Poll: Box Art Brawl

Welcome to another episode of Box Art Brawl!

This week, we’re going to be checking out Ninja Gaiden Shadow (known as Shadow Warriors in Europe and Australia) from Tecmo for the Game Boy. Before we do so, however, let’s see how we got on last time with Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness for the N64.

This one wasn’t even close, as we’d suspected. Although North America, Europe, and Japan were all in the running, it was the European design that won the day with a resounding 83% of the vote. Well done!

Okay, so onto Ninja Gaiden Shadow. This one was released back in 1991 and is set before the original Ninja Gaiden. It was supposedly originally planned to be a licensed adaptation of Shadow of the Ninja; hence the similar name, we suppose!

It’s another three-way brawl this week, so let’s get cracking.

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

North America

The design for North America and Europe are incredibly similar, with the only real differences being the general appearance of Ryu Hayabusa and the artistic style implemented. Here, Ryu displays a more ‘traditional’ look of a ninja, with only his eyes visible beneath the shadowy garb. He’s also rocking some killer (literally) weaponry.

Europe

Europe’s design, on the other hand, features a more humanised Ryu, showing a lot more of that beautiful face. He’s also lost his weapons, except for the katana attached to his back. The background is more or less identical, mind, and the colours are pretty similar too. Note the different title logo, of course!

Japan

Japan’s design is completely different, and could well be a simply screenshot from an anime film. It’s a cool, interesting shot though, and we get to see Ryu once again wield the deadly katana in style. We also love the Japanese text used for the title here; just lovely stuff.

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