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Hello folks, and welcome to another edition of Box Art Brawl!
Last week, we took a look at one of the many, many entries in the Mega Man franchise with Mega Man 7 for the SNES. While it was probably a bit closer than we were perhaps expecting, the Japanese box art took home the prize with 68% – it’s definitely better, right?
This time, with the news of Excitebike 64‘s impending arrival on Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, we thought it prudent to check out the original box art for the N64 release. Launched back in 2000, it always surprises us when we remember that it’s only the second game in the Excitebike series, arriving 16 years after the original Excitebike release in Japan for the NES.
Europe and North America share very similar designs for this one, with just minor differences in the overall layout. So, with that in mind, it’s going to be another Duel this week as the two regions fight it out against Japan.
Let battle commence!
Be sure to cast your votes in the poll below; but first, let’s check out the box art designs themselves.
Europe / North America
The Western design for Excitebike 64 does a great job of representing what the game is all about: performing mindblowing leaps of faith off a ramp as you tear around the race course.
Granted, there’s a lot of unused space in this one that’s haphazardly covered up by a bunch of logos in the bottom right, so we’re not overly keen on that, but all in all, it’s a pretty great box art.
Japan
Japan’s approach, meanwhile, is a lot more stylised, putting the portrait orientation to full use. Here, we’ve got a red and black background with an image of a racer dominating front and center, the front wheel of the bike taking up the lion’s share of the composition.
It’s incredibly eye-catching, but does it beat out the Western design? Well, that’s up to you.
Thanks for voting! We’ll see you next time for another round of the Box Art Brawl.