29 replies to this topic

[Skylark68]

In your opinion, what is the most ridiculous artwork put on an Atari 2600 game box? By ridiculous, does the artwork have anything to do with the actual gameplay? Does it totally overhype the actual game? It doesn't have to be one made by Atari, any of the third party game boxes are valid. As an example, I consider the boxart for both Breakout and Super Breakout pretty ridiculous. How many times do you really picture yourself as a tennis player slamming a ball up against a breaking wall while engaged in a game of Breakout?

Edited by Skylark68, Wed Oct 26, 2011 2:33 PM.

[bomberpunk]

[Animan]

Does this...


Look like this at all?

[Feralstorm]

While It's probably more fitting than a lot of Atari artwork, I always loved the inspired (possibly unintentional) silliness of the crappy rubber dinosaur toys with model fighter jet parts painted silver seen on Demon Attack.

http://www.atariage....&ItemTypeID=BOX

Edited by Feralstorm, Wed Oct 26, 2011 7:15 PM.

[VertigoProcess]

bomberpunk, on Wed Oct 26, 2011 3:06 PM, said:

that girl sure seems to be enjoying that game... maybe if i play that game i'll be that happy... haha

[Master Phruby]

It's worth a shot.

[Miss 2600]

Skylark68, on Wed Oct 26, 2011 2:32 PM, said:

How many times do you really picture yourself as a tennis player slamming a ball up against a breaking wall while engaged in a game of Breakout?

And the commercial for it was Don Knotts breaking out of jail. And the noises when the ball bounces inside the wall is the siren that a prisoner has broken out. That gave me a whole new perspective on the game.

[Dino]

Nothing is more bizarre/ridiculous than this box art in my opinion. It has nothing to do with the games, but is funky nonetheless...

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[Schizophretard]

Dino, on Wed Oct 26, 2011 11:20 PM, said:

Nothing is more bizarre/ridiculous than this box art in my opinion. It has nothing to do with the games, but is funky nonetheless...

Now I have a general idea of where and when I lost that CD.

[VertigoProcess]

Dino, on Wed Oct 26, 2011 11:20 PM, said:

Nothing is more bizarre/ridiculous than this box art in my opinion. It has nothing to do with the games, but is funky nonetheless...

it's clearly a game about choking out football players

[AlvinKarpis]

As already posted Flag Capture to me has always been the most ludicrous of the box art

I remember borrowing Flag Capture from a friend back in the 80s and seeing the label invisioned a bunch of Pirate Ships at war seeing which one would stand as the winner with its flag raised high

I would pay money to have a picture of the look on my face once I fired that game up

[Skylark68]

AlvinKarpis, on Thu Oct 27, 2011 8:21 PM, said:

As already posted Flag Capture to me has always been the most ludicrous of the box art

I remember borrowing Flag Capture from a friend back in the 80s and seeing the label invisioned a bunch of Pirate Ships at war seeing which one would stand as the winner with its flag raised high

I would pay money to have a picture of the look on my face once I fired that game up

That's hilarious. I too thought that that game was going to be a lot more awesome than what it was/is. I bought it sometime in the late '80s new at Kay Bee thinking it was going to be a great game. Boy was I wrong.

[Rex Dart]

[tremoloman2006]

bomberpunk, on Wed Oct 26, 2011 3:06 PM, said:

I think I mentioned this before somewhere in the forums but I always thought the boy is saying "F***ing Atari... they screwed me AGAIN!"

[lapetino]

Skylark68, on Wed Oct 26, 2011 2:32 PM, said:

In your opinion, what is the most ridiculous artwork put on an Atari 2600 game box? By ridiculous, does the artwork have anything to do with the actual gameplay? Does it totally overhype the actual game? It doesn't have to be one made by Atari, any of the third party game boxes are valid. As an example, I consider the boxart for both Breakout and Super Breakout pretty ridiculous. How many times do you really picture yourself as a tennis player slamming a ball up against a breaking wall while engaged in a game of Breakout?

It's called metaphor and imagination. People buying games in the 70s and 80s didn't have the same expectation that artwork would look exactly like the on-screen graphics. It was a way to get people excited about the games, and connect to what was state-of-the-art technology at the time. So, I don't think any of the art was ridiculous.

[R.O.T.S]

lapetino, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 4:14 PM, said:

Skylark68, on Wed Oct 26, 2011 2:32 PM, said:

In your opinion, what is the most ridiculous artwork put on an Atari 2600 game box? By ridiculous, does the artwork have anything to do with the actual gameplay? Does it totally overhype the actual game? It doesn't have to be one made by Atari, any of the third party game boxes are valid. As an example, I consider the boxart for both Breakout and Super Breakout pretty ridiculous. How many times do you really picture yourself as a tennis player slamming a ball up against a breaking wall while engaged in a game of Breakout?

It's called metaphor and imagination. People buying games in the 70s and 80s didn't have the same expectation that artwork would look exactly like the on-screen graphics. It was a way to get people excited about the games, and connect to what was state-of-the-art technology at the time. So, I don't think any of the art was ridiculous.

I agree with this,the cover has to help sell the product so you would see many over the top box designs but with systems the way they were back then you used your imagination while playing,which nowdays of course is not required and a dead art.
Back then you plugged in Adventure and had to imagine the hedge like maze from the cover was the solid mazes onscreen and your `block` was a knight and the giant ducks like creatures were infact writhing dragons/serpents

[rmaerz]

Miss 2600, on Wed Oct 26, 2011 9:10 PM, said:

And the commercial for it was Don Knotts breaking out of jail. And the noises when the ball bounces inside the wall is the siren that a prisoner has broken out. That gave me a whole new perspective on the game.

That commercial rocks!

[rmaerz]

VertigoProcess, on Thu Oct 27, 2011 5:04 AM, said:

Dino, on Wed Oct 26, 2011 11:20 PM, said:

Nothing is more bizarre/ridiculous than this box art in my opinion. It has nothing to do with the games, but is funky nonetheless...

it's clearly a game about choking out football players

It's backin89's vision of ruling the world

[Keatah]

Math Gran Prix totally rocked, couldn't get enough of it back then.

[4Ks]

rmaerz, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 5:24 PM, said:

VertigoProcess, on Thu Oct 27, 2011 5:04 AM, said:

Dino, on Wed Oct 26, 2011 11:20 PM, said:

Nothing is more bizarre/ridiculous than this box art in my opinion. It has nothing to do with the games, but is funky nonetheless...

it's clearly a game about choking out football players

It's backin89's vision of ruling the world

Would you knock it off with the backin89 jokes already? That dead horse has been beaten so many times it's just not funny anymore.

[Mxyzptlk]

I am gonna go out on a limb here, but pretty much every single one of them were much more exciting than the actual game. The game Adventure being the only exception to the rule.

[Schizophretard]

Flag Capture it is basically a board game on screen. It is kind of like Battleship but instead of trying to find ships you are trying to find a flag and not find a bomb. The Art has explorers on it, flags, and an explosion. I've seen art for Battleship with explosions, torpedoes,... Flag Capture's art looks similar but of older times.

Math Gran Prix is about math and racing.

Every time I play Breakout I picture myself as a tennis player slamming a ball up against a breaking wall because of Pong, paddle controllers, and the game play. To me Pong is like ping pong and ping pong is like tennis. Breakout is like lifting half of a ping pong table up and bouncing the ball off or like racquetball. It does seem like the ball is breaking bricks. The controllers have tennis rackets and a ball on them. When I see that rectangular cursor and the square bouncing off I think of a ball bouncing off a tennis racket/ping pong paddle. I would think that without even seeing the box. Kaboom! is the opposite. If I never saw the box I would never know they are buckets. And the Super Breakout box, well playing tennis in space is more super than on the ground.

The checkers box clearly matches.

The dinosaurs on Demon Attack makes sense because Satan planted all those fossils in the ground to prove evolution.

I can't debate the Spider Maze box.

[Skylark68]

lapetino, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 4:14 PM, said:

Skylark68, on Wed Oct 26, 2011 2:32 PM, said:

In your opinion, what is the most ridiculous artwork put on an Atari 2600 game box? By ridiculous, does the artwork have anything to do with the actual gameplay? Does it totally overhype the actual game? It doesn't have to be one made by Atari, any of the third party game boxes are valid. As an example, I consider the boxart for both Breakout and Super Breakout pretty ridiculous. How many times do you really picture yourself as a tennis player slamming a ball up against a breaking wall while engaged in a game of Breakout?

It's called metaphor and imagination. People buying games in the 70s and 80s didn't have the same expectation that artwork would look exactly like the on-screen graphics. It was a way to get people excited about the games, and connect to what was state-of-the-art technology at the time. So, I don't think any of the art was ridiculous.

Don't get me wrong, I love the artwork and I love the games. I grew up in this era and since I was pretty young, the artwork made a big impression on me and helped sell the game to me (although my parents paid for them - haha). You have to admit though, some of them were pretty over the top!

[toptenmaterial]

4Ks, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:11 PM, said:

rmaerz, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 5:24 PM, said:

VertigoProcess, on Thu Oct 27, 2011 5:04 AM, said:

Dino, on Wed Oct 26, 2011 11:20 PM, said:

Nothing is more bizarre/ridiculous than this box art in my opinion. It has nothing to do with the games, but is funky nonetheless...

it's clearly a game about choking out football players

It's backin89's vision of ruling the world

Would you knock it off with the backin89 jokes already? That dead horse has been beaten so many times it's just not funny anymore.

I beg to differ!

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[jaybird3rd]

lapetino, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 4:14 PM, said:

It's called metaphor and imagination. People buying games in the 70s and 80s didn't have the same expectation that artwork would look exactly like the on-screen graphics. It was a way to get people excited about the games, and connect to what was state-of-the-art technology at the time. So, I don't think any of the art was ridiculous.

Exactly. I always thought the Atari artwork in particular was intriguing, and yes, I knew even at the time I saw my first game (when I was about six years old, in 1982) that I couldn't expect the game to look like the box art. For me, the paintings on the packaging served as a visual aid to prime my imagination, giving me a mental image that I could impose on the more primitive audiovisuals of the actual game as I was playing it. Perhaps that's one reason those games were so immersive for me; they were engaging my imagination on multiple levels. Just look at everything that's going on in the 2600 Missile Command artwork, for example. I'd say the same about the early Mattel Intellivision artwork, which used a similar visual style, although I didn't see those games until much later.