It’s allright… I just miss the little sphere behind the title to maintain it consistent in all 3 games… =0S

Teen Adolescents? Did the ESRB redo their ratings things?

Anyway, it’s neat. Where is the large S symbol behind the word Metroid though?

I find it …well boring

Completely disliking the “edgy” corruption font

I’m with you, Rumas. Don’t hate it, but it’s nothing special.

I think the graphic designers are all-too-eager to slap a 3-D render on the box and call it a day. The funny thing is, we know from the art galleries in previous Prime games that they have very talented illustrators at Retro. Surely one of them could have been given the task of making some interesting box art.

Oh, well. I’m not going to play the box, after all.

It’s got nothing on Prime 2, which was possibly the coolest boxart for the Cube.

Definately agree wth all of what you’re saying here. I guess as more people started to get involved with games, also with increasing budgets they had more on the line, more to loose, and just started taking less risks with the packaging. Most recent packaging these days sure looks like it was approved by a committee, with not enough trust placed on the graphic designers. Shame.

It’s better than the two Japanese covers, that’s for sure. This one may be boring, but it’s not cluttered with reticules and vertical type and scanner lines either — is it the 90s still?. Where’s the white space?. And take a look at the left side of Prime 1: the arm cannon runs right parallel against the edge; that’s just sloppy.

*is graphic designer*

I think it’s awful, Samus standing at an angle combined with the planetside in the background makes it look crazy.

And that Corruption font is just NO! Someone obviously got tasked with browsing through all the photoshop fonts and pick the most AWESOME-LOOKING!!

Why isn’t this game finished yet?

/impatient

What I like:

-The planet’s horizon creates a dynamic line cutting the design into an almost one third/two thirds layout taught by most art/photographer classes. Samus and what appears to be her doppleganger orthogonally split the layout against the planet’s horizons creating a X to focus our eyes on Samus, the games playable character.

-The contrast between Samus vs. her doppleganger and the blue planet vs the pink martian terraformed planet surface, like War of the Worlds. I perceive this as establishing the conflict in the game without even reading the subtitle “Corruption”. Samus is trying to prevent a world from being destroyed or changed for the worst.

-Simultaneous contrast between Samus and her dark doppleganger. This is a light dark contrast that focuses our eyes again on Samus. Squint your eyes at the image and you will see what I mean. Just another tool to keep our eyes the intended subject of the game.

What I don’t like:

-The visored phantom in the upper left corner. This is distracting to me and creates a sense of uneasiness and tension in the image. Perhaps this was the intent of the artist. This phantom could be a plot twist in the game or an additional antagonist working in the background. My experience with these types of plot devices in videogame story telling suggest hack writing, play the Xenosaga trilogy for a good example.

-The pastel colors specifically the pink and red hues from the surface of the planet. The overall soft feel goes against the subtitle “Corruption”. Corruption should not be represented by soft pastel colors like pink and blue but rather something not warm and inviting like a cool green or yellow, colors that repulse us as humans.

-The soft highlights, both reflected and not, on Samus’ armor. These give an anodized metal texture to the suit. My past visual experiences with Samus have always conjured up shiny metal highlights not the soft highlights of anodized metal. Just doesn’t look like Samus.

In conclusion, I the layout is strong, but the color and highlights need some reworking.

What’s up with the detached floating head on the side? It just looks silly and distracting.

The head in the corner is Dark Samus, the “dopple-ganger” behind Samus is the corrupt samus.

What I think? Well, seeing as I will look at this box art 8 times the entire time I own it, I think its pretty good. Echos was better, and Hunters is my favorite boxart that uses the Prime model. But yea, its fine

The one thing that bothers me, is the “double” that Samus is standing back to back with isn’t the double in the game. Prime is the baddy, right? So why would we have some darkened Samus back to back with Samus, and Prime just glaring from the top corner…doesn’t make sense

The only good part of this is you can kinda seem Samus’ face underneath it all. I like that they started focusing on that a lot more in the Prime series.

The head in the upper left corner is horrible, the use of Badhouse as a font on the cover is cheap and pathetic, and it all around looks like a high school Photoshop project.

But at the same time who gives a crap? I’m going to be looking at the game, not the box.

I’ve always liked the simple look, so I had Samus’ visor on a black plain in mind, much like what I had in mind for Z: TP.

Not bad, but sort of meh.

Man, you’re crazy, Vash. You thought quite a bit about it, it seems. I’d just say it has kind of a cool Spider-Man 3 thing goin’ on. I do have to agree about not liking the highlights on Samus so much, though.

Also, I have to say the Japanese Metroid Prime 2 boxart is super bad ass.

@amanaplan If you were really a graphic designer, you’d understand why it looks the way it looks. Using my powers that transcend internet, time, space and you, I see… you’re a student!

Oh, I interpeted the Phazon courrupted Samus to be Dark Samus ie Metroid Prime (now that you pointed this out, looking closer I can see that’s the case)…I almost wish they’d have given the Dark Samus in the corner a look more akin to the way she looked towards the end of Prime 2. All skeletal and crazy looking. I don’t really like the floating head for some reason, something about it sets me off. Besides that, it’s not bad. Like someone else said, I like that you can Samus behind her visor slightly.

much of this has to do with marketing decisions, i’d imagine.

i think we need to get on making our own, better version, STAT.

I’ll make this short:

Every cover has been relatively simple thus far, particularly in the Prime series. I think having consistency helps it more than hurts it, but seriously - what would you do? If you put Samus fighting something on the cover, you could have a cover that, like many, are way too busy for their own good.

Sometimes simplicity is best. Look at the Japanese covers for most Final Fantasy games. It’s just the logo and the title. For Metroid, I think Samus is plenty, and this is a step up from MP 1&2’s artwork in terms of both quality and creativity.

http://tinyurl.com/yu5ueq

Hehe.

By the way, most if not all the awesome Metroid Prime artwork was created by Andrew Jones of Massive Black, a for-hire creative services company.

no me gusta

To me it really just comes down to the third Samus. It just looks ridiculous.

Prime 2’s was actually helped out by the box being reflective. I wonder if that will happen this time around.

I think the best box art ever is the RE4 PAL PS2 cover in red, or the white version for the Wii edition: http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/04/29/wii-warm-up-chec k-out-this-re4-boxart/

erp, here’s a better url: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=153010

Yeah, it’s not too great, but it’s all about the game. We will forget about the art soon. Maybe the final version will look a little better, but it’s nothing to ruin my day.

yeah, a very generic box art.

oh look they’re opposites and they’re standing back to back, how clever!

Samus and corrupt Samus are standing back-to-back, right? So does that mean that corrupt Samus is left-handed?

passable… the best cover from the metroid prime series is still the US/European Metroid Prime 2 cover

QUOTE (aparrish ): Samus and corrupt Samus are standing back-to-back, right? So does that mean that corrupt Samus is left-handed?

what if corrupt samus is actuallyy…..LINK!!!

Shadow Samus is…melting?

So, Samus, Melting Samus, and…God Samus.

actually sorta like it. the overall softness reads “clean”, as opposed to the messy, dark kitsch of prime 2 (the game, not the box). so, a rebirth.

good post, keep it up.

I like it! Only because its a huge step up from US’s 1 and 2 box art! But I bet the logo will change,it doesn’t have the Samus “S” thingy

I imagine it has more to do with marketing people and the such than it does the designers themselves.

I think it actually looks pretty nice. It’s very clean, which is cool to see these days where most boxes are just kinda sloppy and cluttered. I don’t like the floating head, I don’t like the lack of the circle thing behind the logo, and I’m not a huge fan of the “Corruption” font, but that’s not really a HUGE deal. I don’t know. I think it’s pretty much right on par with the first US box, which was nice and clean as well, but a nice step up from the second US box, which was a bit messy.

What is the point of Samus’ face in the top-left corner? Do we really need to see Samus three times on the same box? The number one thing I would love to see on covers these days would be some art from the concept artists. Whenever they show that stuff in bonus material or in instruction manuals it looks awesome.

haha MP3…hope it sounds good *giggle*

I’d consider this better than the two previous US boxarts, well, at least MP2 anyway.

Other than the floating ghost head in the upper corner, it looks pretty good to me. Not awesome, but it works without being overwhelming

being both A. a metroid fanboy and B. a graphic designer and artist, I’ve been torn at most with all the metroid boxes… but I love metroid too much to dis it… even if it had a chibi samus fighting a puppy, i would still probably buy it.

Not sure why the MP3 boxart is dull and the MP1 boxart is not. MP2 isn’t so hot from a design standpoint, I feel. The Japanese covers are easily the best, though.

“The head in the corner is Dark Samus, the “dopple-ganger” behind Samus is the corrupt samus.” I think this nice summary pretty much sums up what I think of the Prime series’ story as a whole. Geez.

just remembered something. I beleive that If metroid were released on any other console than GC at first, It would probably have more of a following than halo. but because of that fact it only has a ratio to that of halo of that of gamecube. remember though. halo’s boxart is near horrible to metroid prime’s, half the time the boxart is just a letter in the halo font.

Not “epic” enough. Then again, Nintendo doesn’t really have great art for their boxes. I wish they had more illustrations like Super Mario Bros. 3

I just wanna slap whoever made these and have him/her fired.

I remember seeing the ugly boxart for MP2 (hated that shiny “holographic” material) and then unlocking some sweet concept art for the game that seemed tailor-made for box art yet I cannot find a reason for it to have been turned out for what was chosen instead.

At least the game will most likely be good, but it’s a shame the cover’s so bland. I actually don’t mind the art itself as much, the colors are nice, it’s the text and title at the bottom that kill it for me. No cool Metroid logo, just the letters and some ugly text for the subtitle.

Could have done MUCH better.

The helmet in the top-left corner is not the same as Samus or the Doppleganger.

It seems to introduce a new enigmatic character in Metroid Prime.
3rd episode, 3rd character. I do not like this but the point was to focus on the art. I really displike what they did on the Corruption subtitle.

There’s the Samus in the top left corner, I am guessing that’s Dark Samus, then the melting Samus behind her represents her in the namesake corruption mode, so there’s only two Samuses, because one is just the same her. Right?

I think it needs more Samus.

It really seems like the majority of the comments have been closer to buckfutter than therapist. To quote “MR DNA”, I’m not goint to play the box… Indeed.

Uninspired and boring. This seriously looks like fan art to me.

I like it. The more I look at it, the more I like it.

I like how the words Metroid Prime 3 has that metallic look but “Corruption” looked way better in the previous logotype.

I think the boxart should either be very simplistic (less is more / keep it simple stupid) like maybe a shot of only Samus helmet/visor glowing in the dark or it should be so full of details that everytime you take a look at it, you’ll notice something new. =D

Bumbum - I was a student (of graphic design) 5 years ago, you got me!

I said nothing of this design except that it “may be boring” which was just a reference to the original claim.

If you want my critique: The type treatment is poor; the keywords are METROID (dull grey? that’s not made of win) and CORRUPTION, and neither of them scream out at you from the shelf. As it is, PRIME 3 is sandwiched to the point of superfluousness. The colour is fine, but there should be a higher contrast in the values and the reflections/speculars should be brighter. Samus really doesn’t need all those outlines on her armour either, that should have been achieved by shade and reflection. Why are there stars visible through the planet? If it has metaphoric value it’s lost on me. The corrupted side of the planet could be a little more prominent.

Considering it’s for a winning franchise from a corporation known for it’s rather conservative nature, it’s what we should expect. Obviously some have no idea how much client whims and conservative marketing fears play into design — they aim for the safest, clearest image.

I’m surprised people think the Japanese covers are better — they aren’t. Prime 2 has better contrast, but it’s ruined by the scanlines and arbitrarily-placed vertical text. It’s still a boring composition. Prime 1 puts Samus in an inexplicable pose dictated by the need to place the pointless reticule around her head, but it ends up making her shoulder the most prominent part of the cover. For the relaunch of a classic series, you’d think the cover would say a bit more in visuals.

I think it’s pretty cool, but ZOMG THERE ARE THREE SAMUSES!!11!!1

“compelling graphic design”

The entire Wii game cover design is flawed, or rather, allows for some really shoddy design work. The whole swooping top bar design throws everything off in the design if it isn’t taken into consideration. The shadowed face in the top left is clearly just a space filler and most games don’t even bother to fill that space. There are some good looking covers, for sure, but they’re few and far between. Having the standard bar at the top and a nice square frame would have been a much better choice.

That said, I don’t think this cover is all that bad. The colors are pretty nice.

“I’m surprised people think the Japanese covers are better — they aren’t.” Regarding the Japanese MP1 cover, I think the entire arm is made the focus, not just the shoulder. (Whether that’s good or bad is something else, though.) But I still stand by the Japanese covers. I can’t speak much about the graphic design standpoint, but I feel that they look better.

Prime 1 japanese box art is le ass. Don’t know why everyone has a hard on for everything japanese.

Doesn’t seem any worse then the other examples you posted.

that “corruption” font is so lame.

great to hear so much feedback on the box.

Atomsk: great points about the flaws of the nintendo’s standard box design.

I wish they got rid of the number 3 in small writing, and put a mega big roman numeric ‘III’ behind the whole thing, preferably in ‘Star Wars’ style to match the Metroid heading.

And the head in the corner is too freaky. I think it would work better as a giant silhouette behind the other two characters. Like Darth Vader in the Empire one-sheet.

Why does everything in my head relate to Star Wars? We’ll never know….

My only qualm is over that disembodied face in the corner. There are obviously much better choices for filling the space. The new rival bounty hunters, Ridley, or Samus’ gunship all spring to mind.

Otherwise, the design is quite nice. The eye moves smoothly about the picture, and there is a lot of variety in the colors & textures to keep the view interesting. I imagine this boxart will stand out very well, even amidst the garrish assortment of competing boxes on a store’s shelves.

As a tangent…I never knew that T stood for “Teen Adolescents” nowadays.

Hmm…not bad for a boxart. I like the idea of showing what the game is about (the small head in the corner, maelting Samus, and the normal Samus) just wished they had more stuff in it. Maybe show side characters on the sides. It looks like if the designer ran out of time and blobbed some stuff on… it doesn’t really grab Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. I keep hearing the font or “Corruption” is bad. It’s fine. Leave it be. It could be bigger though. Cool stuff, lacking a little, but out of the three box art for the series, I think this is the best. Metroid Prime 1 just had Samus and nothing else. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes has too glittery (the “shining” box cover). So I like how this one has all the differnet sides.
In conclusion, the box art is bold, but can add some more stuff on it. But this doesn’t stop me from buying the game!!!

Oh I just found out that the head in the corner wasn’t Dark Samus, it is the corrupted Samus head.

It looks too cluttered. They should’ve gone with something more simple. I prefer my box art. *giggles and then runs away*

you got the eye for it RANDOM J — as for the official metroid cover art.. they look reprocessed, probably would’ve been better if they added some creatures in the background. Japan’s Prime 2 looks sick, but it reminded me of Iron Man before Metroid.