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Great games you purchased based on the cover alone

V

ValfarHL

Member
Obviously most people here will list old games, but I think it'd be a fun game anyway.

The most obvious ones for me are God of War:
This I got cause I was young (18-19), Kratos looked like a bad ass, and it had a sticker with some publication who gave it 10/10.

The other one is coincidentally the best game ever, Shadow of the Colossus.
This one I bought based on the cover art alone, and boy am I glad I did!
I didn't even learn of Ico's existence before much later.

SoTC is my favorite experience ever. God of War is one of my favorite series ever, but even I will admit the formula started to get old with Ascension.

latest
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Out of time, gotta go, please discuss!
 
E

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
I think Baten Kaitos and Killer 7 are the only games I impulsed bought at a store without knowing anything about them besides the cover and back. Which worked out well cause they're two of my favorite games.
 
S

Synth

Member
Axelay_SNES_box_art.jpg


Had literally no idea what this was at the time of purchase.

Also, despite the fact that I ended up encountering it in the arcades before buying it on Saturn... I was sold on "Virtual On" by the name alone.
 
W

Wiped89

Member
I was actually pretty good at doing this as a child.

I remember, I bought Burnout 2 on PS2 and Yoshi's Island on GBA based on nothing but the covers and the back of the box info.

SO glad I did on both counts!
 
A

Airbar

Neo Member
ValfarHL said:
The other one is coincidentally the best game ever, Shadow of the Colossus.
This one I bought based on the cover art alone, and boy am I glad I did!
I didn't even learn of Ico's existence before much later.
Click to expand...
Funnily enough this same exact thing happened to me. Was 15 or 16 and generally more into PC gaming and just browsed the PS2 shelves. Went home with SotC and Okami. Kinda lucky I picked those two though lol
 
P

pinkurocket

Member
I never purchased it at the time, but ICO always had the most striking cover I ever saw as a young gamer (around 12) perusing the gaming aisle not really following gaming news that closely (mostly being into pokémon and stuff). However the game always stayed on my mind and when I played it a few years later, it did not disappoint. The way the cover catches the essence of the game is just beautiful.

Ico_cover_-_EU%2BJP.jpg
 
S

SmackAttack

Member
I like you, OP.

My answer would be:
1235.jpg
Click to expand...
Best blind purchase I ever made and one of my Top 10 games of all time. I bought this game just because I liked the cover of the box art so much. Saw it behind the glass at a Meijer and KNEW I had to have it. I had one of my longest gaming sessions ever after coming home with it. I could not believe how amazing it was after not even hearing of it before. Wonderful day that was.

I'm pretty sure the same thing happened with Animal Crossing (GameCube) but I'm not positive so I'll give it the Possible Honorable Mention.
 
G

galvatron

Member
I got into game magazines too early for this to happen often.

Popeye on Atari 5200 might be the only one. I liked the cartoons...
 
W

WooHooAlex

Member
MNZSF7J.jpg

I was on a hard JRPG kick after playing Kingdom Hearts, and was probably just looking for anything to help hold me off until KH2. Ended up loving it.
 
T

texore

Member
Super Metroid.

I picked it up as a little kid from the bargain bin because the cover looked interesting to me.
 
lmimmfn

lmimmfn

Member
DDfront.jpg

lol, ok its not much nowadays but it was the 80;s and I was 9, its one of my favourite 8 bit games, a steal at budget price.
 
Indelible

Indelible

Member
index.php


I had no idea what this game was but I took a chance because of the cover and it became one of the best games of my childhood.
 
Z

zephervack

Member
Not that it was a cool cover but I got Goldeneye cuz it was a 007 game and it was the coolest cover at the time at the store.... best accident ever.
 
ReBurn

ReBurn

Gold Member
The cover was how I judged all of my games until the PS1 dropped and the Internet made more information readily available. Practically my entire 2600/Intellivision/NES/Genesis/SNES experience was based on box art and three sentences on the cover.

And, aside from Last Battle and Sword of Sodan, life was pretty good.
 
S

stan423321

Member
What is a cover? /s

Honestly in the times I was solely looking at covers I purchased more junk than gems. The only exception I can think of is World of Goo, and that's under a very generous definition of a cover - it also included an unusually affordable price. There was also this weird 2,5Dish non-scrolling platformer shooter with dwarves that was quite good, but not great per se, and I have no idea what it was called.

Around that time we got internet at home and I soon got spoiled with trailers and reviews. So while some covers got me interested, no more "cover alone" happened.
 
S

slackern1nja

Banned
bG8KSar.jpg


Released around the same time as my first job. Had the money so I imported a Japan copy at launch based on the cover alone. Last year I managed to get it signed by Kamiya himself.
 
A

Aaron D.

Member
nSfe4r3.jpg
g6oWTN3.jpg


Like every Atari 2600 game ever (that wasn't an arcade port).

Haunted House and Maze Craze are two of my more memorable grabs.
 
E

eyeball_kid

Member
Had never played a SMT/Persona game before. The art style and atmosphere immediately drew me in, and perhaps one of the best game covers ever. Probably the best impulse gaming purchase I've ever made.

Shin+Megami+Tensei+Nocturne+COVER.jpg
Click to expand...
 
W

WaveRider

Neo Member
Legacy_of_the_Ancients.jpg


I still have the C=64 packaging for Legacy of the Ancients. I loved that the EA symbols (Cube,Sphere,Pyramid) are in the image.
 
A

AHK_Hero

Member
I used to exclusively pick games based on the cover when I was a kid, but only one comes to mind in my adult years. I had never heard of Arc Rise Fantasia before but I saw it in a GameStop on sale for like $15 and I said to myself, "I am loving this art, I'm totally gonna buy this!".

PcWXR1S.jpg


Never even took it out of the case. Now it's buried with my Wii in a cardboard box somewhere. Did anyone play this game? Was it any good? Man the art sure was nice.

EDIT: Missed the word "Great" in the OP. I also whoops.
 
A

apresmode

Neo Member
I saw the thread title and immediately thought back to when I bought SotC at Best Buy. I knew nothing about it, but the cover made me want it. Best gaming decision ever to get that game.

ValfarHL said:
Obviously most people here will list old games, but I think it'd be a fun game anyway.

The most obvious ones for me are God of War:
This I got cause I was young (18-19), Kratos looked like a bad ass, and it had a sticker with some publication who gave it 10/10.

The other one is coincidentally the best game ever, Shadow of the Colossus.
This one I bought based on the cover art alone, and boy am I glad I did!
I didn't even learn of Ico's existence before much later.

SoTC is my favorite experience ever. God of War is one of my favorite series ever, but even I will admit the formula started to get old with Ascension.



Out of time, gotta go, please discuss!
Click to expand...
 
L

Ludger Kresnik

Member
AHK_Hero said:
I used to exclusively pick games based on the cover when I was a kid, but only one comes to mind in my adult years. I had never heard of the Arc Rise Fantasia before but I saw it in a GameStop on sale for like $15 and I said to myself, "I am loving this art, I'm totally gonna buy this!".

PcWXR1S.jpg


Never even took it out of the case. Now it's buried with my Wii in a cardboard box somewhere. Did anyone play this game? Was it any good? Man the art sure was nice.
Click to expand...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zygDzAkothQ
 
Indelible

Indelible

Member
AHK_Hero said:
I used to exclusively pick games based on the cover when I was a kid, but only one comes to mind in my adult years. I had never heard of the Arc Rise Fantasia before but I saw it in a GameStop on sale for like $15 and I said to myself, "I am loving this art, I'm totally gonna buy this!".

PcWXR1S.jpg


Never even took it out of the case. Now it's buried with my Wii in a cardboard box somewhere. Did anyone play this game? Was it any good? Man the art sure was nice.
Click to expand...

I thought it was a pretty fun turn based RPG, kind of a throw back to the 16 bit era. The only problem was the hilariously awful voice acting but even that was pretty entertaining in its own way.
 
H

Heart of Black

Member
robotzombie said:
I 100% bought Gungrave based off of the Yasuhiro Nightow cover alone

Shut up, the game is frigging awesome
Click to expand...

You are not wrong. I was excited for it for a long time before it came out.

I think me and a friend bought Utopia on SNES, but it was not a great game.

Z0031474.jpg
Click to expand...

I read Nintendo Power from the time I was 6 or 7, so I really didn't ever have a game come out that I didn't at least know something about and since I didn't have money to throw around, I generally researched the shit out of everything.

I did buy Secret of Evermore without TOO much investigation, and it's one of my favorites.

latest
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C

CronoShot

Member
I loved fantasy settings as a kid, so anything with a sword on the cover always caught my eye.

So when I saw this

The_Legend_of_Zelda_Ocarina_of_Time_box_art.png


it ended up working out very well.
 
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