10 Best GameCube Box Art

Samus stands tall in her orange armour, visor glowing, framed by the dark rock of an alien world. It is not a complicated cover. Still, it says everything it needs to.

A tiny silver robot stands among a teapot and teacups twice his size, trailing his plug behind him like a tail. The scale tells the whole story: this is a game about a little robot doing housework in a family home, and the box makes that look like an adventure.

Japan's box is completely black except for the title, painted in gold brush strokes, with a single gold curve under it. The American box, by contrast, is a crowded battlefield. The game blends tactical wargaming with pinball in feudal Japan, and the Japanese box looks as strange and serious as that sounds.

A huge yellow giant with a tiny smile stands against a black background, his arms framing the title. That is the whole box, and it is perfect for a game that began life as a launch title for the 64DD in Japan.

Japan's box shows the grand hall of the mansion from the bottom of the stairs, with the chandelier glowing and a red carpet leading you in. It is quiet, and that is what makes it frightening. The American box, on the other hand, goes for a zombie grabbing a hero, which is far more ordinary.

A lonely figure walks toward a glowing doorway in a vast, blue, ruined hall, with a dark moon hanging above. It is cold and eerie, and it suits a game whose sanity effects mess with the player directly, sometimes faking errors on your own TV.

Japan's box is a field of giant white daisies on a bright yellow background, with three tiny Pikmin peeking out between the petals. The American box, by contrast, is a busy 3D group shot of Captain Olimar and his crew. The Japanese one looks like a children's book, and it is lovely.

In Europe, Joe strikes a hero pose in his red suit on a bright yellow background, drawn in thick, flat lines like a comic panel. The American box crams him into a busy comic collage instead. Joe is a movie fan who turns into a tokusatsu-style hero, so the clean European pose fits him best.

The title stands in huge black kanji on a white panel, while a ship flies through a sepia sky behind it. It looks less like a game box and more like a poster for an art exhibition. Europe's version, meanwhile, swaps the white for a hot orange glow.

Japan's box puts the cartoon Link on a bright blue background inside a frame of old writing and carvings, like a page from an ancient sea chart. The American box, by contrast, is a gold field with the scene etched faintly into it. The game's cel-shaded art style set it apart from everything else on the shelf, and the Japanese box shows it off proudly.