Atari recently celebrated their 50 year anniversary. It is hard to believe the 2600 was released over four decades ago. Atari will always be considered a groundbreaking company and an important part of video game history. In addition to being a pioneer in the home console space, Atari was also at the forefront of video game box art as we know it today.
The graphic capabilities of the 8-bit Atari 2600 were limited. The company knew they needed a way to catch eyeballs on retail shelves in order to sell games. So they decided to focus on creating stunning cover/box art to move units. The result was some of the most iconic game box art of all time. Today we are taking a look at a few of our favorites.
Yars’ Revenge is the best-selling original title for the Atari 2600. And with box art like this, it is easy to see why. The bright orange cover features an awesome giant mechanical bug (Yar) shooting fireballs. The artists also added a chain gun appendage for good measure. The perspective is wonderful and Yar jumps right off the box. The whole composition is superb. The game itself is pretty good too.
The box art of River Raid was retro before the game itself was considered retro. Bright, bold colors and pronounced line work. Geometric shapes with a tilted 3D perspective. It definitely has that 70s vibe. While the cover art is somewhat abstract, it does manage to portray many of the actual in-game elements (barrels, boats, etc). The cover is memorable and gives you a good sense of the core gameplay.
Berserk features a human blasting through a huge robotic enemy on the cover. With a single shot shredding the bad guy to mechanical bits. The colors are vibrant and the imagery is clean/detailed. The cover definitely feels period correct, clearly taking inspiration from TRON. It has that whole ‘mankind versus the machines’ feel. And shooting robots is fun. What ten year-old kid doesn’t want to buy this?
It wouldn’t be right to talk about Atari and not talk about Space Invaders. In addition to being one of the greatest games of all-time, the box art is absolutely amazing. A giant alien ship (with more behind it) hovering over what appears to be a foreign planet (or possibly Arizona). The imagery is iconic and definitely has that Close Encounters of the Third Kind feel. It is exactly what one might think of when reading the game title.
Modern games feature amazing, realistic graphics (and the box art is pretty good too). But way back in the 80s (before digital distribution), Atari was selling a lot of games on store shelves. They were able to do this by using captivating cover art. This would soon become the industry norm. The 8-bit era of Atari 2600 has come and gone, but the impact of its stunning video game box art will never be forgotten.
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