Yet more Megadrive/Genesis Box art comparisons and discusions. CyberBall and Dynamite Duke

OK so there are a lot of common themes I return to on this blog one of them being Japanese Video game box art usually for the sega Megadrive/Genesis. Well its a new year so to put it simply here is a new one of those posts. First things first though I am aware that I have new readers who might not have seen a lot of this so I will drop a few links here to my earlier pieces on this matter so that if you wish you can look at them and well catch up on this subject.

DJ BOY Box art comparison
LION KING Box art comparison
SUPER VOLLEY BALL Box art comparison
QUACK SHOT & CASTLE OF ILLUSION Box art comparison
WORLD OF ILLUSION Box art comparison
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES TF Box art comparison
ART OF FIGHTING Box art comparison
JEWEL MASTER Box art comparison
ESWAT Box art comparison

It is here I also want to show a collection of posts from a friend of mine who has a blog (Although unfortunately it is not very regularly updated anymore). I wanted to show this as well its pretty much his posts that got me into this. If your reading this DS90 come on chap give us some more gold to read.

DS90 GAMER'S Box art series


OK so I am going to look at two games today and they are Cyberball and Dynamite Duke

So this is the European box art for Cyberball a game which is pretty much John Madden robot edition if you need a simple explanation. Now its not a bad bit of box art you can tell its robots playing American football and the characters on show look a bit like Transformers crossed with NFL players. I dont like the way that the title is written in half solid lettering and half outline its just a bit weird in my opinion.

The American version is pretty much the same art used in more or less the same way, there is very little between them so really there is no point trying to put them against each other and decide which is the better one so instead lets move onto Japan and there version.

I have to say though that personally for me this Japanese art really knocks the above art right out of play.  Maybe part of it is the fact that the robot is looking right out of the cover at you as if he is about to throw the ball towards you, this just draws me straight in, maybe its also the fact that the robot has a sleeker more dangerous look as apposed to the one above being more purly functional. This is what is exciting futursitic looking robots coverd in spikes smashing the heck out of each other, not rolling functional toasters. I also find the title much more appealing not only because of it being in gold which stands out so well but also because of it not having half of the title as only an outline. If I would complain about anything on this cover it might be the size and placement of the words ''Football in the 21st Century'' its just covering the art a bit too much for my liking.

Ok so Dynamite Duke and its European box art. Its not too bad, I have to admit I am really not a fan of getting real people to dress up in prop clothes and photographing them in order to make a Video game cover I think its just kind of lazy. Also strangly this guy is making me think of Jessie the Body Ventura but maybe thats because I have been watching too much old school wrestling lately. I would call this functional but flat.

OK so the American version is basically just the same art with there usual logos and set up applied, this means that my thoughts on it are pretty much the same. I would quickly say that I think its slightly worse as there is more border space and less image but theres certainly not a lot to say here.

OK so for me this Japanese case art is a one million time improvement on the above. I like the way that instead of a sort of flat font the title Dynamite Duke has been turned into a sort of logo complete with fist and concrete letters this is instantly more exciting. Then we get to Duke himself, no longer is he a plain army guy who looks nothing like the in game character, he is now shown as a cool Saturday morning cartoon sort of action hero who actually looks like the games sprite. He has a kick ass terminator style arm which looks like its about to punch its way right out of the cover complete with awesome shoulder pad and on show robotic levers and gears. This is how you get someone pumped up to play a game like this. Why couldn't we have had something like this?

Now here is my custom idea for a Dynamite Duke cover for Europe using the Japanese art. I don't always do this but I thought in this case it would be kind of fun Its probably instantly apparent that I have darkened things and added some of the typical logos and such that we would see on games over here. I could have kept the original art as it was but I guess I like the idea of adding more black so that the dark 16-bit cartridge bar on the bottom doesn't look quiet as harsh in contrast to the image. I also feels that this kind of gives the impression like Duke is stepping out of the shadows into the enemy fire and the flames showing himself as the hero we need.