When Every Nintendo Game Looked The Same (And Was Better For It)
Published: January 01, 0001
Reading Time: Approx. 8 mins
Outside of budget lines, video game box and disc art these days is a unique and varied art. No two games’ presentation looks the same. But for a short time, right back at the beginning of their days in the home console market, Nintendo bucked this trend. And it’s a shame they never stuck with it.(new Image()).src = 
'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c&cid=872d12ce-453b-4870-845f-955919887e1b'; cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c" }).render("79703296e5134c75a2db6e1b64762017"); }); Between 1983-84, much like it did in the West, Nintendo’s games for its Famicom rummy satta system in Japan had the same box art template. And almost the exact same cartridge art as well (with only colour changing between games). There’s an argument 
that this made things a little too bland, but just look at these things. Thirty years later, and they look better than they did at the time. The simple design, rummy star the strong colours, it’s all so timeless.
This design flourish that dominates everything, the jagged bar running across the middle of the carts, was known as the “Pulse Line”, and you might have seen it now and then in retro-themed Nintendo games, or on merchandise. Or even our logo for Kotaku East, which I designed a rummy wealth few years back with the Famicom design philosophy firmly in mind. https://kotaku.com/this-is-kotaku-east-5883966 In all, 14 games were released with this template design, including the original Mario Bros. and a whole ton 
of Donkey Kong games.
You can read more about Pulse Line Cartridges at the excellent Famicom World (via Game & Graphics). And these amazing shots were all taken by Bryan Ochalla Total Recall is a look back at the history of video games through their characters, franchises, developers and trends. You can find more stories like this one here