The Art of Box Art - Scott The Woz

hey all Scott here I just got back from an art auction and I'm really excited to finally have such a pristine piece of art in my home it's something people look at and say oh [ __ ] I just realized this is the box art for warrior world what's the first thing you think of when you're super bust-a-move wrong this our video games art is one of the dumbest questions out there my opinion of course they are one video game can include millions of pieces of art in itself 3d models backgrounds textures literally if just one thing from a video game was smacked onto a piece of paper and hung up in an art museum and it wouldn't stick out at all but now when all this are with musical pieces acting and writing is put into this one thing you can control it's disqualified as a form of creative expression seriously why is this even a debate a for kazar why can't arms be art is subjective I personally believe anything and everything can be considered art in some way though I don't understand why video games have had a rough history being considered it I think it's an argument primarily made by old guys who just think video games are nothing more than space invaders and are just silly things people waste their lives on I guess something like some fish painted by any Warhol carries more meaning behind it than pac-man and I mean this was just made as a cheap Joyride in a pizza parlor this this was made to be sold for lots of money to be displayed in some rich guys living room this is art for those who still don't believe video games are art I will bring up one last thing the video games box art I mean it says alright there there's no escape from this one art made to advertise and represent more art a video games box art is generally one of the first things I think of when the games name is brought up it's the image that's supposed to represent everything that game is and the first thing you see when picking up a game for better or for worse seeing the finalized box art is one of my favorite moments with the build-up to a games release I love seeing how artists take everything you need to know about the game and cram it into one image it's the picture you'll see whenever popping the case open to play at how the product will look on store shelves the main image that will forever be associated with the game box art doesn't seem that important at first but it's way more crucial than you may think good box art needs to be a perfect balance between marketing good-looking art in composition and an accurate representation of the actual game that's already got two of these right the Atari 2600 had some of the most gorgeous box our ever but the problem was the box look like this and the King looked like this box art was too good in this era the most video game purchases were completely based off at the pocket art at this time without the internet consumers would just walk - the storm picked the game with the most appealing name and artwork which of course led to some Hardy buyer's remorse with a lot of these games in my opinion this was one of the factors of the video game crash of 1983 low quality products were flooding the market the fact that most of them had appealing art on the cover made people want to buy them and when they bring it home it made them want to swear off video games for life Activision did a pretty good job conveying what their games were like via the covers but that also made these things crazy boring look at this when Nintendo brought out the NES in 1985 they didn't want to repeat Atari and all the other video game manufacturers mistakes one of the key examples of this is their choice of box art with their early titles on the console instead of whoa we got oh the black box NES games were Nintendo published titles that weren't trying to fool anybody just spread out from the game that's it yeah that was pretty boring especially compared to what they got in Japan with the Famicom but they thought it was necessary there's no way you can mislead a consumer with a box like this even though I'm sure this tactic ensure nobody would buy cuckoo-land what the hell kind of game do you think this is this didn't last long though as Nintendo when all other publishers got a lot more creative with box art and it was for the best sure we were getting dangerously close to Atari Love was misrepresenting the actual product but the NES was far more capable of displaying graphics Atari required you to use your imagination a lot more and while the boxer gave you good idea as to what you should be picturing the game as as sometimes they were reaching on the NES was something like ninja gaiden yeah that looks like a ninja Batman yeah that looks like a batman nes Open tournament golf yeah that looks like a golf the boxart looked a billion times better than the actual games but they weren't too far off to the point where it felt like you were getting ripped off most of the time of course with games in this era we got some of the most legendary boxes of all time some absolutely gorgeous artwork and some very poorly drawn ones but hey at least we got all of these back then a shield a sword or some magical orb was enough to tell you this is a fantasy adventure game a lot of the NES box art could be considered either super detailed well painted epics simple cartoon character front and center or stolen assets the original metal gear cover ripped right from Terminator Castlevania to this dungeon the Dragons cover contra predator hey at least these all look nice the Sega Master System tried a unique tactic with box art as one of Nintendo's main competitors in the epic era all right when they started they decided to give up its pretty obviously we're attempting something like what Nintendo did with the black box games but instead of actual spread art from the games they for clipart creators to draw one small picture and smackin on graph paper these boxes have their charm but for all the wrong reasons they're not actually good but it's such an iconic part of the master systems image here in North America that it's somewhat endearing and then I look at the boxes other countries got please cut explain those boxer in the early to mid 90s began to become something special the Sega Genesis and SNES had the capabilities to display graphics even more on par with the actual cover with these games it's like the artist took something that happens in the game and made a piece of artwork out of it instead of drawing what the game was meant to represent like with previous generations of boxer not only was everything becoming better representations of the actual videogame but the art itself was becoming better and better there was also the box r4 foundlings some of the most iconic SNES and Genesis box art had funny little details crammed into them while others remain simple and elegant sure some of these are so cheesy it stings nowadays but they do a good job representing the game and it's obvious these were consumed by marketing strategies and we're just following a template to ensure great sales it felt like an artist was just doing what they thought would look cool but then 3d games started to become the norm and because of that we reach an ugly era of box art you just squirt a three model of a character that doesn't age well onto a cover and but a big about a boom we have a box box art felt more like a screen shot rather than actual boxers well these were kind of cool at the time with 3d really starting to take over the ps1 early ps2 era of box R it definitely wasn't as timeless as I'd want it to be in really isn't my favorite haunt these feel cheap and tacky you look at box art that was hand-drawn and it's gorgeous you can feel the passion behind it your sonic gar let's just have 3d models of Sonic and friends running instead of the spectacular 2d art why this generation wasn't terrible there was definitely some good stuff but this was the beginning of a trend in box art that's led us to where we are now we very rarely see art like this anymore because there's no need for it you can take an in-game model spruce it up with extra detail and maybe a higher polygon count and blam now I don't think most box art nowadays is bad I think most triple-a games have great composition everything is aligned in satisfying ways with a fair amount of them it's easy to get what the game is gonna be about the overall art is well done but a lot of the soul is gone like you think somebody made Bioshock Infinite's cover and said yep I'm proud like I said with modern box are the overall composition is fine this is one of the worst box tarts I've ever seen yes a lot of this showcases stuff that does indeed represent BioShock Infinite in some manner but it's so obvious this was done for marketing purposes oh we're trying to advertise this game to men who want to shoot things hey here's booker dewitt with a gun honestly this could be the cover to like a billion other games and it would work this doesn't represent infinite to me at all it literally focuses on somebody you barely see in the game because it's in first person it doesn't feature any of the game setting just fire in sky no other major characters featured nothing for a game as thematically unique is BioShock Infinite this box art doesn't display anything that makes it unique now there is a reversible cover which does a much better job representing the game a lot of companies do this having an alternative cover more often than not one that does a better job representing the game on the other side so if you don't like the standard art conjured up by marketing folks well you can just flip it here you go my problem with this is I like all my games to be as uniform as possible so it was something like BioShock Infinite I gotta stick to the regular art sadly to keep that cursed Xbox 360 logo on the spine at least with the game of the Year Edition they added Elizabeth which I think makes it a much better representation of the actual game considering she's the most memorable and iconic character at that game now if we're staying in the year 2013 we can take a look at the Last of Us as an example of good modern box art this shows off the dynamic between the characters of Ellie and Joel Ellie gets top billing with Joel looking back at her ensuring your safety this box art tells a story and perfectly represents the final game of course the higher-ups tried to cut Ellie from the box aren't entirely and make it just about Joel and thankfully Naughty Dog refused actually I have the original boxer for the Last of Us that marketing execs wanted for the game Oh with bioshock infinite being multi-platform in the last of us being exclusive to the ps3 at the time BioShock Infinite did sell more than the last of us initially well how much you want to bet it's because it was on multiple platforms not because some generic guy with a gun was on the cover The Last of Us sold seven million units on the ps3 alone with infinite selling around 11 million across everything I don't think that gap was because of the box art it was because of console exclusivity but I'm sure the higher-ups look at those numbers and assume that was all in the boxers companies seem to be obsessed with having marketable covers they all seem to push the same exact template for guaranteed highest sales but I think that makes a lot of covers feel completely generic this isn't doom you're trying to tell me we go from the first doom with box R like this to this I've seen this argument online so many times about this particular cover but it's true this could be any shooter with a sort of mech suit it's terrible we do get a reversible cover which was the main cover of the Nintendo switch version of the game that released later I guess they thought people know this is a good game now we can give the switch the better box art they did a similar thing with Wolfenstein 2 as well but the generic box our complaint the one that says this can be any game in my opinion is a huge problem and it's something we primarily see here in the States from what I've noticed while North America can have some great box arts they seem to be more marketing focused Japan can get stupid artsy with them and more times than not Japan usually gets the better box art out of all territories and then there's Europe it's a complete gamble of Europe gets either the Japan or the North American art or just whatever the hell they conjure up over there box art regional differences are fascinating one of the more well-known ones being the kirby series with North America mostly pissing Kirby off Japan usually has Kirby being Kirby happily posing with his friends or just having a good time I'm sure here in Nintendo of America wasn't trying to make her be angry but rather make him look determined like he's on some epic quest or something that way some people will go oh he looks cute and others go oh he looks badass America likes things to be on a huge epic scale I've noticed as an example another great modern cover The Legend of Zelda breath of the wild this is the perfect box art for this game even length the central character here isn't looking at the viewer he's looking away at the main focus of the game it's world it's in the title breath of the wild it gives off the vibe that the world within the game is about to give you the adventure of a lifetime which is in fact what it does well Japan had the same art Europe went for a different tag this doesn't feel like an epic quest this feels like elf this is still very good R but I feel like the actual game is more well represented via the North American and Japanese versions this one link isn't even looking at what awaits him he's looking directly at you and while you see more of the world in the European cover the overall tone and color scheme is happy and jovial which isn't really what I think of with this game the world is in ruins you have to save it which I think comes across more with this one one of the more notorious regional changes was eco you see this one tells the story this one tells me what to I am gonna get in my Happy Meal you see what I meant with the ps1 early ps2 era we got this somebody thought this was good Resident Evil 4 is when I'm sure we'll get flack for here the European covers across the GameCube ps2 and we are so cool-looking these are terrible in comparison but I think they do a much better job showcasing the actual game this is a rare case where this looks better this would be a great poster but I think these are better box arts for the game let's be honest here Resident Evil 4 as good as it is isn't as artsy fartsy as this cover suggests again this is way better but this tells you what to expect North American marketing with video games has always been a lot more loud wacky and obnoxious compared to other countries and while that reached its peak in the 90s and has died down tremendously by now it still seeps through with modern boxer while other regions get beautiful more simplistic images Nier automata Japanese boxer is absolutely gorgeous while the North American Friday looks cheaper and sort of cheesy in comparison some designs are so simple that there oddly beautiful in a way you feel a sense of pride and confidence with them like hey we don't need art art games that good like so many of the early Zelda games basically just shouted yeah this is a Zelda game [ __ ] you you don't need anything else just the logo on a golden background man says something Final Fantasy did this in Japan with white backgrounds and either beautiful artwork on top or just the logo for the game plus the artwork corresponding with it this is a beautiful trend if it's kept up with it makes all these games feel that much more well Final Fantasy but if you do it for just one game it's sort of lame I'm sorry but the Metal Gear Solid box art doesn't feel beautiful to me it just feels lazy and weird no other games in the series did the white background with just a logo so it just sort of sticks out which blows I love seeing sequels go for a similar style to previous games with their covers Borderlands 2 was a fantastic evolution of the first game's art so was Mario Galaxy 2 while the grand theft auto is following 3 these all feel like they belong together but then fallout just kept doing the same thing but with different angles you know what kind of games have a tough time with box art 3 releases and definitely some collections like do you just use the same art as before do you spruce it up do you do something completely different and with collections do you display all the games have multiple box arts in one box Arda well some were whipped together in an afternoon in Photoshop as had some genuine thought and time put into them sonic's ultimate genesis collection nails it it doesn't have to have marketing lingo thrown on there like this number of games included Sonic's front and center he grabs your attention and you see all the Genesis title screens in the background it's obvious what this is from the get-go you don't need any tag lines you don't even need the title this image is enough and then there's Dreamcast collection this is just a mishmash of all different kinds of things colors shapes obsolete video game consoles text at different angles Jesus rerelease is usually go a little more wild with the art compared to the first release they're showing off more characters and elements from the game the first go-around they were trying to sell the game to people who didn't know if it was good or not and now people already know it's worth so why not do something that looks a bit cooler maybe throw a bit of fanservice in there but while some of these are cooler pieces of art they do lose a lot of the iconic feel or simplicity of the original Twilight Princess HD jester was a bunch of characters on the cover it looks fine but the original will always be the Twilight Princess cover to me it's not cluttered it is laser focused on showing how this guy in this wolf are the same person but then look at the Japanese and European cover for the HD remake it's literally the original with more [ __ ] on it this just looks weird to me hey does anybody know how many games are included in the crash bandicoot insane trilogy this is not a temporary box art for the longest time and I kept praying oh please God give us something better for the final one and they delivered I could go without the constant reminders of how many things are included but this feels like the way to do a modern crash cover intended did a lot of these temporary boxes during the Wii U generation it always freaked me out I could see an article online saying Nintendo reveals breath of the wild box art during e3 2016 and then I see it and I start praying this isn't final thankfully oh the terrible box art changed soon enough and if who your generation was home to some great covers like Mario Tennis ultra smash is one of the worst things humanity has ever done but at least they made the box art better I always found a kind of key whenever something would overlap the console logo on the front Nintendo box art is never like the most artistically special thing in the world but they almost always look really nice you have new super mario brothers you this box art shows off exactly what the game is gonna be like just not nearly this clean and pretty it's like fast food photos compared to real life they almost always know exactly what a game needs box are wise striking poses for characters good title placement ever now and then we have a misfire but it's never you know that bad they usually know which games mean bad ol marketing flavor text five games in one up to four players idea book included these little phrases often help showcase what makes the game stand out and they don't take up too much room yeah and even Batman has nosebleeds from time to time it's okay guys yeah when all this garbage covers up the artwork for literally no reason that's pretty raw oh wow near dama des riveting I wasn't gonna buy up and now I'm sold the words box art is hilarious to look at like what is this it's not a duck play it's so heartbreaking when great games just get garbage Castlevania Symphony of the Night look at this and then here in North America they said well we know what castle and Knight are now with my personal preference I like something pretty and nice and satisfying to look at I like something that represents the game well but I also really value uniqueness with my video game covers sure if a cover isn't unique that can also be criticism directed towards the actual game for not being original enough but here's a game that I love with box art I just don't like one of the most disappointing covers in my opinion is Spider Man ps4 I finally started playing this game recently I just beat it it's amazing one of my favorite ps4 games but the fact that this box is literally just Spider Man on a red background is disappointingly bland and boring don't get me wrong this looks fine it's nice the look at breath of the wild a key part of this box R and game is the world the same goes for this a key part of Spider Man ps4 is the open world New York City the fact that none of it is displayed here really makes this art lack in my opinion I also don't like how it's just overwhelmingly red it doesn't make spider-man pop out as much as I'd want them to they're really my problem with it is this could be the cover to any spider-man game that does say something about how definitive of a spider-man game this is but it does enough of its own things that I just don't like how it's so generic like I said it feels like with so many pieces of box art nowadays while they fundamentally look nice and just follow the same template it's always a guy walking towards you characters at the top faded at bottom showing a bigger picture while box art from a few console generations ago yeah sure this art isn't as nice looking things can be off model and it can be pretty corny this feels like an artist did what they wanted to and this feels like corporations creating the perfect marketable box art and nobody likes to feel marketed to I think currently in the digital age were more games you never believed would do well sell like crazy due to the internet helping spread word companies are more willing to get creative and we've seen more unique and well done coverage that represent their games well it's great to see I just hope marketing doesn't start to take over like it did with a few key games so now that I've proven the validity of video games as art or at least box art is art I feel like I can convince anybody to do anything which is why I'm gonna start this rant against serial killers here's a message to all you serial killers out there stop [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Scott The Woz

Views: 2,243,958

Rating: 4.9417362 out of 5

Keywords: video game box art, video game packaging, video game cover, cover art, bad box art, worst box art, good video game box art, Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Sega, PS4, PS3, PS2, PS1, PlayStation, Xbox, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch, Wii U, Wii, GameCube, Game Boy, DS, 3DS, SNES, N64, Nintendo 64, NES

Id: g9gY-SdILg8

Length: 18min 36sec (1116 seconds)

Published: Sun May 05 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Leo_TheLurker]

Completely agree with the Spider-Man criticism. It is a good cover, but when I first saw it the first thing I thought was that's it? A cool pose with a basic background? Spider-Man definitely deserved something as cool as the reverse cover.

[u/Quarkamaniac]

This guy basically solved the Youtube algorithm - Read gaming tidbits off of Wikis, with quick jokes and an overall well written script.

[u/OneManFreakShow]

Love Scott the Woz. He strikes a perfect blend of being informative, appropriately critical, and genuinely humorous. I frankly wish there were many more YouTubers like him.

[u/ImAnthlon]

I've only recently found Scott The Woz (maybe around 4 months?) but he's pretty great, I've seen a lot of early JonTron comparisons, which I can see. I agreed so much with the European boxart being a coin flip of either the Japanese or American boxart, such a weird decision, it's a weird place where sometimes it's the Japanese and sometimes it's American, I have noticed it's usually more Japanese though.

I also don't agree that Resident Evil 4's American art is better, I can agree that it does tell you everything, Leon on the front, enemies behind him, but to me it falls under the "CG model slapped on with some extra stuff", where as the European one gives you the stylish box with the outline of one of the iconic enemy types hidden in shadows, bringing out a more horror feeling than an action one, both are successful in representing the game though.

[u/guynamednate]

TIL there are reverse covers for console games. I've mostly been playing PC for the last 10 years and buying digital for the few console games I play. Seems really cool to offer the reverse art for the fans (and not for the marketing)!

[u/TehJohnny]

People always trash the Phalanx cover, but as a kid that thing stood out to me where as a generic shoot em' up box art would not have.

[u/EdwardMcMelon]

Ultima VII has perhaps the best box art ever, you can't change my mind.

You see a stack of vanta*-fucking black on the wall as if the cover artist was metaphysically flipping off every other game box cover artist.

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*It's not actually vanta black.