Friday, April 22, 2011

Cover Art Localization: Mega Bomberman

In 1993, Bomberman '94 came out for Japanese PC Engines. It looked like this:

It's rather cute. I especially like the baby blue stripes in the back. I'm not especially sure why Bomberman looks angry, or are his eyebrows always like that? The wallaby-type animal is super adorable and makes up for angry Bomberman regardless.

Bomberman '94 got retooled as Mega Bomberman and came out for Genesis and Mega Drive..  Apparently even back then Hudson realized putting the game on TurboGrafx-16 wouldn't earn them as much (although Bomberman '93 did come to TG-16). For the Mega Drive release, the cover looked like this:

It is almost the same exact cover, except with a bit more action. There's a firey background featuring different characters. It also prominently notes this is a multiplayer game. Finally, we have the US version. Here it is:

What the hell? I know Americans are all about action and stuff but why is Bomberman suddenly a punk? With a wrestling championship belt? I don't really know what is going on in this picture but it seems vaguely Christmas-related and all-around weird. I love when covers are so drastically different from region to region because it lets you consider what advertisers think of the gaming markets. Japan and Europe are fine with cute and cuddly but not us Americans! Oh no, we need some crazy sugnlasses wearing dude. Despite the cover, the in game sprites are exactly the same in this version. 

1 comment:

Bryan Ochalla said...

Yeesh, that American cover is *terrible*! What's up with the mohawk? Plus, it's just ugly all around. I'll keep the PCE cover, thankyouverymuch :)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...