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Wii Games Aimed At Teens And Up Get Black Boxes

By Spencer . January 21, 2010 . 1:39pm

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Starting this year, all Nintendo games rated CERO C and up (that’s 15+) will be packaged with black boxes.

 

Nintendo announced the change shortly before the release of Zangeki no Reginleiv, Nintendo’s first “M” rated (well, M equivalent) game in Japan. Previously, CERO C (15+), D (17+), and the rare Z (18+) used standard white covers. CERO C games include Ghost Squad, Disaster: Day of Crisis and WWE 2008 Smackdown vs. Raw. Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers, No More Heroes, and currently every Resident Evil game on the Wii are examples of CERO D titles. Madworld, which Spike is publishing in February, is the only CERO Z game.

 

The black boxes are meant to be another warning for parents, on top of the colorful CERO labels on the spine and the CERO stamp on the cover. This packaging may actually have a benefit too since these games will standout against the basic white box art.

 

So far, Nintendo is the only company to do this. CERO C and even heavily restricted CERO Z games are not required to have different boxes or covers in Japan.




View Comments to “Wii Games Aimed At Teens And Up Get Black Boxes”

ECM Says:

Smart marketing.

ECM Says:

Smart marketing.

TyeTheCzar Says:

Exactly. If done over here, it might finally seperate the hardcore from the casual(mostly) and gamers might take notice.

denpanosekai Says:

Don't Japanese PSP games also have different color codes on their sleeves, based on the CERO rating?

Roth Sothy Says:

Haha, good scheme and good choice of color for M-rated games. I wish they had thought of this long before so I can see Manhunt 2, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, MADWORLD and other M-rate titles in a black colored box.

Red box must mean it's a guaranteed Nintendo quality game, so is this new method Nintendo's replacement of the “Nintendo Seal of Quality”? Maybe it's only for quality first-party retail games. If that's the case, then I predict a green box for the next Zelda Wii title. You heard it here first! ;D/

I also remember when Valve made their box for The Orange Box [PC] orange because of the package title, haha. It was only limited quantity so now it's black colored like all other PC games.

// Roth

matty Says:

Looking at my collection, it would be pretty split. It would be interesting to see this happening here. I can just imagine what all the game shops and retail store would look like, let alone what people buying games might think.

What would be really cool to see if the UK did that with their color ratings! Lime green,yellow and red!

Code Says:

rar, clever and colorful, I approve!

Tako Tacos Says:

I'd love a gold-colored Zelda box, I miss them from back in the day. But, same principle, yeah.

matty Says:

Weren't there gold-colored systems bundled with a Zelda game?
That's something I miss – colored systems. Just think of a transparent shell for the Wii…

Roth Sothy Says:

The gold-colored system bundles I know of was the gold GameBoy Advance SP with Zelda Minish Cap, then came the gold DS Lite bundle with Zelda Phantom Hourglass two Black Fridays ago. But yeah, a Green for regular edition and Gold box for those who pre-order the game. Wouldn't that be neat? ;D/

// Roth

Excel-2010 Says:

I'd love to see a game with box art that totally clashes with the darker image the black box denotes.

Spencer Says:

All Japanese console games have the CERO color codes. Only the black box art is Nintendo specific.

TokyoGuy Says:

From the picture it looks like the box art and the box itself? I always like different colored boxes.

Though on the subject of box art, does anyone remember the original PSOne boxes? IIRC Sony had some kind of problem and had to use Sega Saturn cases for some of them? On the whole they were so large. And the left side had that raised part that SCEA decided to keep on the LINER when they shrunk to CD-sized cases, and it took up 1/4 of the box, thus always ensuing that box art was going to be limited in space.

Ujn Hunter Says:

Sexy!

Aoshi00 Says:

Looks fancy. I like special colored boxes too, like the standard for DVDs are black, but sometimes they have the transparent ones. The way I see it though is we like black and white alternate, like first it's piano black PS3, then ceramic white looks cooler somehow, and after the standard white Wii, the black Wii looks cooler. More variety is nice, will separate games in wht and blk section :)

crunc Says:

I love the red box of New Super Mario Bros Wii. More box colors is a win and the black looks good. Maybe this is for parents and maybe this is for marketing. Probably both.

Roth Sothy Says:

It looks like #MADWORLD is getting a black box in Japan now according to Amazon Japan. http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B002PK0KJO/ Boy, if they reprint these games in black for the US I'd have to re-buy them all, and I already have 2 copies of MADWORLD~! :D /

Next up, I'm guessing No More Heroes 2 will be getting a black box, not certain about the US/UK versions though.

crunc Says:

I love the red box of New Super Mario Bros Wii. More box colors is a win and the black looks good. Maybe this is for parents and maybe this is for marketing. Probably both.

RothSothy Says:

It looks like #MADWORLD is getting a black box in Japan now according to Amazon Japan. http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B002PK0KJO/ Boy, if they reprint these games in black for the US I'd have to re-buy them all, and I already have 2 copies of MADWORLD~! :D /

Next up, I'm guessing No More Heroes 2 will be getting a black box, not certain about the US/UK versions though.

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