The Art of the Spine - Dr. Dray

I'm going to talk about spines for the next 26 minutes that's right I'm brave now before you start getting excited I'm talking about these spines not these spines sorry Anatomy enthusiasts you picked the wrong Doctor Dre just keep on moving now when you think of a video game what's the first thing that comes to mind the logo gameplay maybe it's characters of the world personally I often think of the cover art but what people don't usually consider is how 99 of the time what your game really looks like is this the art of the spine is one that is rarely mastered and is really only appreciated once you start buying more and more games a good spine has to effectively communicate what game it belongs to while also fitting in alongside other cases on the Shelf it's a balancing act of sticking out and blending in one that's often taken for granted hey I get it I'm sure there's one of you in the comments now why should I give a piss about spines well tell me what do you think looks better this row or this row if you said option two congrats congratulations here is your prize now it's taken a long time for us to get to where we are now and it all began a little over 50 years ago when someone decided to not give a [ __ ] for the first decade or so of their existence video games came packed in cardboard boxes rather than plastic cases which frequently meant the packaging was getting chucked as soon as you got home regardless of whether or not the games were labeled even when home consoles became more mainstream in the early 80s games were still being shipped in cardboard and subsequently the garbage can was still getting fed for that reason and because of this being the peach fuzz era of games and game packaging I don't really count most of these cardboard boxes as having a spine to display sure if you go to a retro game store you can find these older games in a box but more often than not they're just going to be stacked on a shelf or piled into bin somewhere at least at that point game started coming with end labels so you could actually see what you were pulling off the shelf instead of just hoping you were pulling in table tennis and damn it it Simon Says weirdly enough the first true innovator in the art of the spine was actually Sega otherwise known as the speedrun king of the Home console Market they were the first to release their games in these thick plastic cases and uh well I guess we had to start somewhere graph paper is certainly a background Choice it's really not all that visually appealing and considering that this was oftentimes the only element that was consistent across these spines yeah these aren't that great to look at so when it was time for their next Home console Sega figured you know what's the opposite of graph paper anti-graph paper you know anti-graph paper still contains the words graph paper right this black box packaging is classic Genesis and despite being a simple color swap of the master systems box it does look pretty slick unfortunately these early Genesis boxes were still pretty non-standardized and the same holds true for the spines these things were a complete toss-up later in the genesis's Life Sega dropped the graph format entirely and switched to this thick striped red border that encompassed the spine and I do quite like this look these spines were entirely consistent the Genesis logo does change sizes a bit but they're so much more fun and they really set the Genesis Library apart from everything else I think they look much nicer on the shelf and they draw parallels to the Genesis add-ons that were released in the 90s speaking of which the 90s are what I would consider the Lawless era of spine work not only were companies unable to figure out what format they wanted games to be in but the question of game packaging was a complete unknown do you use plastic cases CD Jewel cases proprietary Jewel cases Nintendo still had a cardboard fetish for some [ __ ] reason as a result not only were spines wildly inconsistent across the fifth generation of consoles but within the libraries of individual consoles as well the original PlayStation is a prime example of not being able to pick a damn format already as early PS1 games released in count them three different forms of packaging cardboard boxes proprietary Jewel cases and plastic hinged cardboard cases all of which are collectively referred to as long box PS1 games Sony later switched to normal Jewel cases which sure it's nice that they managed to pick a single format to package their games in but I never really liked using Jewel cases for video games they've always seemed really fragile to me and for the purposes of this video even if there is a spine there's barely enough room for you to be able to tell games apart at a glance sure proprietary Jewel cases are even more fragile but at least visually I still prefer this long box format they have a lot more personality in addition to room for creativity on the spine as opposed to a case where you can hardly even tell what the medium of entertainment is supposed to be don't you just hate it when you want to play cool borders and damn it this is Human Clay I'm okay with this there was also the Panasonic 3DO oh [ __ ] I forgot about the 3DO similar to Sony they went through a couple different styles of packaging starting with these plastic hinged cases before moving to cardboard boxes with a CD jewel case inside I hate that at that point why I even bothered with the box it's practically begging to be thrown away overall these were most similar to the PS1 Long boxes and the spines allow for a similar level of freedom but in my opinion it was really Sega that was leading this generation sure they did have a bit of an oopsie when the Genesis decided that its midlife crisis was going to involve joining the Church of Nintendo and then it dragged its Sun along however both the Saturn and the CD add-on for Genesis used proprietary Jewel cases featuring a stripe design reminiscent of the red Genesis boxes it doesn't happen often but I love it when a console spine art references that of its predecessor it makes for a really clean look that spans across multiple generations of games and I think that's beautifully demonstrated with Sega and its 90s packaging the fact that the Genesis its add-ons and the Saturn all used this stripe design regardless of the packaging there's no denying it it makes for one really cool looking Library even if Doom printed the 32x logo upside down now once we hit the 2000s most companies shaped up pretty quickly sure the Sega Dreamcast switched to normal Jewel cases and immediately couldn't seem to decide which color liked best not that it really ended up mattering but everyone else in this generation finally decided to move to plastic dvd-like cases including Nintendo I love the GameCube cases and the spines are incredibly distinct mostly because they're upside down the logo on the bottom this always stuck out as an odd choice to me and I still can't make up my mind as to whether I find it cool or just weird still I think this is a small part of what made the GameCube such a mysterious and alluring console to me when I was younger so I guess it does its job the PlayStation 2 used regular old DVD cases not sure what else there is to say here I mean the PlayStation logo on a white background feels a little off but everything else here is fairly standard Black Banner up top lots of room for the art to breathe it just doesn't feel like there's a whole lot to comment on now as for this generation's newcomer Xbox actually had a pretty strong start as far as spines go a Black Banner with the original Xbox logo on a green case I love it way more personality than the PS2 there are a few Oddities here and there like this orange stripe that indicated whether a game could connect to Xbox live honestly a little obtrusive kind of ruins the continuity here Navco Museum had a clear case not sure what that's about but overall I really like these spines though they've clearly aged a bit and in general I think I still prefer the GameCubes I would say this is the first generation of spines I don't have a significant problem with but of course these companies couldn't leave it at that they just had to give me something else to rant about and thus this generation also saw the rise of my greatest nemesis [Music] Platinum hits PlayStation hits players choice Nintendo selects whatever the hell you want to call these things they are a good deal turned nightmare for collectors and the bane of spine assemblies everywhere what got its start on the SNES in the form of a simple gold ribbon eventually spread onto other consoles resulting in a pandemic the likes of which kovid only wishes it could be you'd think a good deal on a game would warrant little more than a banner or badge on the front cover but they almost always end up contaminating the spine in some way whether it's different banners art cases or all of the above these games almost always stand out in the worst way imaginable it makes organizing your collection a much bigger pain because now I have to think do I place these games on the Shelf alphabetically or do I make it look like I support Jim Crow that's the thing even though these games normally look atrocious they can look pretty cool alongside their counterparts which is part of the reason why certain collectors aim for full sets of these types of games see I find that really neat but personally I'm trying to avoid yellow GameCube logo like it's the damn plague but you know who the worst offender of ruining spine collections is [ __ ] GameStop okay so I wanted to pick up some Xbox One and series X cases as props for this video I don't even own those consoles so I want these games to be as cheap as possible which really only means one thing I go to the register clutching the original cases for NHL 19 and 2k22 the GameStop employee then takes the case for 2K pulls out the game and places it in a cheap GameStop branded case and hands it back to me ooh ooh why should I the consumer that came in first get relegated to the shitty case you have no qualms with putting replacement cases on display I saw you do it three minutes ago I don't even give a [ __ ] about the game all I want is the case but you're not gonna give it to me you're just gonna put it back on the Shelf so you can Hoodwink another taste loving son of a [ __ ] and if you know GameStop you know this isn't anything new no no no they're the main reason why my Xbox 360 Shelf looks absolutely disgusting I know that they don't have to include these plastic cases but I almost wish they didn't because if you're that anal about how your games are displayed then you're gonna end up getting a replacement case either way I love GameStop but man I hate GameStop [Music] all right where were we oh yeah eye cancer well once gen 7 rolled around Nintendo really stepped up and delivered with one of the cleanest spine formats we have ever seen the Wii case is Iconic logo up top custom font Center white background it's beautiful the background really makes the game titles pop and it's super easy to see which titles are in a collection with just a quick glance even Nintendo selects titles despite their questionable covers were shockingly respectful of the spine this emblem is the only indicator of it being a Nintendo selects game and some Publishers would put their logo down here anyways so even that blends in the games that follow this format look great but of course we do have The Misfits so Wii Sports Resort features an off-center logo and this little ribbon that connects the front and back covers why it's the only element from the covers that continues on the spine is beyond me it's a bit distracting but hey could be worse new Super Mario Bros Wii and Mario and Sonic at the London Olympics these had completely different background colors as well as a reflective Wii logo on the Mario Bros case honestly I hate these two the least Nintendo went all out with the color change going so far as to give these differently colored cases as well and it makes the games really feel special the Black Eyed Peas experience why it uses a custom background but they didn't bother covering the entire spine with it so it just ends up looking blocky and weird it doesn't even take after a resort this background is completely disconnected from the front and back covers Resident Evil dark Side Chronicles forgot to add the Wii logo how the hell did that happen but easily the worst spawns on the Wii are brought to you courtesy of LucasArts what the hell is this this particular color and style of spine is something that LucasArts have been doing for a while up to this point which means these Wii games do fit in alongside lucasarts's older Lego titles but if you're sorting your games the way God intended foreign this format works on other systems because their spies allow for so much more freedom but the wheeze is so restrictive that by throwing away the format entirely you're just asking for trouble and they aren't even consistent with one another but as frustrating as these exceptions are they're still leagues ahead of Nintendo's would-be competitors for this generation like I said Xbox 360 collection absolutely disgusting even if we eradicate the GameStop cases from my sight line the Xbox 360 spines are consistently inconsistent in just the tiniest ways possible slightly translucent cases less translucent cases stripes on the banner no stripes on the banner purple cases for connect slightly different Xbox logos Xbox had a format down but really couldn't make up their mind when it came to these small details then there were the Burger King releases which were compatible with both the 360 and original Xboxes so the spines just said Xbox um see these changes aren't significant enough to be too obvious but it's just enough to really irk me not even the Platinum hits cases were consistent it's like they're taunting me however somehow Sony was significantly worse off have you ever been to the PS3 section of a GameStop it's a war zone three different spine revisions Sony seriously what is it with you in odd number consoles the original version featured this tiny red banner with some Toby Maguire font squeezed in there they later changed it to a larger Black Banner featuring The Modern PlayStation font and this is a significant Improvement not only is this font better for brand recognition but the banner is so much nicer it's so clean and professional looking a majority of the PS3's games were released with this style of spine but once the PS4 dropped they changed the spine again so now the banner is blue I know I said I like it when one console references its predecessor but when you try to make the predecessor look more like the new console I think that's a little [ __ ] stupid why would you want to run the risk of people confusing your old [ __ ] for your new [ __ ] or vice versa wouldn't you want to make it completely obvious which is which and then if a game had PlayStation Move compatibility then the spine had this little tumor added onto it altogether this just looks ridiculously chaotic on the Shelf it's almost hard to believe that these games are all for the same console at least these clear Blu-ray cases look kind of neat now it would be wrong to talk about spines without at least mentioning the world of handhelds Nintendo being the Hopeless Romantics they were used cardboard for the entirety of the Game Boy line just like Bandai with the Wonder Swan [ __ ] I forgot about the Wonders one however once the DS rolled around they finally decided to treat the consumers and boom plastic cases they're most similar to GameCube cases and man these just look right on the Shelf Nintendo really nailed it on their first try a shorter case with a simple Banner for the logo gives these spines just the right amount of uniformity while also providing the publisher with enough room for creativity regardless of whether they go for full color backgrounds simple text or somewhere in between and then DSi exclusive games decided to change it to this logo but I'm just gonna pretend like I didn't see that it may be an early call but I think the DS cases may have the best spine design among handheld systems hey hey no no put your hand down yeah I know what you're thinking and no I don't care about the Nokia engage nobody played that thing also Sega is not even on the podium anymore why did I even bother with this bit the PSP was Sony's first foray until the handheld market and they've always done a good job at creating parity between their handhelds and home consoles the original version of the PSP's box art was largely based on the ps2s and stuffed inside these smaller Nintendo switch-esque translucent cases years later they released a revision based on the PS3's box art this time featuring a much smaller Banner on the spine and while I like both of these designs individually I wish they had just stuck with the original the new smaller Banner really breaks up an otherwise solid looking library of games and videos but then we have the PSP successor the PS Vita this is adorable they're so cute they're like tiny PS4 boxes you've got a little yellow stripe that indicates if the game is a collection but otherwise there's nothing to break up your sight line these lovely little cases are completely uniform the Vita cases are up there with those of the DS I want to buy a PS Vita just so I have an excuse to spend all day marveling at these cases I love them the 3DS was released earlier in the same year though their cases are a bit more of a mixed bag below the 3DS logo is a little icon the same icon that pops up once you insert the cartridge into the game slot which is a really cool little detail beyond that these spines go for the same all-white background as the Wii and are slightly Slimmer than DS cases which I do like but it does mean there is quite literally less room for creativity on the spine forget logos some games didn't even bother using custom fonts don't get me wrong I love aerial semi-bold as much as the next guy but still then there was the fact that certain Mario games came in red cases and not even all Mario games so why bother at that point all it's doing is being visually distracting but you know it's even more visually distracting this [ __ ] after the switch released Nintendo changed their logo on 3DS cases to be more in line with their new logo and this is just black eyed peas all over again it's so blocky and draws way too much attention especially since it's the biggest splash of color here you couldn't have just left the logo alone or at the very least reverse the color so there's not a massive red field across the bottom of the spine it looks terrible seriously who thought this was a good idea let's make our way back over to home consoles because to call the 3DS spawns a mixed bag is to completely ignore its living room counterpart the Wii U spines share a lot of similarities with the 3DS and Wii most notably the white backgrounds and little emblems up here they also have a little Blue Ridge up top which I quite like it's visually distinctive and helps better incorporate the blue cases into the spine design it's a solid template when followed but unfortunately the Wii U library seemingly has even more spinal exceptions than the we did Resident Evil Revelations and Deus Ex human Revolution used black spines just these games no explanation was given also Star Fox guard is a big fan of eggshell certain Mario games red cases for no particular reason it was stupid before and is still stupid now Super Luigi U had a Green Ridge and case and like Mario Bros Wii this makes the game feel special so it passes the vibe check Wii Sports Club forgot the ridge entirely of a [ __ ] and then like the 3DS some of these games didn't even bother with logos or custom fonts they just use generic text even first party Nintendo games were guilty of this and it just looks lazy and wrong fortunately the other gen 8 consoles were here to pick up the slack and had some remarkably clean looking spines the Xbox One case features this thick plastic Ridge up top kind of similar to what the PS3 had and likewise I think it makes the case look really cool similar to the Wii the spine goes for a monotone background this one being a dark gray with the game's logo printed Center Gray on green may seem like an odd color choice at first but I always thought these fonts looked super sleek and really modern and at the very least you can't deny that it's Unique on the other hand Sony decided to stick with what they knew and had nothing more than a blue ribbon on a blue case allowing the Publishers full freedom to utilize the rest of the spine as they saw fit I really like this format it's so colorful in attention grabbing there's the occasion Witcher 3 and psvr games add an additional Banner to the spine but for the most part this is a library that I love and would have no problems with if it weren't for the fact that the PlayStation hits cases are red you were so close finally we've reached the current Suite of Home consoles and at the moment things are looking pretty mid to me by far the worst is the Xbox series X which started off by using these same cases as the Xbox one with the only difference on the spine being a slight change to the logo up here this is stupid it's hardly even noticeable again why would you want to risk people confusing your new system with your old one on top of that some of these games are still compatible with the Xbox one but all it says on the spine is Xbox so the only way you can tell is by flipping to the front that's even more stupid what's the point of having a spine if you can't immediately tell what console the game is for but on top of that Burger King strikes again at a glance these spines are practically identical with spawns made for certain Xbox One games that were backwards compatible with the Xbox 360 I.E it's an Xbox 360 game stuffed in an Xbox One case so now you've got three entirely different generations of games that all look nearly identical on the Shelf some of which you can't even tell what system they can be played on and if this isn't the peak of poor spine design then I don't know what is now they did slightly change the series X cases by removing the plastic Ridge up top and replacing it with a little green Banner and then they did the same for Xbox One games why even bother changing it then not only does it ruin the uniformity of your Xbox collection but it doesn't even fix the problem that changing the case would solve in the first place and then they changed it again so now there's three versions before the console has even been out for three years it's ridiculous and I don't even own these consoles what am I doing with my life at least the PS5 is significantly better but that doesn't mean it's any less lazy making the top Banner white it's a pretty simple solution but it certainly fits with the ps5's look and it does distinguish these games from the PS4s however they didn't bother changing the cases it's still the standard PS4 blue which makes the spine feel less like a bold design decision and more like they're just getting rid of old inventory no my favorite spots from the current generation definitely belong to the switch not only is the red visually distinct but almost all spots follow the exact same format with some simple all-capped text with a few Super Bomberman r- riddled exceptions this unit deformity makes a large switch collection really cool to look at though it does mean that it can be a bit tough to distinguish between individual switch games and that is more or less a brief history of the art of the spine at least in North America of course Regional differences in spines and packaging have always been present the further back in time you go the more obvious these differences become like Cal Japanese GameCube games came in these clear plastic cases with a cardboard sleeve or how European DS games were thick even now when packaging has mostly become standardized across the Globe Regional differences in spines still persist Japanese games tend to put the age rating on the spine and Nintendo games from pal regions still have this little triangle indicating what area the game is originally from I find these Regional differences to be fascinating though it's really a topic for another time we've looked at a lot of different spots today and listen while I love the Simplicity and uniformity that a Mona color background brings I think this format of a banner along the edge has to be my favorite style of spine it does a good job of tying libraries together while also giving Publishers the chance to express the game inside in whatever way they see best and usually the wackier they get the more fun these spines are to look at I especially love it when they allow the cover art to spill over onto the spines because more often than not these are the most colorful and fun spawns on the Shelf however that's not to say I dislike more uniform spine formats in fact I think there's a good reason why almost all spawns from the previous few Generations boil down to one of these two formats they're designs that have been tried and tested designs that are known to pull off The Balancing Act pretty well they allow most games to be presented on the Shelf in a way that looks really nice and in some cases can show which Publishers really tried with their marketing as well as the instances where certain Corners were cut look I know it's kind of a goofy thing to obsess over and I'm sure spine art seems like a pretty menial topic to most people especially if you don't particularly care care about video games I mean why bother giving you [ __ ] about the spine or case or cover art isn't the game inside supposed to be the most important thing it's a fair point however I think learning about how these things have changed over time really demonstrates how the general mentality towards video games has changed as well we're a long way removed from the era of plastic hinges and proprietary Jewel cases and even though I despise the Xbox series X binds with a fervent flaming passion I'll still gladly take these cases over anything from the 80s or 90s the fact that companies have put so much effort into improving how their games are packaged and presented that collectors go to such lengths to make sure their games are displayed in an appealing manner it shows that it's a medium that has gained the respect of both Sellers and consumers into one way or another it makes video games feel more like a premium product as opposed to a cheap toy to be disposed of and as a video game fan that kind of means something to me I'm happy to see that these companies want their products to be conserved and I'm happy to see that video games are getting the respect they deserve as a proper medium of entertainment but most importantly I'm just happy to see that Nintendo has finally gotten over their weird stupid ridiculous obsession with cardboard oh right well this is awkward [Music]

Channel: Dr. Dray

Views: 157

Keywords: with, the, boys, random, guy, 66, randomguy66, randomguy, dr, dray, comedy, music, dr., video, 2023, gaming, game, box, art, spine, spines, essay

Id: r3n4JcUN7gQ

Length: 26min 12sec (1572 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 15 2023