8 TERRIBLE Video Game Box Arts That Made You Avoid AMAZING Games
4. Ikaruga (GameCube)
Bullet hell shoot 'em up masterpiece Ikaruga really didn't need to do the hard sell when it was ported to the GameCube in 2003.
Though this was the game's first official release in the West, its reputation was already firmly noted by both gaming outlets and enthusiasts who'd imported it from Japan for the Dreamcast.
All the same, in an attempt to part more casual gamers from their money, the otherwise gorgeously minimalistic GameCube box art includes an utterly unhinged pull quote from IGN, which reads, "Our frothing demand for this game increases."
The discomforting wording of the quote aside, this is very clearly quoted from a preview of the game rather than a review, making it seem even more pointless.
What was the play here? At least if the cover were festooned with generic critical quotes like "Masterpiece!", "10/10!," and so on, the strategy would make sense, but this? This is just baffling.
On the flip side, the quote still lives on as an oft-quoted meme more than 20 years later. Wild.