10 Worst NES Boxarts!

[@eviljef]

I came into this video telling myself that Megaman is obviously going to be number 1. I'm surprised you found two others that are worse.

[@Fortefyre]

Glad I could enlighten you haha.

[@rylch44]

Great list man. Your combination of humor and pointing out things in a way that demonstrates the incompetence was so on point. 😅

[@Fortefyre]

That's very kind of you! Thank you :)

[@Marc_Araujo]

The "bad-art" Mega Man NES box is still one of my favorite box-arts. I display it proudly at the front of the NES portion of my game collection...nothing draws eyes better than that box.

[@Fortefyre]

Hell yeah, never half-ass something LMFAO

[@wyndman]

Your scripting is just poetry! Getting ever closer to 8k, you'll hit before the end of the year. Maybe we'll see that Ghost Lion stream we've all been clamoring for!

[@Fortefyre]

Maybe! Haha.

[@denardoellisjr]

I always wondered who was that on the Skate or Die 2 cover... thanks for solving my decades long mystery. 😅

[@Fortefyre]

You're welcome!

[@svenstripp]

Blows my mind!

[@contrafighter_1983]

Panic Restaurant reminds me of the "Trapper keeper" covers back in the 90's hyper real bizzar art era.

[@Fortefyre]

YEP. Right around the era of that lady who made millions on painting felt posters.

[@m.3.3.w]

That line when you talk about F1 Formula, saying the box art had a "CMYK jizz fest" made me think, it had a cigarette in one hand saying: *"I did my best, okay? I did my best."* 🤡🔥 It's like, *"Why finish strong when you can just... splatter everything everywhere and hope for the best?"* 🎨💦 Of course, I died laughing. 💀😂

[@Fortefyre]

The little nes box that could lmfao.

[@djbloodshot]

I immediately thought of those highlights magazine as soon as you showed that cover. Good reference

[@Fortefyre]

Thanks! I'm glad someone understood it.

[@HelloMyNameIsRED]

You should have included John Elways Quarterback. Never have it been more obvious that a celebrity licensed his name to something he knew nothing about, considering the way he holds the controller

[@Fortefyre]

Oh yeah, he like crab claws it and looks like an idiot the whole time lmfao.

[@Kiekie2018]

The Wurm lady looks like she’s straight out of American Gladiators 😂😂😂

[@Fortefyre]

She does doesn't she!

[@lennonrocks100]

Your videos and ideas are amazing. Love it

[@Fortefyre]

Thank you so much!

[@crazyjohnt8012]

Another great video! Idea for future list videos: Worst of the best....the worst games from Nintendo, Capcom, Konami, etc. You could do the same for Best of the Worst. GG!

[@Fortefyre]

This might take a LONG time to come about, but I will try my best to facilitate it. Thank you for the suggestion!

[@billmartovich9009]

A lot of the OG Nintendo releases that showed some actual game sprites (and yeah, I completely understand and agree with why they did it) sort of suck. I mean, Mach Rider is an awesome game about... Motorcycle Guy blasting traffic with a shotgun! But the pixel art box is honestly not ever going to give anyone the idea of early 80s GTA. Later games that continued this trend irritate me even more, especially Blaster Master (another game I wholeheartedly enjoy) showing half of the 2nd to last boss. But the game itself EVEN IN THE OPENING has better, more interesting pixel art! SHOW THE DAMN TANK!!!

[@KasumiRINA]

Ice Climber is perfect early art, not only it has the character in action, it shows _precisely_ what you are doing (jumping up while hitting with a hammer), it has momentum and clear direction going up. I was surprised seeing it for first time (still can't believe Westerners paid full price for multicart games like it).

[@Fortefyre]

Like mario dying in it lmfao.

[@StarFighters76]

Speaking of Ghost Lion, let's not forget about the image of the protagonist during battles, and when they get closer to unalive, she shows the face of pure nightmare fuel lol.

[@Fortefyre]

I didn't know that haha.

[@barttheraven]

Big Ole Worlds disagrees with you on the Livingston box art.

[@Fortefyre]

Yeah I'm not keen on it haha.

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

As for what I say are the best Game Boy and Game Boy Color box arts in North America and PAL; GB- Super Mario Land, Super Mario Land 2, Metroid 2: Return of Samus, Castlevania: The Adventure, Belmont's Revenge, Pokemon Red/Blue, Mega Man V, Tetris, Kirby's Dream Land 2 (he actually gets to be pink unlike with the original's box art), and The Final Fantasy Legend. GBC- Wario Land 2, Wario Land 3, The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages, Pokemon Crystal, Pokemon Puzzle Challenge League, Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble, Metal Gear Solid, Dragon Quest 3, Godzilla: The Series, and Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors.

[@Fortefyre]

*takes notes*

[@UltimateGamerCC]

Retro Box Art is something fun to look at. i may not be able to afford the crazy prices for Retro Games these days, but i can look up the Box Art for free whenever i please. not to mention that if i really wanted to, i could slap it on a Universal Game Case and have it up like a Trophy, and i would totally do that for the Games i like most.

[@Fortefyre]

I think it would be cool to have a poster of all of them on the wall, just a collage. I might make one.

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

What I consider to be my favorite and least favorite Japanese Game Boy box arts would be; favorites- Kirby's Dream Land, Kirby's Dream Land 2, Kirby's Star Stacker, Super Mario Land 2, Mega Man World 3, Doraemon Kart, Gargoyle's Quest, Ayakashi No Shiro, Link's Awakening, and Castlevania: The Adventure. least favorites- Belmont's Revenge, TMNT 3, Luna Lander, Othello World, Mahjong Yoshimoto Gekijou, Double Yakuman, Operation C, Pachinko CR Daiku no Gen-San GB, Uno Small World 2, and TV Champion.

[@Fortefyre]

Great choices!

[@JohnRiggs]

shingen the ruler definitely has the worst label art, but it's not the same as the box.

[@Fortefyre]

Oh hey John! Nice to see you around these parts! Yeah having something that 100% should be in the manual on the label is kind of...stupid. I mean if someone was using a top loader it would make sense, but from a marketing standpoint it's just stupid haha.

[@KasumiRINA]

I don't know what's more prophetic, Search for Dr. Livingston putting a picture of AVGN episode about the game, or Barbie just putting a picture of grown-up Margot Robbie on the cover even tho she was just newborn back then... anybody lost a DeLorean near the drug-induced NES cover art parties? I can't imagine these covers were done soberly. Also I am brushing up on American sports, now I recognize that the picture of 0:01 is a madden, who is a type of baseball!

[@Fortefyre]

I put baseball in the intro just for you lmfao.

[@BeastCake1349]

Demonsword. The box shows a muscular shirtless warrior however you play as the ninja from legend of kage

[@Fortefyre]

Oh really? Hahaha

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

Rather great NA and PAL box arts on Game Gear are; Sonic Triple Trouble, Tails Adventure, Mickey Mouse: Land of Illusion, Disney's Aladdin, Ariel the Little Mermaid, Devilish, Mortal Kombat 2, X-Men: Gamesmaster's Legacy, Earthworm Jim, and Out Run. I'd say the best on Game Gear surpassed the best box arts on the Game Boy.

[@Fortefyre]

Were you a huge fan of the Game Gear? I only played it a few times.

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

With the handheld counterpart to NES, I say the worst ones there are; Wily's Revenge (America), Avenging Spirit, Bill and Ted's Excellent Game Boy Adventure, Maru's Mission, Gargoyle's Quest, Hammerin' Harry, Baby T-Rex, Barbie: Game Girl, Super Black Bass, and Sports Illustrated for Kids: The Ultimate Triple Dare!.

[@Fortefyre]

I should just hire you to do the dirty work :P

[@spicytrashpanda]

While I love the Blaster Master cover I have to knock it hard for spoiling the big bad.

[@Fortefyre]

That was a weird choice on behalf of Sunsoft wasn't it?

[@jamesmason3079]

You’re so close to hitting 8K subs and you said you would make a video of the community’s choice. Any thoughts on a video of how you put these videos together? I’m assuming it takes a ton of work and would really like to see the process.

[@Fortefyre]

Yeah, that's actually one of the videos I've considered making, a "day in the life" since most of my videos are made in a day.

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

Really good PAL and NA box art for SNES and Genesis are; SNES- Super Castlevania 4, Yoshi's Island, Super Mario All Stars, Contra 3: Alien Wars NA, Kirby Super Star NA, TMNT: Turtles in Time, F-Zero, Chrono Trigger, Mega Man X1, and Secret of Mana. Genesis- Sonic the Hedgehog 3 NA, Sonic & Knuckles, Contra Hard Corps, Thunder Force 4 PAL, Mickey Mouse: Castle of Illusion, Quack Shot, Castlevania Bloodines, TMNT: The Hyper Stone Heist, Truxton, and Earthworm Jim. Honorable mentions for Sega CD and 32X are Sonic CD PAL and Doom.

[@Fortefyre]

I just went through SNES and there's some good ones and some bad ones :P

[@gamingtheologian8515]

The Guardian Legend

[@Fortefyre]

I love the Guardian Legend :P

[@gamingtheologian8515]

​@@Fortefyreand I love Mega Man, but the box art doesn't match

[@Fortefyre]

Oh absolutely!

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

Worst Game Boy Color box arts include; Bust a Move Millennium, Zebco Fishing, Dragon Quest Monsters, The Powerpuff Girls Bad Mojo Jojo, Conker's Pocket Tales, Shrek Fairy Tale Freakdown, Klustar, Earthworm Jim: Menace 2 the Galaxy, Commander Keen, and Sabrina: The Animated Series Spooked.

[@Fortefyre]

I'll be curious to see how our lists compare.

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

Worst Sega Game Gear NA and PAL box arts are; Slider, Baku Baku, Global Gladiators, Klax, Foreman for Real, Iron Man XO Manowar in Heavy Metal, Cool Spot, James Pond 3: Operation Starfish, Home Alone, and Phantom 2040.

[@Fortefyre]

I'll bear these in mind :)

[@ThunderFist1978]

I love Panic Restaurant, but the box art in North America had me wondering what Taito was thinking. It was good everywhere else, just not in North America.

[@Fortefyre]

RIGHT?! It's nightmare fuel lol.

[@MrRubmeister]

The original dragon warrior. It was probably one of the reasons it did not sell well in North America.

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

Honestly, Dragon Quest Monsters GBC and Torneko: The Last Hope have worse box art outside Japan.

[@MrRubmeister]

@tidepoolclipper8657 I agree, but the video was limited to NES games only.

[@Fortefyre]

I actually don't mind the original DW box lol.

[@jamesreece9502]

I owned Air Sea Battle for the 2600. You could use both controllers in that game.

[@Fortefyre]

Oh nice! I own that as well.

[@Riz2336]

Mega Man 1 box art is laughably bad, I always thought Rolling Thunder Tengen (yes it's unlicensed) had sick art

[@Fortefyre]

Absolutely LMFAO

[@KasumiRINA]

Looked it up, I can bet a dollar that Rolling Thunder art was ripped off some pro art or magazine photo... well a lot of 80s posters and covers were.

[@Fortefyre]

Eh....I mean I can see what they were trying to do.

[@adampaulausky2044]

Someone needs to hack panic restaurant with the swedish chef 😅

[@Fortefyre]

I'd play it too.

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

When it comes to the worst American and PAL boxes for SNES and Genesis; SNES- Phalanx NA (worst box art ever), The Lawnmower Man, Mega-Lo-Mania, Pit Fighter, Barbie Super Model, Super Buster Bros, Putty Squad, Breath of Fire 2, Flashback, and Ballz 3D. Genesis- Sonic 3 PAL, Sonic 3D Blast PAL, Strider, Crack Down, Barbie: Super Model, Last Battle, Cyber Cop, Zoom!, Shaq-Fu, and Road Rash 2. Dishonorable mentions for Sega CD and 32X are Wild Woody and Night Trap CD 32X.

[@Fortefyre]

I love Phalanx:P

[@richfutrell753]

This is a solid list. These games also had superior art in PAL regions: Every black box game, Metroid, Kid Icarus, and Rad Racer Guardian Legend A Boy and His Blob Xexyz Faxanadu Puzznic Yoshi (Mario & Yoshi in PAL is far superior) Mario Bros. (the Classic Series PAL release is far superior) Almost every game Nintendo published in PAL regions (e.g.: Captain Skyhawk, Solstice, Burai Fighter, Stealth ATF, Kickle Cubicle, Double Dragon, etc.) only because the art is larger in the PAL regions Adventure Island 1 and 2 have better art The Ultra games got the silver Konami template in PAL regions

[@Ruudos]

NewZealand Story (Kiwi Kraze), The Guardian Legend, Adventures in the Magic Kingdom (Scandinavian version), Mega Man 2 (German version) and Mega Man 3 also have superior art in PAL region Castlevania III is the worse though in the PAL region. Lots of art not visible due to black bars.

[@Fortefyre]

They sure did! Great list!

[@pharmcat8484]

Slate or Die 2 apparently has one of the greatest NES tracks around? I dunno.

[@Fortefyre]

So people find it progressive because it uses compressed real guitar sounds, but to me it sounds like shit.

[@mikeburkhart8336]

Ah...the awful Mega Man box art for the NES release! But the box art for the Wizards and Warriors games were all wrong too,your character Kuros was a knight wearing armor in the game,yet the box art made him look like Conan the Barbarian!

[@Fortefyre]

Fabio is forever! LOL

[@barttheraven]

Are you going to do the Top 10 Best?

[@Fortefyre]

studio.kzbin.infoyzZPvg1mgn8 :)

[@megatronjenkins2473]

4:51 that vehicle doesn't look proportionate, either, it's like she's a torso coming out of a...... drilltank? I don't like her weird spaghetti hair, either.

[@Fortefyre]

Yeah like some glued in matchbox esoteric toy lmao.

[@cmfort2696]

"Just to be the one to be with you."

[@Fortefyre]

Well there's the Mr. Big lyrics LMAO

[@alanfike]

14:32 I've seen strip club flyers with less distractive chaos.

[@Fortefyre]

This is true.

[@bildo1977]

I think that Super Mario Bros. deserves to be on this list, or at least an honorable mention. Why? (turns away from mic) BECAUSE IT IS DEPICTING MARIO’S EVENTUAL DEATH! Just look at it, and you will come to the same conclusion. 😮

[@Fortefyre]

FACTS

[@TheSlashTraxNetwork]

In all fairness at least the black label nes games like smb box art at least all showed accurate depictions of the actual games @Fortefyre

[@Fortefyre]

They also showed Mario about to die in the original game haha.

[@bildo1977]

If he doesn’t clear that Shellcreeper….

[@josephvoorhees1418]

50 more souls.

[@bildo1977]

Regarding the NES NARC box art…. Snot a problem. 😅

[@Fortefyre]

*heavy sniff* SHIP IT

[@KasumiRINA]

if they kept red splatter, it would easily make top 10 box arts. Minimalism in style of Final Fantasy... but they had to make it blending with the font eh.

[@mr.milehi9883]

Iceberg of unreleased games you wish were finished? Here's my nominee for PS2. Campfire. It was a horror game where you're the serial killer Allah Jason sort of thing but it really looks like it was shaping up to be awesome

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

Mega Man Legends 3 (perhaps one day the project will be revived), Silent Hills (screw you Konami), Final Fight: Seven Sons, Project Cars 4, Half-Life 2: Episode 3, Banjo Threeie, Donkey Kong Racing, Conker Other Bad Day, Jak 4, Star Wars 1313, Star Wars: Battlefront 3, Dinosaur Planet in its original form, Sega Racing Classic 2 Dreamcast version, Scud Race Dreamcast version (made it to tech demo stage), and Bomberman 3DS.

[@Fortefyre]

Allah Jason is a horrible name lmfao.

[@myfirstseven]

Lmao just commenting at the start to say I can’t wait to hear this

[@myfirstseven]

CYMK JIZZFEST 😂😂😂

[@Fortefyre]

;)

[@lucrativesoundsent.1274]

So Ghost Lion was based on a made for TV movie. The movie itself is very obscure just like the game. I made a game review on that game and movie a while back, but yeah, the cover was way off because Maria was a kid and the girl in the cover looks like an older teenager. I’m surprised the cover of the NES game Thunder And Lightning was not mentioned. That cover is ugly as f***!

[@Fortefyre]

I didn't know it was made for a TV movie! Nice! Was it just in Japan?

[@lucrativesoundsent.1274]

@ It was weird. It was actually either a home release or made for TV movie released in English in Japan. It was called Beyond the Pyramids: Legend of the White Lion.

[@GavinMasters]

LOL - Was the US Mega Man box art made by early A.I.? XD

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

Nope. I do believe this was made right before the North American release. Similar to the old VHS cover for the Little Mermaid, the end result was not great. Also, that grid background was a shot lived thing from Capcom USA. Bad box art Mega Man returned with the right color scheme for the otherwise improved Mega Man 2 box art.

[@Fortefyre]

Also ended up as a character in Street Fighter X Tekken lmao

[@fnawfan]

Die hard’s artwork isn’t necessarily bad but god it aged horribly

[@Fortefyre]

Oh yeah the flaming twin towers? Haha.

[@pharmcat8484]

Dr Livingston I presume?

[@Fortefyre]

Yuppp

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

I myself would've gone with Metro Cross instead of Skate or Die 2. Hammerin' Harry has a truly horrible box art in America.

[@Ruudos]

Hammerin Harry wasn't released in the US, you probably mean the PAL box art.

[@Fortefyre]

The PAL art is the one you're thinking of, the one with him looking like a grade a goon with a fat dip in mouth?

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

Atari 800 computer has a comparable box in terms of misrepresentation and that's Pac-Man. It also has the worst Pac-Man design ever.

[@Fortefyre]

Oh is that the one where he's wearing like a tanktop and is lanky as shit and running around the maze gobbling pellets?

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

Most of the black boxes are inferior compared to their Japanese and PAL counterparts (though not they're automatically bad; Super Mario Bros's American box art is very good). However, Donkey Kong Jr's box art in Japan and Europe isn't all that great. I prefer their American black box versions. Donkey Kong Math especially has a lame one in Japan and Europe.

[@Ruudos]

In Europe the black box games were released with the pixel art like the US or the Famicom art, depending on the region.

[@Fortefyre]

This is true.

[@svenstripp]

Wurm... Are you referring to the German city of Worms?

[@Fortefyre]

Ah shit. Freudian slip, I meant to say river.

[@joemerkel20]

Mega man to me was by far the worst!

[@Fortefyre]

I could see that haha.

[@KehHs-l8b]

So many vids so little subs wtf

[@Fortefyre]

Sometimes it be like that.

[@djpythonsexotics2704]

👍👍

[@Fortefyre]

Hope your holiday season is going well!

[@djpythonsexotics2704]

@Fortefyre Merry Christmas to you too, my friend! 🫠