I know I'm supposed to be debating the merits of the cover art, but sometimes we have to slow down and actually appreciate the other aspects of video games. While this artwork may be bad (and trust me, it is), it's no worse than the ludicrous name. Yo Bro?? Are they just stealing names from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons? Too bad this game didn't sell well, I was hoping we could see sequels like Cowabunga Dude and maybe even Yee Haw! Ninja Cowboy! Okay, maybe not the last one, but you can see where this series was headed. When I hear a name like Yo Bro I picture a low IQ womanizing frat boy who is too stupid to realize that there's a connection between his low grades and getting drunk every night. But that's not what Yo Bro is all about; this is a celebration of skater culture ... only with a crazy looking bear doing the Bart Simpson. Tony Hawk must be rolling over in his grave.

So where do I start with a cover like this? It seems like every inch of real estate on this box is full of terrible ideas, but which one is the most heinous? Usually I would start with the actual Yo Bro character, but instead I'm more interested in all of the craziness around him. Like Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors and the mouse who looks like he just came from a wild party at Pee Wee's Playhouse. And then there are all those bees, which are going to be REALLY hard to deal with when all you're packing is a slingshot. Even more confusing is his shirt. On the back it uses the word "mascot," but thankfully this Berenstain Bear wannabe wasn't the official TurboGrafx-16 mascot. I'm not going to say that Bonk is the coolest character of all time, but compared to this guy he's in the same league as Mario and Luigi. Even more confusing is that he appears to be wearing a Beach Boys shirt. I don't think I need to tell you that by the time this game came out the good old days of The Beach Boys were long gone. Dennis Wilson had already passed away, Carl Wilson was battling cancer and their biggest hit was the instantly forgettable song Kokomo (from the Cocktail soundtrack). And even if you liked that horrible, horrible song, by the time this game came out it was several years old. Yet this bear, with his amazing fashion sense and top notch use of popular extreme sports, seemed to be into it. Which is exactly the kind of forward thinking protagonist we expect from a company like NEC. It's a shame they never introduced a second player, Yo Gal, who was totally into swing music and Tony Bennett.