Box Art Face Off #1: Pocket Monsters

Box Art Face Off #1

This is a new post series but I'm not sure how many I will do, probably till I don't find it interesting anymore. Here I will look at the box art for a game that was released in the USA and Japan and basically pick which one I think looks better. Ill mention things that I like or dislike about a particular box art. 

Anyway for this first one I'm going to be looking at the massively successful Pocket Monsters, or Pokemon if your in the states. Since they released 2 versions of the game, well three in Japan, I will be looking at the art for both the blue and red versions.

So lets look at the blue version first, on the left we have the Japanese version and on the right the US version.

 

My Take:
I like the overall look of the Japanese version more, there is just more going on design wise. However the character on the box looks much cooler and I like how hes looking right at you on the US version. Plus the yellow in the US logo appeals more to me than the purple in the Japanese one. The Blue version winner for me is the US version. 

Girlfriend's take:
US Version. Using the rules of third by by the placement of the character's head creates a better proportion. And a simple colour palette makes the whole visual look cleaner.


Here we have the red version for both games again the Japanese one is on the left and the US on the right.

 

My take:
So again the overall look has to go to the Japanese version for the same reasons I stated above but in this case I really like the pose of the character on the Japanese box. Just look at him, wings out, head back, fire spewing from his mouth, very cool. The character on the US box looks bored and non threatening to me just kind of meh. Also where the purple of the Japanese logo blended in too much for me to be noticed on the blue version, the purple with red pops more. So with the red version it is a definite win for the Japanese version. 

Girlfriend's take:
Basically everything I said about the Blue version apply to this one as well. Again my vote is for the US version. 

Growing up I was living in the US and got the red version, I thought the blue one was cooler at that time but my friend already had the blue version so I decided it would be better to get the red one so that we could catch all the Pokemon. Perhaps that resentment of not getting the "cool" one back then had something to do with my choice here but I don't think so. If the US character art had been the same as the Japanese one I would have preferred the red version hands down.

So there it is the first box art face off, in the future it wont be this way as it will just be one game going up against its counterpart but this was an interesting situation.