Box Art Brawl – Duel: Hey You, Pikachu!

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Hey You, Pikachu! - BAB — *Image: Nintendo Life*

Welcome back, one and all, to this week’s edition of Box Art Brawl!

It was the NSO newbie Fatal Fury Special that got put under the microscope last time, as we matched up two covers for this SNES brawler. Overall, it was a pretty one-sided fight. The colourful Japanese variant walked away with 68% of the vote, leaving the North American design with 32%.

This week, with Pokémon fever in the air, we’re taking a look at the series’ oft-forgotten spin-off, Hey You, Pikachu!. You remember this one, right? It’s the N64 game with the microphone where you develop a close bond with Pikachu by repeatedly shouting rudimentary commands into the little yellow plastic sphere. Okay, it rarely worked, and it’s hardly a classic, but it’s got some regional variety in its box art.

The game was never released in Europe, so we just have two covers to choose between this week. Let’s check ’em out.

North America

Image: Nintendo / LaunchBox

The North American cover is pretty unremarkable. Pikachu takes centre stage, naturally, with a coastal setting stretching out in the background. So why, oh why, can’t we take our eyes off of Pika’s weirdly detailed little fingers? Are those… knuckles? Don’t tell us they’re fingernails… Oh god, we can’t look away.

Japan

Image: Nintendo / LaunchBox

Those horrific, tiny fingers make a return in the Japanese box art, but they’re here posed into a cute little ‘peace’ sign, so we’re slightly less distracted by them. The coastal background is replaced by rolling hills, and the vertical formatting means we can see more of Pikachu’s frame. Hey, we’re just grateful this didn’t produce hyper-realistic toes.