Dear Reader:
Former RARE dev explains the different covers for Perfect Dark
Perfect Dark got three different covers back in the day, which is qutie a bit. Usually you'll see at least one region use the cover art from another, but Perfect Dark had different cover art in North America, Europe, and Japan. How on earth did this happen? Nintendo Life talked to former Rare Art Director Kev Bayliss to find out.
"We needed the US one ultra quick and there was no model at all to use for the artwork. So I had to quickly make some eyes and create a box art in about a day. That’s what we ended up with and as a consequence of that, I was given the task of creating a proper Joanna Dark model – so that’s when I got involved in the series. I made the model that was then used for the European box art and all promo material at the time."
That explains North America and Europe, but what about Japan? Turns out Bayliss has no idea how that came about! All he can say is that the decision was not RARE's, which means Nintendo felt the need to change things up.