Don't Judge a Game by its Cover

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

But often the sleeve cover of a game can be the deciding factor in the cut-throat market of gaming.

Angus rounds up some of the worst cases of terrible box-art that have adorned video games over the past few decades.

Which ones have made the list? Read on to find out.

Animal Soccer World (PlayStation 2)

To be totally honest I’m not sure these animals are actually playing soccer at all. Firstly the lion appears to be kicking that poor gorilla really hard in his nether regions and thoroughly enjoying himself.

And I’d really rather not know what the bear and the pig are doing down the bottom there. Whatever it is the bird referee seems to object. But the scary Rhino looks like he’s about to join in at any moment.

Perhaps it should have been titled Animal Orgy World. Keep the 3+ kids rating as well, of course. At least it would be educational… sort of.

Black Belt (SEGA Master System)

The SEGA Master System was pretty famous for terrible box-art. The entire series featured a stunningly modern mathematical grid paper texture behind every single design and a serif typeface that told you nothing about the game. The only area that artists could use to sell the game was the bottom left-hand corner.

So what do they decide to do? They encapsulate Black Belt’s intense violent beat 'em up gameplay by showing a foot that looks like it belongs in an Athlete’s Foot cream advert.

Runner up in the terrible SEGA Master System cover category would have to be Pro-Wrestling which featured a cartoon of a headless wrestler… cradling his own head.

Pac-Man (Atari 400/800)

Either the illustrator behind this 1982 cover of Pac-Man had never played the game before, or they simply decided to take complete artistic license with it. Turning the maze into a castle setting is one thing, but giving Pac-Man buck teeth and a serious case of macrocephaly is another altogether.

His abnormally large cranium is only compacted by his stick-like body and bulge-heavy short shorts. Why is Pac-Man wearing a singlet of himself? I also love the way the artist managed to include Grimace from MacDonald’s coming around the corner on the right there.

Of course this cover could be an extremely clever explanation for Pac-Man’s dilemma. He’s terribly underweight and needs to stuff his mouth with as many floating cookies as possible. Grimace and his pals are manifestations of his psychological eating-disorder that haunt his trapped subconscious (ie: the castle-like maze). More likely though, the artist was just on drugs.


Continue on to the next page to see what other covers made the list!

Continue reading on page 2.

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