Cover Art Chronicles: Curious Cover Change Conundrum
Those of us who write about video games on the Damage Control staff have previously discussed how Nintendo of America compares to their Japanese and European counterparts at least once, the results rarely being positive. Who knows why it turned out this way, but it’s become an accepted norm since this curious trend began in 2008. Around that time, they started passing on releasing games already localized in English, like Disaster: Day of Crisis and Another Code: R, which is unfathomable for software being released on a healthy console ecosystem. They would have passed on more than that, too, if certain people hadn’t raised a ruckus. It could have been worse, sure, but it was noise we shouldn’t have needed to make in the first place.
But enough of that. You can see the banner and title above, meaning you’re already aware that I’ll be focusing on a comparatively lighthearted topic for this post, discussing certain cover arts the company uses. The opening paragraph wasn’t there for show, however, as Nintendo of America has also been going out of their way to make some covers inferior to what’s being displayed on store shelves in Japan and Europe. It’s an issue I can’t wrap my head around, yet it keeps happening for some goofy reason.
I covered an earlier example in a previous Cover Art Chronicles post, when the company opted for a different cover with the NA version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. It’s possible some figured a simpler approach to a cover would work better than a new piece of art designed for this version from Yusuke Nakano, but they’re few and far between. And they’re wrong.
Yes, that includes me, because I said the American cover won in that post, strangely enough. Ah, if only I had a time machine so I could set myself straight.
That one, however, is in the past, and I’ve already provided a link. A more bizarre change occurred with another Zelda game: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD. New artwork featuring a group shot of the main characters was provided for the Wii U version to match its modified art style, and was used as the cover art for each territory. Instead of simply using the same cover and calling it a day, NoA went the extra mile and goldified it due to the franchise being associated with that color. That’s a fine idea in theory, but not when the results are gaudy. That made it look inferior to Japan’s and Europe’s, to the chagrin of the fanbase who adored the new art. We’re supposed to believe that apparently no one at NoA stopped and realized how inferior their cover was, unless they did, and an exec from the top of the company mandated it. It’s difficult to imagine anyone that high up caring about a cover, though.
I’ve seen people blaming Nintendo of America for changing the background on Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker’s cover to a gold one, but this also happened with the Japanese cover. You can’t blame NoA this time, unless you want to make an argument that their gaudy design sensibilities are spreading like a virus across divisions.
Thankfully, we have an aversion to this in terms of Zelda covers…at least for now. Nintendo finally announced The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D on a Nintendo Direct last week, and while a cover was immediately provided for Europe, it took a little while for the American division to show it. (Europe is also receiving a limited edition, and around 300 of them will likely be available at the Nintendo World Store in New York City on its release date.) That gave the internet time to work on creative Photoshops, speculating on what would inevitably happen once they got their hands on it. But they seem to be sparing us this time by giving us the same cover as other territories worldwide. Someone thankfully knows good art when they see it.
There’s plenty of time for them to change that, but hopefully it sticks. No one at the company is heartless enough to even think about ruining that cover, right? Well, we’ll see if someone takes the challenge.
Of all the problems NoA has, this one seemed like the easiest fix. Let’s hope the Majora’s Mask 3D cover is as sign that they’ve heard the complaints. Now they can get around to other far more important issues.
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Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
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You call the cover “good art”, but, that’s merely standard design. It’s the kind of thing nearly every other visual medium relies upon for an introduction. “Let’s put the main character in the front, surround that shmuck with secondary (or other playable) characters, place enemies and the “final boss” in the back, then fill out the free space with named nobodies.” Hell, sometimes, we don’t even see that slight bit of added effort to incorporate those outside of the main cast doing stupid, “I think I look cool!” poses. The problem I have with it all is that I can look at the front and go, “Ok, so this guy I just met is going to be significant in some way.” Provided I managed to avoid all other spoilers, the game itself has now ruined that small bit of discovery I could have made on my own. “I wonder if this guy will eventually join my par… nevermind. Of course he will. He’s right there next to my ‘ordinary’ teenager who developed a sudden affinity for hideous, impractical swords that never existed until a half-naked, heavyset geriatric struggled out the driver side seatbelt of a brown 1983 Hyundai parked on top of a now-busted fire hydrant and fell face-down onto the pavement, landing on a feral and malnourished feline that then flickered off screen to reward the MC with five points of experience and a new weapon intentionally shaped to defy all the smithing logic that history has accumulated over the course of thousands of years.” Also, *spoiler alert on my part* the geriatric is on the team as an advisor, and the Hyundai is the first save point in the game. The alert, however, is pointless, because both the geezer and his jalopy are included on the box art, immediately indicating that I’m going to come face-to-face with them before I even have a chance to suffer through ten minutes of mandatory developer logos and a character creation menu filled with hundreds of options that will never NOT make the male version look vomit-inducingly atrocious, regardless of the combination of traits, and will force the female version to be a thin, yet well-endowed, and photoshoppingly-flawless, tramp whose appearance will cater to the second lowest common denominator of male gamers. A playable ten-year-old in a red sleep teddy sporting pigtails will cater the rest.
I was trying to make a point, but I’m entirely certain what that is anymore. I’ll just summarize with this:
The LoZ:MM cover looks generic. The WW only looks worse because the excessive use of gold reminds me of my home when I first moved in and realized every doorknob, handle, and light fixture mingled their cheap brass design with the stained wallpaper borders covering the robin egg blue paint job that the previous owner assumed would match well with the shit brown coating hastily brushed onto the door, its frame, parts of the wall around the frame, and even across the peephole, which led me to wonder why she bought a door with one installed to begin with. Fortunately, the 84 degree angle the door was situated with perfectly matched the crooked storm door in front of it, optimizing the stream of freezing air that I had to feel every time I walked past it. Again, I forgot what I was typing abo… people need to be more creative with their covers. Throwing a dozen characters on the front of the box (or a poster, or whatever) is lazy, and it ruins the surprise of seeing them later on when I’m actually playing the game (or watching the show, movie… again, whatever). I will agree (and have throughout this comment), that the gold did make things look worse. I’ll stop there and hope I typed what I originally wanted to say. If I didn’t then, um… whatever. <3
The idea behind MM3D’s cover was certainly generic, and you’d be hard-pressed to find one that isn’t, but I’d say the execution hardly fits that bill. What matters most is that it’s a well-drawn piece of art, especially in a time where many games are afraid to put actual artwork on covers for some reason — especially in western territories. Saying it’s “lazy” is awfully hyperbolic.
If there was a contest for designing that cover, we’d have hundreds of entries like that one done just as well, if not better. For a game that is considerably darker than others from the franchise, I had hoped for a cover that would effectively express that. You watch the Game Theory episode about it? The one about Link being dead? I want something to hint at that! Not a recreation of WW’s cover. Look at both on this entry. It’s the same thing right down to the big evil in the back facing sideways.