Does A Video Game's Cover Art Mean Anything To You? Or Not?

[oldgamerz]

An old saying goes (You Can't Judge A Book By It's Cover!) But have you ever judged a video game by it's cover art? Unfortunately I have before many times and I missed out on some great games I found to be nothing like I expected, sometimes I missed out completely. Like on the early Fallout game because I judged the game poorly by it's box art and didn't think it would run on my PC back in the day. Of course most PC games back in the day would either not run at all or crash while you played the game. Mostly crashing was an issue on 1990's PC's in spite of how much they costed used to crash video games more often in the mid 1990's.

So? have you ever judged a video game by it's cover art?
lets say you saw a retro or maybe even a modern video game, that you never heard of or played before

[seether]

It speaks to me on an emotional level.

[hexen]

I have learned that judging by the cover is usually the correct call. This is the best Banjo player-simulator I have ever played. The moonshine making mini-game was surprisingly deep.

[oldgamerz]

I have learned that judging by the cover is usually the correct call. This is the best Banjo player-simulator I have ever played. The moonshine making mini-game was surprisingly deep.

Lol vary unexpected

 so this is some kind of rhythm  game I assume? Someone else also made a mention of this Super Nintendo game and they pointed out it was not a space shooter like it says on the cover art lol

[hexen]

I have learned that judging by the cover is usually the correct call. This is the best Banjo player-simulator I have ever played. The moonshine making mini-game was surprisingly deep.

Lol vary unexpected

 so this is some kind of rhythm  game I assume? Someone else also made a mention of this Super Nintendo game and they pointed out it was not a space shooter like it says on the cover art lol

Yeah, seems likely, I bet this is notorious among collectors and retro fans. When I first saw the cartridge in the wild more then a decade back, I didn't know what the heck it was because the cartridge doesn't have the space shooter line.

[burningdoom]

True enough, can't judge a book (or game) by its cover, alone.

But cool cover art is always a plus for me.

[zappman]

LOL
https://www.destructoid.com/discovering-the-mystery-behind-the-phalanx-cover-art-471030.phtml

[marvelvscapcom2]

If it's a game I already know is good or from a company I love, I guess it doesn't even though I really like beautiful and epic cover arts. 

But if it's from a game I have never played which happens a lot, Like if i'm going into a gamestop or flea market looking for games.  I won't buy it if the cover looks plain or bad.  Sometimes if it's exciting i'll buy it even if it's a bad game because it's colorful and exciting.   Sometimes the cover is all I have to judge a game on.  that and the back text that explains it. It's good to draw the attention in with something exciting on the cover.  Especially in the age of blockbuster rentals.  Most kids kinda just seen something that looked cool and rented it and then it ended up sucking.  IE. Rambo (NES) and Jaws (NES)   Two of the cooler covers from memorable movies but both sucked as games.  So the cover is pretty important.  .

[wartoy]

Its never a good idea to judge a Game by its cover but I do love looking at the artwork of games and try to showcase some of my favorites in my collection by facing them foward.

[pizzasafari]

I've never bought into the "you shouldn't judge a book by its cover" thing. The cover gives you a first impression. It's the cover's job to illustrate you what the experience is all about with a still picture/logo. When you're browsing for a book, the book with the nicest-looking cover is going to be the one that stands out to you the most and so it'll be the first one you reach for to examine. If the illustration fails to express to you the mood of the book you'll be reading then it's a bad cover. Same goes for games.

So yeah, cover art is an important part of game production. When I'm browsing games there's lots and lots of games to look at, and the cover art that tells me "this is the sort of game you enjoy" will be the one I pick up and examine. If a game has a really nice boxart, then obviously the developer cares about its aesthetics. If the boxart is cobbled together and half-assed, then that's probably the developer's attitude towards the game. Even a simplistic cover with a plain background and logo can be a good cover, as long as it still gives off the 'feel' of the game. Obviously there are good games with bad covers and bad games with good covers, but that doesn't invalidate the point.

TL;DR: It's the cover's job to give me an impression of kind of game I'm going to be playing if I spend my money on it so it does matter if it wants to catch my attention.

[burningdoom]

^ If you did judge a game by it's cover, then so many crappy NES and Atari 2600 games would be gold because they had way cooler artwork representing the game than the game actually was.

[stealthrush]

Back then when information about new games were sparse (besides video game magazines) front covers determined at least 60% interest in either deciding a rental or final purchased. Although thanks to Toy's R Us unique wall of flip-up plastic covers which included the back sheet described more of the game features, tiny pictures of graphics, and explanation of the gameplay.

As for today, a video game's cover art means much less since information regarding the game is at your finger tips.

[kypherion]

Yeah, it usually tells me what to expect i.e. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow seeing the arrangement of characters and how it portrays Dario and Dmitri as bad guys.

[pizzasafari]

^ If you did judge a game by it's cover, then so many crappy NES and Atari 2600 games would be gold because they had way cooler artwork representing the game than the game actually was.

I wasn't literally saying a game is good because of its good boxart, I just mean it grabs attention and gives you an impression of whether or not that's the game you want to buy. If the boxart is a miserable-looking army dude with a gun in his hand walking towards the viewer with an explosion in the background I'm not going to give it a second glance because that tells me it's every military shooter ever. I'm just saying the coverart is an important factor in whether or not your intended audience will even check your game out if they see it, you want it to convey what your game is about, you want it to give the impression that you put care into the creation of your game, and you want it to tell the person seeing it "this game is something special". If the boxart is uninteresting to the viewer and they're glancing over a large selection of games they're probably just going to ignore it until something else catches their eye. Or it can at least convey the mood of the game with a selection of colours, the logo, background or whatever. It shouldn't be disregarded.

[kamikazekeeg]

Cover art isn't a big deal to me, unless it's just obviously bad or lazy.  As for if I've judged a game by its cover...It's honestly not something I usually do.  Even younger, I would occasionally read like...PSM or some other game magazine and usually had a good idea if I wanted a game or at least I don't remember if there were ones that bit me in the ass based on good cover art or I skipped over because of bad cover art.  I'm sure there's something, I rented games quite abit from my local video store and Blockbuster in the mid 90's/early 2000's, but can't think of anything in particular.