Favourite speccy game cover-art

Zagreb · May 2007

Something that was interesting about the 8-bit period was the cover-art for the games which tended to represent the very 1980s airbrushed/comic-art asthetic whilst rarely reflecting the look of the game itself. What are the favourites of everyone here?

To start off, I've personally always had a soft-spot for this one:

ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-inlays/s/SpaceRaiders.jpg

Daren · May 2007

One of my favourite pieces of cover art was Nightshade

RND · May 2007

any of the ultimate artwork in the black boxes from sabrewulf onwards.

Matt_B · May 2007

I'd have to go with Godfrey Dowson's artwork for the Level 9 games. If I had to single out just one it'd be Red Moon, but they were all excellent.

Skarpo · May 2007

I always liked the Wakelin ones ... [strike]though in hindsight I think it was mostly because he was good at what he did though very monotonous (i.e. usually very same-ish).[/strike] I take it back ... some were same-ish but definitely not all! I think his macho-men were very same-ish.

PS [strike]Anyone know his first name[/strike] BOB, and/or what he's up to these days???

Anywho ... good gallery of his work here.

Skarpo
:-)

mile · May 2007

ghouls and ghosts for me

ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-inlays/g/GhoulsNGhosts.jpg

Graz · May 2007

I'm really happy the way this came out...

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f280/GrazPatti/175px-Stranded.jpg

Naughty lil Moosh!

(PS: Nicked the pic from Cronosoft's site... sorry!)

Otherwise Cobra Force and Shark from Players are nice, as are many of Imagine's early titles, especially Alchemist.

Birds & the Bees from BugByte has a really weird cover, but I love it.

WISE OWL · May 2007

Toadrunner had a very serious and gothic look to it. Especially as the game was very tounge in cheek...

(also impossible, yet stunningly simple and effective?)

Slacker · May 2007

So many favourites...

Valhalla had the best visual impact for me I think. It was simple but you just HAD to pick the box up.

Apocalypse was impressive too - I spent some time looking at that one.

The later Ultimate covers have been mentioned already and they always set the scene for the game in a way that oozed quality.

Megatron-UK · May 2007

I always liked the Side Arms cover art...

ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-inlays/s/SideArms.jpg

... though I owned a full price version which ISTR was in a double sized cassete box and was much cleaner looking.

Graz · May 2007

Ooh, Ooh, Ooh... GAME OVER II. How could I forget that one?!

Matt_B · May 2007

Graz wrote: »

Ooh, Ooh, Ooh... GAME OVER II. How could I forget that one?!

The cover of the first Game Over wasn't exactly hard on the eyes either. It's still one of the most downloaded files on WOS, I believe? ;-)

sirclive1 · May 2007

Lunar Jetman / Lords of Midnight and i always loved Japsers cover.

Mark R. Jones · May 2007

Yeah, Lords of Midnight
ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-inlays/l/LordsOfMidnightThe.jpg

and Doomdark's Revenge had great covers
ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-inlays/d/DoomdarksRevenge.jpg

Tir Na Nog was good, set the mood before you even got the tape out the box
ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-inlays/t/TirNaNog.jpg

and Avalon and Dragontorc looked great and the maps you got were beautiful little things with lots of old looking writing on old looking paper. All help to set the mood!
ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-adverts/a/Avalon.jpg
ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-adverts/d/Dragontorc.jpg
ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-maps/d/Dragontorc.jpg

CUCHULAINN · May 2007

These are a few of my favs;
Heartland
Nodes of Yesod
Arc of Yesod
Fairlight
Nightshade

Mark R. Jones · May 2007

And while looking at the files for 'Avalon' and 'Dragontorc' I saw that the map given away with 'Avalon' wasn't even in the archive.

Now it is:
ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-maps/a/Avalon_Front.jpg
ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-maps/a/Avalon_Back.jpg

Scyphe · May 2007

RND wrote: »

any of the ultimate artwork in the black boxes from sabrewulf onwards.

I agree, they sure knew how to design their stuff.

chop983 · May 2007

Loved Feud

The Starglider · May 2007

Where Time Stood Still
Athena

Mmmmmm!

Arjun · May 2007

I loved these covers:

NOMAD: ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-inlays/n/N.O.M.A.D..jpg

Heavy on the magick
ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-inlays/h/HeavyOnTheMagick.jpg

Commando
ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-inlays/c/Commando.jpg

Cybernoid
ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-inlays/c/Cybernoid.jpg

Uros Zupan · May 2007

For me, Durell software game covers were the best! They were drawn just in right mood to set the atmosphere. And to think again while waiting for Death Pit they still are!
Look... ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-adverts/d/DeathPit.jpg ;)

Shuggy · May 2007

The cover of vintage classic, 3d Ant Attack set the tone of the game, although on hindsight the advertising standards committeee should have had something to say about it.

ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-inlays/a/AntAttack.jpg

RND · May 2007

CUCHULAINN wrote: »

These are a few of my favs;
Heartland
Nodes of Yesod
Arc of Yesod
Fairlight
Nightshade

Why isn't Tir Na Nog amongst your list :???: The artwork on that is good.

Rickard · May 2007

I like the Green Beret cover-art:

ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-inlays/g/GreenBeret.jpg

And this one is really good: Last Ninja 2. Very nice NY skyline (even though the twin towers always looks strange to me post 9/11).

ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-inlays/l/LastNinja2.jpg

Both are very good games by the way!

Mort! · May 2007

Cover art which stood out for me was Fairlight as it gave clues (vaguely) about the quest, Nightshade, Robin of the Wood and Price of Majik. Slightly medievil theme running there methinks!

Rickard · May 2007

Mort! wrote: »

Cover art which stood out for me was Fairlight as it gave clues (vaguely) about the quest,

I have always wondered what clues could be found at the cover and in the (very good-looking) loading screen of Fairlight? What is it that you could find out from those?

BruceNorton · May 2007

Athena is my fave. I also quite liked the Star Wars and the Empire strikes back artwork.

pepst · May 2007

I like Knight Lore and Tir na nog cover-arts :p

Kenz · May 2007

I always liked the Shadowfire artwork (probably due to Sevrinas outfit!) :o

ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-inlays/s/Shadowfire_Front.jpg

Rickard · May 2007

Kenz wrote: »

I always liked the Shadowfire artwork (probably due to Sevrinas outfit!)

I liked the cover for Where Time Stood Still for the same reason.. :smile:

ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-inlays/w/WhereTimeStoodStill.jpg

CUCHULAINN · May 2007

RND wrote: »

CUCHULAINN wrote: »

These are a few of my favs;
Heartland
Nodes of Yesod
Arc of Yesod
Fairlight
Nightshade

Why isn't Tir Na Nog amongst your list :???: The artwork on that is good.

Tirnanog and Dun Darach covers were nice, but quite plain. I do think that they suited the game, though. As for straight imagination, colour and attractiveness, Fairlight & Nightshade are definately the best IMO.

OH yeah! Underwurld was cool too.

Favourite speccy game cover-art

Comments