In an earlier post on id Software and the SNES, I briefly referenced the 1992 game Wolfenstein 3D.
With significant content censorship, the game was released on the Nintendo SNES in 1994 by Japanese published Imagineer. The game had been developed by id in just three weeks, after an outsourced developer failed to deliver the game in time for the intended launch.
Despite the speedy turnaround, the game is not a bad port at all, certainly benefiting from being graphically less demanding than Doom.
Gaming history aside, this is the box art for the SNES release of Wolfenstein 3D:
I hate it. I hate everything about it.
In Wolfenstein 3D, you play Allied soldier William “B.J.” Blazkowicz, during his escape of the Nazi German prison ‘Castle Wolfenstein’ during World War II. You are not - to be clear - a knock-off Rambo.
I asked John Romero, (yes thatJohn Romero), how the artwork came to be. He said:
It’s possible that the artist (can’t remember who) commissioned to create the box art didn’t have detailed guidance or familiarity with the historical setting of the game. They may have opted for a generic “soldier” look based on popular imagery and the Vietnam War aesthetic was a common cultural reference point for military depictions in the early 1990s.
(As a side note, if you have the means to do so you should absolutely email people whose work you admire and say thanks. Sometimes they reply.)
I’ve made some alternative box art, based on the DOS title screen. You’re welcome.
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