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Mario Bros box art cover
By avatar Thunderhead 19 on July 15th, 2011
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Comment on Thunderhead's Mario Bros Box Art / Cover.

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Thunderhead 19 [ 1 decade ago ]

And now... my entry for Round 2, somewhat early this time. I just want to say two things about this box.

1) I really wanted to go for something clean and bright and somewhat funny with this box. Too many of the NES games are played on black backgrounds, and that is so boring, so I wanted this to be very bright. I really liked this idea for the design, with either side of the box showing different parts of the same image, so I decided to skip a traditional design and just keep this.

2) All of the art here is custom-made, in the arcade Mario Bros style.

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Strike the Wolf 37 [ 1 decade ago ]

Awesome, man. Very official.

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Pan 48 [ 1 decade ago ]

Thar artwork itself is very nice, but most of it is repeated on the front and back. Also without any screen shots or legal information, it's not looking very official to me. Don't get me wrong, I like the way it looks, and the humor and creativity are a welcome change, but it doesn't fit the part of "retro game box replica" as well as it could have.

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Thunderhead 19 [ 1 decade ago ]

#3, That's because I wasn't trying to make a "retro game box replica". In fact, other than the art itself, I was specifically trying to avoid that. Retro game boxes are horribly boring and horribly designed. I didn't feel like wasting my time on a box that I wasn't interested in, that would have a boring design on a horrible template. So I did this instead. As for the art being repeated, considering that the game takes place on a single screen with no changes in background or location, I didn't see that as an issue, but rather a unifying design from front to back.

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Pan 48 [ 1 decade ago ]

#4, The reason I brought up that it doesn't look like a retro replica, is because of this rule in the contest:

Attention to Theme: How well does your box adhere to the "Retro" theme? Is it simply new images slapped onto a retro template, or was extra care taken to make sure it really looks like it came out of the 80s?

To me, this doesn't look like an NES box from the 80s. It looks nice, but not like an authentic NES box which was what you were supposed to make.

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RoarShark 40 [ 1 decade ago ]

I agree with Pan on how this doesn't completely comply with the theme, but it sure does look really good.

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Reza 41 [ 1 decade ago ]

Looks more like an advertisement than a boxart. Still, good work though.

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Thunderhead 19 [ 1 decade ago ]

#7, The box is the part inside the white area. The rest is just presentation.

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Thunderhead 19 [ 1 decade ago ]

Are you guys really going to make me do another box for this competition just because this one is too off-the-wall for you?

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Reza 41 [ 1 decade ago ]

You don't need to do a whole new box for it, the art is great, just the current way it is now makes it hard to see the said box art. Maybe try and work the box art into a template and keep the stuff around it so it looks like a print ad. I think that would look better and fit the round's theme more.

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Pan 48 [ 1 decade ago ]

#9, Are you serious? Too off-the-wall? You were given specific instructions on what to do, and in my opinion, you failed because you had to be "different". Now it's ok for you to just give it another shot? Posting the boxes to the main site was a bad idea in my opinion, because of situations like this.

Seriously though, post whatever box you want, but remember that this is a contest, it's about sticking to the rules and producing the best box with the rules they have been given, not intentionally doing things your style because you want to be different.

You got it right the first round, did something out of the ordinary, made it look nice, and still stuck closely to the theme. Here, it's more like "I don't like retro boxes so I'm just going to do this how I want."

I know you probably think I'm picking on you specifically, but this is seriously one of the better boxes this round, it's just that if I were judging it, I would mark points off for the reasons I've stated.

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Manuel_Alejandro95 29 [ 1 decade ago ]

It may look unofficial, but intentional or not, this reminds me of Famicom cartridge boxes, that often had no screenshots on the back link . Great art, I think.

Btw, you spelled "Arcade" wrong.

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Thunderhead 19 [ 1 decade ago ]

#11, You're very mean :-/

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Pan 48 [ 1 decade ago ]

#13, I'm not trying to be mean, I'm trying to give you some helpful advice.

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Thunderhead 19 [ 1 decade ago ]

#14, Then i shall do my best to make another box more pleasing to you, sir.

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Flexx 27 [ 1 decade ago ]

If you gave the presentation an overhaul, I don't see why this couldn't be viewed as a "valid" submission. As Manuel pointed out, it's very reminiscent of the old Famicon boxes.

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TheSlyder 41 [ 1 decade ago ]

I think you did a fantastic job on the unique artwork for it. It fooled me. I thought it was legitimate art for the game. I actually couldn't figure out what I was looking at for a while. I thought maybe the whole white object was intended to be a poster, then an arcade cabinet banner (The ones at the top of cabinets.) then I thought maybe it was supposed to be the left/right side images, then I realized that it was a box in the middle, with just a really elaborate presentation. The white frame is really what makes it confusing.

I can't complain that it's not faithful to the Famicom box design, but I just don't think the shape of the box is appealing. The artwork itself is 10/10, and I love that the box acts as sequential art.

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mchapra 34 [ 1 decade ago ]

Fantastic work, man.

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RoarShark 40 [ 1 decade ago ]

#9, I don't think that there is any reason for you to make another box. It is all about how we interpret the theme, and you interpreted differently that most, that is all.

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Magical 41 [ 1 decade ago ]

This is the main site, so I'm not judging it to see if it met the competition standards, I'm just judging it as a normal box. And for that, it is a really great design, and it's really original.

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tmrd 43 [ 1 decade ago ]

#20, My exact opinion. I am not a fan of the repetitive background, but you explained your logic for that, and I think you did pretty damn well. Faved.

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tleeart 45 [ 1 decade ago ]

Reminds me of some Japanese boxes, since you went for the landscape format. I absolutely love the art on this. I'm kinda sad you went with the Pac-Man box in the end (which does have it's own merits) since I feel this is the stronger piece.

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