The Art of Atari (2016)(www.artofatari.com)
49 pointsby ghtbircshotbe2 days ago9 comments
  • criddell2 days ago
    Have you played Atari today? 11 year old me was able to always answer that question yes.

    So many times the box art would totally capture my imagination. I'd ask for some cartridge for Christmas or my birthday and it was always a bit of a gut punch to see the screen for the first time.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/retrogaming/comments/11ddevl/atari_...

    • abetusk2 days ago
      I would love to see someone do video synthesis using the cover art as a basis. I wish I were more adept at it to try it out.
    • amypetrik821 hours ago
      >Have you played Atari today?

      I don't know about Atari, but I'm willing to say we've all played ARTari today

  • progmetaldev2 days ago
    The box art for Haunted House (not the racy, original version) always frightened me as a child. I got the same feeling when I would go through my dad's vinyl collection and would run into the cover of The Moody Blues' "On The Threshold Of A Dream." The surreal style captured the types of nightmares I would have when young.

    Atari Haunted House: https://e.snmc.io/lk/o/x/5585d64c8bad9592834b18b0c8394b44/10...

    On The Threshold Of A Dream: https://rockandrollglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2505...

  • bluedino2 days ago
    I always enjoyed the Magnavox Odyssey 2 box art as well

    https://retrovania-vgjunk.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-wonderful...

  • gxd2 days ago
    I own the poster version ("The Art of Atari, the poster collection") and it's great. I have three of their posters hanging in my office right now. It's not just nostalgia, the art is terrific.

    EDIT: the poster collection now costs $600+ on Amazon. Wow.

    • LaundroMata day ago
      Aargh. I've been wanting a large poster of Missile Command for a while now, but can't seem to find one at a decent price. Having one printed is difficult too as I can't find high-res, large image files of it.
  • j_m_b2 days ago
    The spaceship beaming people up in Defender always looked like it's proportions were off. As a kid, I remember seeing the spaceship and thinking it looked like a metal glove.
  • coachgodzup2 days ago
    These were really quite a piece of art. Unfortunately nowadays a box is so rare.
  • myth_drannon2 days ago
    There is also one from Bitmap Books but more about the actual game graphics.

    https://www.bitmapbooks.com/en-ca/collections/all-books/prod...

    • pico3032 days ago
      Thank you for posting this. I had no idea this was out there!
  • figitala day ago
    I have this book. It’s fantastic.
  • JKCalhoun2 days ago
    The Art of Over-Promising and Under-Delivering, ha ha. (Truly, I did just want something closer to a gently stylized screenshot so I knew what I was getting.)
    • dolea day ago
      Contrasting this with the similarly fantastic and ridiculous GPU Box Art from the 90's kind of shows how in 15-20 years at least back then, "the more things change, the more they stay the same."

      https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/relive-the-d...

    • bitwize2 days ago
      I loved art like this. It encouraged you to use your imagination to see the little blob of pixels on your screen as a warrior, spaceship, etc. It made the simple graphics more meaningful.

      It's kinda like how in Clue (Cluedo), the characters like Reverend Green, Miss Scarlett, Professor Plum, etc. so richly detailed in the box art and on the cards are represented by simple one-color game pieces in-game.