Blue Period: A collection of Mega Man boxart
by JC Fletcher 
{ Sep 19th 2008 at 9:55AM }
With Mega Man boxart nostalgia more relevant than ever, we thought we would collect Mega Man boxarts in a handy annotated gallery. But this gallery doesn't feature every Mega Man boxart. Since Mega Man happens to be the most prolific game series ever, we had to put some stringent restrictions on what we would include. These restrictions are reasonably effective hints about just how many games there are:
- No spinoffs. Including games not starring the original Blue Bomber would have meant hundreds more images. This is about Mega Man anyway, not those other jokers.
- No handheld games. Sorry, Game Boy Mega Man fans! This also means no Game Gear Mega Man, no GBA Mega Man & Bass, and no Rockman Battle & Fighters. The only exception, as pointed out by reader Antonio: the PSP Mega Man: Powered Up, which has really great boxes anyway, and which we forgot we weren't supposed to put in.
- No awful PC remakes. Enough time has been spent on those games. Which is to say, any amount of time.
- No guest appearances. Sure, SNK Vs. Capcom Card Fighters Clash has Mega Man in it, but it's not a Mega Man game. Same with Cannon Spike and a hundred other games.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bill @ Sep 19th 2008 10:12AM
I like the USA box art much more than the cartoon Japanese version. I wouldn't call it ridiculous, to me it looks nostolgiac.
Antonio @ Sep 19th 2008 10:29AM
You said "No handheld games", but you left in the PSP Mega Man game.
I had no idea the PS Japanese remakes had such awesome covers.
mark @ Sep 19th 2008 10:41AM
I grew up with the US covers, and they amuse me still, I remember the manual illustrations being closer to the Japanese covers. There is a certain ironic charm to the US ones, but you can't beat Inafune's illustrations!
I remember going to a recent signing event, and my friend handed him the MegaMan 1 cover art, and he looked confused as if it had been the first time he saw it, like it was some bizarre fan art...
mega @ Sep 19th 2008 11:55AM
I grew up on the goofy american art, hating yet buying each game. That goes to show the promoting influence of Nintendo Power (which had the Japanese art in the magazine). Those images of the playstation art are simply amazing. My favorite is the Playstation Mega Man 2 box art.
Ripcord83 @ Sep 19th 2008 12:31PM
def love the psx mega man art.
own all 6, and well worth it to buy.
way better than the crap collection.
Scotty @ Sep 19th 2008 12:34PM
I've always thought Mega Man 3 resembled Christian Slater, I'm glad that theory has been reaffirmed.
schuyler @ Sep 19th 2008 4:30PM
Wheres the Mega Man 9 box art?
Smoke @ Sep 19th 2008 6:34PM
There's a second cover for the PAL NES MM2, which has Megaman on Item-2. This also removes MM6 from its position of only Megaman with a special weapon. It's much less common than silver Megaman though.
http://www.retropelihuolto.com/kuvat/kokoelma/helmet/nes_megaman2_cib_palnoeusa.jpg
It also suffers from general terribleness and realistic Wily.
Nate @ Sep 19th 2008 9:28PM
The US box for Megaman 2 looks like Megaman broke his leg.
Joseph Zelada @ Sep 24th 2008 8:42PM
Megaman 1 in Europe. I wouldn't doubt some poor soul actually had the idea to base a movie around that box art...