Box Art Tournament - STAGE 1 - GROUP L

[rupert]

The Simpsons: Bart vs. The Space Mutants
Cyborg Hunter
Cheese Cat-astrophe starring Speedy Gonzales
After Burner - US
Fantasy Zone II
Altered Beast
Moonwalker
Speedball - Virgin Games
Vigilante
The Flintstones
Missile Defense 3-D
G-LOC: Air Battle
Montezuma's Revenge
Wonder Boy in Monster World
Scramble Spirits
James Bond 007: The Duel
E-SWAT
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
Mercs
Wonder Boy
Gauntlet

[soera]

Speedball is probably the coolest cover art Ive seen so far. Im actually considering looking for this game just to add it to my collection cause of it.

[Centrale]

My selections for Group L:

Altered Beast - it's some of the original art for the coin-op, I believe, and it rocks. I love the rough, loose, almost impressionist style of the energetic brushwork. And the big, bold logo looks great with the refined subtlety of the Master System grid.

Speedball - an all-time classic game, and the cover illustration does justice to its high-intensity brutality. This reminds me of the grotesque detail and technically skillful penmanship seen in classic American underground comix of the '60s and '70s, which were themselves often inspired by the E.C. horror comics of the '40s and '50s.

Montezuma's Revenge - I know, it's the same art used on every port of Montezuma's Revenge. But, again, it just happens to look great with the classic SMS grid. A "text adventure," though? I guess they forgot to remove that after laying out the King's Quest or Carmen San Diego covers.

Honorable mentions: Gauntlet - some questionable anatomy, but wizard sparkle fingers always rock. MERCS - all's fair when the boys from the gym get busy on the battlefield. Kicking ass and relaying orders via Madonna mic. Ultima IV - really atmospheric and indicative of the epic scale of this special, historically significant RPG. ESWAT - who needs perspective guidelines when you've got awesome characters like these guys? Vigilante - possibly the same illustrator as Zillion II, Rescue Mission, and Dead Angle, there's nice lighting and color here with an energetic inking style. Cyborg Hunter - chrome for the 80s. Chrome for the future. Chrome forever!

[Kaunisto]

G-LOC: makes me want to play
007: Dalton is underrated, he had the looks for the role
Ultima IV: feel the magic!

Almost voted: Altered Beast, Moonwalker

[rupert]

For this group I went with Speedball, Wonder Boy in Monster World and Montezumas Revenge.

The virgin games version of Speedball is a massive improvment, really captures the agressive feel of the game. Much better than the image works version which looks like a very reluctent participent in a futuristic bdsm orgy.

I've always liked the look of the wonder boy in monster world cover, the best looking of the wonder boys I think.

I went with Montezumas Revenge as it looks like the kind of game I would want to play. I'm pretty sure if that had been a UK release I would have picked it back in the day just based on the cover.

Ultima IV, ESWAT and Moonwalker were my runners up. I also quite like Vigilante, maybe the same artist as Dead Angle?

[playgeneration]

Simpsons - Its a shame the game isn't as fun as the cover suggests
Speedball - How many kids bought the game based on this cover alone. Blood everywhere, spikes, a skull in the ball, but don't expect to find that in the game!
Wonderboy - Sometimes less is more and this art suits the game better than the freaky faced or goofy looking 'cool' kid versions of Wonderboy in later covers.

[ShadowAngel]

Wonderboy in Monster World - He never learned how to tie his shoes but hw knoes how to work a sword, that's awesome
Ultima IV - I'm not religious but that is one epic cover that also works well with the game and i just love Ultima, it's the best RPG series of all time
Gauntlet - 4 weirdly shaped heroes out to kick some ass