The year is 1992. The Super NES and Sega Genesis are embroiled in the fiercest console war since the fall of Atari. And on the front lines of this crucial conflict are 2-D beat-‘em-ups like Final Fight, Streets of Rage, Super Double Dragon, and even Two Crude Dudes. And you, as someone of importance at Jaleco, must take advantage of all this and turn an unremarkable Japanese brawler called Rushing Beat into a hot seller.
What do you do? First, let's lose that title. Rushing Beat? Boring. This thing needs a name that evokes images of brutal back-alley rumbles and bloody clashes between street gangs. Taking that latter idea one step further, we'll call the game Rival Turf! with that all-important exclamation point. And then we should change the names of the main characters. Let's call the younger guy “Jack Flak” to get a nice rhyme going. And the one who looks like a friendlier version of Street Fighter II's M. Bison? He's “Oozie Nelson.” The kids'll love it.
Now all we need is a cover. A cover that perfectly conveys the chaos and violence kids demand from early-'90s brawlers. A cover to draw attention from Final Fight and those other, less intense titles. A cover that will have customers thrusting forth handfuls of cash in order to get their fix of the raw, visceral aggression that this game is so obviously rich in.
In other words, we need a cover like this:
I'm not sure if it's been pointed out before, but there seems to be an unwritten rule that images of real people should never be featured on a game's cover unless they directly relate to the programming within. Shots of actual humans work for sports games and movie licenses, and not much else. They definitely don't work for semi-goofy Final Fight clones, as Rival Turf shows us.
I can only assume that these guys are supposed to be street punks, but only the one on the left could even resemble a gang member, and his obviously new clothing makes him look more like an extra in his high school's production of West Side Story. The one on the right seems to be some suburban teenager desperately trying to look like a bad-ass gangsta, though the only place where he'd be remotely threatening is an episode of Saved by the Bell. (Note his jacket, which recalls something from a cheap sci-fi flick in which the next century is envisioned as though the 1980s continued unabated for two decades. But I digress.) Still, they're definitely projecting the right attitude, making it clear that, should you set foot on the titular rival turf, they will be adequately prepared to FUCK YO SHIT UP.
You know, I actually feel sorry for these two, and I'd like to imagine that they've gone on to do things that don't involve posing for video game boxes. Maybe they used “Cover of Rival Turf! ” as a vague line on their resumes, and some good came of this hilarious marketing misstep after all. I just hope that they didn't include the Rival Turf photo in their portfolios.
By the way, how successful was Rival Turf with its name changes and new cover? Try the following experiment. Find a few people who played video games regularly in the early 1990s. Ask if they remember Final Fight. They'll almost certainly say yes. Ask if they recall Streets of Rage. You'll get at least a few nods. Then ask if anyone remembers Rival Turf.
Addendum: It seems that Rival Turf's menacing toughs weren't restricted to the game's cover. Jess Ragan of the Gameroom Blitz was kind enough to scan this magazine ad, one that perfectly exhibits the difference between the actual game and the would-be gang-bangers promoting it. Rockin' the suburbs, they are.
Next: Saint Sword of Taitoland.
