Chulip: US vs. Japan Box Art

vs.

I've been waiting for something worth commenting on for my first post and it took exactly one week for this to pop up. Chulip is a game I've been looking forward to for awhile and a US release (courtesy of the fine folks at Natsume) has been in the works for ages. It's been so long since it was supposed to be out that I had assumed it just got cancelled like the equally odd Giftpia. The premise of the game is not your typical fare: You're out to kiss a particular girl but to do so you need to increase your reputation. To do that you need to try and get a kiss from EVERYONE in the game, most of whom have no desire to be kissed, least of all by you.

It's truly the type of game only the Japanese could produce.

Along with the news of the game's impending February 2007 release date comes the first glimpse of the US box art, which features the in-game character models rather than the beautiful hand drawn art of its Japanese counterpart.

The game has been out in Japan for over 4 years now and I've always admired this box art. It ranks up there with the European/Japanese ICO cover as one of my favorites. Unfortunately, hand drawn cover art may as well be outlawed in the US as you'll almost never see it survive in tact on our shores.

The US cover (on the left) isn't really all that bad however, and you can't really blame Natsume for changing it as the Japanese cover doesn't say much about the game outside of "Hey, check out how pretty my cover is!". The kissing concept is expressed in the new cover while also showcasing a variety of the game's unique characters.

I still prefer the Japanese cover but you've gotta give Natsume credit for bringing this one over at all (even if it is four years late!) What would be cool is if they printed the original Japanese cover on the backside of the insert as some publishers have been known to do.