Welcome, one and all, to this week’s edition of Box Art Brawl! Wait, are we… poets??
Last time, we pitted two covers for the NES’ Urban Champion against each other and after a weekend of voting, it was North America that came up with the win. The classic pixel art cover took 59% of the vote, while Europe and Japan’s colourful alternative was left with the remaining 41%.
This week, we’re jumping from brawlin’ to pinballin’ as we look at two regional covers for Kirby’s Pinball Land. Originally released on the Game Boy in 1993, the pink puffball’s pinball adventure wasn’t quite the match made in Dream Land that might expect, but it did go on to spawn the excellent Pokémon Pinball (which used the same engine) on GBC so we can be thankful for that.
Europe and North America opted for the same design on this one, so we have a good old-fashioned duel on our hands against Japan.
Be sure to cast your votes in the poll below; but first, let’s check out the box art designs themselves.
Europe / North America
Now this is a classic piece of Kirby art if ever we’ve seen one! It’s a comical take on the puffball, with Kirb looking particularly surprised as he bounces off one of the flippers, presumably into the path of an obstacle ahead. It’s got Kirby, it’s got a pinball table. What more do you need?
Japan
Japan’s cover is much more about the Kirby iconography than it is about the pinball. Sure, the latter is still present and correct here (we particularly like the flipper being incorporated into the title), but the focus is on Kirby, Dedede and a host of other familiar faces. It’s certainly the more colourful of the two designs, too.
Thanks for voting! We’ll see you next time for another round of Box Art Brawl.
