Sadly, the game was only sold digitally in the West. Sure, that made North American and European copies of Patchwork Heroes quite a bit cheaper than their Japanese counterparts, but it also meant that people who picked up the former missed out on Hyakumanton no Bara Bara's beautiful packaging, which can be seen throughout this post.
For starters, there's this quirky action game's box art, seen in the photo above, which I can say without hesitation is one of my all-time favorite examples of PSP cover imagery.
Quality illustrations are plastered across the front of Hyakumanton no Bara Bara's instruction manual and the label of its UMD, too. (Don't worry, you'll get a better look at the latter near the bottom of this post.)
Actually, sketches done in a style that's similar to the art that graces the cover of this Acquire-developed game's manual also can be found on a number of its inside pages.
The rest of Hyakumanton no Bara Bara's instruction booklet isn't as noteworthy, but it still wows now and then--with the character bios shown in the snapshot above being a case in point.
Speaking of this PSP title's characters, a number of them can be found on its colorful UMD label.
Sadly, the backside of Hyakumanton no Bara Bara's packaging, below, doesn't quite achieve the heights that are reached by the rest of it.
Of course, if I had to force the designers responsible for producing this product to skimp on one aspect of it, I'd go with the back of the box, so to speak, so don't expect me to complain too much about the above.
What do all of you think? Do the photos shared here make you want to run out and buy a copy of the Japanese physical release of Patchwork Heroes as soon as you're able?
Note: if you're like me and you aren't entirely satisfied with the quality of the photographs showcased in this post, head over to my Flickr photostream, which features versions that are both brighter and less blurry.
