I grew up playing the Atari 2600 back in the early 80’s.  I remembered my parent’s basement in Toronto where they setup the game in a corner, next to the fireplace.  During winter, it got pretty cold down there, but I didn’t care.  I would play for hours. I would invite friends over, and played a few games of Combat, Pitfall, Missile Command, Space Invaders, or Pacman.

When I went shopping with my family, I would stop at the stores’ window where they displayed the games.  I begged my parents to get me a copy of Air Sea Battle, Warlords, or Video Pinball.  Why?  Because the box art looked so good!  The actual game quality was questionable, but I didn’t care: the picture on the box was awesome!

Below are some of those awesome, nostalgia inducing, Atari 2600 box arts. I can stare at them all day!

Asteroids

Air Sea Battle

Adventure

Backgammon

Basic Programming

Basketball

Berzerk

Breakout

Canyon Bomber

Casino

Combat

Defender

Dodge Em

ET

Grand Prix

Haunted House

Indy 500

Kaboom

Maze Craze

Missile Command

Night Driver

Pacman

Pitfall

River Raid

Slot Racers

Space Invaders

Star Ship

Super Breakout

Video Checkers

Video Chess

Video Pinball

Warlords

Yars Revenge

3D Tic Tac Toe

For more Atari 2600 box arts, check out Wikia Gaming site.

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7 Responses to “Atari 2600 Box Art”

  1. Farzan says:

    Loved Frogger and Pac-Man. That system sure had some classics.

    Farzan´s last blog post..REVIEW: Changeling

  2. rudyamid says:

    Hey Farzan,

    I also liked Ms. Pac-Man, but there was no box art for it. :-(

  3. Andrew says:

    Nice! Any list dealing with the Atari 2600 is tops in my book. Though how could you leave off the classic Superman box art? Or The Empire Strikes Back?!? Both of those had me drooling when I saw the ads for them as a kid.

    Andrew´s last blog post..Frak You, Battlestar Galactica

  4. rudyamid says:

    Hey Andrew,

    That’s true, I missed Superman in the list! I did have that game. Thinking back, the graphics for Superman was so blocky and stupid, it was funny. But as a kid, I didn’t care – he looked pretty real at the time. hehehe

  5. Mark Alves says:

    Brought back memories. Loved how the box covers were always so much richer than the actual graphics.

    Mark Alves´s last blog post..DC SEO Meetup – May Event Highlights

  6. rudyamid says:

    Yup, they spent more time marketing it than the actual game itself. Hence, better box art. :-)

  7. John Harmon says:

    Awesome images! Brings back all kinds of memories. The 2600 is still one of my favorite game systems.

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