Not sure I agree. The left looks like the sort of thing you’d see on an unlicensed NES game or one of Working Designs’ early TurboGrafx games (check out their “art” for Cosmic Fantasy 2). Activision games on the 2600 tended to use drawn versions of in-game graphics, like with Pitfall or River Raid. They also had the weird habit of using rainbow-type streaks to denote motion in the box art.
 
Basically, for an Activision MLP game, imagine a hand-drawn picture of a screen from Adventure Ponies, with a five-tone gradient streak behind the characters to denote motion.
 
As for Atari’s own box art, you’ll often find incredible paintings inspired by album and film art of the 70s. Defender in particular is strikingly beautiful.
 

Mmmm, old school games make me feel warm and fuzzy.
 
Left is better because Derpy.

@Angel Cake  
No problem. XD

@MorphinBrony
 
Thank you!

Hehe
 
So this is what you used it for. Well done! :3

@OneOverTwo  
I personaly prefer the american version.The japanese version look like something that came out of Blingee.com

@chaos15  
The minimalist style doesn’t work all the time…but when it does…
 

Not a retro example or an example of the box art exaggerating or lying. But I hate the American Persona 3 boxart.
 
Japan:  

 
Europe:  

 
America:  

@lunafan22  
Ick. Our [European] Megaman 2 cover art was awful, too.
 

 
As a Mega Drive/Genesis fan, I have to add Sega Europe made some screwed-up cover art, too.

So true. Oh, so true. I grew up on Atari, and the 8-16 bits era. The game’s graphics were all about anime, but the american cover was always in that hyper realistic style that had nothing to do about the game itself. Seesh. Made my inner weeaboo rage so much at the time.
 
Then, Anime finally became popular in my 20’s so that problem was finally fixed.

@chaos15
 
The first Breath of Fire cartridge for the US was even more different. It looked like something out of He-Man XD

@lunafan22  
Wonder what would be the MLP equivalent?

Japanese Ryu:  
 
American Ryu:  

Why Atari, though? Japanese video games weren’t much of a thing there. Why not NES or something?

@Prof.NightJack  
@Keith Mowz  
Oh crystal clear now…

@Dirty Bit  
It was officially a joke, but they claim they weren’t trying to be cruel

@lunafan22
 
There you have it. Surprised they went with that Megaman in particular for Street Fighter X Tekken. Probably some kind of cruel joke.

yuck  

@Zeyon  
Here. Have a trope.

@OneOverTwo  
that’s totally not comparing two extremes
 
nope

Sounds about right.

@Zeyon  
You don’t know how old video games from Japan used to have entirely different artwork when distributed in the US?

Well this is… a thing that I’m not sure the meaning of… Is OP trying to start something or confuse people?

New times, old videogame cover artwork… Back when Eastern covers entered the uncanny valley…

 
Reminds me of this.