Games with weird packaging

[peanutbutter]

Maybe small things like ones that came out early in a console's lifecycling before the packaging was standardised, or just full on bizarre shit? What games can you remember (asides from dumb ass collectors edition things) that came in distinctive packaging?

Inspired by...

Where's the black PlayStation logo at the bottom? Did early PAL games not have that and Sony decided to keep Wipeout's packaging consistent for the sequel?
?

[lazarou]

Was doing some reading up on text adventure history the last couple of days so these immediately came to mind. Two of Infocom's odder box choices with Starcross' obnoxious flying saucer design and Suspended's formidably creepy 3d plastic face.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Maybe small things like ones that came out early in a console's lifecycling before the packaging was standardised, or just full on bizarre shit? What games can you remember (asides from dumb ass collectors edition things) that came in distinctive packaging?

Inspired by...

Where's the black PlayStation logo at the bottom? Did early PAL games not have that and Sony decided to keep Wipeout's packaging consistent for the sequel?
?

They added the bottom logo when they launched the Platinum range in late 1997.

[peanutbutter]

Suspended's formidably creepy 3d plastic face.

What in the christ is that...

They added the bottom logo when they launched the Platinum range in late 1997.

Whoa, really? so every PS1 game released in Europe up until mid 1997 had a different box than any pressings after that time? (e.g. I'm able to find both kinds of cover for Tekken, which iirc had a non platinum super budget black label rerelease around 2001)

[magval]

My copy of Tekken 2 has no PlayStation strip along the bottom either. Weirder still were the copies that came in a 2cd box.

[QDRPHNC]

When I was a young lad, mum would take me into our local weird musty little department store, where I would stare at the locked glass box containing the Spectrum games, specifically Splat, the cover of which was printed on the fanciest shiny paper and which contained, I was sure, the most wonderful game ever.

[olliebean]

I had Splat!, and I'm not convinced I didn't buy it just because of the cover. The printing was actually on the transparent plastic of the case; the shiny background was just an unprinted piece of that shiny foil slipped between the case and the card inlay.

[Huxleys Babkins]

What in the christ is that...
Whoa, really? so every PS1 game released in Europe up until mid 1997 had a different box than any pressings after that time? (e.g. I'm able to find both kinds of cover for Tekken, which iirc had a non platinum super budget black label rerelease around 2001)

Yeah, they wanted to make it more obvious that what you were buying was a PlayStation game and to make it more obvious if you were a cheap arse with the silver labels vs black.

Sega did something similar with PAL Dreamcast games after the first year as it was impossible to tell what console a game was for if removed from its original jewel case.

[Jerzy Bondov]

You could do with a few more copies of Ready 2 Rumble

[falafel]

That Crazy Taxi design really is timeless isn't it? Sticks out like a sore thumb over all those tired 90s fonts and busy CG or illustrated covers.

[magval]

The PAL cover for Resident Evil 2 has also held up really well compared to its rattin US counterpart.

[peanutbutter]

My copy of Tekken 2 has no PlayStation strip along the bottom either. Weirder still were the copies that came in a 2cd box.

Which 2CD box? iirc there was one with two slots (e.g. FF Anthology), there was another that had a disc behind and didn't (most weirdly Crash 2, which contained a demo disc and absolutely nothing on the box to let you know of its existence), and then there was the 4 disc model used for 2 disc games (Metal Gear Solid platinum, iirc the original had a Silent Hill demo?).

[Quote]

My copy of Streetfighter 2 Turbo on the SNES came in a big, ugly metal case. Don't remember anything special in there, just instructions and the cart. It got scratched to fuck and looked awful within a week or two as well.

[Twed]

I love how the range of strange packaging stretches from "It comes with a weird molded face" to "the standard logo is missing!". You dorks.

[Huxleys Babkins]

That Crazy Taxi design really is timeless isn't it? Sticks out like a sore thumb over all those tired 90s fonts and busy CG or illustrated covers.

Most of Sega's PAL and Japanese Dreamcast covers look lovely, but Crazy Taxi was a real highlight. The US Crazy Taxi cover was AIDS-tier.

[QDRPHNC]

When I was 17 I used to work in a video game shop, I think we were the only place in the area that did imports. Was always unpleasantly surprised by the quality of the US art compared to the Japanese, SF2 being a particularly good example.



Just looking at the Japanese cover there brings back all sorts of lovely memories of waiting a week or more for shipments to arrive and pulling out these beautiful, exotic-looking boxes. No such thing of the joys of anticipation any more, what with children and their cloud-based downloading.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Does Ico take the cake for crap US box art? I [should co] co.



As for weird packaging; I watched an LGR video recently about a PC game that came in a trapezium shaped box. I can't remember what it was, though. Then again, all PC game boxes throughout the '90s were weird - pointlessly gigantic as they were.

[magval]

Which 2CD box? iirc there was one with two slots (e.g. FF Anthology), there was another that had a disc behind and didn't (most weirdly Crash 2, which contained a demo disc and absolutely nothing on the box to let you know of its existence), and then there was the 4 disc model used for 2 disc games (Metal Gear Solid platinum, iirc the original had a Silent Hill demo?).

Sorry, the 4-disc version is the one I'm thinking of. Was used for 2CD compilations of chart music back in the late 80s but expanded to accommodate 4 discs, indeed. Weirdly, Blade 2 initially came in a fat 4-disc box despite only having two discs, which was later replaced.

[peanutbutter]

b

[lazarou]

As for weird packaging; I watched an LGR video recently about a PC game that came in a trapezium shaped box. I can't remember what it was, though. Then again, all PC game boxes throughout the '90s were weird - pointlessly gigantic as they were.

Ended up watching that one myself and it was the US release of the Tomb Raider series of all things.



That video also introduced me to the astonishing design they went with for the CD-ROM release of Gabriel Knight.



One thing pictures don't really get across is the sheer size of some of these fuckers. In that picture of the two oddball Infocom boxes the Starcross one is 30cm across, a replica flying saucer the size of a vinyl record. The Suspended face is a full-size face. We tended to be a little more sensible about this stuff in Europe but every so often I'd get a surprise when I'd buy something like Starsiege Tribes on import and it'd come in a box ten times larger than it needed to be with a little jewel case inside.

[spanky]

My copy of Streetfighter 2 Turbo on the SNES came in a big, ugly metal case. Don't remember anything special in there, just instructions and the cart. It got scratched to fuck and looked awful within a week or two as well.

I remember it coming with a tiny pin badge as well, which I must have lost within the week

[JesusAndYourBush]

I remember some Spectrum Games started appearing in increasingly large boxes, presumably to try and justify the increasing prices.  I remember one in a box so huge you'd have had to store it alongside your Monopoly and Mouse Trap board games.

[The Boston Crab]

Nothing to add but this is a cool, interesting thread. Cheers.

[Alberon]

When I was a young lad, mum would take me into our local weird musty little department store, where I would stare at the locked glass box containing the Spectrum games, specifically Splat, the cover of which was printed on the fanciest shiny paper and which contained, I was sure, the most wonderful game ever.

I remember playing that. The company that made that had a shop in Reading. Not in the town centre but slightly outside up London Street. Back in the early 1980s I can remember this shop selling just one thing. Splat!

To be fair, I think the company's offices were above the shop, but it still looked weird to see a store selling just one thing.