The influence of Sonic box art

[mikeblastdude]

So, basically, I'm making this topic to ask you, the members of SSMB, to discuss any influence, positive or negative, that the covers of Sonic games have had on you.

As for me, one major example comes to mind: Sonic Spinball for the Genesis in the U.S. Yep, the one with "ass-face" Sonic and "black-eyes" Robotnik.

 

When I was a little kid and the day finally came when my parents bought me a Sega Genesis, I had just enough money for one additional game to go with it other than the copy of Sonic 2 that it came with. I had pretty much narrowed it down to Sonic 1 or Sonic Spinball (which was the newest Sonic game at the time). But the box for Sonic Spinball to me, as a little kid, just looked so bad ass. I couldn't resist; I had to go with Spinball (don't worry everyone - I ended up getting Sonic 1 about a few months later). "Ass-face" Sonic or not, that look on his face as he was running across boiling lava like "pssh, this ain't nothin" while pissing off a menacing looking Robotnik was just awesome. Whether or not this was how Sonic was "supposed" to look is a different story. It could just be pure nostalgia talking, but after all these years, I still can't help but love the Spinball box art. Oh well, I think I ended up liking the game more than most people anyway...

These days, we can look up absolutely everything about a game before buying it, but back then the cover of a box was a lot more important. They had to stand out and make the game look appealing, because unless someone read about it in a video game magazine or something, they were going to have no idea what the game was actually like.

So, with all of that being said, has the box art of a Sonic game ever influenced you in any special way? Or do you have especially fond memories of a particular box cover?

(I'm guessing that Flickies' Island is going to come up in this topic at some point)

[Autosaver]

 

I love how the box art symbolized something else...

 

 

Then my love for Sonic came back.

[Tani Coyote]

Naturally I've always liked SA2's boxart for showing the full cast of characters and the cool positions Shadow and Sonic have in opposition to eachother, like two sides of the same coin. It definitely fits.

 

I guess I also like Generations' boxart too. Between Classic Sonic, the Classic title frame and Green Hill, it definitely screams retro. If they were aiming for nostalgic I'd say they succeeded.

 

Then again I'm easy to please.

[Space☆Tomoki]

I've always liked the 2D hand-drawn box art used for the Japanese Classic games and the Adventure Era up to Rush Adventure. One box art that really stands out to me is the Japanese box art for the first Sonic Riders:

I dunno, I really like how colorful it is and how the shading is done. Sonic and co. are all pulling off dynamic poses which really brings it to life. The general "graffiti" motif works great with theme of the game and it's a shame that this art style was abandoned after the first Riders. It's a shame this artwork wasn't used for the international versions of the game; the version we got came off as bland and uninteresting imo. Quite frankly, I miss 2D artwork in general being used for Sonic games, now that SEGA is using 3D CGI artwork for nearly everything now. At least Sonic Channel updates monthly with new 2D artwork...

Edited March 12, 2013 by Tomoki Sakurai

[Turbo the Punk]

I was always a fan of the Sonic & Knuckles box art.

 

 

Just look at the front cover. It's simple and eye catching. Just that simple illustration of Sonic & Knuckles shows that shit is going down. Top it off with the simple mention of lock on technology and you have one of the most revolutionary video games of 1994.

[iDEATH]

The cover for the first game always makes me happy when I look at it, It's just so pretty, lovely japanese art with the subtle pink outlines of Sonic and the animal characters. It was just such a lovely design that, even if I had fallen away from Sonic, I would still adore.

 

I agree with the S&K boxart, it's so bold. It tells you everything you need to know, it's a great design.

 

I don't know if I particularly care for any of the modern covers, they're a little bland.

[Cortez]

Yep, big love for the 2D covers. Adventure and Adventure 2 have some of my favourite video game covers of all time, in a time where there was 3D mascot cover art galore it was nice to see Sonic Team try to stand out from the crowd. The psychedelic backgrounds are just so perfect as well, subtley telling you of the game's themes if you cared to pay attention.

This is my personal favourite box art. Say what you will about butt face American Sonic and bearded Eggman but I love this composition so much, I only wish it'd been drawn by Japanese artists so we'd have the 'true' character designs... Maybe I should redraw it myself hmmmmmmmmmmm...

The Sonic and Knuckles box is also quite perfect. Again in a time where shelves would have been bursting with colourful mascot platformers a striking black box art certainly steals the attention. It certainly makes me wish they'd be more daring than the awful 3D generic shit we've had since SA:DX. It's a crying shame that not even the handheld games use 2D artwork anymore, I really do believe the games would stand out to consumers a lot more if they did use 2D art.

[The Conductor]

Sonic 2 was the first game I ever owned and played and in all these years...I never noticed that Robotnik had a beard...

[Truner]

 

My favorite has to be this. It was a time where I was getting kind of bored / uninterested in the series and Sega just started putting up all those amazingly badass trailers for the game. I was hyped. Then this cover came. I declared that it'll be the best game in the universe... and due to me already being used to shitty Sonic games (Adventure DX, Adventure 2, Heroes and Shadow), I managed to enjoy the game that everyone hates. Aaaaaaaanyway, back to the cover.

 

It features a really badass Sonic render in a really good pose Honestly, 06 renders were really good compared to how the characters looked in the game itself. I really wonder why. The background is the "generic green with blue" stage with lots of twist, showing off how srs bsns this game is. A new, stylish logo that has both new and old styles. Even if people hate this game, I'm pretty sure they can't say the same about the cover.

 

Aside from that, I really like the old Japanese covers. All those colorful shapes and everything (all of the games in one style, yet having a personality with Sonic and Knuckles being bold as ever), and the brightness... and I think Sonic Chronicles' 2 different covers are pretty good too (another game I enjoyed).

Edited March 12, 2013 by Truner

[Scar]

S&K had the best boxart. Simple and eye-catching. Its not too noisy, not too generic or anything. Just simple.

[TheOcelot]

I will always remember all versions of the Sonic 3 box art fondly.

 

US box art:

 

What I like about the US box art is that there is so much detail. It has so many colours, and there is a lot going on in the picture, very eye catching. It shows Sonic, Tails and the eyes of Knuckles in Angel Island Zone, with Robotnik in his first boss form. You can also see a waterfall in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

UK/EU box art

 

The EU box shows a picture of Carnival Night. On the other side it shows the background of the 'Gumball machine' bonus stage. You can see a very unhappy looking Knuckles who clearly doesn't like Sonic. Right in your face is a very big picture of Sonic (holding up three fingers) which really gets your attention. Also, the '3' icon really stands out to indicate that it's a sequel. There is no picture of Tails on the box art.

 

 

 

 

 

JP box art:

 

You also don't get Tails on the front of the box art. There is a smaller picture of Tails on the back bit. You do get a much bigger picture of Knuckles which is nice. The Sonic pose is legendary (especially on SSMB). The white background doesn't look quite as nice. Overall it's a kind of cool looking wacky design.

 

Edited March 12, 2013 by -Bender-

[mikeblastdude]

I wouldn't necessarily say that the Sonic & Knuckles box art had any influence on me since I was already planning on getting that game no matter what when it came out, but holy crap do I agree with you guys about how awesome it is. That symbol pretty much was 1994 to me. Probably my favorite box art of all time.

 

Hell, I still try and find anything that I can with that symbol on it.

[iDEATH]

The japanese boxes for the first three games were all delightfully chaotic

 

[Tani Coyote]

The japanese boxes for the first three games were all delightfully chaotic

 

From a poetic perspective, this makes sense. Eggman represents stable, orderly, artificial society. Sonic represents a chaotic, free, natural society. So it's logical he represents the natural order of chaos, a harsh opposition to Eggman's ideal of a world created from the top-down in his image.

 

You really CAN find beautiful themes in just about anything, huh...

[Vertekins]

Sonic and Knuckles will probably always have the very best Sonic box art to me.

 

 

So simple, so perfectly stated, so classic. The black background makes the very well designed logo prominent whilst the wording is perfectly placed and Sonicky. I remember when the Argos Catalogue had a picture of this box art in it's game section many years ago (Circa 1995?) and I found it so hugely appealing.

[Dr. Crusher]

I agree with Jake about the Sonic 1 cover, there's something about that one that just... makes me happy. I don't really know what it is. The Sonic 2 one is also memorable despite Robotnik looking more like Smithy from Super Mario RPG. The Sonic 3 one pretty much welcomes you to the new territory of Angel Island (complete with the Flame Mobile!), and Sonic & Knuckles... well everyone else has already explained the beauty of that one's simplicity.

 

I will admit I do like the Spinball cover, even if it's a victim of American't Sonic and Ivo No-Eyes. If nothing else it does it's job in telling you the premise through a single picture.

 

The Colours and Generations ones are probably my favourite of the main 3D console game covers. With Colours, the cover alone indicates that you won't be seeing any ShtH/06 melodrama here. As for Generations, what else could they have done? It's Sonic and Sonic running side-by-side, you can't get more to-the-point than that. Subtlety is great, but sometimes the direct option can be the best one.

 

I've always liked the rather charming Rush Adventure cover:

 

 

Simple ones like this tend to be my favourite types for some reason. Like Spinball, the use of scenery gives you an idea of what the jist is in this scenario. I also find amusement in it since it looks as if Whisker just bought these cool new skull gauntlets at Poundland, and he wants to show them to Sonic.

 

I also like the Game Gear Sonic Chaos cover:

 

 

Again, I can't really explain what it is since it's fairly simple enough. I like the appearance of Sleeping Egg, even if it's cursed by Ivo No-Eyes.

 

...Oh, and while you saw it coming Mike, just to get it out of the way so no one else has to do it...

 

 

And there he is. Classic Mephiles.

Edited March 14, 2013 by Dr. Crusher

[TheOcelot]

Sonic and Knuckles will probably always have the very best Sonic box art to me.

 

 

So simple, so perfectly stated, so classic. The black background makes the very well designed logo prominent whilst the wording is perfectly placed and Sonicky. I remember when the Argos Catalogue had a picture of this box art in it's game section many years ago (Circa 1995?) and I found it so hugely appealing.

 

Indeed. Also at the bottom right hand corner it shows Sonic 2 and the S&K cartridge (above a Mega Drive II). That in itself was very eye catching, because when you first see it, it's like what has Sonic 2 got to do with this game? Then you turn the box art over and the lock-on with Sonic 2&3 is revealed, which was so cool.

 

Edited March 14, 2013 by -Bender-

[Linkabel]

I did a thread a while back similar to this one and well while writing it I came to the conclusion that the design that was used for the cover art and promotional material for SA1 and SA2 were my favorites.

 

To me it just screamed that Sonic was entering a new age. For example the cover for SA1 contains elements that you're going to encounter in the game: Station Square and the Mystic Ruins in the background, the palm trees, beach and water inside the letters and the clouds and water mixed together work perfectly. The logo itself has this "old stone" design that in my view represents that things from ancient times are going to be important in the game.

 

The design for SA2 takes the same philosophy by adding this earth and space balance that reflects the hero vs. dark theme of the game. Also, the logo itself being influence by California where Sonic Team was located is actually pretty creative.

 

It also complemented the philosophy of the Dreamcast and "it's thinking" marketing that pretty much told "blast processing" was a thing of the past and Sonic is heading into a new future. (inb4 that future sucked jokes)

Edited March 14, 2013 by Jaime Bond

[Tani Coyote]

Sonic and Knuckles will probably always have the very best Sonic box art to me.

 

So simple, so perfectly stated, so classic. The black background makes the very well designed logo prominent whilst the wording is perfectly placed and Sonicky. I remember when the Argos Catalogue had a picture of this box art in it's game section many years ago (Circa 1995?) and I found it so hugely appealing.

 

A part of me thinks they tried to recreate the S&K logo's feel with SA2's a bit. With the two obscure representations of the main characters being so close and interlocked.

 

And there he is. Classic Mephiles.

 

You sir, are awesome.

 

That one has always creeped me out. When I saw it on some of the Sonic the Comic covers I was all "Ahhhh!"

 

I did a thread a while back similar to this one and well while writing it I came to the conclusion that the design that was used for the cover art and promotional material for SA1 and SA2 were my favorites.

 

To me it just screamed that Sonic was entering a new age. For example the cover for SA1 contains elements that you're going to encounter in the game: Station Square and the Mystic Ruins in the background, the palm trees, beach and water inside the letters and the clouds and water mixed together work perfectly. The logo itself has this "old stone" design that in my view represents that things from ancient times are going to be important in the game.

 

The design for SA2 takes the same philosophy by adding this earth and space balance that reflects the hero vs. dark theme of the game. Also, the logo itself being influence by California where Sonic Team was located is actually pretty creative.

 

I like your thoughts. I never really looked at the backgrounds of these two logos, but come to think of it, it is a very nice touch. Wonderful contrasts between the environments - nature versus the city, space versus the earth... you really did notice a lot of the more subtle details, and in retrospect I'm seeing what you're saying. Makes me think of the covers from a whole different perspective. It's pretty cool actually!

 

Course I'm slightly biased towards SA2 but I digress. Thanks for this!

[Dr. Crusher]

No no, Jaime is right. While I may not care for the Adventures in themselves as much as other people may, I did like how they executed the titles too with their clashing. Sort of like Mother 3's title now that I think about it.

[Burtzman]

The US box art for the genesis games are my favorite.

 

Back when I was a kid and didn't know that other box art existed for each country, these illustrations just screamed SONIC attitude.

And even though I now like the JP design of classic Sonic better, I still prefer the US box art over the others.

 

I probably like 3 the best.

[MamboCat]

Sonic and Knuckles will probably always have the very best Sonic box art to me.

 

 

So simple, so perfectly stated, so classic. The black background makes the very well designed logo prominent whilst the wording is perfectly placed and Sonicky. I remember when the Argos Catalogue had a picture of this box art in it's game section many years ago (Circa 1995?) and I found it so hugely appealing.

 

I freakin' love the Sonic and Knuckles box art. My copy was in a cardboard sleeve as well, whereas my other Sonic games were in black plastic boxes. So it felt rather special to me. :3 Also that symbol was adapted and used in STC several times for the title banners. I always found it interesting that Knuckles' outline took up more space that Sonic's!

[iDEATH]

I freakin' love the Sonic and Knuckles box art. My copy was in a cardboard sleeve as well, whereas my other Sonic games were in black plastic boxes. So it felt rather special to me. :3 Also that symbol was adapted and used in STC several times for the title banners. I always found it interesting that Knuckles' outline took up more space that Sonic's!

I hate the cardboard box, mine is falling apart, I was trying recently to rebuy it in plastic.