Solomon's Key by Tecmo - Cover Review

As far as art and style goes, Solomon's Key is probably the high water mark for this episode of The Cover Critic. It has an intriguing look and you have to love the logo that takes full advantage of the key. There's no doubt about it, this cover is a winner as far as 8-Bit boxes go. So what could possibly be wrong? Why should we talk about a cover like this on a feature like The Cover Critic? Perhaps it has something to do with those floating blocks our hero is standing on. I don't know about you, but I don't trust floating blocks, especially the kind where you can't even stand on one single block, it just seems unsafe to me. I don't know about you, but if I saw a floating block way up high I probably wouldn't stand on it, call me a wimp but that just doesn't seem very safe.

My favorite part of the box is at the top where it says "A ? Million Sold in Japan." Certainly there has to be a more awkward way of expressing the high sales in the land of the rising sun. But you know, it's fun to think back at a time when "a ? million" was a high number. These days we live in an era where "a ? million" games is barely enough to break even with the investment. But did we really need to be told that this was a popular game? Couldn't we tell by this badass cover art? It has fairies, any game with fairies right on the cover has to be a worldwide best seller. And those floating heads, I mean, this has to be one of the biggest games of all time if it's going to feature awesome floating heads like that. And just in case you forgot that there were "A ? Million Sold In Japan," Solomon's Key is here to remind you that it's an "Arcade Hit." Of course it is, it has fairies! And we Americans can't get enough of fairies!