Mlem. Howdy partners! Hop on board your nearest dinosaur, because it’s time to set off on another edition of Box Art Brawl.
Last time, we went virtual, as we took a look at Galactic Pinball for the Virtual Boy. There were just two options to choose between, and it wasn’t even close. North America walked away with a staggering 71% of the vote, leaving the trippy Japanese variant to deal with the remaining 29%.
This week, with Yoshi turning to a new chapter on Switch 2, we’re taking a look at his first solo outing in the aptly named Yoshi (or Mario & Yoshi, for those in Europe) on the NES. Was it the best tile-matching puzzler we’d ever played? No. Heck, it’s not even the best Yoshi tile-matching puzzler. But there’s a certain retro charm from this Game Freak joint that’s left us turning to it on NSO on more than one occasion in the years since.
There are three covers to choose between this week, so let’s match ’em up!
North America
We’ve got to give it to the North American design, this really is rather sweet. We’ve got a smiling little Yoshi cracking out of his egg, surrounded by a cascade of falling enemies and eggshell. It’s simple, but it’s charming.
Europe
Crowbarring the prized plumber in there to reflect the regional name change, Mario & Yoshi’s European design is similar to its NA counterpart, but with added Mario. Yoshi is still cracking out of his egg, and enemies are still falling around him, but Mario’s there this time, plates in hand, to… help? Hey, whatever it takes to up the brand recognition, we suppose.
Japan
Things are much more simplistic in the Japanese cover, dropping the falling enemies to focus solely on Yoshi’s egg cracking — which makes sense, given the Yoshi’s Egg title change in the region. We like how the titular dino is positively springing from his eggy casing in this one, with a big old smile on his face.
Thank you for voting! We’ll see you next week for another edition of Box Art Brawl!