It's no secret that there's a massive difference in taste between Japanese, North American and European advertising. The marketing bods of publishers all have to take this into account when creating the box art. Sometimes they get it right and sometimes they get it wrong. Very wrong...
A burly space marine with an assault rifle might get your game of the shelves in the US, but put the same box in front of a Japanese kid and he'll probably leave it alone. And Europe? We usually end up with Japanese boxes because, y'know, we're all arty and stuff.
We've picked ten recent(ish) games that have had packaging shuffled around for regional tastes. And if you disagree with our choices, you probably live in the wrong country.
Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm
Tom Clancy box art has always been a good example of regional tastes (in the marketing departments, anyway) and Jungle Storm isn't any different; big borders for Americans, pink sunsets for the Far East and ONLINE INCLUIDO for Europe. Nice.
Dark Sector
And here's the first rule they teach you in games packaging school: only Japanese and PAL box arts can be artistic/moody - American box art must be to the point and ALWAYS facing forwards. Also, the Dark Sector bloke looks like he needs to go to the toilet here.
Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition
As with the GameCube version's original box art, Capcom has gone for a wicked moody piece on the PAL cover, and a 'Leon and his village friends' picture for the rest of the world. Perhaps the Japanese don't find trees scary?
Ratchet & Clank 3
Insomniac's platforming series exhibits an even deeper Europe/US/Japan box art rule; the usual 'Americans get angry, Europe gets slightly less angry' idea applies, except that the Japanese theory says wacky anime will help shift Ratchet from the shops a bit faster. Just look at those pupils.
Crackdown
Here's another example of the same rule. Got an overly-Western free-roaming shooter to sell in Japan? Stick some bloody massive anime blokes on the box. Oh, and give a name that makes no sense whatsoever.
Hideo Kojima originally had "no plans" for a character like Metal Gear Solid's Cyborg Ninja until Yoji Shinkawa's art had him saying "hell yeah, a ninja cyborg!"
One of the most iconic D&D RPGs ever made stood out among Baldur's Gate and Fallout as it was the "first" to make companions "feel like fully functional parts of the story"
