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Box Art Worth Remembering: Dragon Warrior III (NES)

Posted by Nadia Oxford

Gamers are a resourceful species. We play our games, and then sharpen our claws on the box art. This has been our way for decades. It's an old practise, rich with tradition. I mean...look at this stuff.

North American box art has only recently stopped trying to hide the flavour of its innards. Anime character designs, for instance, were used very sparingly until the latter half of the PSOne's life. Instead, A-list titles like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Suikoden received jewel case covers that would have been well-suited for a “Count With the Count!” Sesame Street soundtrack, and an instructional CD on 108 ways to draw a generic hero.

Regardless, I think some interesting design choices came out of that strange era. When box art illustrators put forth an effort, the end result was comparable in quality to the original Japanese work. One of my favourite examples is from a title that remains one of my all-time beloved: Dragon Warrior III for the NES.

In 1991, Dragon Ball Z was still millions of years away from American audiences, thus rendering Akira Toriyama more or less nameless on this side of the pond. For Dragon Warrior III Enix of America chose a box design that was absent of any title characters—an interesting choice, given Dragon Warrior III's emphasis on character classes and large parties.

Dragon Warrior III's box art does reveal a couple of items that are key to the game. First and most obvious is one of the six Orbs needed to complete the adventure, towering over a field of weapons and flame. Second is the Hero's sword at the forefront of the illustration.

Speaking once more about interesting design choices, the sword's hilt is shaped like the Crest of Loto. Enix's localisation for the early Dragon Warrior games replaced the legendary Loto with the more manly-sounding Erdrick. Erdrick's crest was key to finishing Dragon Warrior, but whereas the Dragon Quest games made his family badge nearly as iconic as the Slime, Dragon Warrior did little with the heraldic symbol.

The box art for Dragon Warrior III has a sombre feeling about it. One of the things that surprised me most about the revitalisation of the franchise in America was learning how light-hearted the Dragon Quest games actually are. Enix of America's re-designs and translations always made events seem a lot more serious.

That's not entirely a bad thing, though. Video games were most certainly kids' stuff in the 8-bit era, and Dragon Warrior III's box art made you feel like you were about to undertake a solemn task when you opened up the package.

Related Links:

The 61FPS Review: Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
The 61FPS Review: Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
Dragon Quest IV: Re-Reading the Chapters of the Chosen

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Posted Mar 26 2009, 10:30 PM

Filed under: dragon quest, retro, dragon warrior, nadia oxford, Suikoden, dragon warrior III, box art worth remembering, castlevania symphony of the night

Comments

Zach said:

I loved that box as a child. I thought it was so clever that there were many recognizable items from late in the game there, all in a pile, waiting for adventurers to pick them up and bead on monsters with.

March 27, 2009 7:42 AM

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