I find this quartet of recent-ish Japanese 3DS box arts to be really appealing, too

While hunting down examples of beautiful PS3 box art for this blog post late last week, I came across the following handful of similarly appealing Japanese 3DS covers and decided to conjure up a post about them as well.

The first, below, is of Spike Cunsoft's oddly named (and just as oddly themed--as it has players explore demon-infested dungeons with their illegitimate spawn, er, "Star Children" in tow) Conception II: Guidance of Seven Stars and Muzzle’s Nightmare.

Odd as it may be, Conception II's cover art looks pretty great--thanks in large part to its use of bright blues, purples and magentas.

The design created for New Etrian Odyssey: Millennium Girl's packaging, below, is on the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of both color and drama, but that doesn't mean I find it boring.

On the contrary, I find it to be completely compelling. Strange as it probably seems, I'm particularly taken with the font that makes up its logo--a perfect complement, in my opinion, to the ethereal illustration that supports it.

Mario and Luigi RPG 4's box art, below, also keeps things simple, and benefits greatly from it.

The only thing I'd change: that bat-thing that's hovering just above Mario's head. It really isn't needed. Thankfully, it hardly destroys the rest of the design, so I won't be too disappointed if it appears on the game's North American cover, too.

I have a feeling I'm going to be in the minority when it comes to liking Monster Hunter 4's box art, below, but I don't care.

Of course, I've long had a soft spot for the kind of illustrations that graced covers of North American Genesis games--which Monster Hunter 4's art harkens back to, even if unintentionally--so you might want to take my opinion with a large grain of salt.

What do all of you think about the box arts above? Do you love them? Hate them? Don't worry, a shrug of the shoulders is an acceptable response, too.

See also: 'I find this trio of recent-ish Japanese PS3 box arts to be really appealing'

A few thoughts on this morning's trifecta of Nintendo Direct broadcasts

So, the folks at Nintendo provided us with another trio of Nintendo Direct broadcasts this morning. (The last ones arrived less than a month ago.) Unlike the company's previous Nintendo Directs, the three that aired today--watch the North American one here--focused (mostly) on the 3DS. And not only that, but they focused on 3DS games featuring Luigi.

Here are a few brief thoughts on the three 3DS titles that fit the above-mentioned bill:

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (aka Luigi Mansion 2 in Japan)--This long-awaited game, which will, at long last, hit store shelves across North America on March 24, looks as gorgeous as always. Also, the online-enabled multiplayer modes sound like a lot of fun.



Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (aka Mario & Luigi RPG 4: Dream Adventure)--This one was a bit of a surprise, wasn't it? I mean, I assumed Nintendo would release another Mario & Luigi game at some point in time, but I never imagined they'd do so as soon as this summer--especially since Paper Mario: Sticker Star only came out a few months ago. Anyway, this iteration looks superb, and it'll likely be my first foray into this AlphaDream-developed series.



Mario Golf World Tour--I guess you could say this announcement was less surprising than the one above given that a new Mario Tennis title has already appeared on the 3DS, but I still found it a bit shocking. The question is: will this game, also due out this summer, be more worthy of purchasing than Camelot's earlier effort? I hope so, as I've been itching to experience another Mario Golf game for some time now.

After Nintendo president Satoru Iwata was done dropping those bombs, he turned the reins over to the crew at Nintendo of America, who chatted about Fire Emblem: Awakening DLC and (finally) pulled back the curtain on Animal Crossing: New Leaf's North American release date (June 9).



They also revealed that Game Freak's highly anticipated rhythmic platformer, HarmoKnight, will hit the eShop on March 28. (A demo of the game will be made available on March 14.) Oh, and HarmoKnight will soon be joined by a curious-looking title called Kersploosh!, Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move and Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger--the last of which will appear on April 11. All of the above looked good to my eyes, although I'm most interested in HarmoKnight at this point.



Finally, it was announced that Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D hit the streets of North America sometime this summer. I'll probably pass on the title myself, despite the fact that I enjoyed the Wii version of the game, but I'm sure a lot of 3DS owners will snap it up.



One other piece of news a select few of you may be interested in hearing: during the Japanese Nintendo Direct, Iwata discussed the next Daigasso Band Bros. game, saying that it will be able to access and play the more than 9,000 tracks that were created for Daigasso Band Bros. DX. Unfortunately, the title is still without a release date.

Another (Japanese) Nintendo Direct was promised for next week, by the way, and apparently it'll cover third-party 3DS titles. As such, expect a similar write-up about that event to appear here shortly after it wraps up.