[Article] Curiosities on covers 6

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After a long break, I have decided to write another article video game curiosities.

On this occasion I recover the idea of commenting on curious or strange things on video game covers, this being the sixth installment of that series. You can find the rest of the entries in the free PDF magazine Bonus Stage Magazine or on this website, following this link.

Incorrect characters on Dragon Ball covers

During the 128-bit console era, dragon ball had a second peak when it became popular in countries where it had no impact (or the manga or the series did not reach directly) during the 90s. At that time many games of dragon ball and veteran fans of the series had the opportunity to remember some moments of our childhood with them.

The first Dragon Ball Z Budokai It appeared for PlayStation 2 in 2002 and was later released for Gamecube in 2003 with some graphic and sound changes. I remember when the PlayStation 2 game was released I saw it in a video store and was tempted to try it. On the cover (European) Goku appeared in large size and a lot of characters that I assumed were fighters from the game (Piccolo, Spopovich, Mr. Satan, Vegeta, Raditz, Great Saiyaman, Cell and Frieza). After trying it for half an hour at the video store I discovered that most of the template was unlockable, so I was left wanting to try out characters that had not been selectable in previous games like Raditz or Spopovich.

Years later I was lucky enough to be able to play the game a little more and I began to notice that some Elements on the cover did not match the game itself. First, in the game Vegeta wears his typical armor from the Cell saga, but on the cover he appears with clothes from the Boo saga, however that was nothing when I realized that Spopovich, the character I wanted to try, is not in the game. They put it on the cover, but it wasn't in the game. Because? He's not even a popular character that serves as an attraction!

Obviously this error only occurs on the European cover, because the Japanese and American ones are totally different, so I deduce that they compiled characters from different stages and put them on the cover without even knowing what was in the game.

On the Gamecube cover, I was relieved to see that only characters that were selectable in the game appeared. It was nice see that they recognized the mistake and decided to correct it, so that the cover fits the content of the game. Except because they made a mistake again with Vegeta's clothes, instead of wearing his armor from Cell's stage he wears Boo's stage clothes again.

Far from being an anecdote, the errors on the covers of dragon ball from that time continued, in most cases these errors only affected one of the versions of the game, which tells us (once again) that it is better not to touch the covers and leave it the same as the rest of the world.

Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure It is one of the best games dragon ball that have ever been made, it is clear that the programmers knew perfectly the stage of Goku as a child, from the beginning of the series until the confrontation against Piccolo Daimaoh.

Its cover is simple and fits perfectly with the game, since Goku appears as a child, armed with his magic staff, everything perfect. That illustration was used on the Japanese and European covers, since on the American cover they decided to put an illustration of Goku as a child throwing a Kame Hame Ha. At first there would be no problem with it, but in the background of the cover appears: Adult Goku? Because? Adult Goku does not appear at any time in the game, and when the story ends Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure, Goku is still a child.

Because Goku's adult stage is more popular than his childhood adventures, I think that detail was added to attract all those who wanted to see Super Saiyans and fights with excessively powerful characters, although obviously I can't know if it was that or a simple mistake.

Another error that any fan of the saga can quickly see is on the European cover of Dragon Ball Z: Legacy of Goku II. The story of this game covers the entire Cell stage, however if we look at the cover we will see that of the 5 characters that appear, only Goku and Piccolo correspond to the versions that we see in that story, being Gohan, Vegeta and Trunks from the Boo stage.

In this case the error goes beyond the fact that Vegeta's clothes are not correct, because Trunks and Gohan have been changed into versions of different ages. In the Cell stage, Gohan was a child, but on the cover we see Gohan when he has grown and is studying at high school. The case of Trunks is even more strange since in the Cell stage there are two versions of the character, the adult Trunks of the future and the one of the present, who is just a baby, however on the cover we can see Trunks of the present when he is a child and already knows how to fight, corresponding to the Boo stage.

Where did these guys come from?

Does it exist something worse than putting the wrong character on the cover of the game? Yeah! ¡Put one that doesn't even exist!

And this case has also occurred in classic games, some of which are well known to everyone.

The first time I saw the American cover of Fatal Fury for Neo Geo I asked myself: Who is the guy who is hitting Terry? He has a white t-shirt, a tattoo, he wears jeans... he doesn't remind me of any character in the game, does anyone know him?

The most curious thing of all is that it is not the typical generic character that is being beaten by the protagonist that no one notices, rather it is the other way around, this guy is defeating Terry and takes up most of the cover.

Another thing that strikes me about this cover is the fact that Terry is falling into the void in a similar way to what happens to Geese at the end of the game. Is it a coincidence?

Another case that has always intrigued me is the Punk that appears on the western cover of Final Fight for Super Nintendo who is it? I've completed that game many times, but I have no idea who it represents. It is clear to me that it is not the final enemy and it is not any of the bosses or common enemies.

The worst thing of all is that then you look at the western cover of Mighty Final Fight y en primer plano, recibiendo una patada de Cody aparece el mismo tipo. ¿Quién es y por qué no podemos partirle la cara en el juego?