NeoGAF Decides BlazBlue's European Boxart
January 12, 2010 2:00 PM | Eric Caoili
Looking to involve fans with the creation of its European cover for BlazBlue (even though the game released in the U.S. last June, it doesn't hit Europe until March), Arc System Works turned to gaming forum/snakepit NeoGAF to produce and vote on the artwork. The publisher invited NeoGAF members to submit mock-ups, the community voted on 10 finalists to have their art featured in the manual, and then the company chose the winning piece.
Arc System picked forumer Radiantdreamer as the winner but worked with him to change the cover character from Ragna to Noel, keeping the original's feel. You can see the final PS3 and Xbox 360 packaging for the fighting game shown above, as well as the original artwork after the break. As usual, I've also included my favorites from the finalists below:
Radiantdreamer (final):
Radiantdreamer (original):
Alr1ghtstart:
Android18a:
K2S3:
Orioto:
Categories:
13 Comments
I've got to say, I like the original Ragna art better. Even still, that's pretty damned awesome for digging your artists out of NeoGAF.
Ryan D. | January 12, 2010 5:27 PM
I also like the original Ragna piece, but the new one's still surprisingly good as far as box art goes. I imagine the artist had limited time to work on the Noel painting compared to the Ragna one.
Scypher | January 12, 2010 7:32 PM
i like that noel's pistol kind of looks like a puppy's long snout. once you see it, you can't unsee it!
eric_c | January 12, 2010 7:48 PM
Cool. But i prffer Android18a's one. Still pretty cool that a developer use fan feedback for their games.
BenjRose | January 13, 2010 1:54 AM
It's great to involve your fans and to get good artwork for cheap.
But the kids in the store are going to think this is a shooter.
kwyjibo | January 13, 2010 3:13 AM
Usually the U.S. gets shafted on poor boxart... but it looks like Europe gets the shaft this time.
No offense to the GAF artists but... nothing screams kick ass fighting game like a chick showing her ass and pointing a gun at you. WTF?
Ujn Hunter | January 13, 2010 8:07 AM
"No offense to the GAF artists but... nothing screams kick ass fighting game like a chick showing her ass and pointing a gun at you. WTF?"
Yeah, it doesn't hold a candle to the in-your-face cover of Samurai Shodown II, does it?
Seriously, I love the majority of the finalists (Android18a's feels like the kind of cover we'd get in the US. Not bad, but not particularly inspired).
Jason | January 13, 2010 10:36 AM
One word... HORRIBLE
JomJom | January 15, 2010 4:33 AM
absolute trash. fuck this
Ludwig | January 31, 2010 11:40 AM
You should have no that Americans cannot draw. If you wanted fan art that's good, you should have asked the Japanese fans to make some.
THE TRUTH | February 3, 2010 5:34 PM
My god. They have three boxarts (the RadiantDreamer original, the Alr1ghtstart and K2S3 ones) that are better than the majority of art on the game shelf, and what do they do? Commission an absolutely terrible second piece from the winner.
Tagerkaka | February 16, 2010 11:43 PM
I love the new cover. Makes the game look so awesome :D
lostty | April 3, 2010 2:44 PM
the original US cover is awesome.european cover is so stupid and ugly.for this reason I bought the us version for my pal ps3.no problems.
alex | January 8, 2011 3:39 PM