This video is a follow up to an older video about Terrible NES Games with Amazing Cover art, so if you like this one check that out as well :) th-cam.com/video/lXBhPAOIHW8/w-d-xo.html
now, another one of these must be made... but of the SuperNES and/or the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis, if you haven't already! the cornucopia of classic games with craptastic covers on both those systems can fill half a mountain! Rival Turf and Phalanx on the SNES; Trouble Shooter and Strider for the Genesis... it begs to be done, methinks!
1:28 Megaman's boxart is the result of two things: the artist having not played or even seen the game itself, and severe crunch - the entire boxart was given just 36 hours to complete and submit. Back then, boxart was done on canvas, meaning what you're looking at is a painting. A painting for something only valguely discribed to the artist. Probably something like eh, blue two-toned police guy in a future world and very little else. What is interesting is that despite everything, the actual buildings at the top of the label do in fact match the layout of Dr. Wily's Castle in Megaman 1. So the artist must've been given at least that design element. 2:42 holy crap man, CLEAN THAT CARTRIRDGE! Just a wet paper towel alone would do wonders! YIKES! 3:55 This was a publisher style choice Jeleco had at the time. It makes about as much sense as Sega's choice for the Master System's white grid. 4:48 I'm not really sure this is fair. If you think Faxanadu's label art is bad, then how does either Zelda get a pass? Both are very simple, going for the same imagry to invoke fantasy adventure. 5:52 Xexyz is indeed a great game that no kid knew how to pronounce outside of the commercial. I wouldn't say the label is bad, it's just not very invokative of the actual game. Then again, what would be? This game is fucking strange. 7:20 Guardian Legend's boxart is pretty good in my opinion, just not what I would have chosen. Then again, back then, game companies assumed that 99% of gamers were boys and that boys would refuse to play games as female characters, so efforts were taken to downplay or outright hide female leads. Metroid, anyone? 8:32 Anticipation absolutely fits here. That looks like they just grabbed a stock photo. 9:15 Compare this to other Taito games of the time, like Qix. This was more fitting of Taito's design at the time. You're being critical of the design at the time rather than anything specifically to do with Puzznic. 10:18 I'm fine with the boxart for Totally Rad, but not the name change. The real name of the game was Magic John because it was about a kid named John with magic. That was totally just fine. The art was too. No need to change anything. 11:26 I think this boxart is just fine. Gun Dec's is too. I dunno. I don't have a lot to really complain about here. There are some real stinker boxarts and this one isn't too bad. 12:49 What happened here was Capcom simply used a flyer for the arcade version. The text was translated from the Japanese flyer and just left in. 敵軍を殲滅せよ！It was meant to be sort of a basic instructional text to let arcade operators know what kind of game it is, like Pac-Man would say Collect all the pellets and eat the ghosts. That kind of thing. This was a real lazy job on Capcom's part.
I met the guy who did Mega Man 2 at a convention and he told me all they described to him about the game was that he was in a blue suit and he shot a gun which is why he's hold a gun on the cover. You'd think that nailing that image would be the top priority but hey, Mega Man 1 and 2 were super popular in spite of it.
I just found out about your channel and I've been binge-watching through all of it. From classics to hidden NES gems, you always offer something new and interesting to say about them. Amazing work!
Same here, found it recently and love the content. Just wish the guy was a better writer and actor/presenter. I've grown accustomed to funny jokes and a fun in-character/dynamic delivery with my retro gaming content.
Some of these covers are pretty rad ;) Faxanadu is one of the most memorable because it just looks so clean and "adult" in its design. I guess they were taking notes from Zelda with the "silver crest on light brown background" style.
I actually passed on renting this game at the local store because of the cover. I THOUGHT I would like the game, but with my limited allowance money, the cover just told me nothing about what kind of game it was.
I always liked the Faxanadu cover art because of its clean design, but that's probably because I'm already familiar with the game. If I was browsing store shelves and saw the box for it for the first time, I would have just assumed it was the kind of really boring, turn based, text-heavy menu simulator of an RPG my older brothers would have been totally into and played nonstop just to spite me.
I think Faxanado’s cover was definitely intentional. Like, they wanted people to know the game had RPG elements in it, and wasn’t a Mario-clone. Save them from complaints.
7:40 - I picked up and put down Guardian Legend every time I was in my local video store. That was at least 2 times a week for my entire childhood - and I rented NES games well into the SNES lifespan... I never once rented that game because of the artwork alone. I chose Back to the Future over Guardian Legend, that was how anti-effective the artwork was.
I will never get over the Mega Man 1 art. There's a difference between professional art done cheaply and quickly (Mega Man 2's American cover, say) and not at all professional art. Like even if the artist never saw the game he should at least have seen a person once before! The fact that some serious person in a suit made the decision to slap that artwork on millions of cartridges will never stop blowing my mind.
Totally rad cover artwork looks like a mascot platform game about some lizard in the Texan or Mexican desert. I still can’t understand the decision behind the cover of Guardian Legend: I like the US version but looks to much like a fantasy computer or strategy game, and the Japanese artwork just have no competitor on level of amazingness (does that work existe? Lol). Astyanax rented it once but got disappointed because it wasn’t at all like the arcade game. Another nice video man!!!
This is an outstanding video. I can tell you really had fun making it. It is your love of making the content like this why your videos are so fun to watch.
Excellent video. Guess I'll have to play that XEROX space shooter game now. A quick question: any particular reason you wouldn't clean poor blaster master?
There’s a spray that’s an all purpose cleaner that sprays foam. It eats all the crud and won’t damage label. I use these for cleaning my games and plastic. It works wonders and I got a q-tip and went through all the corners and crevices of my cartridge games and got all the gunk out. Actually my cartridges were immaculate because I left them in their sleeves and in a cabinet during the 80’s-90’s then in custom cases I ordered online. But I did this cleaning to games that were given to me or purchased online to expand my collection and man people kept their games horrid. I of course refrained from purchasing the really bad condition ones. But some games were rare and hard to find better so I opted for those and gave it TLC. Now the all my games look new. I also refrained from purchasing games with damaged/scratched labels, stickers, names with permanent marker or the yellow plastic discoloration so that helped to have my collection look mint.
The Shingen cover art is weird. It's a guide for the game that you can't even see when you put the game in. When I got a top loader, it made more sense.
@@BigOleWords Lol, I remember renting it as a kid and having to flip up the toaster lid and use a flashlight to see stuff on the cover, upside down, so I could play the game. You really NEED the cover to figure out the menus if you don't have the book. You never get the book when you rent.
Getting back into the NES Astyanax Was one of the first games I came across and learned to appreciate despite It’s art work. But man is the level Marshy frustrating.
I remember seeing Kung-Fu Master and baseball (which I got) when I was kid (1993 of 1994) from a video game store(since out of business ), I only reamber the black box cover art I had wheel of fortune (the only mon-Black box game I ever had) and don't remember the label, the only other games I had was super Mario bros and Duck hunt(on the same cartridge ) I reamber playing Commando at a friend's house he had a New-Style NES
First thing... over 500 views in the first hour, that's great! The channel is growing! Second thing is a minor criticism... it wasn't the front of the box as much as it was the back of the box that led you to take a chance on a game you knew nothing about. Anyway, fuck that criticism. Great video regardless!
Good point, but the front of the game cover SHOULD be the eye-catching thing that demanded your attention first. I think the point of this topic was that some games could barely do that. 😆
@@28Pluto there was a time when games in stores were not in glass display cases and you could look at the back of any game. Anyway, I called it a minor criticism. No big deal.
Totally disagreed on Faxanadu's box. I actually bought the game as a kid BECAUSE of the box art -- I was obsessed with medieval castles as a kid, so the texturing on the box + the cool-looking crest and medieval-style font really caught my eye. And when I read the tagline, I was sold -- yes, even the part about the mantras excited me! I thought it sounded exotic and mystical.
I found TGL back in the late 90’s in a bargain bin at an old video store for probably $8. The cover art was fascinating, and I could not have been more pleasantly surprised by the gameplay and amazing soundtrack. This was the definitive Hidden Gem to me, and will always love this game!
Can it be? After all these years? A video with both Astyanax and Faxanadu? You know not how many years ive searched for a video extolling the virtues of these underrated games.
The original, Japanese cover of Blaster Master was definitely more in the 80s anime OVA territory. Interestingly, the cover of Blaster Master Zero is a re-creation of that original Famicom cover. Just with the frog added. Yeah, I guess Blaster Master Zero decided to merge the eastern & western storylines somewhat - the epic space opera and the search for a lost frog.
This made me laugh. The Joe and Mac you held up at the beginning had a Super Shop and Save sticker on it, I used to rent from that EXACT STORE back in the day!
I like the Astyanak one. I think it has a cool composition that reminds me of a Choose your own adventure book. The Lettering and the art style are pretty cool, the issue IMHO is that it tried and failed to balance the Children book aesthetic with something more serious like those Ultima covers. It has a couple bad decisions but overall I remember it fondly, but it might be a personal thing haha.. man I really enjoy your content...
Man that blaster master made me want to give it love 😂 There’s a spray that’s an all purpose cleaner that sprays foam. It eats all the crud and won’t damage label. I use these for cleaning the cartridge plastic I purchased online, second hand or given to me. It works wonders and I used a q-tip with a bit of the foam and went through all the corners and crevices of my cartridge games and got all the gunk out. Thankfully my original cartridges were immaculate because I left them in their sleeves and in a cabinet during the 80’s-90’s then in custom cases I ordered online and never wrote or placed anything on them (although I placed the famous crash bomb mega man man 2 sticker on the back of my MM2 game) But I did this cleaning to all the games that I collected after to expand my collection and man people kept their games horrid. It was endearing at times to see the child-like tendencies of peoples games condition and heartbreaking to see the dirt and grime I of course refrained from purchasing the really bad condition ones. But some games were rare and hard to find better so I opted for those and gave it TLC. Now the all my games look new. I also refrained from purchasing games with damaged/scratched labels, stickers, names with permanent marker or the yellow plastic discoloration so that helped to have my collection look mint.
The Commando and Megaman artwork looks like some of the results people were getting during that time period after AI art stopped being super-terrible but before it got to the point where you might not even get something with horrible hand maiming. Also, I did a double-take when I saw the dude on the cover of the European artwork for Puzznic giving a peace sign with his toes.
9:04 - LOL! Definitely a lost 80s sitcom. Also, I think that guy looks less like a secret Stallone brother, and more like if Patrick Duffy (Dallas, Step by Step) had a less appealing brother
I read somewhere that the poor artist for the North American Mega Man box art, only had like two weeks to start, and finish the cover, with very limited to almost no screenshots for reference, lol. In comparison, the European/PAL cover art looks incredible!
I like the Blaster Master one, it is very late 80's, Trapper Keeper style I also always liked the Faxanadu one, it had a mythical vibe that sparked the imagination a bit
I personally like the box art for Faxanadu. :-) I suppose it is a bit understated, but I feel like it works for the type of game. If you compare it to the boxes for the NES Zelda games, you'll see some striking similarities, which I'm guessing was intentional. What a fantastic game it was. It's a strong contender for my favourite on the system, and the soundtrack and overall atmosphere in particular are just brilliant.
funny story is how i got THE GUARDIAN LEGEND , a game that i never heard of or even knew what it is, simply because i got the japanese version and it had one of the most mindblowing cover art on the cartridge, and it is much funnier to know that they european and american version had such a bad cover art, i swear, i was just a kid and the moment i saw that alien babe on the cart, i just had to buy it. also would love to say that DOUBLE DRAGON 3 had a great japanese cover art.
I feel that the heraldic design of the Faxanadu cover fits the feel of the game well. Zelda may have done it better, but having a gold finish for its cartridge was kind of cheating and an earth-tone label background alludes to both the theme and color palette of Faxanadu. I didn't know what a mantra was when I first rented this game from Blockbuster, so I just assumed that it must be something as cool as a dagger or a wingboot and the alliteration with "monsters" works regardless.
How you not gonna mention the absolutely amazing soundtrack on Totally Rad?! Seriously, each stage has unique music and most of it is incredible for the NES era. Most of them being tangibly creepy to match the vibe of this surprisingly dark, unsettling game world. Not kidding when I say as someone who hasn't played this game in 30 years, I still hum those tunes from time to time.
8:17 - it's so weird looking at the European art and Japanese art for the game. I almost feel like the two should be switched. Like, the European art feels more anime inspired, and the HR Geiger inspired one feels like it would have been the European version not the Japanese. I don't know if I'm making sense. But I've always found that interesting.
I think you said Astyanax correctly. He is a character from Greek mythology who appears in The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare and was played by Bruce Campbell in a handful of Hercules episodes.
i still find it strange that James (AKA AVGN) has NEVER done an Episode on Faxanadu. 4:46! It was on the NES. Maybe he never played it! If you pause at 6:55, she Looks like Sprite from that Legend of Zelda Cartoon Show. He even looks like he is INVADING her Privacy.
@BigOleWords We think a lot alike. You must be almost as old as me, I am 1974. I never noticed how wacky the faces were on Anticipation art. I laughed pretty hard.
Blaster Master was a pretty perfect pick. The cover art isn’t offensively bad, but like you said it’s confusing. It’s a great early Metroidvania that I avoided for so long because the cover art made it look like a pretty generic shoot-‘em-up.
The people who designed box arts back than would recieve very little info about what the game looks like, just a vague description. So they would just make a guess about the game.
I've always liked Faxanadu's cover. It does a horrible job at showing off what the game is about, but the simplistic approach is really pleasing to the eye. Vice: Project Doom on the other hand deserved a lot better. It's a shame such a fantastic game ended up getting a cover as unremarkable as that.
Astyanax was one of those games I saw in Nintendo Power which I barely had interest in only to get my own copy from a second hand store for like $5. I ended up playing through it quite a few times and while it never all quite clicked completely felt it was a solid game which never got the recognition it deserves.
Guardian legend was a complete surprise for me. After I figured out how to play it, I discovered it was a fantastic game. It needs to be released again for the switch.
Another great NES game with bad artwork I can think of is "The Krion Conquest", which is a game that is surpringly similar to "Mega Man" in terms of gameplay and presentation.
@@BigOleWords Ah, okay. Well, to be fair, I was only able to know about the game after it was featured in an episode of Game Sack here on TH-cam, and I heard that it's not a bad game.
I think I seen Xexyz around a couple times when I was younger. Bummer that I never gave it a go,it looks like a good time. That Cilff Huxtable bit killed me man.
@@BigOleWords true but it's hard to put into words what it was like going into new games for the first time during that time period (when internet wasn't a thing yet, and people didn't have cell phones, so getting lost figuring out those games at friend's places with free eyes was legitimately something you could do for entire weekends or weeks at a time) . Nostalgia also has a bit of an influence too unfortunately. But yea I'll definitely check those out one day if I'm feeling the urge to revisit some nes titles.
@@BigOleWords no problem! I also sent out a message to my patrons and my FB group members and twitter followers this morning please let me know if you see a gain from that 🙏 I hope I can at least bring a few more hundred your way but will keep on promoting your channel when I can! let's get you past 25k! 10k is a great milestone but let's leave that number in the dust! 😜
Maybe “Commando” got its intrusive text to cover the soldier’s janky-ass legs. And “VICE: Project Doom” sounds like the (better) inspiration to the (I always assumed bootleg) “Ultimate Stuntman;” which also mashed up gameplay elements. (Also came with (I believe) a 2800-esque difficulty switch on it.)
This video is a follow up to an older video about Terrible NES Games with Amazing Cover art, so if you like this one check that out as well :) th-cam.com/video/lXBhPAOIHW8/w-d-xo.html
now, another one of these must be made... but of the SuperNES and/or the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis, if you haven't already! the cornucopia of classic games with craptastic covers on both those systems can fill half a mountain! Rival Turf and Phalanx on the SNES; Trouble Shooter and Strider for the Genesis... it begs to be done, methinks!
1:28 Megaman's boxart is the result of two things: the artist having not played or even seen the game itself, and severe crunch - the entire boxart was given just 36 hours to complete and submit. Back then, boxart was done on canvas, meaning what you're looking at is a painting. A painting for something only valguely discribed to the artist. Probably something like eh, blue two-toned police guy in a future world and very little else. What is interesting is that despite everything, the actual buildings at the top of the label do in fact match the layout of Dr. Wily's Castle in Megaman 1. So the artist must've been given at least that design element.
2:42 holy crap man, CLEAN THAT CARTRIRDGE! Just a wet paper towel alone would do wonders! YIKES!
3:55 This was a publisher style choice Jeleco had at the time. It makes about as much sense as Sega's choice for the Master System's white grid.
4:48 I'm not really sure this is fair. If you think Faxanadu's label art is bad, then how does either Zelda get a pass? Both are very simple, going for the same imagry to invoke fantasy adventure.
5:52 Xexyz is indeed a great game that no kid knew how to pronounce outside of the commercial. I wouldn't say the label is bad, it's just not very invokative of the actual game. Then again, what would be? This game is fucking strange.
7:20 Guardian Legend's boxart is pretty good in my opinion, just not what I would have chosen. Then again, back then, game companies assumed that 99% of gamers were boys and that boys would refuse to play games as female characters, so efforts were taken to downplay or outright hide female leads. Metroid, anyone?
8:32 Anticipation absolutely fits here. That looks like they just grabbed a stock photo.
9:15 Compare this to other Taito games of the time, like Qix. This was more fitting of Taito's design at the time. You're being critical of the design at the time rather than anything specifically to do with Puzznic.
10:18 I'm fine with the boxart for Totally Rad, but not the name change. The real name of the game was Magic John because it was about a kid named John with magic. That was totally just fine. The art was too. No need to change anything.
11:26 I think this boxart is just fine. Gun Dec's is too. I dunno. I don't have a lot to really complain about here. There are some real stinker boxarts and this one isn't too bad.
12:49 What happened here was Capcom simply used a flyer for the arcade version. The text was translated from the Japanese flyer and just left in. 敵軍を殲滅せよ！It was meant to be sort of a basic instructional text to let arcade operators know what kind of game it is, like Pac-Man would say Collect all the pellets and eat the ghosts. That kind of thing. This was a real lazy job on Capcom's part.
I met the guy who did Mega Man 2 at a convention and he told me all they described to him about the game was that he was in a blue suit and he shot a gun which is why he's hold a gun on the cover. You'd think that nailing that image would be the top priority but hey, Mega Man 1 and 2 were super popular in spite of it.
It's nice to find a channel which I am addicted to that eases my mind rather than confuses it.
I just found out about your channel and I've been binge-watching through all of it. From classics to hidden NES gems, you always offer something new and interesting to say about them. Amazing work!
Hey thanks so much, glad you dig it!
Same here, stumbled on your channel by chance and love it, great stuff, instant subscribe!
same here just found out about this channel yesterday
Same here, found it recently and love the content. Just wish the guy was a better writer and actor/presenter. I've grown accustomed to funny jokes and a fun in-character/dynamic delivery with my retro gaming content.
Eh, I think it's all fine...until he unnecessarily shows his face...then It's just confusing @ser6Ijvolk
I love James and AVGN and I seriously doubt he’d hold it against you if you mentioned bad cover art that he included in his videos.
Yeah for sure. That disclaimer is more for the random commenters than anything :)
@@BigOleWords
Your own unique perspective on the same subject is still valid content. ;)
"This Highlights fantasy Magazine drawing..."
Mega Man looks like he's on the board of a pinball game.
Some of these covers are pretty rad ;) Faxanadu is one of the most memorable because it just looks so clean and "adult" in its design. I guess they were taking notes from Zelda with the "silver crest on light brown background" style.
That’s a good point, definitely trying to siphon off the Zelda cover!
I actually passed on renting this game at the local store because of the cover. I THOUGHT I would like the game, but with my limited allowance money, the cover just told me nothing about what kind of game it was.
I always liked the Faxanadu cover art because of its clean design, but that's probably because I'm already familiar with the game. If I was browsing store shelves and saw the box for it for the first time, I would have just assumed it was the kind of really boring, turn based, text-heavy menu simulator of an RPG my older brothers would have been totally into and played nonstop just to spite me.
At least one of them was Totally Rad, even.
I think Faxanado’s cover was definitely intentional. Like, they wanted people to know the game had RPG elements in it, and wasn’t a Mario-clone. Save them from complaints.
7:40 - I picked up and put down Guardian Legend every time I was in my local video store. That was at least 2 times a week for my entire childhood - and I rented NES games well into the SNES lifespan... I never once rented that game because of the artwork alone. I chose Back to the Future over Guardian Legend, that was how anti-effective the artwork was.
That’s such a bummer! They completely missed the mark
Cartridge art doesn't always mean everything. Seen that in a LOT of other games.
That’s for sure!
As a kids in the mid-late 80s, I can confirm: the letters X - Y - Z were the most awesome thing you could use in a name and the more, the better
eXamine Your Zipper?
That is def what they ALL are anticipating.
You know it!
That Skeleton guy on Astynax was the scariest NES Sprite in the world to me as a kid, plus that cutscene music!
YES! As a kid that dude scared the shit out of me! Even today it kinda spooks me.
@@BigOleWords definitely the most intimidating thing on the system. Great video btw
I will never get over the Mega Man 1 art. There's a difference between professional art done cheaply and quickly (Mega Man 2's American cover, say) and not at all professional art.
Like even if the artist never saw the game he should at least have seen a person once before! The fact that some serious person in a suit made the decision to slap that artwork on millions of cartridges will never stop blowing my mind.
Yeah its pretty crazy considering it's Capcom and Mega Man ended up being so huge. Not sure who thought that would work for consumers.
I love the MM1 cover art. It reminds me of a Roger Dean album cover.
Totally rad cover artwork looks like a mascot platform game about some lizard in the Texan or Mexican desert.
I still can’t understand the decision behind the cover of Guardian Legend: I like the US version but looks to much like a fantasy computer or strategy game, and the Japanese artwork just have no competitor on level of amazingness (does that work existe? Lol).
Astyanax rented it once but got disappointed because it wasn’t at all like the arcade game.
Another nice video man!!!
This is an outstanding video. I can tell you really had fun making it. It is your love of making the content like this why your videos are so fun to watch.
Thanks mane! This is my favorite kind of video to make :)
Excellent video. Guess I'll have to play that XEROX space shooter game now. A quick question: any particular reason you wouldn't clean poor blaster master?
I honestly only ever clean the boards. I should, some of these are disgusting, but it’s pretty low on my ever growing list of things to do!
There’s a spray that’s an all purpose cleaner that sprays foam. It eats all the crud and won’t damage label. I use these for cleaning my games and plastic. It works wonders and I got a q-tip and went through all the corners and crevices of my cartridge games and got all the gunk out. Actually my cartridges were immaculate because I left them in their sleeves and in a cabinet during the 80’s-90’s then in custom cases I ordered online. But I did this cleaning to games that were given to me or purchased online to expand my collection and man people kept their games horrid. I of course refrained from purchasing the really bad condition ones. But some games were rare and hard to find better so I opted for those and gave it TLC. Now the all my games look new. I also refrained from purchasing games with damaged/scratched labels, stickers, names with permanent marker or the yellow plastic discoloration so that helped to have my collection look mint.
I remember looking at Faxanadu as a kid and putting it back because I couldn’t understand what the game was about just by the cover.
Exactly! That’s what I thought but my sister saw something in it and she was right :)
Blaster Master and Astyanax (Sp?) are childhood faves of mine and I am so happy you're showing them some love
Hell yeah! I'm still coming around on Blaster but Astyanax I played to death as a kid.
I totally would have worn that Vice Project Doom shirt you made up - especially if it was on a white tank-top! Talk about totally rad, indeed!
Damn, it really should've been a tank top!
@@BigOleWords Hindsight! Well, now you've got a cool merch idea out of it!
love your creativity bro! some of these takes like the "crabs on the beach, crabs in the sheets" had me rolling!
Haha thanks! Even my wife liked that joke :)
The Shingen cover art is weird. It's a guide for the game that you can't even see when you put the game in. When I got a top loader, it made more sense.
If only it’d been released after the Top Loader that would’ve been super handy!
@@BigOleWords Lol, I remember renting it as a kid and having to flip up the toaster lid and use a flashlight to see stuff on the cover, upside down, so I could play the game. You really NEED the cover to figure out the menus if you don't have the book. You never get the book when you rent.
As a kid, I remember WANTING to play Faxanadu just because the box art was so mysterious.
8:33 I anticipated this 👨👩👧👦
It is a classically bad cover :)
Both Xexyz and the overseas cover art for Guardian Legend could easily be the covers of prog rock albums from the 70s or 80s.
Honestly so could the NTSC Guardian. They both have a Crimson vibe to them :)
Getting back into the NES Astyanax Was one of the first games I came across and learned to appreciate despite
It’s art work. But man is the level Marshy frustrating.
Nice! Games like it kinda fall between the cracks when we talk about great NES titles, but it's solid for sure!
Video starts at 01:56. Thank me later
I remember seeing Kung-Fu Master and baseball (which I got) when I was kid (1993 of 1994) from a video game store(since out of business ), I only reamber the black box cover art
I had wheel of fortune (the only mon-Black box game I ever had) and don't remember the label, the only other games I had was super Mario bros and Duck hunt(on the same cartridge )
I reamber playing Commando at a friend's house he had a New-Style NES
First thing... over 500 views in the first hour, that's great! The channel is growing!
Second thing is a minor criticism... it wasn't the front of the box as much as it was the back of the box that led you to take a chance on a game you knew nothing about.
Anyway, fuck that criticism. Great video regardless!
Hey thanks! And yeah you’re right about the back!
Good point, but the front of the game cover SHOULD be the eye-catching thing that demanded your attention first.
I think the point of this topic was that some games could barely do that. 😆
@@28Pluto there was a time when games in stores were not in glass display cases and you could look at the back of any game.
Anyway, I called it a minor criticism. No big deal.
Totally disagreed on Faxanadu's box. I actually bought the game as a kid BECAUSE of the box art -- I was obsessed with medieval castles as a kid, so the texturing on the box + the cool-looking crest and medieval-style font really caught my eye. And when I read the tagline, I was sold -- yes, even the part about the mantras excited me! I thought it sounded exotic and mystical.
Yeah I can see that! I mean my sister bought it based on the cover so it must've been alluring to the more sharpened eyes ;)
Faxanadu's box art looks like a legally distinct version of the original Zelda's.
Oh my god. All these years I thought anticipation WAS about a sitcom and never bothered to look it up or try it out. That's wild.
Hahaha it makes sense!
That "anticipation" photo is before the orgy 🦩
Haha ohhhhh boy.
Glad you mentioned the Guardian Legend's cover art for other regions. I love the Japanese illustration.
There may be a tshirt in the works...
The Euro cover is the coolest. My shirt will be better! Joking, good vid James!
I found TGL back in the late 90’s in a bargain bin at an old video store for probably $8. The cover art was fascinating, and I could not have been more pleasantly surprised by the gameplay and amazing soundtrack. This was the definitive Hidden Gem to me, and will always love this game!
Can it be? After all these years? A video with both Astyanax and Faxanadu?
You know not how many years ive searched for a video extolling the virtues of these underrated games.
With Xexyz they form the trilogy of good NES games with impossible titles :)
The original, Japanese cover of Blaster Master was definitely more in the 80s anime OVA territory.
Interestingly, the cover of Blaster Master Zero is a re-creation of that original Famicom cover. Just with the frog added.
Yeah, I guess Blaster Master Zero decided to merge the eastern & western storylines somewhat - the epic space opera and the search for a lost frog.
4:48 Oooohhhh! The font that 80% of 20th Century Fox movie credits used back then!
Oh yeah? Nice!
The only games I recognized were master blaster & commando. Age appropriate to boot.
I've realized just now that I need an in-depth analysis of the Mega Man 1 cover art.
Haha well you'll have to watch AVGN's look at it, I'm tapped!
@@BigOleWords already did my friend! But I wanted to hear your take on it, the brief seconds we got in the video were hilarious!
“What kid would see this and say ‘Look mom! This game has mantras!’?”
(slowly raises hand)
Haha I guess I was right there with you ;)
I love Astyanax as a kid! Such a fun game, and I loved the story! Time for a replay, I think, it's been a while.
Completely agree!
I love how the Commando cover straight up has TH-cam thumbnail text on it
hahaha
This made me laugh. The Joe and Mac you held up at the beginning had a Super Shop and Save sticker on it, I used to rent from that EXACT STORE back in the day!
Haha no way! Maybe you rented it!
@@BigOleWords I didn't have a SNES until later, but it's just kinda wild, the journeys these games make! Love the channel, thanks!
I like the Astyanak one. I think it has a cool composition that reminds me of a Choose your own adventure book. The Lettering and the art style are pretty cool, the issue IMHO is that it tried and failed to balance the Children book aesthetic with something more serious like those Ultima covers. It has a couple bad decisions but overall I remember it fondly, but it might be a personal thing haha.. man I really enjoy your content...
CYOA is a perfect comparison!
Dope lettering
"Crabs on the beach
Crabs in the sheets"😂😂
Thank you thank you
Well done James, looking forward to the next live stream. 🙂
Thursday buddy!
Man that blaster master made me want to give it love 😂 There’s a spray that’s an all purpose cleaner that sprays foam. It eats all the crud and won’t damage label. I use these for cleaning the cartridge plastic I purchased online, second hand or given to me. It works wonders and I used a q-tip with a bit of the foam and went through all the corners and crevices of my cartridge games and got all the gunk out. Thankfully my original cartridges were immaculate because I left them in their sleeves and in a cabinet during the 80’s-90’s then in custom cases I ordered online and never wrote or placed anything on them (although I placed the famous crash bomb mega man man 2 sticker on the back of my MM2 game) But I did this cleaning to all the games that I collected after to expand my collection and man people kept their games horrid. It was endearing at times to see the child-like tendencies of peoples games condition and heartbreaking to see the dirt and grime I of course refrained from purchasing the really bad condition ones. But some games were rare and hard to find better so I opted for those and gave it TLC. Now the all my games look new. I also refrained from purchasing games with damaged/scratched labels, stickers, names with permanent marker or the yellow plastic discoloration so that helped to have my collection look mint.
Fun Fact: There was a Genesis version of Vice Project Doom in development at one point that was even shown off in magazines but was cancelled.
I'd love to see that! I hope they leaked the rom. Fingers crossed!
@@dc9662 I hope Hidden Palace eventually finds and dumps it online.
Woah cool!
Blaster Master is so true cuz when I first saw the cover art online I just assumed it was a light gun game and I'm so shocked to find out it's not xD
The Commando and Megaman artwork looks like some of the results people were getting during that time period after AI art stopped being super-terrible but before it got to the point where you might not even get something with horrible hand maiming.
Also, I did a double-take when I saw the dude on the cover of the European artwork for Puzznic giving a peace sign with his toes.
9:04 - LOL! Definitely a lost 80s sitcom. Also, I think that guy looks less like a secret Stallone brother, and more like if Patrick Duffy (Dallas, Step by Step) had a less appealing brother
hahah love it.
I read somewhere that the poor artist for the North American Mega Man box art, only had like two weeks to start, and finish the cover, with very limited to almost no screenshots for reference, lol. In comparison, the European/PAL cover art looks incredible!
Yeah they really did him dirty!
Crabs on the beach crabs in the sheets. Lmao
Thank you thank you
I would so buy your Vice: Project Doom t-shirt idea.
Honestly I might make one and just put a beer in his hand instead of a gun :)
@@BigOleWords Sold!
Just discovered your channel today! Cant wait to dig in!
I can sinnnnnnggggggg!!!!
I got Astynax and Wrath of the black manta for x-mas in 1990.
Nice!
Yup! After watching several videos that you've made, you've now earned yourself a new subscrobbler!!
That's my favorite kind of scrobbler!
Lmao, lost is at Shannon Doherty and "what I can only assume is project doom going odd in the background "
I like the Blaster Master one, it is very late 80's, Trapper Keeper style
I also always liked the Faxanadu one, it had a mythical vibe that sparked the imagination a bit
I see what you mean about both!
Agree- nothing wrong with Faxanadu’s cover, it tells me everything I need to know - it’s a medieval themed RPG, and I am down for it
I personally like the box art for Faxanadu. :-) I suppose it is a bit understated, but I feel like it works for the type of game. If you compare it to the boxes for the NES Zelda games, you'll see some striking similarities, which I'm guessing was intentional.
What a fantastic game it was. It's a strong contender for my favourite on the system, and the soundtrack and overall atmosphere in particular are just brilliant.
It definitely was trying to mimic Zeldas cover
"Crabs on the beach, crabs in the sheets"
Astyanax's cover reminds me of those old Choose Your Own Adventure books that were popular in the 80s and early 90s.
Ooooh yeah that’s a perfect parallel!
funny story is how i got THE GUARDIAN LEGEND , a game that i never heard of or even knew what it is, simply because i got the japanese version and it had one of the most mindblowing cover art on the cartridge, and it is much funnier to know that they european and american version had such a bad cover art, i swear, i was just a kid and the moment i saw that alien babe on the cart, i just had to buy it.
also would love to say that DOUBLE DRAGON 3 had a great japanese cover art.
That Japanese DD3 looks like straight up Fist of the North Star!
@@BigOleWords exactly, even the shoulder pads and all, and just a small not, DD3 is in my top 10 best nes games and i mean it, love that game.
Astyanax cover is iconic. The fucking 1st level track woah boy….glorious
Hell yeah, that one's a jammer!
What's crazy is that Guardian Legend straight up stole that cover art from the 1985 Movie "Creature". Like what??
Totally forgot about that, but you are right!
The cover art for Faxandu should be a dude leaning against a wall smoking.
He sells more than just keys ;)
I feel that the heraldic design of the Faxanadu cover fits the feel of the game well. Zelda may have done it better, but having a gold finish for its cartridge was kind of cheating and an earth-tone label background alludes to both the theme and color palette of Faxanadu. I didn't know what a mantra was when I first rented this game from Blockbuster, so I just assumed that it must be something as cool as a dagger or a wingboot and the alliteration with "monsters" works regardless.
Haha yeah I can see what you mean!
How you not gonna mention the absolutely amazing soundtrack on Totally Rad?!
Seriously, each stage has unique music and most of it is incredible for the NES era. Most of them being tangibly creepy to match the vibe of this surprisingly dark, unsettling game world. Not kidding when I say as someone who hasn't played this game in 30 years, I still hum those tunes from time to time.
8:17 - it's so weird looking at the European art and Japanese art for the game. I almost feel like the two should be switched. Like, the European art feels more anime inspired, and the HR Geiger inspired one feels like it would have been the European version not the Japanese.
I don't know if I'm making sense.
But I've always found that interesting.
That's an interesting point, you totally could switch the Euro and Japanese art and it'd make total sense!
I think you said Astyanax correctly. He is a character from Greek mythology who appears in The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare and was played by Bruce Campbell in a handful of Hercules episodes.
That’s who Bruce played?! Nice!
i still find it strange that James (AKA AVGN) has NEVER done an Episode on Faxanadu. 4:46! It was on the NES. Maybe he never played it! If you pause at 6:55, she Looks like Sprite from that Legend of Zelda Cartoon Show. He even looks like he is INVADING her Privacy.
Yeah maybe it's not quite bad or frustrating enough for that dude ;)
Faxandu is really miss represented, I would almost think it's a puzzle game by first glance until I read the text on it
Yeah for sure!
Great stuff! Astyanax is especially atrocious. I, curious what you think of Abadox! Boy what goofy artwork on that one…
Oh man that’s a good one, definitely could’ve added some Abadox in there!
Another great episode my friend. All great choices, but I really enjoy Totally Rad. that game needs and deserves more love.
It’s pretty damn fun for sure :)
@BigOleWords We think a lot alike. You must be almost as old as me, I am 1974. I never noticed how wacky the faces were on Anticipation art. I laughed pretty hard.
Glad you liked it!
Blaster Master was a pretty perfect pick. The cover art isn’t offensively bad, but like you said it’s confusing. It’s a great early Metroidvania that I avoided for so long because the cover art made it look like a pretty generic shoot-‘em-up.
Dr. Huxtable’s sweater! I busted!! That was funny!
😁
The people who designed box arts back than would recieve very little info about what the game looks like, just a vague description. So they would just make a guess about the game.
Very true. I met the guy who did Mega Man 2 and that’s what he said, that they basically described a blue guy with a gun and that was it :)
Was so psyched to see a new BoW video! I really love your style. Have a wonderful day!! 🪅
Hey thanks! Wonderful day to you as well :)
What is the “check this shit out!” song? I need it.
Mr. Show with Bob and David!
I've always liked Faxanadu's cover. It does a horrible job at showing off what the game is about, but the simplistic approach is really pleasing to the eye. Vice: Project Doom on the other hand deserved a lot better. It's a shame such a fantastic game ended up getting a cover as unremarkable as that.
Agreed but I’d still rather have a Vice shirt than a Fax one ;)
Astyanax was one of those games I saw in Nintendo Power which I barely had interest in only to get my own copy from a second hand store for like $5. I ended up playing through it quite a few times and while it never all quite clicked completely felt it was a solid game which never got the recognition it deserves.
I remember the commercial for Faxanadu pronouncing it the way you did.
Take that people who love correcting me!
Honorable mention for VICE cover model - A buff Kirk Cameron.
hahahahaha
Guardian legend was a complete surprise for me. After I figured out how to play it, I discovered it was a fantastic game. It needs to be released again for the switch.
"Crabs on the beach, crabs in the sheets." 🤣
Thank you thank you
The algorithm knew to show me a video praising Faxanadu. Insant subscribe!
If I could, I'd work Faxanadu into every video ;)
Another great NES game with bad artwork I can think of is "The Krion Conquest", which is a game that is surpringly similar to "Mega Man" in terms of gameplay and presentation.
Oof gotta disagree with you there, Krion made be one of my all time least favorite NES games. Brutal.
@@BigOleWords Ah, okay. Well, to be fair, I was only able to know about the game after it was featured in an episode of Game Sack here on TH-cam, and I heard that it's not a bad game.
@1:00 and he did it in the style of Night Gallery? That's really funny.
Right?!
my childhood buddy pronounced Faxanadu as 'Faxan-eddy' because the cover art had a tail on the U and he thought it was a Y
Hahaha I love that!
I think I seen Xexyz around a couple times when I was younger. Bummer that I never gave it a go,it looks like a good time. That Cilff Huxtable bit killed me man.
Thank you thank you ;)
I’m not ashamed to admit I rented Anticipation multiple times from the video store. More fun than an episode of Thirtysomething
Is that the name of the sitcom they appeared in? ;)
Wow, as for hidden gems I've never heard of those but they look amazing! Wish I could have enjoyed them in their prime
Never too late!
@@BigOleWords true but it's hard to put into words what it was like going into new games for the first time during that time period (when internet wasn't a thing yet, and people didn't have cell phones, so getting lost figuring out those games at friend's places with free eyes was legitimately something you could do for entire weekends or weeks at a time) . Nostalgia also has a bit of an influence too unfortunately. But yea I'll definitely check those out one day if I'm feeling the urge to revisit some nes titles.
Great video bud!
Thanks mane!
@@BigOleWords no problem! I also sent out a message to my patrons and my FB group members and twitter followers this morning please let me know if you see a gain from that 🙏 I hope I can at least bring a few more hundred your way but will keep on promoting your channel when I can! let's get you past 25k! 10k is a great milestone but let's leave that number in the dust! 😜
Mega man. That art cover was so infamous.
Pretty horrendous!
There's a DOS game called Brix that is exactly like Puzznic! I wonder which one came first?
Cool, never heard of it!
Star Tropics is my favorite game. The cover isn't bad, but I think it just doesn't let us know how awesome the game is.
That's a good example and definitely not great for reasons I gave about Faxanadu or Xexyz. It is a bit prettier though, but yeah it's up there!
Maybe “Commando” got its intrusive text to cover the soldier’s janky-ass legs.
And “VICE: Project Doom” sounds like the (better) inspiration to the (I always assumed bootleg) “Ultimate Stuntman;” which also mashed up gameplay elements. (Also came with (I believe) a 2800-esque difficulty switch on it.)
It does sound like the Ultimate Stuntman sequel!
I grew up with the NES and out of all these games, I only ever played Faxanadu. I'm gonna have to check out some of these games.
You're the only other person I've ever seen that knows what Puzznic is.
Such an underrated game.
You might be the first one to agree with me!