Gaming artwork, Hall of Shame.

[Harrison]

Welcome to the classicamiga Gaming artwork, Hall of Shame.

Over the years I bet you have seen some truly horrible artwork being used on the posters and boxes of games. Now is your chance to share your idea of the worst examples with everyone else in a bid to try and find the worst artwork we can that has been used on the boxes, posters, manuals and promotional material of a game.

Post artwork from any game you like for any platform. I look forward to seeing some really horrible examples of artwork. And wouldn't it be funny to contact the original artists and interrogate them on why their artwork was so bad. :lol:

The Hall of Shame is inspired by PG and JT in a conversation about bad box art. Sadly the original thread accidentially got deleted. Sorry guys.

[Puni/Void]

Here is my first contribution to this thread. It is the cover art from the game called Metro-Cross by Namco. The game was released in 1985 with an OK cover, but the budget version truly lacks coolness. Have a look:

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[AlexJ]

Here's my first contribution.

Phalanx was a futuristic shoot 'em up on the SNES.

Here's a screenshot:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/de/Phalanx-screenshot-02.png

So what did they choose to put on the box?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a0/Phalanxart.jpg

A bearded chap with a banjo. Did they even give the artist the theme of the game, or did they just say make a cover for a video game, the artist then guessing that the game would be a Farm simulation or something. Terrible.

[Demon Cleaner]

That one is REALLY terrible, what did they have in mind?

[AlexJ]

The Sega Master System's standard box art was a crap illustration on graph paper. Example:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/29/Sms_pro_wrestling_box.jpg

Loads of blank white space - a big no-no when it comes to making your product stand out on the shelf. Still i'd gladly take it over this next example:
http://kidfenris.com/wbmonsterland.gif

That face *will* give you nightmares.

[Harrison]

I remember those Sega graphpaper like box designs. I suppose they stood out from other systems boxes and you could quickly identify them. Still looked a bit crap though.

That face is quite disturbing. Definitely doesn't fit the rest of the picture. Almost as though it originally had a different head and the developers told the artist they needed to see a face instead of the knights helmet.

[Demon Cleaner]

I kinda like the boxes, they're very unique. But as for the guys face, that is really a joke.

[Submeg]

WTF is with that banjo? :blink:

[Harrison]

That is a very strange image to use for the game. If the artist only had the games title and nothing else to go by you would never come up with that. From just the name Phalanx the first thing that comes to mind would be historical battles from Rome or something similar, not a hill billy sat in a rocker playing the banjo whilst a space ship zooms by. :blink:

[Demon Cleaner]

The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear Phalanx, is a pr0n game :lol:

The 2 Arnie games for amiga also have some hard gay action covers:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/cioprgr/classicamiga/Arnie.jpg http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/cioprgr/classicamiga/Arnie2.jpg

[Submeg]

...If the artist only had the games title and nothing else to go by you would never come up with that. From just the name Phalanx the first thing that comes to mind would be historical battles from Rome or something similar, not a hill billy sat in a rocker playing the banjo whilst a space ship zooms by. :blink:

That seems like a competition/game that my parents play. It's called dictionary. Basically, you learn some really random words and what they mean. You sit with a group of six or so people and you state the word. Then everyone writes down what they think it means. Then the person that chose the word reads them out one by one and then people vote on which one they think is the correct answer. The more people that don't vote for the correct answer, the more points that person receives. I remember one of the words was 'Torsk'. One of the suggested meanings was ' A Russian issued army torch'. The correct answer was a type of fish. It is an awesome game to play.

[Teho]

I remember one of the words was 'Torsk'.

Well, I would've gotten that one. So would PG. It's norwegian for cod. ;)


One of the suggested meanings was ' A Russian issued army torch'.

:lol:

Sounds like a fun game, actually. :)

[Harrison]

There used to be a gameshow on TV in the UK like that called Call my Bluff. It ran for a very long time, but I don't think it's still being made. It consisted of two teams of three players. An obscure English word would be shown and each member of one team would have to give a detailed definition of what the word meant. Each of the three members would give completely different means. The other team would then have to guess which meaning was correct and which two were bluffing.

[Puni/Void]

Hehe.. I agree, Teho, the game actually sounds pretty fun. I would for sure have loved playing that. Torsk can be quite tasty if cooked the right way. :)

[Submeg]

We should do it on here. Of course when you come up with a word people aren't allowed to look it up in the dictionary or online. It would be sweet :cool:

[rayzorblue]

WTF is with that banjo? :blink:

i cant help thinkin of deliverence


There used to be a gameshow on TV in the UK like that called Call my Bluff.

I used to watch that with me nana, and countdown then she would kick my ass at scrabble :lol: happy days :cry:

[Agram]

If I was responsible for the final cover I would have been well impressed, as I have no artistic talent myself.

Here is what was released:
http://www.avjx34.dsl.pipex.com/forum/hw2.jpg

And here is what could have been. Has a more epic feel to it:
http://www.avjx34.dsl.pipex.com/forum/hw2c.jpg

Also found this low res one that might of been another candidate, but still prefer the middle picture.
http://www.avjx34.dsl.pipex.com/forum/hw2u.jpg

[J T]

There used to be a gameshow on TV in the UK like that called Call my Bluff. ....


http://www.b3tards.com/uploads/smellmy.jpg


Gotta love b3ta, in fact I may have to start a new thread to link to some of the funnier posts and pics there.

[Demon Cleaner]

I also prefer the middle Homeworld 2 cover, but all in all, the 3 of them are not bad.

[Ghost]

Snip

Hello,

To be honest I found Homeworld 2 in general a disappointment, the control scheme was good but Homeworld Cataclysm showed that it could be done long before HW2 was a glimpse in the eyes of the developers.

Regarding story, compared to the Space Opera Homeworld I found it a major disappointment and I hated the stuff such as magical hyperdrive cores that give people connected to it longlivity.
People tend to badmouth Homeworld Cataclysm because the story sounded a little Star Trek esque but it was fun compared to Homeworld 2 during which I really had moments of "Man this is boring", having to finish 'filler' missions in the hope something good came after it.