Not So Victorious Boxart
by Eric Caoili 
{ Aug 15th 2007 at 11:15AM }
Publisher XSeed will be bringing Victorious Boxers: Revolution to the US (Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting Revolution in Japan), but the boxing game's manga-tastic cover won't be coming along for the trip, at least according to the packaging design on GameFly's product page.Instead of the crowd of expressive faces -- determined, vengeful, and contemplative -- that we saw with the Japanese boxart, we'll be getting this victory pose silhouette and a ho-hum logo. While we understand that Hajime no Ippo isn't as popular in North America as it is across the Pacific, it would've been nice to have at least seen Ippo, the series's hero, on the cover.
Victorious Boxers hits store shelves this September. Bob and weave past the post break for a look at the game's dramatic packaging art in Japan.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
FlimFlammy @ Aug 15th 2007 1:39PM
So blahh and bland. I read in an interview XSeed had with DynamiteGlove dot com that they would make the box art more universally appealing, but I did not suspect this. People are going to be in for a surprise when they play the game and they see that Anime/Manga art style instead of a realistic looking boxing game like Fight Night.
...but once they play it and realize it's great it will not matter anymore.
Me on the other hand, I am just going to print out the original Japanese Box Art and cover up that bland Xseed version! Either way, I win!
Jackson Pritt @ Aug 15th 2007 1:55PM
The new cover looks like total ass.
It was a poor design decision that's going to cost them sales.
I understand what they were trying to do with the more "universal appeal" approach, but the execution is just awful, and it looks like a high school kid did it as a class project.
Tim Dunlap @ Aug 15th 2007 4:59PM
Poor Ippo, being shunned like that when he is so full of teh awesome and should be shown everywhere. This coverart just makes me sad. I'm still buying it as I want to support Ippo in all ways that I can. I just won't have fun looking at the box art.
hvnlysoldr @ Aug 15th 2007 10:04PM
I'm not going to say what female protagonist of a hardcore Nintendo franchise is needed more of in the box art and just say the redesign sucks.
BlitzRonin @ Aug 16th 2007 6:01PM
Don't get on XSeed's case yet...
That's all I'll say about the cover.
blitzronin
http://www.dynamiteglove.com
padgon @ Aug 17th 2007 10:22PM
Nah It must be a joke, At least Ippo should be on the box art.
jbondsr @ Aug 17th 2007 11:04PM
This cover is terrible. I'm glad I have the Japanese version. I hope they don't change anything else in the American version.
BlitzRonin @ Aug 19th 2007 4:13PM
That cover was just a mockup, it wasn't even the final cover. Have faith in XSEED.
Head over to dynamiteglove.com to see the final cover art, plus as an added bonus the flip cover with the original japanese image boxart.
Big thanks to XSEED.