Box Art Brawl: Duel – Astro Boy: Omega Factor

Sniper


Astro Boy: Omega Factor - BAB
Image: Nintendo Life

We are back, back, back for another edition of Box Art Brawl!

Last week, we took a look at a trio of Contra: Hard Corps covers for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive. Despite three rather sweet designs (by our eye), the vote wasn’t even close. You lovely lot crowned the North American variant the clear winner with 64% of the vote, leaving Japan and Europe to pick up the remaining 29% and 7%.

This time we are rocketing into the future as we match up two different covers for Astro Boy: Omega Factor on the GBA. This side-scrolling beat/shoot-em-up was released by SEGA (THQ in Europe) in 2003, 2004 and 2005 in Japan, North America and Europe respectively, staggered to match the premiere of the TV anime in the States. It’s a treat for fans of Astro Boy and Osamu Tezuka’s wider work, with high-octane action and gorgeous pixel art to boot.

Europe and North America opted for the same design on this one, so we’ve got a good old-fashioned duel on our hands, with the shared design facing off against Japan’s variant. Let’s get into it…

Be sure to cast your votes in the poll below; but first, let’s check out the box art designs themselves.

Europe / North America

Astro Boy: Omega Factor - EU/NA
Image: THQ / Moby Games

The European and North American cover is all about action. There’s no denying who this game is about as Astro Boy flies directly at us, front and centre. It’s a somewhat simple take, for sure, but we respect the ‘no-nonsense’-ness of it all. You might not know what the game is about, but you certainly know its star.

Japan

Astro Boy: Omega Factor - JP
Image: SEGA / Moby Games

Now here’s something different! Making use of its wider regional box design, the Japanese cover still puts Astro Boy at the forefront, but it saves some space for the villains too with Blue Knight, Atlas and Pluto standing menacingly above the title. With the animated TV series already popular in Japan, it makes sense that the design would show a little more of what’s on offer, though we can’t help but feel like this one looks a little busy compared to the simplicity of what we saw before. Hmm.

Thanks for voting! We’ll see you next time for another round of Box Art Brawl.