This post is simply a collection of pictures of my Japanese Mega Drive collection, and when applicable, comparisons of artwork between North America and Japan. Enjoy!
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| Two games that did not get western releases. It's a shame, as they probably would have sold well. |
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| It's interesting that the artwork is completely different for every release of Streets of Rage / Bare Knuckle. |
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| The Street Fighter series |
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| Golden Axe did not receive a domestic port of part III. I think I actually like the American artwork better for this series, if just a smidge. |
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| My favorite trilogy on the Genesis. Many people malign the American Shadow Dancer cover art, I kinda like the subtle approach. The Japanese art with the lightning and all confuses the issue I think. The American Revenge of Shinobi art is iconic, and is forever emblazoned in my memory as on of my earliest Genesis memories. |
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| Thunder Force as a series was making strides with the release of TF3, why in the world did they change the name of TF4 to Lightening Force? It's regarded by many as the best shooter on the console, and they had to go and disassociate it from the Thunder Force name? Just another one of Sega's blunders. |
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| The Ghouls 'n Ghosts artwork is so awesome I'm glad it was not changed. The artwork on both versions of Crackdown are subpar. The Japanese Gain Ground artwork is confusing, so the more traditional presentation for the US is more appealing. |
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| In this pic, the Japanese art work sweeps the board. Everytime I see Bill Pullman I think of the US Strider boxart. |
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| I feel that its harder to mess up artwork for shooters, or at least it should be. Why did the Air Buster |
artwork have to be changed? Or After Burner II for that matter? However, I do like the US Arrow Flash cover better.
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| The Assault Suits Leynos cover is badass, unlike the Battlestar Galactic ripoff that was retitled as Target Earth. Trouble Shooter looks like Charlie's Angels in space. |
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| I don't know what the boxart for Crying is supposed to convey, so at least Bio Hazard Battle offers up somewhat of a concept. Darius II and Sagaia are similar enough. Honestly I don't care for either cover of Elemental Master. I think the US artwork for Steel Empire is better than the hazy abstract art on the MD cover. |
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| The US Gaiares cover is pretty bad, and the Japanese cover feels like its sending a deeper message. Forgotten Worlds is identical, G-Loc is OK for both versions, but the shiny floating robot chic on the Japanese Galaxy Force II is out of left field. |
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| Wings of Wor goes for a more realistic approach compared to Gynoug. The others are largely unchanged. |
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| The US Twin Cobra cover is fairly generic compared to the menacing Tiger. Musha and Musha Aleste have great art, this just depends on if you like the anime stylings of the latter. The Japanese Vapor Trail is again a bit too abstract for its own good. Phelios is again whitewashing the anime out of the cover. |
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| The US received two variants of Raiden Trad for some reason, neither of which are as cool as the Japanese version. Fire Shark keeps the same theme, although the pilot looks more heroic on the US version when compared to the embittered pilot on the Japanese cover. |
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| The only changes here are Task Force Harrier, in which the US version is less explosion-ey. |
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| Minor cover art changes aside, what's with the diminutive cartridge case on Super Fantasy Zone? Its adorable. |
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| These are the heavies, and they did not receive US counterparts. Being that they are great games, the fact that they were not ported and thus fewer copies of the games exist probably contribute to their asking price. |
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| No US ports to compare here. |
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| More unimported shooters. |
