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Hilariously deceptive box art?


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Well sure maybe, but we LOVED IT and it inspired our dreams, at least I thought so. Just a fun little article on the subject of Atari 2600 game box art. 

 

https://games.yahoo.com/photos/deceptive-atari-box-art-1439493824-slideshow/flag-capture-photo-1439495120995.html

I am Rob aka MaximumRD aka OldSchoolRetroGamer and THIS is my world http://about.me/maximumrd

"For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday."

 - M. Bison

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The stories that came with them made it even more imaginative. Centipede, Yars'. The Defender box art was my favorite! These people were running through the streets hoping I would save them. It helped make up for the graphics a bit. Of course, we were the D&D generation, imagination was the best we had.

 "Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime."

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how about this one?

atari_2600_pac-man_box.jpg

 

looks like:

91465-Pac-Man_(1982)_(Atari,_Tod_Frye_-_

 

should have looked like:

Brian Matherne - owner/curator of "The MOST comprehensive list of Atari VCS/2600 homebrews ever compiled." http://tiny.cc/Atari2600Homebrew

author of "The Atari 2600 Homebrew Companion" book series available on Amazon! www.amazon.com/author/brianmatherne

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Yeah, if you were buying Pac-Man on the 2600 hoping for a more true-to-the-source port, you would be disappointed.

 

But as far as the box art goes, it actually does a fair job of showing you the 2600 version of the game as far as the color scheme, same colored ghosts and rectangular pellets/vitamin wafers.

The No Swear Gamer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChtJuo040EOCTVziObIgVcg

Host of The Atari 7800 Game by Game Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher and YouTube

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Atari box art was truly Art, to my eyes.

Yeah, the game's graphic design could never live up to comparison, with its little-chipset-that-could still in infancy in th egrand scheme of things.

But it was expected.

We wanted a story and got one, with those inspirational little paragraphs that gave us just enough to kickstart that Video Funtime, where *We* controlled the story.

 

Yeah, there was lots of derision among us, even then. We'd look at the photorealistic print of something like Haunted House and, once plugged in, the dark rooms and googly eyes within the game existed in their own simple plane of existence, away from the high-detailed shapes we never expected anyway.

But HH is a great example of:

Look at the cover (Hauntings and ghosties movie - Great!)

Read (skim) the manual (What kills me, what doesn't, what are the game options?)

Pop it in (*Always* antici...............................pation)

Get sucked in (Great gameplay? Exactly what I wanted)

 

Then you look at that lovely cover and the care that went into the game folds itself into a whole product, a proud offering.

 

Some great art games not so good? Also expected. I never woulda bought 3D Tic Tac Toe based on the cover anyway (but what a cover!) and - mostly - we always flipped the box for that Buyer-Beware drawing of the actual screen.

 

Maybe I rankle a bit cuz of this at that Yahoo article.

Maybe cuz they dare call out the greatest free-roaming 4-bit experience out there (ahem)

Maybe cuz Maze Craze gave me crazy hours of fun with its actual AI gameplay.

Maybe cuz Miniature Golf never crossed my path and I still find it wonderful, sight-unseen.

Maybe cuz I'd be proud to paint my walls with every single Atari 2600 box art.

Maybe cuz I dunno the writer ever played any of these and how dare they and so on...

 

(goes back to porch)

(glares at passersby near lawn)

(slams door, switches on the VCS)

(forgets the Red Bull generation)

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