SMB2J repro box description - help welcome!

[satoshi_matrix]

I've made a write up box description for a reproduction case for an NES reproduction of Super Mario Bros. 2 J. I've tried to match the write up to be similar to what you would find on the back of any given NES game's box.

Just figured someone with an in-depth knowledge of SMB2J might want the opportunity to chime in, if I missed something.

I'm thinking something like this:

Mario is back!

Mushroom Kingdom is in peril once again! The evil King Koopa has kidnapped the fair Princess Toadstool once again and its up to the Mario brothers to rescue her. Travel back to the Mushroom Kingdom for 32 brand-new stages featuring even more devious areas to explore and trickier enemies to defeat than ever before.

Super Mario Bros. 2 is the ultimate Nintendo challenge. Will Mario and Luigi be able to defeat king Koopa and rescue the princess? Only you can decide!

-Experience the original Super Mario Bros. 2, originally only released in Japan for the Famicom Disk System!
-Play as either Mario Brother! Luigi can jump higher than Mario, but is more difficult to control than Mario. Balance is the key!
-Packed with new secrets, even Mario masters will find a deep challenge! 
-For one or two players alternatively.


Feel free to add anything you feel should be placed. Thanks!

[Jedi Master Baiter]

One thing...

http://objection.mrdictionary.net/go.php?n=4150236

[manuel]

Mario is back!

Mushroom Kingdom is in peril once again! The evil King Koopa has kidnapped the fair Princess Toadstool once again and its (it's!) up to the Mario brothers to rescue her. Travel back to the Mushroom Kingdom for 32 brand-new stages featuring even more devious areas to explore and trickier enemies to defeat than ever before.

Super Mario Bros. 2 is the ultimate Nintendo challenge. Will Mario and Luigi be able to defeat king Koopa and rescue the princess? Only you can decide!

-Experience the original Super Mario Bros. 2, originally only released in Japan for the Famicom Disk System!
-Play as either Mario Brother! Luigi can jump higher than Mario, but is more difficult to control than Mario (can be left out maybe?). Balance is the key!
-Packed with new secrets, even Mario masters will find a deep challenge!  
-For one or two players alternatively.

From a linguistic standpoint the repetitions marked red and purple respectively don't sound very good.

[Xious]

I suggest this, or something akin to it:

Mario Returns for Super Players...

The Mushroom Kingdom is in peril! Shortly after his seeming defeat, the evil King Bowser has returned, and kidnapped the fair Princess to continue his mad scheme of conquering the world, so it's up to Mario & Luigi to save the day once again!

This time around, Bowser's giving it his all and has ramped-up the difficulty of completing your quest, but fear not, as thankfully, both Mario and Luigi have some tricks up their sleeves, including new jumping skills that they acquired on their first quest through Bowser's dungeons...

Prepare yourself for action and adventure with eight new worlds packed with difficult challenges to test your mettle, the like of which you've never faced before; from devious dead-end paths, to trickier enemies, and even a shocking, surprise ending!

Super Mario Bros. 2 is the ULTIMATE CHALLENGE for SUPER PLAYERS!
Will Mario and Luigi be able to thwart Bowser and his Koopa Clan and rescue the Princess? Only your skill and determination will provide the answer!

Features Include:
- Play as either brother: Luigi can jump higher than Mario can, but is more difficult to control. Balance is the key!
- Packed with new secrets, special areas, new enemies, shocking twists and loads of action for the Super Player.
- Hidden worlds to discover and unlock.
- For One-Player
##

I also have a SMB2J label design that is an improvement over the one in circulation, and can probably use the elements from it to generate some clean box-art; or are you doing this as a black-box design (1986 release date)?

Here is my design for SMB2's label:

http://atariusa.com/flashback/displayimage.php?pid=799&fullsize=1
and
http://atariusa.com/flashback/displayimage.php?pid=802&fullsize=1


The photos are a bit out-of-focus and I've been meaning to retake them, along with the photos of my ZELDA: Outlands label design, which you can view below.

If you want a link to my other artwork (digital portfolio), let me know and I will PM it to you.

##

The following are the front and end-label photos of my Outlands design, for those who wish to view it. If you haven't played it before, the story is: The Thunderbird has returned and captured the eight Tetrarch fairies, bringing them along with the Triforce to his hidden layer in The Outlands, where you (Link) must venture to save them and recover the Triforce.

Thus, the label design features my own Triforce artwork, made to look like the original LoZ and Adv.of Link metallic designs (note the cracks and chips in its edges, made to be similar to the original shield logo. The Legend of Zelda appears in the traditional script that appears on the first two games--although in printing, the word Zelda was a tad too dark and I will correct it before making these for anybody else-- and Outlands is in green, completing the set of three games as R/B/G, the primary optical chromatic elements.

In the centre of the Triforce is a Tetrarch fairy, which I elected to do as a monochromatic element, rather than colour. It is an easy thing to change though, and I may knock out a couple sets when I fix some issues on the design both ways to see how it looks.

The fonts that I use are all entirely custom: I created them myself, as I did for the logos and other markings. I designed the Nintendo Seal of Quality, which also has a custom font, to match the factory oval-seal as near-exactly as possible, with crisp, clear edges and lettering. (I think I did the it as a vector file as well...)

The Nintendo logo and the 'Entertainment System' script below it are clean impressions that were a pain in the rump to create, and the font that I used for the game's part number code is a match for the factory font too.

Here are the photos of it:

http://atariusa.com/flashback/displayimage.php?pid=577&fullsize=1
and
http://atariusa.com/flashback/displayimage.php?pid=579&fullsize=1


Yes, I know that they're blurry. I had poor lighting when I shot them and I haven't had time to re-do them. I will eventually take cleaner images to add to my gallery of the items in my personal collection, as these two specific carts are not for sale. (I do accept special orders to have them made though.)

If you want to compare my design to the ones that are circulating about:

SMB2J Label: http://www.gamereproductions.com/productimage.php?product_id=2
Major differences; The wording on the seal, the wrong font for the part number and the missing 'Entertainment System' script versus my version. I also used the colour scheme and lettering from the USA release of the game in my design, vs. a more generic font and a teal-green background.

Zelda Outlands: http://www.gamereproductions.com/productimage.php?product_id=87
Major differences: Wording on the seal (this one uses the incorrect verbiage), and the fonts (which are incorrect for a Nintendo-made NES title), plus it has the same shield as the original LoZ.

There is also another one that uses the Link's Awakening artwork, which is nice, but doesn't match the other two games.

FYI, the guy who runs GameReproductions is is one of the best in the trade: The end-product is of amazing quality and his labels are a match for the factory in terms of gloss and printing quality. I don't want you all to think I am ripping him on the designs: I just think that those two in particular needed some work, so I redesigned them for my own use

I'm throwing the offer out there to assist with the box aesthetics, and possibly contribute to the production of the box and manual, including as a writer, artist and investor...

If you are interested, you know what to do.

-Xious

[L___E___T]

What do you mean as an investor?  I'm really keen to get involved myself - but I don't believe in making carts look as authentic as possible.  I actually like the Famicase route, where you see how far you can go with it.

[satoshi_matrix]

Thanks Xious, that's just the bit of help I needed. Kudos.

[Xious]

No worries, glad to help. I'm a professional writer and artist in addition to selling classic games, so this just comes naturally to me. I did what i could to emulate NOA's style from the time-period, and FYI: the original title of SMB2J is:

Super Mario Bros. 2: For Super Players

This is why I used 'Super Players' in several places, as Nintendo was good at redundantly re-emphasizing a point on their box screeds. I can scan the original FDS manual for those of you with interpreting skills to check the storyline if you want, but this is pretty much as I remember it.

What is your status on the box art and at what resolution are you designing it? If you want, parse it through me and I will use my label artwork sources to remaster it for higher printing quality.

By 'investor'., I mean that i will pre-buy a set number of boxes and manuals up-front so that you can pay the printing costs. I would probably use them to make a special-edition cart with box and manual at some point... Either using a custom board, existing donor carts, or Brian's MMC1 boards.

-Xious