Yes, we’re a couple days late on reporting on this one, but with Apple—er, Nintendo’s <a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/2007/08/30/nintendo-to-host-private-event-september-5th/">super special press event</a> coming up tomorrow, now is perhaps the best time to stir up a bit of extra hype.
<a href="http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=115582">Eagle-eyed web surfers have noticed</a> what appears to be the boxart to Super Smash Bros. Brawl on <a href="http://www.estarland.com/index.asp?page=NintendoWii&cat=&product=28429&q">the website of an online retailer</a>. This part isn’t really surprising, or even that interesting: retailers, both online and not, often create mockups of boxart that hasn’t been released. Best Buy in Canada even <a href="http://kotaku.com/gaming/the-plot-thickens/more-sonic+in+super+smash+bros-proof-288664.php">featured an ad with Sonic on it</a>, but it was obviously just generic artwork. And even if this were a hoax, there have been <a href="http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=112104">plenty of fake boxarts</a> posted around the web too.
This one, though, is a bit different, most notably in the fact that it features a slew of character art that we haven’t seen yet. Most mockups and hoaxes just take pictures we’ve already seen—usually official artwork released by Nintendo—and manipulates them to make them look cool and flashy on a cover. (Take a look at the thread with all the fake boxart on top, and you’ll see that almost all of them use the same images of the fighters—that’s the official artwork.) This one though, if fake, represents at least a huge time investment and quite a bit of artistic handiwork.
A picture of the boxart in question and a bit more analysis follows the break. (Be warned if you’ve been avoiding newcomers, but the boxart doesn’t feature anyone who hasn’t been announced yet on the Dojo.)
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<p align="center"><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/boxart01je1fh5.jpg" height="505" width="350" /></p>
<p align="center">(credit goes to blayde_axel for enlarging this)</p>
One thing you’ll notice that is a bit curious is the lack of several notable characters, such as DK, Diddy, Zelda, Yoshi, Bowser, and Ike. But with the size of the cast of this game, it’s not necessary that every character end up on the cover. Melee’s US artwork just featured the starting characters in small rectangles along the sides, and even those weren’t in the preliminary versions of the artwork first released to the media. Indeed, if history is any indicator, there may be tweaks made to the art as it exists now, whether it be this or something else locked away in Sakurai’s safe.
My take? If it’s a fake, I’d be very interested in talking to the guy who made it, because he did a pretty good job. I’m inclined to think this is authentic, given the nature of preliminary artwork, and the fact that the artwork on the front is definitely new. And who knows? Maybe the back of the actual box will have all the characters who are missing.
So what do you think? Is this genuine? Fake? Will we get the real deal tomorrow? Let us know.
<strong>Update 10:25 PM EDT:</strong> Smash Boards user God Link sends in a link to this higher-quality image, via <a href="http://www.gamecrazy.com/games/game.aspx?id=11739&LF=STL">GameCrazy</a>:
<p align="center"><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/11739.jpg" /></p>
No sign of Wi-Fi support on the cover, but don’t forget—it could just be preliminary. The Rating Pending logo certainly won’t be on the final box, anyway.
<a href="http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=115582">Eagle-eyed web surfers have noticed</a> what appears to be the boxart to Super Smash Bros. Brawl on <a href="http://www.estarland.com/index.asp?page=NintendoWii&cat=&product=28429&q">the website of an online retailer</a>. This part isn’t really surprising, or even that interesting: retailers, both online and not, often create mockups of boxart that hasn’t been released. Best Buy in Canada even <a href="http://kotaku.com/gaming/the-plot-thickens/more-sonic+in+super+smash+bros-proof-288664.php">featured an ad with Sonic on it</a>, but it was obviously just generic artwork. And even if this were a hoax, there have been <a href="http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=112104">plenty of fake boxarts</a> posted around the web too.
This one, though, is a bit different, most notably in the fact that it features a slew of character art that we haven’t seen yet. Most mockups and hoaxes just take pictures we’ve already seen—usually official artwork released by Nintendo—and manipulates them to make them look cool and flashy on a cover. (Take a look at the thread with all the fake boxart on top, and you’ll see that almost all of them use the same images of the fighters—that’s the official artwork.) This one though, if fake, represents at least a huge time investment and quite a bit of artistic handiwork.
A picture of the boxart in question and a bit more analysis follows the break. (Be warned if you’ve been avoiding newcomers, but the boxart doesn’t feature anyone who hasn’t been announced yet on the Dojo.)
<!--more-->
<p align="center"><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/boxart01je1fh5.jpg" height="505" width="350" /></p>
<p align="center">(credit goes to blayde_axel for enlarging this)</p>
One thing you’ll notice that is a bit curious is the lack of several notable characters, such as DK, Diddy, Zelda, Yoshi, Bowser, and Ike. But with the size of the cast of this game, it’s not necessary that every character end up on the cover. Melee’s US artwork just featured the starting characters in small rectangles along the sides, and even those weren’t in the preliminary versions of the artwork first released to the media. Indeed, if history is any indicator, there may be tweaks made to the art as it exists now, whether it be this or something else locked away in Sakurai’s safe.
My take? If it’s a fake, I’d be very interested in talking to the guy who made it, because he did a pretty good job. I’m inclined to think this is authentic, given the nature of preliminary artwork, and the fact that the artwork on the front is definitely new. And who knows? Maybe the back of the actual box will have all the characters who are missing.
So what do you think? Is this genuine? Fake? Will we get the real deal tomorrow? Let us know.
<strong>Update 10:25 PM EDT:</strong> Smash Boards user God Link sends in a link to this higher-quality image, via <a href="http://www.gamecrazy.com/games/game.aspx?id=11739&LF=STL">GameCrazy</a>:
<p align="center"><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/11739.jpg" /></p>
No sign of Wi-Fi support on the cover, but don’t forget—it could just be preliminary. The Rating Pending logo certainly won’t be on the final box, anyway.
