Dragon Quest I (Famicom Box Art)

Video games in general are largely overlooked and a vital domain of graphic design history. It is the culmination of multiple facets of design disciplines, such as illustration, typography, motion, sound, visual, and interactive elements. 

The People's Archive has a limited representation of video games, and preserving these works highlights how design transforms across media, reflects cultural values, and evolves as technology advances. This perspective highlights how design is used as the ultimate interactive medium, drawing on a multitude of ideas, techniques, and practices developed up to this point to tell stories that matter, while also celebrating and pushing the limits of human creativity.

This is one of the foundational images of Japanese RPG box art. Before this, video game covers in Japan were mostly just text or really basic pixel art. Toriyama, who was already huge from Dr. Slump and about to become absolutely massive with Dragon Ball brought this fully realized anime/manga illustration style to game packaging, and it completely changed the industry. The image shows the Hero in his iconic armor set (which became the visual template for the Dragon Quest protagonist forever) with Princess Gwaelin in this very classic fairytale setting.