Megadrive Box art comparison: Disneys Lion King

Ok so I am back onc3e again looking at Megadrive case art and in this case I am looking at the Lion King. I will be looking at its American, European, Japanese and Australian Platinum edition art and suggesting what I like and dislike about them before deciding what my ideal case art would be

So this is the American cover for the lion king, I started by showing this one for two reasons one its the version I actually own and two as far as I m concerned when you think oh The Lion King on the Mega Drive/Genesis this is exactly the sort of thing I think you would see in your head case art wise.

This is the English version all of the European versions basically looked like this but with The Lion King and the back info written in each country's language.  On the one hand I don't think the cover is very game like but then I also find it very classy. Its a newer Megadrive game hence the blue borders instead of the black which I would usually moan about but I think the blue actually looks good alongside all of the red and yellow in the central image. I think the central art of this case would make a great poster for adult fans of this film.

For once I really do not rate the Japanese case art, the fact it has a long slim almost spine down the front of the front portion of the cover is not a good look, it has the same art as the American version but smaller and more pushed to the centre which is the opposite to what a lot of my favourite Japanese cases do. If I had to try and find elements of this case I like, well I like the cartoon young Simba on the back and I like the sort of African pattern border it has but I do think this is the worse of the three cases.

This is the case for the Sega Platinum collection version of The Lion King and I actually kind of like it overall its very adult and sort of upmarket, its a bit like when you get the versions of Harry Potter books which have been published for adults with classy dust jackets instead of cartoon ones. I prefer it to the Japanese version but I don't think I am quiet as taken with it as the English one, I do think that a reversible cover would have been a good idea so you could pick between something like this and something a bit more bright and kid friendly.

I am usually a champion for Japanese Video Game art but I also say it as I see it, I don't think the Japanese art is good in all cases and because it is usually of such a quality it makes you almost dislike it even more when its poor because you have seen just how great it can be.

This is my idea of a classy cover adding my favourite elements of both the English cover and the Australian Platinum collection cover. Personally I think this is really striking but when I showed it to my daughter despite her liking elements of it she pointed out that in her opinion it should be the large sun dominating the front cover but should just have one large Simba shadow on it instead of a large variety of characters and although I don't agree I can see her point.