I can’t believe it took over a year before I finally made this post!
Of course the blog needs one of these.
It took some time but I finally added separate pictures of all the SFC games
so feel free to scroll trough them all in the SFC section. At least this gave
me a better picture of which ones needs an upgrade in the future and also
reminded me to do this list.
Of course I only include RPGs, and this is my personal list, feel free to
write your own favorites as well!
We begin with number ten:
10. Milandra
The art itself is not that great but the white frame and
the colors make it a really nice box.
9. Ancient Magic
This one is just amazing, look at that looming death,
the tastefully clad characters and symmetry!
8. Verne World
Again, what colors! The more realistic art style and that really cool
structure in the background (no, not the totem).
7. YS V
This is mostly based on nostalgia mayhap since that statue really
symbolize RPGs for me, more on that another time…
6. Seiken Densetsu 2
There it is! I suspect it wouldn’t be list without it. I always feel a bit
annoyed when people praise the US cover of the game that shows one-third
of the picture and puts a black frame around…
and some unnecessary text… and extra logos.
Oh well, a good example of why I collect the japanese versions.
5. Tenchi Souzou
What to say, one of the ten best games also got
one of the ten best boxes, glory!
4. Estpolis II
Feel free to look up the box for Estpolis (Lufia) 1 and compare it to
this, the funny thing is that the same difference is true for the
actual games as well, haha.
3. Gaia Gensouki
Mmmm, hard to capture the golden letters in the picture but the
gold and blue just goes so well together, I also love how the box
is a giant spoiler, haha. But very symbolic for the game and
nice in every way.
2. Rudra no Hihou
That is one ominous box! Compared to Chrono Trigger or the old
FF games where they just showed the characters on a white
background this is truly a masterpiece. I especially like the logo
since it feels like it has become a part of the picture and not just
been put there in a simple font afterwards.
1. Tales of Phantasia
Who could have guessed! The box art that made me pay four times the value
of the game all those years ago. I don’t regret anything, still my favorite
and somewhat a symbol of all the good games we never got.
Sorry Final Fantasies, Star Ocean, Romancing Sagas etc!
xenosagacollector.com 
Aloha, great picks. It was amazing how much more seriously cover art was taken back then, when trailers and pre-release info were much more scarce. Reality is that there are so many nice ones, just picking 10 is a travesty!
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Haha, yeah, not easy to pick just 10, that’s why I try to collect them all and
dedicate an entire wall to them!
As you say, it was much more important with a selling box back then and a lot of the games also have nice things on the back, maybe I should do a top 10 back sides next, hehe.
There is still a lot of nice box art on other consoles as well but there really is something special about the paper boxes of SFC.
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The worst issue for me is how great Japanese box arts would often be profaned in the process of ‘sanitizing’ them for the Western market. Two top examples that riled me off the top of my head were FF VI, FF VII, and then later on Gunstar Heroes for MG, and Guardian Heroes on Saturn.
I won’t even mention the vast array of JRPGs with busted Western cover arts…
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Många läckra boxar 🙂
Själv hade jag nog lagt till FF6, DQ5 och SO1 av de lite mer självklara.
Annars också ena Kunio-kun-spelet, den dyrare utgåvan med bla en motorcykel på framsidan. Du vet nog vilken jag tänker på?
Och D&D Eye of the Beholder just för att den har samma art som i de “riktiga” originalboxrna till gamla Amiga och IBM osv.
Jag stannar där, annars blir det en lång lista 🙂
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Haha, ja som sagt, inte svårt att fylla en topp 10! Så nära att Star Ocean fick komma med men jag ville ha med några av dom lite mer udda spelen, Lennus 2 och åtminstone ett av Shin Megami spelen var också titlar jag övervägde.
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Vackra val allihop. Men jag diggar verkligen din nr 1. Den är så vacker och underbar.
Önskar vi kunde fått PSP-versionen av Tales of Phanatsia släppt officielt i väst.
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