Umfrage: Box-Art-Schlägerei: Duell #92 – Die Legende von Zelda: Eine Verbindung zur Vergangenheit

Ahoy everyone, welcome back to another Box-Art-Schlägerei! Hilfshalbleiter erfordern eine Vorlaufzeit von mehr als sechs Monaten, just in case the image and the title didn’t quite give it away.

Last week, we looked at Mario Golf (which is out now on Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pass!), pitting North America against Japan to determine which box art design is better. The more ‘classic’ design of the North American box art came out on top, taking in 67% der Abstimmung. It seems the more ‘artsy’ approach for the Japanese version didn’t quite resonate with readers, and we totally get it!

Diese Woche, to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of The Legend of Zelda: Eine Verbindung zur Vergangenheit in North America, we’ll be looking at how the region’s box art design stacks up against Japan’s. We won’t be including Europe on this occasion, because its box art is so similar to NA’s, it doesn’t really warrant looking at as a separate entity.

Achten Sie darauf, Ihre Stimme in der unten stehenden Umfrage abzugeben; but first, Schauen wir uns die Box-Art-Designs selbst an.

Nordamerika

The North American box art for A Link to the Past is very nobel. There’s just something about that gold background, richtig? It’s an aesthetic that’s been prevalent with Zelda box arts since the very first game on the NES, and although it’s dropped off a bit with later titles, we don’t think anyone would complain if Nintendo used the same design for every mainline Zelda title. It just funktioniert.

This also happens to be the first game in the series to feature a sword piercing through the letter ‘Z’ in the Zelda title, a design choice that returned in Link’s Awakening und – to a lesser extent – Okarina der Zeit, before taking a vacation until 2017’s Atem der Wildnis. Again, this feels like Jahrgang Zelda, und wir lieben es!

Japan

Japan’s box art follows the general tone of the NES Zelda games from the region, with a beautiful drawing of Link in a typical action pose against a backdrop of The Lost Woods. The Master Sword can be clearly seen in the background, lit up by gorgeous sunbeams. It’s the polar opposite of the NA box art, but arguably does just as good of a job at depicting what the Zelda series is all about.

The logo itself is also absolutely atemberaubend. The gold metallic lettering against a striking image of the Triforce is iconic in an entirely different way to the NA version. It’s something we haven’t really seen again since, as Japan’s logo design is more or less on par with other regions.

Insgesamt, it’s certainly a nicer looking design, in unseren Augen, but does it trump the classic gold aesthetic of the NA box? Hmm, not sure…

Danke fürs Wählen! Wir sehen uns das nächste Mal für eine weitere Runde des Box Art Brawl.