Is the Japanese Ocarina of Time guide cover the same as the American?

Hold the two books side by side and the picture is recognisably one painting: Link in the foreground of a Hyrule under threat. The Japanese Wonder Life Special cover, though, prints the painting in full. Ganondorf is in the frame, the earth is cracked, and the storm sky takes up the room the composition was painted with.

The American Nintendo Power guide uses the same artwork but crops it tighter, cutting the edges of the scene to fit its cover treatment. It is the same art with a different presentation, which is why the pair rewards a side by side look: nothing about the painting changed, only how much of it each country was shown.

America actually had a second cover that confuses the comparison. Prima's US guide ignored the painting entirely and used a foil portrait of Link, so an American shelf can hold two completely different Ocarina covers while the Japanese shelf holds the full painting.

This is the comparison this Library treats as a signature: not a different cover, but the whole cover, restored. Collectors hunting the Japanese book for its art are buying back the parts of the painting the crop removed.