It’s time to judge some game covers as we dive into another edition of Box Art Brawl!
Last week we took it to the fairway as we matched up two covers from Mario Golf: Advance Tour. Reader, it was a washout. The North American / European cover took the competition by a country mile, snatching up 81% of the vote and leaving the Mario-less Japanese cover with the remaining 19%.
This time, we’re looking at a different kind of green. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project (known as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Manhattan Project in Japan due to the first game being published under a different title) was released in 1991 on the Famicom and 1992 on the NES. Continuing the same side-scrolling beat-em-up structure as the previous games, the title didn’t make its way to Europe until 2022’s Cowabunga Collection, so there are just the two covers to check out this week.
Ready to kick some shell? Let’s shred it!
Be sure to cast your votes in the poll below; but first, let’s check out the box art designs themselves.
North America
Coming off the back of the original animated series’s fifth season (and more in line with the darker tone that we’d see in later episodes) the North American cover is all doom and gloom. Raph stands, grimacing in the foreground while his brothers take out foes big and small behind. The background even contains the titular Manhattan Project, with the iconic New York borough floating in the sky.
Japan
Now this is… different. Yes, the Turtles do look a little angry, but this Japan cover is worlds away from the grit of the NA counterpart. There’s no fighting, no bleak background nor a floating city. It’s all bright colours and chunky turtles over here. Perhaps not the most game-related cover out there, but it sure is eye-catching.
Thanks for voting! We’ll see you next time for another round of the Box Art Brawl.