Poll: Box Art Brawl – Duel: The Lord Of The Rings: The Third Age (GBA)
My dear Bagginses and Boffins, Tooks and Brandybucks, Grubbs, Chubbs, Hornblowers, Bolgers, Bracegirdles and Proudfoots (Proudfeet!), welcome to another edition of Box Art Brawl!
Before we get all Middle Earthy, let’s quickly recap what went down last time, eh? Two covers from the NSO newbie Super Ninja Boy went head-to-head in last week’s match-up, and despite us thinking they were both pretty rad, it wasn’t a close call. Japan’s cover walked away with a comfortable win, taking 67% of the vote and leaving the North American variant with the remaining 33%.
This week (if the intro wasn’t a big enough giveaway), we’re going all Hobbit-y as we compare two covers for The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age on GBA. While its GameCube counterpart went down the full RPG route, The Third Age on GBA is a pure top-down tactics affair which presents a parallel storyline to the iconic movie plots.
Both the GBA and GameCube shared the same cover variants in each region, so you can squint a little and try to imagine a rectangular box if you want to know what the designs looked like for the home console release.
There are just two different designs to look at this week, so let’s get to them. For Frodo…
Be sure to cast your votes in the poll below; but first, let’s check out the box art designs themselves.
North America / Europe
Talk about a way to get fans pumped! The North American and European design is all about the iconic Balrog battle in the Mines of Moria (and they call it a miiiine). Legolas, Aragorn, Gandalf and Gimli stand front and centre on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, with the flaming Balrog rising up behind them, whip in hand.
It’s very reliant on knowing the movie, yes, but even from an outside perspective, this looks pretty epic.
Japan
The Japanese cover takes a different approach. There’s still a little Balrog action going on, but the majority of the design is dedicated to a map of Middle Earth, perhaps tapping into the game’s more thoughtful, considered, turn-based gameplay. Some non-descript character models and everyone’s favourite creature of shadow and flame peek through a tear, but this is mainly all about the cartography.
Thanks for voting! We’ll see you next time for another round of Box Art Brawl.