Which system had the best video game boxes?

[PII | 1,885]

From the perspective of creating a climate of future collectability for past artifacts, I'd have to say that any company that went with cardboard hit the nail on the head.

Pretty much everything in my "Collection" is cardboard and anything I have in a "Case" is so because anything that came in a case overwhelmingly tends to still come in a case...

I have a definite soft spot for the oversized Sega CD Jewel Cases in all their space-hogging glory.  It seems that when it came to making as much plastic as possible Sega almost never considered finance an issue.

I've never owned any, but those Neo Geo Clamshells look like something that'd get made special to store priceless museum artifacts.

I like NES boxes best.

[Gloves | 11,777]

Just now, RH said:

Special editions do not count.  For any system. I also like the N64 in general, which is pure nostalgia, but even that one had some odd box shapes like Star Fox 64.

Some of these "Special Editions" are the only editions that exist.

[RH | 4,903]

2 minutes ago, Gloves said:

Some of these "Special Editions" are the only editions that exist.

That's why you remove all of that unnecessary stuff, throw it out and just keep the clamshell and game.

...Ok, I'll now show myself out.

[Gloves | 11,777]

26 minutes ago, RH said:

That's why you remove all of that unnecessary stuff, throw it out and just keep the clamshell and game.

...Ok, I'll now show myself out.

[glazball | 168]

My first thought was Sega Master System, then I considered Genesis... but I had to go with Neo Geo.

AES carts are simply king, in both size and appearance.

[T-Pac | 7,541]

I'm a huge fan of simple, uniform packaging, so I've gotta go with the early Channel F releases as my favorite game boxes - gorgeous bold primary colors and killer consistency across the first 17 releases. (I've never seen one of these in person, but one day I'd love to have a few Channel F carts at least).

-CasualCart

[PII | 1,885]

58 minutes ago, Gloves said:

I'm trying to decide which I like better, the chopstix guy or the one holding the childproof saftey scissors, lol.

[TDIRunner | 2,735]

While I've already mentioned my favorite, I will also add 3DO as an honorable mention.  I'm surprised to not see it at all.  Many people like to rag on the console for not living up to its expectations in initial price tag, but their game boxes were pretty cool and make all other "long boxes" look pretty small by comparison.  

[avatar! | 1,811]

16 minutes ago, TDIRunner said:

While I've already mentioned my favorite, I will also add 3DO as an honorable mention.  I'm surprised to not see it at all.  Many people like to rag on the console for not living up to its expectations in initial price tag, but their game boxes were pretty cool and make all other "long boxes" look pretty small by comparison.  

Since you asked nicely, I added 3DO

Although to be honest, I'll be surprised if they get any votes.

[TDIRunner | 2,735]

1 minute ago, avatar! said:

Since you asked nicely, I added 3DO

Although to be honest, I'll be surprised if they get any votes.

Oh, I wasn't asking for it to be added.  I wouldn't' expect many votes either (if any).  I'm just surprised no one at least brought it up as at least a style they enjoyed.  While the 3DO long boxes looked cool, they definitely suffered from a lack of uniformity.  

[Tanooki | 4,933]

19 hours ago, Sumez said:

Anyone who didn't vote Neo Geo has obviously never seen a Neo Geo clamshell box.

I just don't associate with it because I've got an MVS, and to me, the box art is a black and white strip maybe with a serial number stuck on the typically black cartridge shell with a duplicate stuck on the standard flap fold opening generic cardboard box.  I mean I get what you're going at, but AES was like the rolls royce of systems, you just don't think of it, and in fairness it's just a re-pinned arcade board anyway.  I do agree with you though, some of those SNK, ADK, Nazca, Taito, and Data East artists really were amazing at their work and went all out.  It wasn't just box imagery, it was more like movie/ad level production art to draw you in between the print ads and the mini marquees on the arcade machines.

[egg_sanwich | 1]

Gotta be Genesis clamshells. So practical and so durable, with great art to boot.

[ThePhleo | 2,184]

How has no one said Odyssey 2?

The Odyssey 2 is AMAZING!!

CLAMSHELL case, but made of cardboard! Also has a little slot for the manual!!! Jesus what a box!

[Strange | 1,700]

10 minutes ago, ThePhleo said:

How has no one said Odyssey 2?

The Odyssey 2 is AMAZING!!

CLAMSHELL case, but made of cardboard! Also has a little slot for the manual!!! Jesus what a box!

The thing that made me want to start collecting Odyssey 2 was the weird box art and the weird cartridges.

[ThePhleo | 2,184]

17 minutes ago, The Strangest said:

The thing that made me want to start collecting Odyssey 2 was the weird box art and the weird cartridges.

I almost had a fullset until I sold it all to Phil, owner of KillScreenGames in Asbury Park, NJ. Dude used to go by the name of “cremorecs” on Nintendoage 

[Sumez | 2,950]

4 hours ago, Tanooki said:

I just don't associate with it because I've got an MVS, and to me, the box art is a black and white strip maybe with a serial number stuck on the typically black cartridge shell with a duplicate stuck on the standard flap fold opening generic cardboard box.  I mean I get what you're going at, but AES was like the rolls royce of systems, you just don't think of it, and in fairness it's just a re-pinned arcade board anyway. 

I'm an MVS guy too, but in this context I thought it would be implied that Neo Geo refers to the AES boxes.

Of course there are two common types of AES boxes too, but the clamshells are fucking badass. The fact that it's the "rolls royce of system" doesn't make it less likely to qualify here, rather the opposite  

[Vectrex28 | 366]

Where's the Intellivision option? I love the fold-out boxes and the artwork on them is always great

[Sumer | 221]

I am also going to say:

ATARI!

The first thing I thought of for this poll was the box art...I didn't even consider the practicality of the box (that would be Sega's Master System or Genesis clamshells).  

So many of us were built up, hyped up, and geeked up by the box art when we got a new VCS/2600 game, only to be disappointed most of the time by the game itself.  Not always, but many times.

If you haven't checked it out, a great book on the phenomanal Atari work is available from Tim Lapetino:

[avatar! | 1,811]

20 minutes ago, Sumer said:

I am also going to say:

ATARI!

The first thing I thought of for this poll was the box art...I didn't even consider the practicality of the box (that would be Sega's Master System or Genesis clamshells).  

So many of us were built up, hyped up, and geeked up by the box art when we got a new VCS/2600 game, only to be disappointed most of the time by the game itself.  Not always, but many times.

If you haven't checked it out, a great book on the phenomanal Atari work is available from Tim Lapetino:

Just to be clear, this poll is NOT simply about box art. I think that's important, very important, but so is the physical characteristics of the box itself. Ultimately, it's a personal opinion, but just wanted to clarify that point.

[Sumer | 221]

1 hour ago, avatar! said:

Just to be clear, this poll is NOT simply about box art. I think that's important, very important, but so is the physical characteristics of the box itself. Ultimately, it's a personal opinion, but just wanted to clarify that point.

Gotcha...but I guess when I first saw the question, art came first to my mind.    When I think of a box, I tend to think of art first, then practicality second.  For what it's worth, Atari's boxes, if handled with care like a NES box, still holds up well 40 years on (man, almost 45 years for some of the early games).

[Strange | 1,700]

2 hours ago, Sumer said:

I am also going to say:

ATARI!

The first thing I thought of for this poll was the box art...I didn't even consider the practicality of the box (that would be Sega's Master System or Genesis clamshells).  

So many of us were built up, hyped up, and geeked up by the box art when we got a new VCS/2600 game, only to be disappointed most of the time by the game itself.  Not always, but many times.

If you haven't checked it out, a great book on the phenomanal Atari work is available from Tim Lapetino:

Can confirm that’s a fantastic book.

[scaryice | 586]

Surprised to see SNES with a bunch of votes. The template is weird - there's way too much black space, and the art often goes over the border into that space. Not to mention the weird red rectangle at the top and the yellow dots on the right. The rating in the lower left goes over the art too (and sometimes other info boxes as well). It's all just really ugly IMO.

I voted PS1. I love the way the word "PlayStation," the PS logo, and the rating are all perfectly contained in the left column. CD cases are also nicely sized and easy to store. You can also tell just from looking at a normal PS1 game whether or not it has the manual and what kind of shape it's in. Of course, there's the weird long boxes and awkward multi-cd games to deal with.

Atari 2600 & Genesis are good choices also! I'd put PS2 in the top group as well, just because of how sturdy they are. With less plastic used in today's cases, we won't get those kind of super solid cases again, it seems. I get it, it's good for the planet and it's fine for the vast majority of people, but for collecting it sucks. PS4 cases are fragile and like 1/3rd of the time the disc is loose when I open a sealed game. Meanwhile, PS2 cases are nigh indestructible. Maybe I should've voted PS2!

Edited December 2, 2020 by scaryice

[GPX | 1,369]

I love them all for different reasons, which is why I collect for a lot of different platforms (about 2/3 of the poll listings). Some factors:

- cool aesthetics: Dreamcast (PAL)

- solid and sturdy: Megadrive/Master System

- challenging to collect cases that are in decent condition: Saturn (PAL)

- most colourful/vibrant: Snes (PAL)

 

[Makar | 1,946]

GameCube gets my vote. I don't like any of the cardboard box ones since they're pretty fragile and don't hold up as well over time as plastic cases. The GameCube case gets my vote because it's big, sleak, durable, and more aesthetically pleasing than other plastic cases imo. 

Edited December 3, 2020 by Makar

[DefaultGen | 5,402]

NES has nice box art plus the spines look nice and colorful together and can be divided into their own publisher subsets and subsets of subsets which is nice. Also it doesn't have any ugly budget label spines to ruin your shelves.

For the more template-y boxes, I get annoyed at all the differences. Genesis boxes are mainly red or black but sometimes neither. The Genesis logo is all different sizes. The game logos are all different sizes. Once a box template is standardized I just get annoyed of everything that doesn't conform to the template.