Having grown up during the heyday of the Atari 2600, I remember fondly the excitement of going to the store to buy a new game cartridge. There were many specialty and department stores that sold them (including Sears, which sold the Tele-Games versions of Atari cartridges), but my favorite retailer was undoubtedly Toys 'R' Us. This toy store had a ticketing system which made the whole experience that much more exciting. The game boxes were on display on a wall, and underneath each were tickets you took to the cashier, who would then get the game from a locked glass case. And finally, you could pay for it. How thrilling that was for a kid!
Buying a new Atari 2600 cartridge was also exciting partially because of the longing to play whatever new title I had my eye on, and partially because the packaging was just so darn cool (visually appealing). Of course, this started with the colored boxes, as well as the amazing artwork which was also duplicated on the cartridge label. Yes, the artists behind this Atari artwork, and those behind some third-party artwork as well, created some truly stunning imagery. (For those interested in reading about some of these amazing graphic artists, I highly recommend Tim Lapetino's excellent coffee table book Art of Atari). And the box art is also part of what makes collecting Complete in Box (CIB) Atari 2600 games fun today as well.
And with that nostalgia fresh in mind, here are just a handful of my favorite Atari 2600 game boxes:
Dodge 'Em from Atari (1980)
In this game you control a race car in a closed maze. The objective is to drive over all the dots to score points and finish the maze, while avoiding an opposing car trying to collide with you. The splendid, highly detailed box artwork portrays a well-dressed man and woman driving in an old-fashioned car at presumably high speed, narrowly avoiding another driver with dust whipping through the air.
Dolphin from Activision (1983)
You control a dolphin pursued by a persistent and nasty squid in this side-scrolling game (see my May 2025 post). Like most early Activision titles, the box art features a variation on the company's signature Rainbow design. Here those colors are part of the dolphin and the water splashing up above the sinister squid lurking below the surface.
Enduro from Activision (1983)
In Activision's fine racing game Enduro (also released in 1983), the goal is to beat the clock to keep on driving. I like how the Rainbow colors on this box art are part of the road, and also part of the folded road going off into the distance. It's quite an impressive and interesting design.
Based on the arcade game of the same name, the (appropriately colored) brown box features fine Old West images that nicely portray that long-ago time in history.
Riddle of the Sphinx from Imagic (1982)
There was never any mistaking the signature silver-chrome color scheme of Imagic's box art which definitely made their releases stand out. The art for this vertically scrolling adventure game features the titular title character, pyramids and hieroglyphics, which together make for some appealing imagery.
Space Cavern from Games By Apollo (1982)
You control an intrepid explorer who has landed on a foreign planet inhabited by deadly creatures in this fun space shooter (see my May 2024 post). Simply put, I always loved the cool red beastie featured prominently in this artwork. Watch your back or you'll be zapped and turn into a glowing skeleton!
Super Breakout from Atari (1982 / 1981 Sears Tele-Games)
The box art for Atari's classic Super Breakout is both futuristic and colorful, with one astronaut looking pensively through his space helmet while another swings at colored bricks in deep space. Highly impressive.
Space Invaders from Atari (1980)
Any list of iconic Atari 2600 box art wouldn't be complete without including their "killer app" game Space Invaders. Simple and effective, this artwork perfectly depicts what would immediately come to mind if someone said, "alien invasion". This is of course not an exhaustive list. There are many incredible box designs for many equally incredible Atari 2600 games. And of course, everyone has their favorites. Hopefully you've enjoyed perusing some of mine.
