Poll: Box Art Brawl – Duel: New Super Mario Bros.

It’s the weekend and that can mean only one thing — yes, it’s time for another edition of Box Art Brawl!

Before we dive into this week’s contestants, let’s take a look at how things played out last time. Celebrating the release of Sabotage’s excellent RPG Sea of Stars, we took a look at the cover variants from around the world, with you picking the winner. This one was a little closer than we would have expected (then again, both covers are really rather stunning), but it was the lesser-known Japanese box art that secured the win with 53% of the vote compared to Europe and North America’s 47%.

This week, to celebrate the first previews of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, we are taking a look at the origin of the plumber’s last 2D series as we match up two covers from New Super Mario Bros. on the DS. Originally released in 2006, this game kickstarted a new wave of side-scrolling Mario games, from which Nintendo has not looked back since — until Wonder, that is…

It’s a good old-fashioned duel this week, so let’s dive right into things.

Be sure to cast your votes in the poll below; but first, let’s check out the box art designs themselves.

Europe / Japan

Playing things pretty safe, the European and Japanese covers put Mario and Luigi in their iconic jumping pose, with the bros. front and centre. The surrounding enemies make the stage look a little packed, but at least the Koopa’s pose hints at their ‘bah bah’ dance move that would come to haunt the series. If it’s a classic Mario game you’re after, this cover tells you everything that you need to know.

North America

North America opts for much the same cover apart fro- whaaat? Mario’s big now? New Super Mario Bros. was the Mega Mushroom’s 2D debut (after previously appearing in Mario Party 4) and boy does this cover show it off. ‘You thought this was going to be a standard Mario game?’, the cover asks, ‘well think again’.

Of course, the game did end up being pretty standard as far as revolutionising the formula goes, but hey, at least this shows some of the newness of the ‘New’ franchise.

Enough chit-chat, let’s vote!

Thanks for voting! We’ll see you next time for another round of the Box Art Brawl.