Gameluv

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Looking at Nintendo’s Japanese GBA Box Tab Art

by · Published

Spreading the happiness!

Skyevlyn

I thought it would be fun to collect pictures of all of the box tab art on Nintendo’s Japanese GBA games so let’s look at them!

I have oriented each image so that the best photo of each drawing is upright. I was entirely dependent on what online sellers had photographed of each box so some of them are not quite the quality I would hope for… However, I am pleased to report I did find at least one photo of any quality for every single tab with a drawing on it. Still, if you have any of these boxes and would like to submit better photos of the tab artwork, I would greatly appreciate it! I’m happy to credit you however you want.

I hope you enjoy!

Update 24 November 2024 – Added some non-Nintendo examples from Internet Archive scans by tabor62gb. Also updated some of the Mercari photos with scan snippets, if available.

Games that had artwork on their tabs:

スーパーマリオアドバンス / Super Mario Advance

マリオカートアドバンス / Mario Kart: Super Circuit

スーパーマリオアドバンス2 / Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2

トマトアドベンチャー / Tomato Adventure – scans from https://archive.org/details/tomato-adventure-jpn-box/1.5%20Box%20Front.jpg by tabor62gb, and to show their location on the box I have included pictures, taken by Zel of Luckless Heaven

とっとこハム太郎3 ラブラブ大冒険でちゅ / Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak

さくらももこのウキウキカーニバル / Sakura Momoko no Ukiuki Carnival

Three of the four tabs had the same image printed:

伝説のスタフィー / The Legendary Starfy – picture from Zel of Luckless Heaven

The three fish shadows are replicated on another tab

スーパーマリオアドバンス3 / Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3

星のカービィ 夢の泉デラックス / Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland

ゼルダの伝説 神々のトライフォース&4つの剣 / The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swords

メイド イン ワリオ / WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!
Scans are from https://archive.org/details/made-in-wario-jpn-box/2.5%20Box%20Back.jpg by tabor62gb

Reads こっちから開けちゃダメだ！

DeepL translates as “Don’t open it from here!”

Reads お買い上げアリガトさん！

DeepL translates as “Arigato-san for your purchase!”

He’s looking in different directions on each tab haha

ファイアーエムブレム 烈火の剣 / Fire Emblem (Blazing Blade)

とっとこハム太郎4 にじいろ大行進でちゅ / Hamtaro: Rainbow Rescue

スーパーマリオアドバンス4 / Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3

ポケモンピンボール ルビー&サファイア / Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire

伝説のスタフィー2 / The Legendary Starfy 2

Pictures from Zel of Luckless Heaven

F-ZERO ファルコン伝説 / F-Zero: GP Legend

メトロイド ゼロミッション / Metroid: Zero Mission

Aaaaah! A Metroid escaped!
…Does this mean you can only truly beat the game by freezing the box?

マリオvs.ドンキーコング / Mario vs. Donkey Kong

とっとこハム太郎 ハムハムスポーツ / Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Games

伝説のスタフィー3 / The Legendary Starfy 3

スーパーマリオボール / Mario Pinball Land

This person calls these tabs ears, that’s so cute

ファイアーエムブレム 聖魔の光石 / Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

まわるメイド イン ワリオ / WarioWare: Twisted!

Reads: まわしてあそぶと and　ぐるぐる
and on the other tab
まわるメイドインワリオ and たのしいぞ
DeepL Translates: “When spinning and playing” and [onomatopoeia for a something going in circles]
and
“Mawaru Made in Wario” [WarioWare: Twisted!] and “It’s fun”

Reads: お買い上げ、まいどあり！
DeepL translation: “Thank you very much for your purchase!”

Reads: こっちから開けちゃダメだ！
DeepL Translation: “Don’t open it from here!”

ゼルダの伝説 ふしぎのぼうし / The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

Reads: 見つかっちゃったね and 見つかっちゃった

DeepL translates: “ You found me” and “I’ve been found out”

Reads: こっちからも and 見つかっちゃった

DeepL translates: “From here, too” and “I’ve been found out”

The Earth Element has Hylian text beneath it. It reads which translates to だいち/大地 which means “earth”.

The Fire Element has Hylian text beneath it. It reads which translates to ほのお/炎, which means “flame”.

The Water Element has Hylian text beneath it. It reads which translates to しずく which means “water droplet”.

The Wind Element has Hylian text beneath it. It reads which translates to かぜ/風 which means “wind”.

All of the Hylian text corresponds to the same term used for the Elements in the Japanese version of the game:

Thank you to https://www.dcode.fr/hylian-language-the-wind-waker for allowing me to type in Hylian, https://www.omniglot.com/conscripts/hylian2.htm for the Japanese-Hylian graph, and https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%BC%E3%83%AB%E3%83%80%E3%81%AE%E4%BC%9D%E8%AA%AC_%E3%81%B5%E3%81%97%E3%81%8E%E3%81%AE%E3%81%BC%E3%81%86%E3%81%97 for listing out what each Element is called in Japanese, and https://www.zeldadungeon.net/wiki/Four_Elements#Earth_Element for showing what each element looks like so I was sure to label each one correctly.

ヨッシーの万有引力 / Yoshi Topsy-Turvy

マリオパーティ アドバンス / Mario Party Advance

千年家族 / Sennen Kazoku

ぶらぶらドンキー / DK: King of Swing

のののパズルちゃいリアン / Nonono Puzzle Chalien

Pictures from Zel of Luckless Heaven

ドクターマリオ&パネルでポン / Dr. Mario & Puzzle League

マリオテニスアドバンス / Mario Tennis: Power Tour

スクリューブレイカー 轟振どりるれろ / Drill Dozer

スーパードンキーコング3 / Donkey Kong Country 3

カルチョビット / Calciobit

リズム天国 / Rhythm Tengoku

Pictures from Zel of Luckless Heaven

Games that had nothing on their tabs or it was just a continuation of the boxart:

F-Zero for GameBoy Advance / F-Zero: Maximum Velocity

くるくるくるりん / Kuru Kuru Kururin

ナポレオン / Napoleon

タクティクスオウガ外伝 The Knight of Lodis / Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis

黄金の太陽 開かれし封印 / Golden Sun

ワリオランドアドバンス ヨーキのお宝 / Wario Land 4

どこでも対局 役満アドバンス / Dokodemo Taikyoku: Yakuman Advance

マジカルバケーション / Magical Vacation

どーもくんの不思議てれび / Domo-kun no Fushigi Terebi

コロコロパズル ハッピィパネッチュ! / Korokoro Puzzle Happy Panechu!

ファイアーエムブレム 封印の剣 / Fire Emblem: Binding Blade

黄金の太陽 失われし時代 / Golden Sun: The Lost Age

カスタムロボGX / Custom Robo GX

ミッキーとミニーのマジカルクエスト / Disney’s Magical Quest Starring Mickey and Minnie

ポケットモンスター ルビー / Pokémon Ruby

ポケットモンスター サファイア / Pokémon Sapphire

くるりんパラダイス / Kururin Paradise

メトロイドフュージョン / Metroid Fusion

Mother 1+2

オリエンタルブルー 青の天外 / Oriental Blue – Blue Sky

マリオ&ルイージRPG / Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

スーパードンキーコング / Donkey Kong Country

ポケットモンスター ファイアレッド / Pokémon FireRed

ポケットモンスター リーフグリーン / Pokémon LeafGreen

星のカービィ 鏡の大迷宮 / Kirby & the Amazing Mirror

マリオゴルフ GBAツアー / Mario Golf: Advance Tour

スーパードンキーコング2 / Donkey Kong Country 2

ポケットモンスター エメラルド / Pokémon Emerald

F-Zero Climax

ゲームボーイウォーズアドバンス1+2 / Game Boy Wars Advance 1+2

The Tower SP

通勤ヒトフデ / Polarium Advance

ポケモン不思議のダンジョン 赤の救助隊 / Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team

アイシールド21 DEVILBATS DEVILDAYS / EyeShield 21: Devilbats Devildays

Mother 3

bit generations (entire series)

I find this whole thing especially interesting because it is the only part of the outer box not explicitly designed to market anything and is entirely for the enjoyment of the customer upon opening.

Research Process:

Everyone who helped me!

I realized while working on this project I could thank a lot more people than I normally do because there really are so many people besides myself who had a hand in this list. Therefore, I would like to thank:

phylaxis for re-sparking my interest in spending hours digging for photos on Mercari looking for cool junk to show people

HistoryofHyrule and PubliusMephistopheles for introducing me to the fact that these tabs can contain heckin cute and exclusive artwork

Shawn for all of his enthusiasm during this project and for also generously hosting my lists!

Zel for photographing several of his games’ box tabs for me

siderinc for photographing his copy of bit generations Soundvoyager for me

eric493x for photographing his copy of Custom Robo GX for me

optiMiskit for helping me figure out what to do with all the pictures after plan A looked terrible

Deadweight for patiently explaining why there being a Metroid on the Metroid box was actually not as important as I had hoped

SupperMarioBroth for unintentionally encouraging me to finish something by setting a reasonable scale for a project and for making me reflect on why I create lists

Kazumi Totaka for composing the Check Mii Out Channel Submission Plaza song which I listened to on repeat for hours on end as is tradition for my research

tabor62gb for scanning so many GBA boxes and putting them on Internet Archive

Other cool nonsense I found while digging through Mercari:

Wario Land 4 stickers

Sakura Momoko no UkiUki Carnival stickers

And postcards!

WarioWare Inc.: Mega Microgame$! has these stickers both in NA and Japan that when you peel them all off there’s secrets on the backing paper! Thank you so much phylaxis for teaching me about this, finding the photos, and kicking off this whole project ^^

Hamtaro Rainbow Rescue stickers

Legendary Starfy origami paper

and paper doll-style stickers!

I learned that F-Zero GP Legend got a lot of school merch in Japan which means they dumped a lot more money into the failed anime than I ever expected which explains better why the franchise died…

Kirby & the Amazing Mirror sticker

This pamphlet which has Hamtaro, the Game Boy Micro, the GameCube, and a DS Phat on it which is… so very 2005

Hamtaro Ham-Ham Sports stickers

I love how the bit generations cardboard has B I T written in it

Rhythm Tengoku stickers! And with that I believe that is every Nintendo-made GBA game with stickers in the box

Boxes and manuals I thought were exceptionally beautiful:

Not a GBA game but I saw this anyways and love it:

From https://x.com/GifZelda/status/1090074600589938693

A Handful of Non-Nintendo Examples

ラブひなアドバンス 祝福の鐘はなるかな / Love Hina Advance – scans from https://archive.org/details/love-hina-advance-jpn-box/2.5%20Box%20Back.jpg by tabor62gb

Which is super cool because it forms one continuous drawing, the only box I’ve seen to do so! I bet it looks so lovely in person. Full image from https://www.igdb.com/games/love-hina-advance-shukufuku-no-kane-wa-naru-kana

ヒカルの碁 / Hikaru No Go – scan from https://archive.org/details/hikaru-no-go-jpn-1-box/1.5%20Box%20Front.jpg by tabor62gb

ルナレジェンド / Lunar Legend – scan from https://archive.org/details/lunar-legend-gba-jpn-box/2.5%20Box%20Back.jpg by tabor62gb

ファンシーポケット / Fancy Pocket – Scans from https://archive.org/details/fancy-pocket-jpn-box/2.5%20Box%20Back.jpg by tabor62gb

ゼロ・ツアーズ / Mugen Kinogyou Zero Tours – scan from https://archive.org/details/mugen-kinogyou-zero-tours-jpn-box/1.5%20Box%20Front.jpg by tabor62gb

逆転裁判2 / Gyakuten Saiban 2 – scans from https://archive.org/details/gyakuten-saiban-2-best-price-jpn-box/1.5%20Box%20Front.jpg by tabor62gb

ボボボーボ・ボーボボ マジで！！？真拳勝負 / Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo: Majide!! Shinken Shoubu – scans from https://archive.org/details/bobobobo-bobobo-majide-shinken-shoubu-jpn-box/1.5%20Box%20Front.jpg by tabor62gb

Reads パイナップリン, which is a portmanteau of pineapple and purin, the Japanese word for pudding. I saw on the wiki https://bobobo.fandom.com/wiki/Bobobo-bo_Bo-bobon that this is a character in the series.

Reads ナタデココはどうやら生き残った. DeepL translates as “The nata de coco [a jelly dessert made from coconut water] apparently survived.”

ハドソンベストコレクションVol.5 シューティングコレクション / Hudson Best Collection Vol. 5: Shooting Collection – scan from https://archive.org/details/hudson-best-collection-vol-5-shooting-collection-jpn-box/1.5%20Box%20Front.jpg by tabor62gb

鋼の錬金術師 迷走の輪舞曲 / Fullmetal Alchemist: Stray Rondo – scan from https://archive.org/details/fullmetal-alchemist-stray-rondo-jpn-box/2.5%20Box%20Back.jpg by tabor62gb

鋼の錬金術師 思い出の奏鳴曲 / Fullmetal Alchemist: Sonata of Memories – scan from https://archive.org/details/fullmetal-alchemist-sonta-of-memories-jpn-box/1.5%20Box%20Front.jpg by tabor62gb

NARUTO-ナルト- 忍術全開！最強忍者 大結集 / Naruto: Ninja Council – scan from https://archive.org/details/2.5-box-backnaruto-ninja-council-jpn-box/2.5%20Box%20Back.jpg by tabor62gb

If you would like to use my lists for any reason (make a video, add it to a wiki, build on it and make your own list, anything at all), you are free to do so! No need to credit if you don’t want. I would be so happy if you want to be a link to sharing silly gaming knowledge to even more people. All I ask is that if you make anything, please share it with me because I would love to see : ) Please note I don’t own the images anyhow, they’re all from eBay or Mercari unless otherwise cited

Thanks for witnessing!

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