Let’s face it, the graphics weren’t the selling point of a ZX Spectrum game. It wasn’t often that someone would pick up a cassette box and yell “WOW, look at the graphics in this game!” – Spectrum gamers knew what kind of graphics they were likely to get even before going to the back of the box.
What made matters worse was that many times on the back of a box, the publishers had provided screenshots of not only the Spectrum version, but also screenshots of the rival Commodore 64 version, and even the versions of Atari ST and Amiga that were streets ahead with graphics capabilities. Some cassette inlays went a step further with complete disregard for misleading advertising, showing screenshots of a completely different system (one of the ones with the much better graphics) and choosing not to show any. Species screenshots at all! Admittedly, there were times when he would look at these comparison screenshots and think “Why can’t my game look *like this*?”. I would still buy the game anyway, because I knew what to expect, and of course I could always use my imagination to make the game better. Regardless of which version of the screenshots I was shown, I had a feeling it was going to be fun. But what made the Spectrum owner pick up the box in the first place?
in a time without Youtube o Internet, and television advertising for games was unheard of; it was the cover that had to get your attention. Yes, there were Spectrum magazines full of screenshots and reviews, but when you flipped the page to reveal a full page Colour advertisement for a game, it was dominated by some awesome artwork of the game, and just a few small screenshots of the game (if any) usually subtly placed at the bottom with the other unimportant stuff.
When I talk about the cover, this was not computer designed in 3D CGI in the standard seen these days; these were beautifully hand drawn or painted, this was true talent, and time and effort invested, nothing computer aided or digital. In some cases you can see felt-tip pen strokes, brush marks or pencil lines. This was true art. Walking into a computer store and looking through the shelves at a sea of boxes of cassettes, each with its own cartoon cover, painted hero scenes, or movie poster-style art, you knew you were in for a treat—even if the treat was the time you spent in the store looking at them. There were titles you’d never heard of, titles that didn’t even show a single screenshot on the back of the box! But this added a mystique to this week’s game purchase choice. Even without screenshots, the cover art told you it was worth the gamble as you stared at the image on the front of the box on your bus ride home (although sometimes the gamble wasn’t always worth the gamble).
These sometimes impressive illustrations would draw you in and tempt you. Like the art on a book cover, you wanted to open the pages and immerse yourself in the story to be the character stamped on the front; the cover set the tone for the incredible adventure you were about to embark on… which, of course, ended up being a series of staple articles pixelated shapes awkwardly moving around a screen to the soundtrack of some beeps and white noise, but that’s not the point.
Today, graphic artists could simply take a frame of the photorealistic texture mapped game sprite and place it in any position or pose, and that alone would be enough to sell the game. However, in the days of the Specter, instead would be an action-posed actor dressed in full costume as characters from the game. I refer, of course, to the memorable cover of “Barbarian”. It gave an extra dimension of realism to the point of sale that is rarely seen nowadays, oh and boobs. The demonstrators concentrated both on the risk (though not by today’s standards) cover, which no one pointed out that in the game you cut people’s heads off with a sword, then kick them across the screen! To be fair, the kind of person who complains about a bikini-wearing girl on the front of a computer game box probably didn’t know how to load the game to be outraged by the beheading.
Big gestures and attention grabbers were needed in the early days of computing, of course, this was mostly to counter the incredibly unrealistic and sometimes pitiful gameplay. how to play of a title – usually the licensed film some, to be fair.
If a movie was a huge hit, any kind of game of any standard would work, sometimes with no real relevance to the movie’s plot, and forget about screenshots, they’re not necessary! 
Get the license to publish a set of the world epic film “Jaws”, put the famous Shark in the front surging towards the swimmer; then a considerable number of units will change. Oh wait, what about the game? Ok, just change the X’s and O’s to Shark Fin and Girls Face in a game of shark tic tac toe – You should do that! (That wasn’t the in-game version of Jaws, by the way, I just made it up for an extreme example – the actual game was *much* less relevant to the plot.) The point is, as long as it got the big Hollywood cover, it would sell galore no matter what. players However, he was disappointed and over the years he would get wise and check the screenshots and reviews of licensed film games, just to make sure they weren’t being ripped off.
There were good games and bad games, correct screenshots, misleading ones, and no screenshots at all; but one thing was for sure when you bought a Spectrum game: you were going to have a new experience (good or bad) that started the moment you saw the cover art.