Poll: Box Art Brawl - Ninja Gaiden Shadow

Went with the JP box art this time around. As classic as the NA box art is, it's simply the box art for the original Ninja Gaiden (both arcade and NES). There's really nothing new about it. Not too keen on the EU box art, either. I don't know why, but Ryu's design reminds me of either Sylvester Stallone as Rambo, or Charlie Sheen from Hot Shots! Part Deux, which is itself a parody of Rambo.

But as someone who is always down for retro anime, the JP box art is definitely more my style. I always love how retro anime art does the lighting, shading, and contrast. There's also minute details which helps the characters and the background environments stand out more. It feels so much more alive compared to some anime today, which feels more flat in comparison. I wish more anime would go back to that style.

NA one is just so iconic. Funny, the rare occasion where JP actually has a nice animé aesthetic that doesn't look poorly drawn (as is surprisingly often the case, including many Mega Man outings), it is the Americanised version that is the winner for me.

The NA box features one of the most iconic pieces of game related artwork of all time. But it’s from the NES Ninja Gaiden. I can’t reward rehashes in this hallowed competition.
Europe’s is lifted from the same NES box art, but with every edge that makes Ryu cool sanded thoroughly off. So while I’m not particularly impressed with Japan’s either, they win by default.

The NA one is "Ninjaest" of them all.

Can someone explain why Europe hates the word Ninja?

I went with Europe. I think NA is better, but I like voting against whatever's popular.

TBH... I dislike them all for one reason or another, so I went with North America since I disliked it the least.

@Ryu_Niiyama it's just britain, and there was just a lot of moral panic over "film nasties" and ninja weapons. there's a video by eddache on that subject on youtube. sadly the censorship was also in ireland because of britain, and media companies not bothering to release seperate versions for ireland and britain.

JP cover this time, for me. NA cover si just the NES title cover being reused.

Ah yes, the European cover features, Ryu 'Definitely not a Ninja' Hayabusa.

The "ninja" thing for European releases is so funny. "Ninja" is much too violent, but if we call it "Shadow Warriors" that is somehow much less violent.....please pay no attention to the word "warrior"....no violence to see here.

The NA cover is decent, but it is also a rehash. The Japanese cover may not be the best layout for the purposes of cover art, but it has something else going for it. It's anime!!!! Needless to say, I'm voting for Japan.

Worth mentioning that the connection to Shadow of the Ninja for this comes from the fact that Natsume developed this one instead of Tecmo and it has elements of both. On Gamefaqs, they have an Asian title for it as well, "Ninja's Skyscraper Fight" which is somewhat amusing.

Voted NA, even though that upper arm musculature looks weird. Or maybe I need to hit the gym more.

Box Art Brawls Current Total:

Europe: 73

Japan: 69

North America: 83

Australia and New Zealand: 1

I chose japan just because it gives me the least of a headache

He’s not a Ninja, he’s a Hero.

Different job classes.

The Japanese one looks like a still from an anime or something. Voted American since it seems a bit truer to the game.

I hope this comes to NSO.

I like the american one the most, but im sure this decision was purely nostalgia base. The japanese looks god, but generic, and the European looks silly, but I guess it was because europe had something against ninjas at the time.

The NA one just looks like a variation of the originals NES box. That being said, it just edged out the Japanese cover for my vote.

I didn't like any of the options, because NA it is the same box office as the NES game. The European box art humanized? I believe ninjas are human...and the Japanese one is OK too. Hard choice this week

Kinda funny how he went from Japan to Europe and got westernized and than in the US he got covered up

@Ryu_Niiyama Many countries in Europe banned the term at the time. The ignorance towards video games as always been incredible there in both politics and in the media, often blaming video games for anything that could be wrong with the Youths. For the same reason, they changed the word "Ninja" Turtles to "Heroes".

I feel cheated!!! I voted for American art because I recognized it the moment I saw it, a true classic. But after reading the comments, and doing a quick search, I realized that they reused the art from the NES game, but they are different games (the Gameboy one being a prequel to the NES trilogy). Pathetic! Given that, I'll certainly stick with the Japanese art.

@KevynOnVideo
same for me

Complementing my last comment, apparently the European art, like the American art, was also brought from the NES game (the Gameboy version being a different game, and not an adaptation of the game in which it recycled the art, i.e. ridiculous). This game, which by the way started out as an adaptation of the game Shadow of the Ninja (another franchise), definitely did not receive appropriate treatment (at least in the art department). Having said all that, I definitely stick with Japanese art.

The Japanese artwork I think is also recycled from ninja gaiden 3. seen it before in some promo art. I guess the usa version they recycled ninja gaiden 1 art to just get the familiarity for sales? kind of lazy though.

JP is nice no doubt. But that iconic ninja look for NA gets it for me.