MARIO BOXARTS RANKED BECAUSE ODYSSEY'S CAME UP IN A CONVERSATION WITH A FRIEND
also i'm just snipping tooling these from my backloggd mario list lol
this is whatever! it's got donkey kong feet and the colours are fairly easy to look at and hey it does tell you what the game's about but also like eh, never been into this old ass artstyle, pauline has more focus than the playable character
good start to the real series! this trend in NES boxart where they'd show actual sprite art from the game so as to let you know what you're getting into is pretty cool and by now this pose is so recognisable that we just know straight away "yo this dude's JUMPIN like some kinda PLATFORMER", also they're not using Mario's usual design but instead fire mario which i kinda like because it's very contrasty and shit, good time all around
what is this, what am i getting into, this could be fucking anything. mario's holding 2 fingers up because it's mario 2 but like what else am I supposed to get out of this. not a huge fan
"Super Mario 2 Bros.: Mario Madness" ass graphic design what the hell, also Mario's front leg looks like it's coming out of his cock, never really lovedt his art, he has a turnip because you can pick up turnips and things in general which yeah that's showing off a central mechanic in the boxart which is good but otherwise ehhhhhhhhhhh
super mario 3 bros ass graphic design, but this one's a lot more iconic and generally beloved, doesn't do much for me though other than show a new powerup off and one that sure does look like Mario's flying, woah this is bigger and better. Nice contrast in the background, generally nice art, but shrug
Mario is completely flying here with a cool new cape and yo who the fuck is this absolute mount taking centre stage on the box? That's bold and different! Also from here onwards we've pretty much found the Mario logo design specifically, these colours and that font are still appearing today. Do think the background could stand to have slightly more going on though
Mario is flying again, even more obviously, but now that we've made the leap to 3D we've got an actual 3D render instead of just 2D key art - even the logo and backgrounds and shit are 3D. This is Mario's big jump! Note that the earth is round as if to imply that this is Mario's largest and most open adventure yet. That goomba kinda fuck ugly though. General visuals are of the time but this one is still really good and entirely accomplishes what it set out to do
red strip obscuring some of the art bothers me but this is pretty peak boxart, more than anything else it's just nice art that embodies the new visual style for this game alongside including tons of the game's unique and charming character designs - maybe doesn't quite get plot or even genre across but it sure as hell looks good so
not a fan. it's Luigi which is a plus and he's clearly afraid and there are ghosts there and the logo's good but just none of these renders are all too good and Luigi's disembodied head and arms are kind of uncanny
what even were they fuckin trying dude. Okay it's a fine Mario render and he's got a new tool to help him out, sure - thje logo is also solid even if it reads more as Super Mari Sunshine instead of Super Mario Sunshine - but it's the everything else. Hardly feels tropical other than the title, Delfino Isle is NOWHERE to be seen, and what in the actual fuck is that word art text circling around that you can't even fucking read. Epic failure.
PEAK ALERT PEAK ALERT good god this art is amazing, goated as all hell art style with some of the best designs Mario and Luigi have ever had and a clearly colourful world with dangerous new foes in the background, sure! Just sick as hell
closer to the game's actual art style than 64 was but otherwise kind of a step down to me - Mario is so in front of everyone else that their designs don't really shine as much as they could.
I fear we have yet another complete fucking flop on our hands. These renders are surprisingly poor for the time and then the boxart itself accomplishes about 10 times less than the original game did. We're communicated that there's more playable characters now and we've lost everything else and even gained weird shitty motion blur on a static image to boot.
colours aren't quite as easy on my eyes as those of Superstar saga but banger art and character designs still shine through, and hey all the babies are clearly here too that's cool, perhaps a bit busy tho
now see I quite enjoy the art and think these renders are good enough by now to rep on a box art - said box art also shows off the mega mushroom super duper well in addition to a clear return to the 2D gameplay that's been gone or so long, but I also find this boxart weirdly deceptive lol? Namely in that Mario and Luigi can't exist simultaneously in the game except in multiplayer, but the multiplayer isn't enough of a focus for me to think "rep it on the boxart", so idk
Paper Mario goes 3D which is communicated well here, and all our playable roster are here with nice artwork for everyone - even the support fairy things I forget the name of are flying around without being too distracting - looks nice really. Though I kinda think Count Bleck doesn't need to be there? Or if he is that he's moved around somewhat? Like he's weirdly distracting being positioned like that
ladies and gentlemugs it is with great honour that I present to you actual kino - gorgeous as hell logo, super great render, and the core premise off the game laid out so beautifully that all you need to do is take even a glance at this box, and you know exactly what you're getting into. Space is pretty as hell, this boxart is pretty as hell, this game is pretty as hell, you just know from looking at this that you're in for an incredible time.
okay now the Mario and Luigi series would adopt this general design sense going forward and I'm pretty eh on it, I like the new logo and the tiny Mario Bros walking on top of it, and hey all the art is still good, but like I don't think all this negative space really achieves anything and I think more could've been done
now we go for a box I quite like, the red along the bottom is nice and appealing and then the main artwork showcases that we've got actual emphasised 4 player multiplayer now plus Yoshi plus at least one cool new powerup, ain't that sweet? Also some of the NSMB boxarts get a lil busy but I think this one is in the perfect zone of not too busy right now.
once again I come bearing kino, in what's effectively just the Mario Galaxy boxart but with a different set of nice artwork and also with Yoshi, plus his powerups shown of throughout the background, very cool. I prefer the comparatively more simple Galaxy 1 boxart and I've never loved how 2 favoured light blue skies, but still really nice
now this one is. nice. certainly shows off the titular 3D - and triples up on the return of the tanuki suit with both super leaf in the background and land having a tail and the goomba having a tail also. But eh idk there's not much of an identity here lol. it's just lots of "things that are in Mario"
here's one that's also a "things that are in Mario" featuring a bonus misleading "are Mario and Luigi here because multiplayer?" visual, but the yellow patterned background stands out and the coin emphasis is there which is this game's main unique selling point, so yk it's decent
I don't love this art style as much for Paper Mario but it's colourful, it has lots of stickers which is the name of the game, lots of random hosuehold objects in wacky Paper Mario style, like yeah no this is pretty solid
okay now see this is where the nsmb covers just start throwing too much shit at you at once - there are 3 different types of yoshi all doing different things here and a piranha plant attacking luigi and a goomba that's bubbled up and yellow toad has the new powerup but the new powerup is also rolling out of a question mark block and it's like dude slow the fuck down man!
now this one is obviously less iconic than the original Luigi's Mansion boxart but I do think placing more emphasis on the mansion and giving Luigi an actual body is a step up, though having a standard Mario boo there instead of the cool original ghosts is a lil sad
god the more the series itself goes through fatigued the more I feel fatigue writing about it, but hey this is the final NSMB one so. It's whatever. Still a bit cluttered but mixed up the backgrounds at least. Eh. Logo design neat I suppose
so continues aforementioned whatever trend and I still don't really like it - but suppose this one uses the space better than Bowser's Inside Story does. Once again new styled logo thing still cool
shows off 3D and multiplayer fun and the new powerup in a nice way and there's more original iconography to the game so it's a step up from 3D Land, but also there being 2 of everyone still feels so weird lol
peak as all hell, love the Mario design and the simple render gets across all that it needs to - construction ass yellow and the simple font gives it a homebuilt feel and it's very obvious what the game's actually about. Somehow they managed to communicate that without being super busy as well.
I think this one technically uses more of the space than the other white background boxarts and it's neat that Paper Jam is in the Paper Mario font, but for a crossover like this I really think there needed to be more done lol, this just looks so dull and plain and shit
this is a solid enough paper mario boxart, gets the main gimmick across pretty quickly without like overwhelming you on anything, doesn't evoke much else but it's fine
now here is some absolute fucking PEAK dude, so immediately gets across exactly the theme the game is going for with an epic globetrotting adventure, photograph aesthetic just gives this a travel log vibe and all the different world designs and costumes and core mechanics are conveyed super well, it also managed all that while being really easy to read and shit, just an absolute W all around
kind of feels like a linear downgrade from Maker 1 tbh - like the art is more expressive and Luigi is here which is a plus - the game actually supports multiplayer too so you're not being misled. But I think Maker 1 was just a little more elegant and immediate in getting across what the game is actually about.
would call this my favourite of the Luigi's Mansion boxarts despite not even having ghosts - cause hey it has a pretty neat mansion and Luigi is doing a good expression and he has a body still and also Gooigi is in there, I'm about it, just looks good
pretty fuckin weak ngl! It's kinda just "here's paper mario characters lol" with the origami gimmick only occupying a corner of the screen that your eyes just aren't drawn to. Just doesn't hit
last off! this. it looks cool! fucknig gigantic kaiju bowser. he's important enough to take centre stage in the boxart and the game reflects that. he's so out of control that even his own son is teaming up with you to stop him. I'm about it.
goddamn depression is beating my ass. but officially halfway through!! work has been soul crushing but it's still fine. I can do this for a other 6 months.
gonna do what I usually do every year and fly back to Adelaide on the 20th of Dec so I can be there for my mum's bday and Christmas and all that. with hopefully flying out on the 5th of Jan it also gives me a good 2 weeks to say goodbye to everyone and iron out the last deets with my mum cos she's smart and has travelled heaps in her life.
SAVINGS SO FAR: $12,500/$7,500
planning to have $13,000 by the end of the week. hoping to have $15,000 by mid July. so still on track to break 20 grand by Oct which will feel super super nice.
I'm a broken record at this point but not great work on habit building. I need to stop thinking that I have to immediately change everything at once. I gotta focus on one habit at a time. so I'm gonna really focus on walking every day. just wake up don't think about it just put on clothes and get out.
in the meantime I'm gonna be buying frozen quick meals just to stop the ubereats. my body is so used to just eating absolute garbage it's all I crave tbh. so slowly changing that.
but yeah uhh. very depressed lately. haven't been able to feel enthused about my trip in a while. because I know this trip will also be super stressful and hard. just gotta put on tourist glasses and trick myself into being like omg in 6months I'll be drinking coconuts on the beach.....and not uh. skimping money on cheap hostels and figuring out transport every couple days. but both are true!! glad I'm starting in Indonesia because for the first month of the trip it is going to be a full vacay hunee. I WILL be drinking coconuts on the beach.
sigh can't wait for all this to pay off y'know. wow almost like I'm doing this to finally force myself to commit to something and see it through so I can literally teach myself the importance of endurance and hard work and believing in yourself akdkdjfjajjsjs I am a fetus
