But no matter: If box art is truly heading on the way out, I thought I might may take the time to pay tribute to this art form and talk about some of my favorites. After all, if the box art catches the eye of the potential buyer and convinces them to hand over their cash then the box art must've done something right.
So, to kickstart this series of posts, let's start with classic: May I present, all the way from the eighties, the box art to the Intellivision port of Donkey Kong!
One thing that looks hilarious with the passage of time is to see the box art to console games from the eighties: The box art is really putting an effort to make the game look exciting and inspiring the imagination. And so they had to: When your game is of limited shapes and sprites, one had to somehow sell their game and convince any newcomer to make a purchase. Indeed, one can only imagine the disappointment and frustration to see an exciting box art bear little resemblance to the game inside.
So with that in mind, let's take a look at the box art to the Intellivision port of Donkey Kong:
I like this box art for two reasons. The first, and most obvious, being this box art is hilariously misleading. For starters, Mario has become muscular and ditched his cap to reveal a mullet haircut (!!!). And the setting has some how transformed into some weird landscape that would do MC Escher proud. But at the same time, Pauline is looking more desperate and Donkey Kong is looking more monstrous.
And the second reason why I like this artwork? It's misleading nature actually works! This game looks far more epic and desperate then the actual game itself! This in turn yields an angle that was never in anyway associated with the original game. Forget all the cute and cartoony charm of the original: Your girlfriend is looking desperate being imprisoned by a true monster!
And hey, the situation must be desperate if Mario is relying on (what appears to be) Mjolnir....
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