Jan 30th, 2017

With Japanese retailers now receiving display copies of Nintendo Switch games, gamers in the land of the rising sun have discovered something about the game cases: they’re really artistic, at least in Japan.

The outside of each case seems to be the standard box art routine with game and platform logos, some cover art,  and a game rating adorning the front of the box. The back also includes the usual information you’d expect from theses things. Nothing of note here. However, opening the case is where things start to get interesting.

Because of the transparent design of the case, some developers have decided to get creative by making additional art you can see on either door of the game case. This is more of an artistic take on reversible covers, although these aren’t necessarily meant to be displayed front and center. We suppose you could do this if you wanted to, though.

These aren’t just artistic add-ons to the game cases. No, they also include additional information about each game and how you’ll play it. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, for instance, shows art for the game, the three play modes, and in-game screenshots with text in little boxes.

1-2-Switch does something similar with comedic showcases of a small selection of the minigames included in the title.

Whether or not we’ll see a similar effort from developers and publishers outside of Japan or even past the Switch’s first few games is anyone’s guess. Hopefully this becomes a trend. We’ve posted the cases in the gallery below for your viewing pleasure.

[via NeoGAF, Twitter]