Japan V's The West
For many people who get into collecting Japanese Super Nintendo
games (or most games systems) it is not just a case of the games
being released earlier or the fact that you can get more games that
were never released in the west, but has a lot to do with the
different presentation.
For instance, who wouldn't prefer to see a brilliant manga styled
image of Vega on a Street Fighter II box instead of a life like Van
Damme badly drawn on a Western release?
Feasting your eyes over hundreds of beautifully coloured and
designed Super Famicom boxes is indeed a much more exciting prospect
than browsing mundane black USA released ones (Yes black was the
colour of choice for the USA)
And it's just not the colour of the games that draws or repels the
eye, but the artwork on them also. Many of the box designers in the
USA would rather go with just writing or a film logo and not risk
using Japanese art for fear of losing sales.
Below you will find a few game boxes that will show you exactly the
differences and the two different approaches that Japan and the West
took when they were marketing their Super Famicom (Snes) games.
V's
As you can see the
Japanese release of Zelda, on the top, goes for full anime style
artwork
while it's American cousin is confined to the traditional black
packaging with only a logo.
V's
Again the artwork on
the Japanese release uses images from the original manga comic,
but the US release has gone for a more realistic, but clinical
image.
V's
The main reason
Contra (or Probotector in Europe) had to have different art was
the game featured robots in Europe instead of soldiers.
V's
Pacman was the first
major video game character. Here he is in all his glory.......
well he is on the Japanese cover, the less said about the US one the
better.
V's
Nintendo's emphasis
on characters is shown on the Japanese box of Starfox
but on the bland Western release the marketing is driven at the
Super FX chip.