Jim Power Amiga cover (1992) 🔗

Sure was a choice from Loriciel to take a tough martial arts movie star like Jean-Claude Van Damme and stick him in the game protagonist's super dorky outfit. The game isn't even horror themed, but they complemented that with the body horror image of one of the thugs from Robocop grossly melting away after getting doused with toxic chemicals. The rocket powered guy to the upper right is from yet another kind of source, a painting by sci fi illustrator Peter Elson, apparently originally commissioned for Harry Harrison's short story collection Prime Number (but also published on a variety of other books). This is incidentally also the only element this cover has in common with the otherwise very different PC Engine version. I'm sure all the other elements on here are also adaptions, but this is what we know so far.

The Peter Elson connection was discovered by ‪'just hangin around' (that's the screen name) on Bluesky.

Nodes of Yesod cover (1985) 🔗

Nodes of Yesod is a 2D arcade adventure of the type that was popularized on the ZX Spectrum by Jet Set Willy, starring an astronaut in a space suit exploring an enormous cave system inside the moon. But while the space man in the game is fictional, the one on the cover by Gerry Fisher is... let's say: based on a true story. The pose is a dead ringer for Buzz Aldrin on the famous photo of his moon walk, and even the objects mirrored in his visor are quite similar, barring the absence of photographer Neill Armstrong. Interestingly, a rare version for the Enterprise 128 was graced with original art instead, but the 30th Anniversary Edition that was released exclusively on tvOS with updated graphics, reinstates the - perhaps stolen but also more iconic - original cover.

Flash Gordon cover (1986) 🔗

It's your friendly neighborhood Flash Gordon! This UK home computer interpretation of the pulp icon (which did make its way back to the US without the license as Captain Zapp) goes back to the popular How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way well. Besides Spider-Man's swinging pose, Ming the Merciless in the background also originates here, from the disembodied head pronouncing chapter eight! Dale Arden and Dr. Hans Zarkov are not from here, but they seem comic book-ey to me as well.

After the initial release on the C64, subsequent ports had the colors and some of the poses changed for some reason, but certainly not enough to be legally distinct (and neither color scheme seems to match any iteration of the Flash Gordon franchise).

Freedom Force cover (1988) 🔗

When I first saw this cover, I thought it was a reference to Natural Born Killers, until I checked and (re)discovered that it predates that movie by more than half a decade. Of all the game covers that borrow Clint Eastwood's iconic Dirty Harry pose, this is the only one where the gun is almost as big as the original. The head, on the other hand, comes from a different source this time. His features are a bit distorted, but it's still identifiable as Rutger Hauer on a publicity photo from the set of Blade Runner. (Thanks to downchasm and Disc B on Bluesky for the tip on Rutger Hauer.) His lady friend remains a mystery for now.

Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress cover (1982) 🔗

Ultima is one of the foundational works of fantasy CRPG history, so no wonder its production was inspired by two of the giants of fantasy illustration at the time. The demon's torso and parts of his pose come from a Frazetta paintign aptly titled Swamp Demon (sorry about the rough cutout for the comparison - it kind of blends in with the shadows, so it's hard to tell where the monster ends and the background begins), whereas the adventurer is teleporting in from Boris Vallejo's futiristic Behind the Walls of Terror. Ironically, it wouldn't be long before Origin System found themselves at the other end of such a "transaction" - and reportedly weren't amused.

Metal Gear cover art (1987) 🔗

The cover for the original Metal Gear may be one of the most widely known and recognized examples that'll ever appear in this gallery. Series creator Hideo Kojima famously being the absolute American action and sci-fi movies freak that he is, it's not at all surprising that it is ripped straight from one of the all time greats from the 1980s, Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese in The Terminator. The character's face and pose are hardly disguised at all, although he does get a few additional tech gadgets strapped onto his combat suit, as well as a comically enlarged barrel on his gun. But my favorite part of this is that there seems to be some strange lighting situation going on over the upper half of Michael Biehn's left thumb, which the artist apparently misinterpreted, leaving Solid Snake with an unusually short digit.

Gryzor / Contra cover art (1987) 🔗

It's often assumed that the iconic Contra title art brings together facsimiles of Arnold Schwarzenegger from Predator and Sylvester Stallone's John Rambo, but don't let yourself be misled by the second guy's dark hair and red bandana: In reality, they're both based off stills from Arnie's movie. The art was originally drawn by the late Bob Wakelin for Ocean's European home computer releases under the title Gryzor. Bob doesn't seem to have enjoyed working on this one too much (source: exotica), but someone clearly must have liked it, as it ended up making its way across the pond onto the official NES cover in the US.