Another year, another countdown, another birthday.  And I’m boxing it all up, tying a nice little bow around it, and turning the ripe old age of 32 with a celebration of 32 BRILLIANT examples of FANTASTIC video game box art.  Join me, won’t you?

Primal Rage (1995) – Dinosaurs are never bad.  That’s pretty much the way I approach everything in life, with some exceptions, a list that in fact that grows longer as I get older.  But as a keen follower of all things dinosaur as a kid, it was a mantra I observed closely, all the while imagining a world where we’d live side by side by the lumbering beasts.  Blame Jurassic Park for that delusion, what with all the amber and the DNA, and of course the whole god creating dinosaurs and people killing god malarky.  So needless to say, when Primal Rage hit the arcades in 1994, I was ready and rearing to go.  And I absolutely loved it.  It looked great, it played great for the time, and even when better options came along, the novelty of dinosaurs tearing into each other with tooth and claw was too hard to resist.  So when I spotted its looming release for home consoles – namely the Game Boy – in a catalogue I was quite simply giddy with excitement.  For what seemed like years I’d stare at the maniacal face of Blizzard, dreaming of playing that arcade superstar at home, recreating that beautiful logo in detail on any piece of scrap paper I could find.  Was it blood, was it fire, was the “E” a talon?  I didn’t care, all I knew was that one day I’d be watching the logo on my own screen in the comfort of my own home.  It may have been fuelled by hype and anticipation, but despite two decades passing and time tearing shreds out of the game, looking at that Game Boy box still makes my heart speed up just a little bit.

Miss previous entries in the countdown?

Space Ace (1983) – Transylvania (1984) – Impossible Mission (1985) – Defender of the Crown (1986) – Faery Tale Adventure (1987) – F/A – 18 Interceptor (1988) – Blood Money (1989) – King of the Zoo (1990) – Lemmings (1991) – Pinball Fantasies (1992) – The Ren & Stimpy Show: Veediots! (1993) – Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land (1994)