About This File
Sega Megadrive Japan region box art. 476 images (No-Intro set) - let me know if any errors or omissions. A few extras are included for non-physical releasese (e.g. SegaNet). I have my regions currently separated into USA/North America, Japan and Europe; anything not falling into the former 2 regions tends to fall into the Europe region.
Why these images?
Short of proper 3D model box support in Launchbox, I find that "2.5D" is often the best box image type. 3D boxes can be good and I use them for some platforms, though the angle that they tend to be at makes the cover art a bit less clear, and all the spines can give an overall cluttered appearance which can be distracting from the artwork. The standard scraped box-front images tend to just look like jpg computer images and not the actual physical product.
That's where 2.5D comes in. By 2.5D I mean that the image is of the actual front artwork, within the box, facing head on. I'm a perfectionist and want the images to look as realistic as possible - just like the original game boxes. This set is therfore created using a photo-realistic hard plastic case template (not a vector model), complete with the little box hanger and mottled plastic cover, within which the artwork sleeve is inserted. There is some subtle lighting and shadow effect. I went through each item individually so that I could tailor the effect depending on the brightness and contrast of the box art. I'm aiming to create the most realistic sets out there, and am open to any feedback or suggestions. This is over a week's work - in future I will use a Photoshop automation and just set the effect somewhere in the middle, in order to save time!