For their package art, Capcom contracted game illustrator Marc Ericksen's vision of Strider Hiryu wielding his Plasma powered Cipher against an enemy guard and his bayonet equipped AK-47, against a backdrop of Russian inspired architecture of the sort found in the gameplay. There, decorative Red Star motifs shared the stage with minaret style domes prominently suggesting the St. Basil's Cathedral in Red Square, Moscow, also employed by the illustrator for his rendition of Tengen's Tetris, in 1988. The Soviet Union, at that time 3 years from collapse, was selected only as the visual inspiration for the "Enterprise" empire by the design team staging the packaging design.
