Preproduction Box Art vs Final

[Erroneous]

When I tell you think about the box art of the original four PS2 .hack video games, you'd probably think about the famous Yoshiyuki Sadamoto art work. Infection having the main cast lined up before Aura, Mutation having Black Rose and Helba standing behind Kite at Netslums, Outbreak with Elk up front with Mia and Balmung behind him and Balmung's feathers falling, and Outbreak with Kite raising his hand up with data drain activated with a call back to the other characters from the other box art below and above him.

What if I told you, that wasn't originally what was going to be used, or rather some preproduction placeholders more aligned with Infection's box art may have been used. Or at the very least were seen in store displays before .hack//Infection's release.

Behold, what could have been!

Much like the first of the quadrilogy the games Mutation, Outbreak, and Quarantine all feature simple colors with the characters being the focus and nothing else. Mutation still has Black Rose and Helba standing behind Kite. Outbreak still kept Balmung but got rid of Orca for Mia and Elk just like how the planned Quarantine was going to feature just Mia and Elk.

Another feature change comes with the game's logo having a glow in the final but the preproductions having no glow. Matching the glowless logo of .hack//Infection.

I don't know when these changes were made, whether they hadn't decided for the 2-4th games box art design or the feedback from fans seeing this store display caused marketing to go back and redesign the box designs.

This art was featured on this .hack//Infection in-store POP display, POP standing for point-of-purchase.

If you look under the Kite floor display on the bottom left, you'll see the 4 game box art.

Here's a closer look at just the floor Kite display.

What do you think? Which version do you prefer?

• The Yoshiyuki Sadamoto design
• Or the preproduction design

[Haven]

I much prefer the Yoshiyuki Sadamoto design, but maybe I'd feel differently if the preproduction ones were the ones they went with. The fascinating box art of the four games lined up together is what first drew me into the franchise. Hard to imagine having anything else. They're all fantastic, but I think my favorite might be Quarantine's.

[PentexSucks]

That preproduction design of Mutation is great, the only that I prefer. Green is a much more striking colour than the orange that we got. Very nice