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So, possibly a dumb question, but is there a reason why in the 80's the box art for the Master System used graph-paper like lines on it? With some small picture in the corner showing something related to the game? It just looked terrible. And the graph-paper lines reminded me of, well, school work, which was not something I would imagine the people trying to sell those games wanted. Good box art which took up the whole box had been available for years at that point. So... why??

It’s hard to know for sure, but it seems like an attempt at looking different from the NES and Atari games that were the competition, and perhaps to look more mature, less toy-like and more designer-looking. Obviously the clip art look has not aged well. The grid background was probably pretty stylish for 1986.

Ni****do actually tried a similar thing with the very early NES covers, with similarly poor aesthetic results I might add.

I assume it was also Sega's attempt at pushing the brand and the system more than the individual games.To be fair, it kind of worked, as Sega Master System games really stood out on store shelves back then. It's also very clear that Sega didn't do this because they were trying to save money in any way, as is evident by the fact that the grid is actually printed in silver. Adding a fifth printing colour cannot have been cheap in the 1980s.

Maxim wrote

The grid background was probably pretty stylish for 1986.

Oh yes, that for sure. Designs like this were abundant then. In fact, I still have my special edition Commodore Amiga from 1989 that looks like this.

I really love the grid background. I loved then and I am still loving It nowadays.

It's perfect.

Yes, there probably was some style to grids in 1986.
There was Capcom's early NES games (1987) which used a space grid background, plus I'm sure grids had been seen on like TV graphics design and such then.

Author	Message
gerybecke64 Joined: 08 Feb 2021 Posts: 1	Sega Master System Box Art Question Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2021 8:09 am
gerybecke64 Joined: 08 Feb 2021 Posts: 1	So, possibly a dumb question, but is there a reason why in the 80's the box art for the Master System used graph-paper like lines on it? With some small picture in the corner showing something related to the game? It just looked terrible. And the graph-paper lines reminded me of, well, school work, which was not something I would imagine the people trying to sell those games wanted. Good box art which took up the whole box had been available for years at that point. So... why??

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14745 Location: London	Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2021 9:15 am
	It’s hard to know for sure, but it seems like an attempt at looking different from the NES and Atari games that were the competition, and perhaps to look more mature, less toy-like and more designer-looking. Obviously the clip art look has not aged well. The grid background was probably pretty stylish for 1986.

Kagesan Joined: 01 Feb 2014 Posts: 877	Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2021 9:54 am
Kagesan Joined: 01 Feb 2014 Posts: 877	Ni****do actually tried a similar thing with the very early NES covers, with similarly poor aesthetic results I might add. I assume it was also Sega's attempt at pushing the brand and the system more than the individual games.To be fair, it kind of worked, as Sega Master System games really stood out on store shelves back then. It's also very clear that Sega didn't do this because they were trying to save money in any way, as is evident by the fact that the grid is actually printed in silver. Adding a fifth printing colour cannot have been cheap in the 1980s. Maxim wrote The grid background was probably pretty stylish for 1986. Oh yes, that for sure. Designs like this were abundant then. In fact, I still have my special edition Commodore Amiga from 1989 that looks like this.

Aranya Joined: 02 Mar 2011 Posts: 167 Location: Valencia,Spain.	Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2021 1:09 pm
	I really love the grid background. I loved then and I am still loving It nowadays. It's perfect.

KingMike Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Posts: 512	Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2021 6:05 pm
KingMike Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Posts: 512	Yes, there probably was some style to grids in 1986. There was Capcom's early NES games (1987) which used a space grid background, plus I'm sure grids had been seen on like TV graphics design and such then.

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