Box Art Tournament - The Results

[rupert]

The results are in!
Over the past 6 weeks you have been voting for your favourite Sega Master System cover art (euro, US where different and Brazil exclusives/ hacks). The games have been whittled down from 317 in stage 1, 49 in stage 2 and just 7 making it to the final - with 1407 votes in total being placed.


In joint 6th place:

Ultima IV

Ultima IV received 10 votes in Stage 1 coming 2nd in it's group, 9 votes in stage 2 and received just 1 vote in the final. Here is what you said:

"Really atmospheric and indicative of the epic scale of this special, historically significant RPG" - Centrale

"Feel the magic!" – Kaunisto

"I'm not religious but that is one epic cover that also works well with the game..." - ShadowAngel




Also in joint 6th place:

Land of Illusion

Land of Illusion received 9 votes in stage 1 coming 3rd in it's group, 10 votes in stage 2 and received just 1 vote in the final. Here is what you said:

"nice, exciting perspective that provides a broad overview of the world... could use some more detail in the landscape, though." – Centrale

"Captures the feel of the game well and looks a fun and exciting game, which it is!"- rupert

"The Disney Covers were always really good and this one captures the excitement of the game"– ShadowAngel

"I love the perspective and the typical Disney art style." - ian




In 5th place:

Dragon Crystal

Dragon Crystal received 11 votes in Stage 1 coming 2nd in its Group, 11 votes in Stage 2 and received just 3 votes in the final. Here is what you said:

"A well-painted collection of fantasy RPG tropes." - Centrale

"That's great cover for anything; I'd buy this whether it's game, movie, book or box of cereals…" - Kaunisto

"That Dragon Crystal cover is really cool" – wolfticket

"Nice RPG Cover, I love fantasy stuff" – ShadowAngel




In 4th place:

Sagaia

Sagaia received 13 votes in Stage 1 winning it's group, 8 votes in Stage 2 and received just 4 votes in the final. Here is what you said:

"I mean... it's just undeniably badass. The illustrator has mastered their medium, and they're flexing with some seriously cool creature/robot designs that are brimming with detail. Color, lighting, perspective, motion... the Taito logo is sort of shoehorned in there, but even the Taito logo is cool." – Centrale

"The metallic lionfish looks awesome!" – Transatlantic Foe

"I have considered buying it before because it has such a dark/warped cover art." - Rastanfarian

"I love the way the image breaks out of the normal rectangular boundary. It really adds to the dynamism while the more adult art style really shows what the game's about." – Hot_Violet




And now for your top 3 favourite Master System box arts


In 3rd place:

The Lucky Dime Caper

The Lucky Dime Caper received 13 votes in Stage 1 winning it's group, 10 votes in Stage 2 and received 5 votes in the final. Here is what you said:

"I've always loved the Lucky Dime Caper cover…" - ian

"…a classic, lots going on in this scene. I think if was a duck i'd be into a bit of Magica De Spell." – rupert

"I love Donald, it was the first MS game i ever bought by myself and the bear is cute…" - ShadowAngel




In 2nd place:

Sonic The Hedgehog

Sonic The Hedgehog received 10 votes in stage 1 coming 2nd in it's group, 11 votes in stage 2 and received 6 votes. Here is what you said:

"It's the most aesthetically pleasing cover, with vibrant, contrasting colours, great layout and one of the coolest looking video game characters of all time!" – wolfticket

"Best game ever, best cover ever. Simple" - ian

"…that image of Sonic is so iconic for me and brings a lot of memories of drawing him in my school books many times, that exact pose." - rupert

"I love the artwork, and it reminds me so much of being 11 years old again" - evo4123





Your winner - in 1st Place is:

Master of Darkness

Master of Darkness received 16 votes in stage 1 winning its group, 17 votes in stage 2 and won the final by a clear 10 votes with 16 votes! 44% of you voted it as your winner. Here is what you said:

"If H.P. Lovecraft designed a game cover, it might look something like this. Well, it would probably have more tentacles in it, it's pretty intense. It's like tidal wave of evil is about to wash over our good Dr. Social. Lots of detail, great color, great composition... this one's gonna be a contender right to the end." - Centrale

"I think if I was a kid and stood there comparing the covers, that would be the one I bought." - soup

"one of my favs to win whole tournament." – Kaunisto

"there is no denying that Master of Darkness is an exquisite cover art for a game." - rupert




Thank you to everyone who voted and contributed to the discussions across the tournament threads. I hope most people are happy with the final result and that it may have inspired you to play some of the these games again or for the first time!

[Rastanfarian]

Great job rupert! Let me say thanks one more time for all the hard work and effort you've put into this. It's nice to see that you took the time to give the details behind each cover - how many votes for each stage, some quotes, etc.
Would have been a lame final if you just said "okay here it is, master of darkness wins with 16 votes". Looking forward to whatever contest may come next!

[jessie]

I really enjoyed this! Thanks for setting this up!

[ShadowAngel]

No surprise that Master of Darkness won, it is an excellent cover. I'm a bit surprised that Sagaia and Dragon Crystal onle went on 4th and 5th Place.

And yes, thanks for setting this all up

[evo4123]

great tournament buddy really liked that, big thanks again for all the effort and time put into it

[wolfticket]

Even though I didn't vote for it, Master of Darkness is a very worthy winner! This has been a great tournament and well planned and organised, like eveyone else a huge thanks to rupert for putting this together. Great work!

[Centrale]

Thanks so much, Rupert! I think the tournament was a lot of fun. It seems for most people there were some favorites that came through, as well as some surprises. So I think it's a resounding success!

[rupert]

Thanks all.

I am please it went well and boosted some activity on the forum, which I hope can continue.

I did not think at beginning that this is what the top box arts would be, I had not even really thought much about Master of Darkness! But then when you properly study them you start to see them in a different light.. Then factor in other peoples voting and comments and that can influence decisions too. I actually wonder if blind voting through the 2 stages may have produced a different result, or perhaps having more stages would have brought different games through. There is no doubt some excellent artworks didnt reach the final.

[evo4123]

i didnt vote for master of darkness but i can see why people did, its got awesome artwork on there

[gallos_11]

Congrats rupert for organising everything!

I voted for Master of Darkness mainly because the competitors were not that good. I'm really surprised with some games that reached in the final. Master of Darkness looks great and definitely deserves an award for its artwork, but probably wouldn't be my first choice against other games.

[Stan]

Awesome job man, I'm just sad one of my quotes wasn't cool enough for your tastes.

[rupert]

Jan 28, 2016 12:16:16 GMT Stan said:

Awesome job man, I'm just sad one of my quotes wasn't cool enough for your tastes.

Sorry about that, I did have one or two of yours in to begin with but then trimmed the quotes down to just positive comments as it looked like a bit too much writing.

[flatapex]

I have to say rupert has done an awesome job on this, great winner and the forum has had a real buzz to it.

I have been discreetly voting even though I haven't posted much recently, on a personal level this has been a nice distraction while going through 2 bereavements in as many months as well as other upheavals in real life.

I hope this is the start of a trend for members old and new getting involved together

[barney]

Disappointing result - I don't really rate the MoD artwork very highly - but thanks again for hosting a great tournament, rupert.

[asterix]

Fun tournament, unfortunately I wasn’t in here to join in on this one.
Think It’s amazing to se all that great artwork