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Hi there. As we all know, many SMS game covers had rather uninspiring artwork (Fantasy Zone, Action Fighter, Wonder Boy). What intrigues me is that the Japanese versions of these games for the Mark III are by contrast quite elaborate and appealing.

Does anybody know the rationale behind such bland cover art for the Western market when the option of using the Japanese covers obviously existed?

We can only guess. One possibility is that they wanted to differentiate from NES games which were more typically video game looking. The grid background was a bit more 80s refined.

Another option is that a guy at Tonka had a kid who wanted to be an artist.

This has already been discussed here.
It's very likely they tried to push the Sega brand rather than individual titles. The big N tried something similar with early NES releases, but abandoned the concept much quicker than Sega, who, while modifying it and improving overall, never actually discarded the core concept completely.

Author	Message
tipsy_m Joined: 06 Dec 2019 Posts: 4 Location: Australia	Artwork Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2020 10:20 am
tipsy_m Joined: 06 Dec 2019 Posts: 4 Location: Australia	Hi there. As we all know, many SMS game covers had rather uninspiring artwork (Fantasy Zone, Action Fighter, Wonder Boy). What intrigues me is that the Japanese versions of these games for the Mark III are by contrast quite elaborate and appealing. Does anybody know the rationale behind such bland cover art for the Western market when the option of using the Japanese covers obviously existed?

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14734 Location: London	Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2020 10:42 am
	We can only guess. One possibility is that they wanted to differentiate from NES games which were more typically video game looking. The grid background was a bit more 80s refined. Another option is that a guy at Tonka had a kid who wanted to be an artist.

Kagesan Joined: 01 Feb 2014 Posts: 877	Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2020 10:49 am
Kagesan Joined: 01 Feb 2014 Posts: 877	This has already been discussed here. It's very likely they tried to push the Sega brand rather than individual titles. The big N tried something similar with early NES releases, but abandoned the concept much quicker than Sega, who, while modifying it and improving overall, never actually discarded the core concept completely.

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