官方介绍不同版本的《古墓丽影4》封面变化。以下是原文，本站正在翻译中。
——原文网址：https://tombraider25.square-enix-games.com/en-us/tr4/blog/beyond-the-cover-triv/
05.31.2021
Beyond the Cover: The Last Revelation
Hello Tomb Raider community! Welcome again to BEYOND THE COVER. In this new issue, we’re going to discover some of the most special covers of Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation,
Once again, I want to thank all the readers of this monthly blog for your support and messages of affection that you have sent me through social media.
Many of you have requested a new addition on these blogs and it is a pleasure to announce that it has become a reality: not only will we be able to enjoy the original covers, but we will also discover the back covers of the games that we are going to detail below. So, I can only hope that you really enjoy this new blog and one of the most special titles in the franchise.
Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation, released on November 22, 1999, is one of the games most remembered by fans due to various reasons. The first one is that it takes place entirely in Egypt, an idyllic location for a Tomb Raider game. Also, we have an introductory first level with a young Lara in Cambodia, instructed by her mentor Werner Von Croy. But the most important thing is what this game means for the franchise: an ending in which we thought was Lara Croft's last adventure, and that we would no longer see her again after her supposed death and abandonment by the same mentor she had been with her from the beginning of her adventures.
Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation may have been the end of Tomb Raider and Lara Croft, but it wasn't.
This game lost the exclusivity in Sony PlayStation consoles that it had in the two previous titles and returned to SEGA for its new console: Dreamcast. This means the publication of new international editions and a breath of fresh air in which we see something beyond the Sony logo, which is dynamic.
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation was also released on Dreamcast (so the franchise returned to SEGA after Tomb Raider (1996) came out on Sega Saturn), so we'll have a lot of content on the next blog.
Time to start! Here we go with a personal selection about the most curious covers/editions of Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation!
A front and back image of the North American box art from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation was published in North America on November 22, 1998. Lara Croft is in one of the tombs of Egypt, with a gun in one hand and a flashlight in the other. We hadn’t seen Lara with two different equipment objects so far on a cover. This detail gives more dynamism to key art by placing Lara Croft as the true explorer she is.
In addition, the cover also offers a feeling of anguish and mystery when seeing Lara in the depths of one of the Egyptian tombs we can visit in the game, creating both beautiful and claustrophobic atmosphere.
As if this weren’t enough, the logo changes for the NA version for the first time. Now, "Tomb Raider" maintains that orange color simulating the stone but with a flatter and gradient design, although energetic. "The Last Revelation" turns in a blue tone with a light relief practically superimposed on bottom of the main logo.
A front and back image of the European box art from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.
A few days later, Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation European edition arrived with great similarities in the design of the cover, but with the logo completely different. Personally, although I think it is a success to use the same cover image, it would have been interesting to have variants between NA and EU with the impressive renders that were made for this game.
For this game, entire logo maintains European patron, which is designed with the same texture, typography, and linearity. In the UK version, the "IV" was not used in reference to number 4, but only the title of the game: "The Last Revelation". This doesn’t happen in other European versions that we’ll see later in this blog.
Regarding the back cover of European editions, these have a lot more details of the game in the texts. Only share a few lines of synopsis and new features. As you can see comparing both, the NA version gives more importance to in-game images, while the EU version, although it also has several images, makes more emphasis on the descriptive texts.
A front and back image of the Japanese box art from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.
The Japanese version of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation has two main variants that were published for PlayStation. The first one is the standard version of the game, while the other is the version that Hits or Platinum: an edition for the best-selling and most popular titles of the console.
As can be appreciated, the art of the cover is totally different from North America and Europe. Lara Croft is pictured from the back looking towards the pyramids of Egypt.
The logo is the European but with the "IV" in Roman numbers and the title of the game, in addition to the corresponding translation in Japanese. The game was published in Japan in July 2000.
A front and back image of various European box art from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.
In Europe, there were many more variants of Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation. These covers have been included to compare how change depending on the country in which these have been published.
For example, in Spain it’s maintained the same style as in UK with a text that says “Completely in Spanish” under the logo. In Germany, the “IV” number is added next to the title of the game with the same rocky typography. In France, the only thing that changes is the main title adapted to French. The same as in Netherlands.
A front and back image of the North American Dreamcast box art from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.
The standard edition of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation for Dreamcast in North America is special because it’s the first game of Tomb Raider published for this console after Sony's exclusivity.
Lara Croft returns to SEGA with a unique cover design (there is no other edition with the same image) in a key art that combines the original North America logo with a Lara render shooting with its twin pistols with the pyramids and the Great Sphinx of Giza in the background.
A front and back image of various Dreamcast European box art from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.
The same goes for the European versions for Dreamcast. As with those of PlayStation, everything remains the same except the design of the logos depending on each country.
The back coverings have been added to see how they are in Dreamcast, which vary slightly from the PlayStation as far as the images of the game are concerned.
A front and back image of the Japanese Dreamcast box art from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.
SEGA Dreamcast version of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation in Japan is practically identical to the PlayStation versions. However, it is a much cleaner and better organized image that allows the design of the cover to look more beautiful and not as dark or overloaded.
Did you see that? Take another look at the covers of the game in Japan for PlayStation and Dreamcast. Yes! The Capcom logo is part of the cover. Why? Because Capcom was the distributor of the physical game in Japan. What an interesting crossover...
A front and back image of the Russian box art from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.
Here you are, for the first time in these blogs, an edition of Tomb Raider in Russian. Indeed, the first physical game of Tomb Raider published in Russia was The Last Revelation.
This edition adopted the same image on the cover with the flashlight pointing to a text in Russian but changed the back cover with a cell-shaded treatment to the render, the game images, and the text. It also features a background of cracked rocks, and small spoiler of the end of the game...
From this game, Tomb Raider has its own editions in Russian. The first ones, as you can see with this game, arrived only and exclusively for PC.
A front and back image of the Polish box art from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.
Another edition to highlight of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, following the line of the titles for PC is this version in Polish published by a magazine.
The most curious thing about this edition is that the cover is not only completely different from the rest, but it does not even correspond to the game because it’s a render of Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft.
It’s not the first time that this happens in a promotional game as a gift of a magazine or similar. In the previous blog, we discovered a version of Tomb Raider III with the typography of Angel of Darkness.
A front and back image of assorted PC box art from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.
To close this section of jewel cases for PC editions, it’s necessary to present two versions published in Italy and Germany as some reeditions for an Italian magazine and a seal known as SAT.1, respectively.
Once again, as can be seen, something strange happens. The images of the back cover of the Italian promotional edition (also of a magazine) do not correspond to the game. The magazine could have done a better job of graphic documentation for the edition, but we would have lost a very outstanding curiosity.
A front and back image of the "Big Bytes" box art from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation was a very important game for the franchise and can be seen in the large number of physical editions it has.
Lara Croft was an increasingly popular character, and this caused that there were more and more countries publishing the game in their regions, as is the case of Australia and the PC edition we can see published under the Big Bytes seal - a variant of the Sold Out seal (and that also published its corresponding version of the game in UK).
The physical editions of Australia are one of the most difficult to find, not for its price (since they are quite affordable), but because the export is very complicated and finding a country game for sale on the Internet is extremely complicated unless He has been sent, for some reason, to UK.
A front and back image of the PC Trapezoid box art from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.
In the past blog we saw for the first-time trapezoid editions. Now, we present the version of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation in detail.
Cover, back cover and design inside the trapezoidal box with an awesome Lara Croft between texts and images of the game.
Undoubtedly, these editions only available in North America are one of the best representations of the game and beloved by fans and collectors. Although these are expensive, it’s possible to get each one of them for a "reasonable" price on the Internet nowadays.
A front and back image of the PC Millennium Edition box art from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.
Tomb Raider: The Millennium Edition it’s a very special edition of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation presented in a trapezoid box.
This version, in addition to the base game, also includes merchandising from Tomb Raider as a well-known and small handmade figure, a special edition comic and an exclusive card game.
A front and back image of the Times Exclusive box art from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.
BONUS! Tomb Raider: The Times is a standalone exclusive playable level via download, using Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation assets.
Physical edition of the level is a true piece of collector very difficult to find nowadays due to the limited units that were put into circulation.
This bonus level was a promotion for The Times’ newspaper celebrating 75th anniversary from discovery of the Tutankhamun’s tomb.
Hope you enjoyed my personal selection for Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation covers, but I aim you to discover more and new ones. I’m Alejandro Cambronero Albaladejo and you can follow my path on Alex’s Tomb Raider Blog or Tomb Raider World and my social media (Twitter, Instagram and Facebook). Stay tuned for next issue with Tomb Raider: Chronicles (2000). See you and keep exploring!
