Welcome to the Box Art Brawl, our weekly (well, most of the time) vote to decide which of two or more regional retro box art variants is the best.
Last time, we sized up Tuff E Nuff, one of the latest additions to the Nintendo Switch Online SNES catalogue. The Japanese version — known as Dead Dance in those parts — was the clear victor. The infamous North American version came in second with a third of the vote, and poor Europe limped home in third place. Clearly not tough enough, then.
In an effort to get into the festive holiday spirit, this week we’re looking at the gloriously snow-filled 1080° Snowboarding for N64. C’mon, it’s got ‘snow’ in the title — what more do you want? We looked at the N64’s other premier snowboarding series this time last year, so Nintendo’s cracking first-party effort is the obvious choice this holiday season.
So, pick your ‘boarder of choice (Ricky Winterborn! Akari Hayami! Dion Blaster!) and let’s get out on them slopes.
North America
The NA version presents a dynamic low-angle shot of a snowboarding CG mannequin spinning over you, presumably mid-1080. The logo itself stands out in the top right corner against the background of white powder kicked up by Señor CG, with a crisp blue sky providing a serene backdrop for the rest of the image.
A handful of fir treetops break the frame along the bottom, in a relatively uncluttered cover. Not bad.
Europe
The EU version gets the customary first-party black border around its ‘boarder and uses a completely different image, courtesy of Steve Astephen. The Lamar board branding is once again visible and the logo stands out thanks to the blur effect applied to the background.
The black border is admittedly an acquired taste (we’re quite partial to the way it makes the console logo stand out along the top edge), but overall we probably prefer this to its NA counterpart.
Japan
The Japanese version uses the same image as the EU variant, splashed in the middle of a while box in ‘portrait’ orientation. Lamar gets a more explicit shout-out with its range of boards listed on the left, and the logo is blown up to occupy the bottom half of the cover.
We like the added detail of the little board in the bottom left corner, although the white-out effect feels a bit cheap. Some snow-covered terrain would have looked better, no?
So, you’ve seen the boarders, but which one actually pulls off the fabled 1080? Pick your favourite and hit ‘Vote’ to let us know below:
We hope you’re enjoying the holidays. Join us next time for a less-festive but just-as-wonderful box art-based bout. Until then!
https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/2020/12/...wboarding/