The Art of Atari (2016)

Postedabout 2 months agoActiveabout 2 months ago

ghtbircshotbe

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15 comments

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RetrogamingAtariVintage Art

Key topics

Retrogaming

Atari

Vintage Art

The 'Art of Atari' book showcases the iconic box art of Atari games, sparking nostalgia and appreciation for the art among retro gaming enthusiasts.

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Nov 4, 2025 at 8:15 AM EST
about 2 months ago
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Discussion (15 comments)

Showing 15 comments

myth_drannon

about 2 months ago

1 reply

There is also one from Bitmap Books but more about the actual game graphics.

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

pico303

about 2 months ago

Thank you for posting this. I had no idea this was out there!

criddell

about 2 months ago

2 replies

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_...

amypetrik8

about 2 months ago

>Have you played Atari today?

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

abetusk

about 2 months 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.

gxd

about 2 months ago

1 reply

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.

LaundroMat

about 2 months 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.

JKCalhoun

about 2 months ago

2 replies

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.)

dole

about 2 months 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...

bitwize

about 2 months 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.

coachgodzup

about 2 months ago

These were really quite a piece of art. Unfortunately nowadays a box is so rare.

j_m_b

about 2 months 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.

bluedino

about 2 months ago

I always enjoyed the Magnavox Odyssey 2 box art as well

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

figital

about 2 months ago

I have this book. It’s fantastic.

progmetaldev

about 2 months 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...

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