Pixel Remix

This isn’t the first time the box art for a foreign RPG was butchered beyond recognition by their overseas release partners, but it doesn’t make it any less shocking — or less ugly, when ever we find another choice piece of box art bludgeoning.

From a cover that looks like a piece of modern art, to something that looks like a low-budget weekly animated show, Ico was one of the most tragic victims of box art murder. Even Kobayashi Yasuhide of Sony Japan admitted that their overseas sales figures for the game were negatively affected by the bad box art, although later in the year good reviews and word of mouth recommendations were able to shore up their sales figures.

Heck, even European games aren’t safe. Another victim of the whims of American gaming company execs is the upcoming release Heavy Rain. Instead of an evocative, oddly sinister cover featuring a forlorn piece of origami paper folding, the new cover draws your attention to a pair of breasts encased in a wet t-shirt. So much for subtlety.

Perhaps the worst case of “retranslation” of Japanese box art in recent years is the soon-to-be-released JRPG-slash-dating sim Record of Agarest War. The main protagonist was involved in an unfortunate accident with Photoshop, that led to him being morphed from a typically slim and lithe Japanese bishounen, into an old grizzled veteran from the Balkan Wars. Yikes >.>

My brain is still sore from having subjected myself to that image.

Popularity: 6% [?]