# | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | CUSTOMPlease note...the covers shown in this thread are scaled down. To download full size images, click on the picture of the cover you wish to download.23 of 296 Games CompletePrefaceHi everyone! This is my take on a set of custom Nintendo 64 covers. Before getting into it, I would like to address a few things. These covers are minimalistic and simplistic on purpose. In an ideal world, we would have a nice, clean set of retail Nintendo 64 covers with somehow semi-uniform spines. However, Nintendo 64 has not received the attention that the NES has on TCP. I would say half of the existing retail covers for Nintendo 64 are acceptable. The other half suffer from severe issues such as poor scan quality (no descreen, poor colors, etc), missing portions of the box from things such as stickers, edges cut off from improper scan technique, incorrect spine, and so on and so forth. It is my hope that eventually, we will have a community effort to make a complete set of clean, polished retail covers for Shadowfox's CGC's; however, we are a long way from there. So...I present to you the complete opposite.
About the CoversHow did these covers come about? Well, the Nintendo 64 has always been my favorite console, and lately, I have been very rapidly growing my collection of games. It quickly becomes overwhelming keeping track of individual cartridges — not to mention protect them from damage. I have full intention of collecting a complete NA set of cartridges. I considered my many options for casing these games, and frankly, there just aren't many options for complete sets. The retail covers have the aforementioned issues. The vertical covers are quite decent, but I find that they are too similar to retail that I find myself just wishing they were. Wiggy's covers are fantastic but not everyone's cup of tea. And those are really the only options out there.
I have kept a handful of design concepts in mind while building these covers. First and foremost is minimalism/simplicity. Because there are supposed to be very intentionally
not retail, I went for simplicity without any extra fluff. The second concept was uniformity. I want these covers to scream "set" when viewed on a shelf. I have very intentionally gone out of my way to make these uniform — both for the look and the ease of creation. Now this uniformity might be a turn off for many people (I expect that); however, please keep in mind that these strive to
not be retail. The third design concept was having
just the right amount of stuff. I have tried very hard to not leave out anything deemed important. These covers show screenshots, peripherals, players, developers, logos, text, and more. First and foremost, the spines very clearly tell you which cartridge is inside. And I believe that the rest of the cover provides everything necessary to convey information about the game inside. Yes, some of the box art is lost, and yes, some of the "style" is also lost. But I feel that the cleanliness of information compensates for that. The fourth design concept focuses on cartridge variants. The Nintendo 64 offers some great variant collecting options with color variants and Player's Choice variants. These covers aim to strongly highlight these variants. The background color of each cover represents the color of the cartridge: a window into what's inside. Player's Choice variants are clearly labeled on both the spine and the front. The fifth and final design concept would be time preservation. We are all busy people, I presume. Frankly, I just don't have time to spend hours on each individual cover. I have however poured hours and hours and hours into the template for these covers. I have taken the time to recreate logos, assets, and carefully refine the overall design. But having a strict template allows me to make a finished cover in approximately 10 minutes (barring any difficulty with game logos or screenshots).
And that is what these covers are all about. If you have any comments or helpful criticism, please feel free to comment on this thread. However, please keep harsh opinions and criticism to a minimum. I am very well aware that this is not everyone's cup of tea. I do however hope that people other than myself will find this interesting and useful.
Features•
Simplicity/uniformity — These covers look extremely uniform next to each other. Information is also very clearly conveyed about each game.
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Color Coded — The color of each cover represents the color of the cartridge inside. Excellent for collecting color variants.
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Variants — Color, Player's Choice, NOT FOR RESALE, and other variants are very clearly distinguished.
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Contains all important information — I have carefully not left out anything important. These covers have everything necessary to pick a game off the shelf.
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Not Retail — This can be taken as a positive or a negative; nevertheless, these covers are not trying to be pseudo-retail.
Why not CGC's?First, let me say that Shadowfox's Custom Game Cases are exceptional and should be the standard by which we judge all game cases. That being said, I have chosen to pursue this project on the UGC format for two reasons. The first reason is the most important. UGC's are
smaller than CGC's. Therefore, it should be easy to convert these covers to CGC in the future (which I tentatively plan to do). Either a script performed on the covers themselves or porting the PSD's should do the trick. The second and lesser reason is affordability (both for myself and for anyone who wishes to use these covers). When we are talking about 300+ cases, it is hard not to consider the cheaper option. That being said, I do not yet know which case format I will use for myself.
"NOT FOR RESALE" CoversI have decided to not actually make the individual NFR covers for a few reasons, but primarily because it is theoretically possible to have a NFR version of every game. The hassle of creating NFR variants of every single game (or even every single known NFR game) becomes daunting and ultimately not worth the time. So instead, I will be providing a gray variant of every game cover — even if that particular game never came in gray. If anyone who wishes to use these covers has a need for a NFR cover, they can download the cover of their choice in the color of their choice, and then they can apply NFR decals to it themselves. I have included a "NOT FOR RESALE!" overlay under the "CUSTOM" section. This is a PNG file which can easily be applied to any cover to add a NFR decal on both the spine and front.
Credits• Shoothimnow — for insightful advice on the design of these covers.
• wiggy — For providing a significant amount of the game logos through his covers and "N64 spine titles.psd".
• e_brugal — From whom I've "borrowed" the design of this thread from.
• GameFAQs and its users — For providing a plethora of screenshots for which to use.
• And finally, everyone on TCP — For inspiration, scans, assets, and more.
