the NA cover, the logo is way too big and it crushes the artwork. On that artwork, DK looks like he's trying to be featured on "When Animals Attack" as he looks like he's about to assault someone. Europe has the issues people have stated. It isn't perfect. However, it has great composition, an actual background you can see, and it is far more pleasant than the other two. The European cover is far better than the other two.

Since the writer mentioned the motion controls, I'll just briefly say I hated them. Sublime? Not for me.

The western cover has way better composition than the Japanese cover. I agree the Japanese cover is cluttered. The layer behind Samus is a mess. There's also a terrible use of space, and I don't mean cramming everything into frame as a use of space. Everything is on top of other things and there's no space between anything at all as it's all pushed right to the edge of the frame. The western cover has a lot of breathing room which I find makes it far more pleasant visually and it easily my pick for this week.

@sketchturner Same story here. I loved the Prime games on Gamecube. Prime 3 was the main reason I got the Wii and it was a huge disappointment. I found the motion controls annoying and a barrier to immersion and enjoyment.

I'll get the negative bit out of the way first, whatever positives Marvel vs. Capcom 2 has, those 3D backgrounds and that soundtrack, among a few other things, kill any appeal it might have. I'm with the writer on this one with regard to the soundtrack. Capcom made a few odd choices after MSH vs. SF. I prefer their output on the CPS-2.

Which brings me to the positives. This is just a cool announcement overall. Anyone with a passing interest in Capcom's Marvel stuff will find something to like. My favorites here are Marvel Super Heroes, which is excellent for those wanting a traditional two-out-of-three structure; X-Men vs. Street Fighter, which I picked up new when it was released on the Saturn; and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. Those last two are quite similar, with different rosters, but there are more changes than people might expect including some extensively modified backgrounds and fresh character art. I probably favor X-Men vs. Street Fighter a bit more, but both are very good and I last played them about a year ago which was great fun. MSH vs. SF has a more traditional final boss which some might prefer. And Punisher is an excellent beat-em-up game, and it's good to see that finally widely available.

Of course, it is not reasonable to expect Konami's X-Men arcade, which I love and know very well, in a Capcom collection — though maybe it can see a proper, wide re-release as well. But it would have been cool and realistic if Capcom had included the two SNES games, X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse and Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems which are reasonably good as well.

This is wonderful news. I played a good bit of Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter a bit over a year ago and had a great time. MSH is a good one when you're not in the mood for the tag structure of the other games and want a traditional two-round fighter.

Also, so nice to finally see Punisher offered for sale other than as an arcade cabinet. That's one of the best beat-em-up games Capcom ever did. It looked like they'd never release a home version of that. So glad to see it finally happen and it's a great inclusion. Hopefully, they can release their other licensed games like the two SNES Marvel games, Cadillacs & Dinosaurs, and Alien vs. Predator.

I loved the entirety of Shovel Knight. There were things I liked more than other things. The card game wasn't my favorite, but the original game and the DLC were all great. I feel like I got way more for my money than anticipated, and I appreciate Yacht Club delivering the way they did. As a result, I'd consider buying a DX version, but I'd want all the quests in DX form in that case, especially since I enjoyed Plague Knight's game the most.

While I beat all the games without rewind or save states, I do love those features for the sake of saving some time. They're not necessary, but I do appreciate them. I've beaten some old classic games without them too, but because I wanted to. I generally prefer having them. Again, I'd love it if the whole thing got the DX treatment. I'd also love scanline options as well because I think that completes the retro pixel look. But the first Shovel Knight is a great game and this is a wonderful way for people to get into it if they have not yet done so.

These are both awful. I'd like to add that, despite being nearly the same, the NA cover is even worse than the Euro cover because it has the red border and that stupid top-right corner peel. I'm not a big fan of N64 and the generally terrible box art(due to trends and the template they used) is a significant part of that.

So this one for me comes down to which one is less bad. Japan's concept of an extreme close-up shot of an eye with a reflection within it is not good. Because of the limitation of having to do it within an eye, and offset because of the pupil giving even less space to show anything, the reflected image is not dynamic at all. Add on top of that it's a bad CG render so Turok shows no feeling at all while in that static image with no energy that's shoved off to the side. It's just a bad idea all around and I think it's worse.

So the western cover, the EU one specifically, wins this for me by default for not making a boring concept even worse. I generally try not to be negative on these, but this week was one of those weeks. I hope next week brings me something I like.

I went with "pretty excited" because, while I loved the entirety of the Treasure Trove, a move to 3D is what makes me a bit nervous. It makes sense on some level, especially if they're getting feedback from people to make a 3D game, but it's just a different set of game mechanics and level design from a 2D game that it may end up being disappointing for some. And from my perspective, I've always been more in the 2D camp and it was when things moved to 3D when I found that it was harder to find games I liked and that game reviews were a lot less helpful to me, including for well regarded titles that just didn't do anything for me. With that said, I'll be eager to see more as it comes oout and I hope it turns out to be a great game.

What the NA cover communicates to me is that Mega Man is an abomination and always was the villain. That thing in blue just makes me want to ally with the righteous Dr. Wily to eliminate the threat.

Europe looks too cut-and-paste for my taste. Japan could be tightened up a bit, but the general composition and art style are pleasant. Japan wins for me easily.

First, that small write up about last week doesn't even begin to describe how close it actually was. The lead shifted multiple times and the votes were often within five or ten for a while.

For this, the NA cover is definitely strange. Why is "includes" separated out like that? It's so random. Speaking of random, while the art itself is well executed, a random pile of weapons is one of the worst cover concepts I've seen.

The concept for the Japanese cover isn't amazing, but it's lifted up by Toriyama's stylish character(and dragon) art. A line up of cool anime characters is a lot more interesting to me than a pile of weapons barely in the frame. Japan for me easily!!

Revisiting games is sometimes just what is needed. Sometimes, great games don't land for me at a certain time, but trying again with a different mentality does wonders. Recently I played through Gauntlet 4's Quest mode which I couldn't get into previously, and had a great time with it. Years ago, I finally got around to playing Super Metroid and just couldn't appreciate the game it was, though I could see that it was well made. Exploration is not my favorite thing in games, so games like that really have to grab me in some other way, and I was getting lost in the game. But I revisited Super Metroid last year and played through it all, with some references to keep me focused and moving forward and I really enjoyed it. Revisiting games doesn't always work out, but I've had many experiences where a game was much better upon a second look.

As for Hollow Knight, I have not played it. I am aware of its good reputation. Just a week or so ago, I was looking into it and reconsidering giving it a shot. I also want to give credit to the developer for being open to feedback. I remember seeing clips of the game in the past and the effect of the screen shake seemed excessive, and that really bothers me. It bothered plenty of other too, so the developer thought it was a good move to add an option to (mostly) remove or reduce that, so credit to them for that. With a good Steam sale, it's probably worth a look even if it doesn't land for me.

For a moment, with it 50/50 at 1231 votes, I was the deciding vote. But that's in the past now.

I voted for Japan!!!

Seriously, I chose Europe. I think the NA cover is pretty good, but I think the Euro version accomplishes more as a cover. It appeals to me more. I like the slight low perspective looking up at the four stylish people who just look like they're adventurers.

@Laurenzio Yeah, I always loved the Lodoss OVA going back to first getting properly into anime way back. I got the VHS box set. Then I got the first DVD set. Then I got the blu ray/DVD combo back in 2019. I rewatched it some time last year and had a great time. That Combo pack also had the 1998 TV series Chronicles of the Heroic Knight(DVD only) and I just finished that last week. It is stuck in the OVA's shadow, but I thought it was also very good and might be worth a look as well. It was better than I expected. The only weird thing is the way it starts, as it's a bit of an alternate version of the later part of the OVA before it becomes its own thing.

I thought this looked like Team Ladybug. I do hope they make it so the screen shake is optional. That's a sticking point for me. But it does look well made.

Both approaches are valid and I think it really comes down to the balance in the end. You can have a boss fight that's too reliant on a set sequence of events that must be done to the point where it can feel gimmicky and tedious. On the other end, to make a more free-form boss battle challenging, it has to demand some amount of precision, and that can go too far. For example, the true final boss of Demon's Crest is just brutal. Now, I love that game, and since it's a secret final boss(hope that's not a spoiler...) I don't dock the game much for it. I do favor a more free form approach though, where there's no special requirement to damaging a boss, but avoiding damage is the real challenge, like with many Castlevania bosses.

Now that Atari owns the Intellivision brand, maybe Tommy and friends will announce a rebrand for their "totally real" device and call it the Fairchild Amico to mine that Fairchild Channel F nostalgia.

I don't like either one. The Euro one has cleaner composition, but I don't think it ended up looking good. The NA cover is messy and cluttered, yet more interesting and visually appealing relatively speaking. NA for me.

I've always disliked Zelda Twilight Princess due to it feeling too long and too stretched out. The early part of the game dragged, and it felt like a real chore towards the end. I tried the original PS2 version of Okami, and it's one of the most disappointing gaming experiences. The 20 minute opening stretch that can't be skipped was a bad sign of things to come. I definitely felt that the experience was going to be overly long and padded. I learned my lesson from Twilight Princess and bailed.

I have a preference now for the 8 and 16-bit eras. Games that are hard to master, but can eventually be beaten in 30-60 minutes are great to me. That's stuff like Shatterhand, Shinobi 3, Mario 2 3 &4, and arcade games like Metal Slug, and Knights of the Round. RPGs of the era like Phantasy Star 4 are a great length. Beyond that, 3D games like Metroid Prime, the Tenchu games and others that are around 10-20 hours feel about right for what they offer. Of course there are many examples and some of the other comments have covered other good ones. But for long games, the right length is going to depend on pacing.

Japan for me as well. The framing might be a bit too close for the western covers. I also think the depiction of the character isn't appealing enough for the market at the time too. The Japanese cover might benefit from being framed a tiny bit tighter than it is, but it's good. I like the background and setting details, plus it has a nice use of color.

Edit: I randomly was just thinking about Demon's Crest last night so it's quite a coincidence to see it in the morning for Box Art Brawl. I hope it's a coincidence....

@EarthboundBenjy Yeah, it's a very good game. At first I was mixed on it because it was obviously well made, but it was also tricky to know where to go. It's got a bit more exploration than I expected and more than I was looking for at the time. But I came back to the game when I was in a different mood, and could appreciate it more. In my opinion, it's one of the best looking games on the system. The organ music is a nice use of the SNES sound capabilities. The secret final boss is absolutely brutal. I thought "how much harder could it be?" and it turns out, insanely hard.

They say that often less is more. While there's definitely truth to that, for the Japanese cover, less is definitely less. Such a poor use of space.

The western cover has layout issues, but it's still a lot better. Mario has some suspicious paint, though.

I have no nostalgia for this one. With that said, I vastly prefer the western cover. I prefer the way Pikachu is illustrated looking determined as he prepares an attack. The Japanese cover is also really messy with its background.

I think it's worth mentioning that for the Kirby battle last week, the NA and Euro covers split the vote. As they were both the same concept with a different color, the overall concept of those two may be preferred to the odd Japanese one.

For this one, both covers are extremely busy. However, I voted for NA for what I consider to be vastly superior composition and more interesting visual choices. For the Euro cover, Mario's pose is odd to me, probably because he looks like he's jumping but his feet are together. Mario is featured prominently in the center, but there's so much extra stuff around him that it feels very cramped visually. I look at it and the cover feels crushed from the stuff from all sides. For the NA cover, all the clutter is at the edges. Mario using the hammer is more interesting. There's some breathing room in the center of the NA cover which I think makes it more pleasant to look at. I also like the choices for the various bits around the edges such as baby Bowser in that flying pod from SMW, the scissors, the sombrero, and the maneki neko(lucky cat), which all make it more fun to look at.

Metroid 2 was one of my favorite GB games and it was a real surprise as I had never played anything like it. I picked it up after a friend was raving about it and he was not wrong. I played it again last year and thought it was still great fun. One thing I liked more in Metroid 2 over Super Metroid was that it was more combat focused. Super Metroid is wonderful, but I had trouble getting into it at first and felt like it could have used a bit more action.

I've always enjoyed the first Super Mario Land. It's basic, but that's part of the charm. As an early game, the size of the ROM is tiny. I thought they did a good job taking the essence of the first Super Mario and creating a new game with that general feel. I didn't get into the second game at first because the bigger sprites make everything zoomed in due to the limited pixel resolution. This does affect the level design as a commenter above said. But I did have fun with it after a bit. Wario Land 1 is fantastic. I liked it when it was new and have played it a few times fairly recently. It's great.

I love seeing that Nintendo made more arcade-like games for the GB like Wave Race, F!, Solar Striker etc. Donkey Kong 94 was very clever and is Nintendo at its best in its purest form. That extends to the Mario vs. Donkey Kong game on GBA, Those games are a showcase of basic game design. I had Dr. Mario, and that was more fun than I expected as I didn't find puzzle games appealing. A couple of years back, I played Game & Watch Gallery and enjoyed that. Again, some very clever game design by Nintendo.

I saw the NA box and was underwhelmed. Not a fan. Then I saw the Euro box and was disappointed it was basically the same, but pink. I thought to myself, Japan can't be worse. And then I saw it. And somehow it was even worse. So this is a week where I choose the least bad of the three to my eyes. As others have said, the black background of the NA cover makes the gold elements pop more. However, this is a rare case when I think a cover border helps the overall package for Europe. The black border contrasts nicely with the pink background. Also, the lack of the corner tear in the upper right is better. That always detracted from the box art and it got way worse for N64. So Europe is my pick for least bad.

The US one isn't a bad concept, and it's executed fairly well, but the shift in the art style just doesn't work for Bomberman here.

People often complain that covers look too busy. Some seem to like minimalism so much that anything beyond a logo is too busy. I often disagree with that, but here the Japanese cover is definitely too busy. There's no particular focus on composition other than put everything possible on it in front of a busy background. In communicates little and doesn't really draw the eye anywhere specific. It's too much.

Europe has that awful border, though the NA cover isn't any better. But the art and composition are the best for the Euro cover, so that's my vote.

@Tayrailbridge "how do you even do that?!?"

I'm not sure what method they used or what was possible at the time, but one way to do it would be to use a multi-plane camera system like they used for cel animation. It's how they achieve a parallax effect. You'd have the images at separate levels with the foreground image on a clear animation cel. You could position the background layer so that it would be out of focus while the foreground one is in focus. Then you'd photograph that and end up with a composite image.

@-wc- It was actually the GBA version. I was planning to play SNES version sometime when I'm in an RPG mood. It will be interesting to see if a different version and with some time passing will change some of my views. It wouldn't be the first time that happened.

I didn't play FF6 when it came out. I heard so many people talk about the opera scene. Sadly, it just did nothing for me. As was stated above, it felt like it slowed things down too much and got in the way of things. I do recognize that many people love it, so I'm not knocking it beyond that. I was never the typical RPG player, so that's a part of it. I always appreciated game mechanics and brisk pacing more than spectacle and narrative elements.