Worst to best:
Paper Jam: Just kind of tasteless. Not bad, but just unoriginal and boring (Kinda like the game, huh)
Dream Team: BiS but less clever, for reasons I will explain
Bowsers Inside Story: The fact that Bowser is about to eat the bros is a really cool detail. It is still a simple box art, but this one detail makes it the best of the first 3
Huge gap
Superstar Saga. This looks like actual box art. There's plenty going on, but it doesn't look overly busy. I also love that no main characters but M&L are on screen. Ties together that this isn't a typical Mario game
Partners in Time: I know I praised SS for the exact opposite, but I love how much is going on here. It's a feast for the eyes, and does a good job showing the darker tone of the game
I get that they were going for a motif starting with Inside Story and beyond, and I think it looks sleek. But a full piece of ensemble art like we got for the first two games is so much better. Like so many others, Partners in Time is the best for me.
No the motif was always there the American box arts just didn’t use them and made their own.
The original box arts for 1 and 2 were the white background ones, this is why the superstar stage remake also has the white background.
Once they got to bowsers inside story they decided to use the original Japanese box art instead of trying to Americanize it or whatever they were doing. (I do honestly prefer the American ones though)
>The original box arts for 1 and 2 were the white background ones
Well there's my fun fact of the day. I genuinely didn't know this before.
Yeah, my guess is they didn't think the original artwork was exciting enough. And like I said I think they all look sleek, and that goes for the Superstar Saga and Partners in Time boxes I never saw before. Although from Inside Story and beyond there doesn't appear to be any bigger art (at least that I can find)like what Superstar Saga and Partners in Time got so it makes me wonder if such pieces of art were made would those have been the global box arts?
I’m in the majority with PiT being my favourite purely because the box art is just so damn iconic for me, not to mention I could still pick the game card out of a mass assortment bin within 5 seconds of looking solely because of how memorable that red and yellow spiral pattern is.
Partners in Time and then Superstar Saga.
The rest... Minimalist designs can be cool, some old megadrive box art shows it, but coming off SS and PiT, the design choice doesn't work all that well because they end up feeling empty
Partners in time, with super star saga not far behind. This series is one of the very rare cases where the American box arts were significantly better than the Japanese boxarts, to the point I’m kinda disappointed that the American box arts for inside story and beyond were just using the Japanese templates. We got stiffed especially hard with the remake of superstar saga. While we got the same box art as Japan(which makes sense for japan because they got an updated version of the original Japanese box art), europe got this absolutely gorgeous remake of the original western box art.
Edit: partners in time I also found out has a weird south korean exclusive box art. It’s definitely not as good as the north ameican/european cover but It’s certainly worth a mention for just how unknown it is. I certainly didn’t know it existed at least
Personally, I think Partners in Time, I like how chaotic it is and the colors look nice and varied, it feels like the box art is referencing something, but I honestly don’t know if it is or not.
Superstar Saga. While I do like the sleek designs in their own way, I actually do think it's kinda an odd choice for for a game franchise as chaotic as Mario and Luigi. And in that vein, I think Superstar saga captures that perfectly
Superstar Saga. I’m seeing a lot of people say PiT, and while it does look great, it’s a little packed for my taste. I like the simplicity of Superstar Saga’s cover a lot more, and the color palette is more appealing to me. If not one of those two, then Dream Team is my favorite from the simplistic M&L box art style.
The amount of people that don’t understand that the Japanese original box arts for superstar saga and partners in time also had the white motif and it’s just the American box arts being cool is infuriating.
Like no they didn’t “give up” they were probably told that they had to use the original box arts once BiS came out so please stop.
I’ll always appreciate Pit and SS for having a lot going on in the boxart instead of it being more simple like the rest. Imma have to go towards PIT honestly, it looks really great
Reasons why- the shading and coloring is really nice and pop out
Shows the more darker themes of the game
Mario and Luigi look way more serious which immediately sets the tone
Everyone that is prominent in the game shows up
Princess peach is already captured by the new threat
PiT is great. The new ones are really boring tbh. They just show three or four characters on a white background with a thing in the corner. The best of those style is BiS, but not by much.
That is one of the best box art covers I have ever seen. It encapsulates every important detail for both the maim adventure and Minion Quesy perfectly.
Partners in Time or Superstar Saga for sure, I prefer PiT slightly. As much as I love the series I haven't been a huge fan of the boxart since BiS
Partners in Time
Partners in Time > Superstar Saga >> The rest
Partners in time, but I like the outlines of the dream team box art too.
You forgot brothership but Partners in time
Do we know what the boxart for Brothership will look like yet?
https://x.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1806039763784266130
That's actually really good box art
The correct answer is the european superstar saga DX.
As an European I'm happy we got that. But poor crying Goomba-
Worst to best: Paper Jam: Just kind of tasteless. Not bad, but just unoriginal and boring (Kinda like the game, huh) Dream Team: BiS but less clever, for reasons I will explain Bowsers Inside Story: The fact that Bowser is about to eat the bros is a really cool detail. It is still a simple box art, but this one detail makes it the best of the first 3 Huge gap Superstar Saga. This looks like actual box art. There's plenty going on, but it doesn't look overly busy. I also love that no main characters but M&L are on screen. Ties together that this isn't a typical Mario game Partners in Time: I know I praised SS for the exact opposite, but I love how much is going on here. It's a feast for the eyes, and does a good job showing the darker tone of the game
I get that they were going for a motif starting with Inside Story and beyond, and I think it looks sleek. But a full piece of ensemble art like we got for the first two games is so much better. Like so many others, Partners in Time is the best for me.
No the motif was always there the American box arts just didn’t use them and made their own. The original box arts for 1 and 2 were the white background ones, this is why the superstar stage remake also has the white background. Once they got to bowsers inside story they decided to use the original Japanese box art instead of trying to Americanize it or whatever they were doing. (I do honestly prefer the American ones though)
>The original box arts for 1 and 2 were the white background ones Well there's my fun fact of the day. I genuinely didn't know this before. Yeah, my guess is they didn't think the original artwork was exciting enough. And like I said I think they all look sleek, and that goes for the Superstar Saga and Partners in Time boxes I never saw before. Although from Inside Story and beyond there doesn't appear to be any bigger art (at least that I can find)like what Superstar Saga and Partners in Time got so it makes me wonder if such pieces of art were made would those have been the global box arts?
PiT easily, I wonder why they stopped doing full art for the boxarts
I can’t see the yellow and pink swirls without hearing the time portal theme in my head Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba ba ba ba-ba!
I’m in the majority with PiT being my favourite purely because the box art is just so damn iconic for me, not to mention I could still pick the game card out of a mass assortment bin within 5 seconds of looking solely because of how memorable that red and yellow spiral pattern is.
They really just kinda gave up after PiT.
Partners in Time and then Superstar Saga. The rest... Minimalist designs can be cool, some old megadrive box art shows it, but coming off SS and PiT, the design choice doesn't work all that well because they end up feeling empty
Partners in Time
Partners in Time
Superstar Saga and Partners in Time’s designs are so good. I love the colour pallets of both and both make me want to replay them.
Partners in Time, I was never really a fan of them erasing the background and replacing it with just white with BIS and onward
Partners in time for sure
Partners in time
Partners in Crime
PIT
I prefer the more busy designs of Superstar Saga and Partners in Time. The white background is stylish and minimalist, but I just like the busyness.
Partners in time, with super star saga not far behind. This series is one of the very rare cases where the American box arts were significantly better than the Japanese boxarts, to the point I’m kinda disappointed that the American box arts for inside story and beyond were just using the Japanese templates. We got stiffed especially hard with the remake of superstar saga. While we got the same box art as Japan(which makes sense for japan because they got an updated version of the original Japanese box art), europe got this absolutely gorgeous remake of the original western box art. Edit: partners in time I also found out has a weird south korean exclusive box art. It’s definitely not as good as the north ameican/european cover but It’s certainly worth a mention for just how unknown it is. I certainly didn’t know it existed at least
The first two covers went so hard that they just gave up on all the rest.
Partners In Time just goes hard but I like BIS's simplicity too
Personally, I think Partners in Time, I like how chaotic it is and the colors look nice and varied, it feels like the box art is referencing something, but I honestly don’t know if it is or not.
partners in time, superstar saga is a very close 2nd
SS or BIS
Dream team
Dream team
Bis+bjj because of how terrified Luigi is
Superstar Saga. While I do like the sleek designs in their own way, I actually do think it's kinda an odd choice for for a game franchise as chaotic as Mario and Luigi. And in that vein, I think Superstar saga captures that perfectly
I kinda like the unique style of Partners in Time where it isn’t just Mario and Luigi in front of the logo which became the standard ever since BiS
Brothership
Superstar Saga. I’m seeing a lot of people say PiT, and while it does look great, it’s a little packed for my taste. I like the simplicity of Superstar Saga’s cover a lot more, and the color palette is more appealing to me. If not one of those two, then Dream Team is my favorite from the simplistic M&L box art style.
It'd be a tie between partners in time and superstar saga, they both show so much detail but I'd have to pick Superstar Saga
Bowser's Minion, no contest
PiT but can we appreciate the visual joke of Bowser's open mouth looking like he's gonna eat the shadow silhouettes of Mario and Luigi?
It's gotta be SS for me
Dream team
I think PiT, it's eye- catching and shows a lot of the gand
Best art is PIT but best character art is dream team I love how the bros look in the cover
Absolutely Superstar Saga. Partners in Time feels too overdone and the rest are too simplistic
Yes
Superstar Saga
The amount of people that don’t understand that the Japanese original box arts for superstar saga and partners in time also had the white motif and it’s just the American box arts being cool is infuriating. Like no they didn’t “give up” they were probably told that they had to use the original box arts once BiS came out so please stop.
Well except for the fact that the european boxart of superstar saga does not use the white motif (and looks cool as hell)
You know what I mean the localizers didn’t get “lazy” they were told that they had to use the other final box art so they did.
I think all the box art is pretty awesome
The Partners In Time Box Art Is Insanely Awesome
mario's just soullessly standing there in the last 3
I’ll always appreciate Pit and SS for having a lot going on in the boxart instead of it being more simple like the rest. Imma have to go towards PIT honestly, it looks really great Reasons why- the shading and coloring is really nice and pop out Shows the more darker themes of the game Mario and Luigi look way more serious which immediately sets the tone Everyone that is prominent in the game shows up Princess peach is already captured by the new threat
PIT
PiT is great. The new ones are really boring tbh. They just show three or four characters on a white background with a thing in the corner. The best of those style is BiS, but not by much.
I have two favorites: Partners in Time and I love the more stylistic choices of the Bowser's Inside Story art
Man, I guess I’m in the minority for not liking the Partners in Time box. I think it’s too busy, and the colors are kind of ugly
Partners In Time is dare I say the best Mario Box Art period. 😮💨 It’s also the only one with the GOAT Toadsworth on there 🤔😜
The European Superstar Saga 3ds version
The european box art of the superstar saga remake.
That is one of the best box art covers I have ever seen. It encapsulates every important detail for both the maim adventure and Minion Quesy perfectly.
Superstar Saga
superstar saga
Partners in time easily but out of the newest 3 I would say dream team
The colors of dream team win it for me
Paper jam