Atari 2600 Game Box Covers We Love - w/John Hancock

[@MetalJesusRocks]

Take a rare look at our favorite vintage Atari 2600 boxes and cover art with The Immortal John Hancock & Metal Jesus Rocks.

[@MetalJesusRocks]

***** I agree! I'd love to get some big wall posters of these games..

[@Robotech85]

MetalJesusRocks Nice! :)

[@kenwheeler3637]

MetalJesusRocks I really like the space/ sci-fi themed ones a lot as well. Along with Space Invaders, Star Ship and Space War are really good. Defender is pretty cool too although it looks like Star Destroyers, or more accurately, Republic Cruisers beaming people up.

[@crazyjamie7106]

MetalJesusRocks hey MJ if you do requests I got one. can you review the intellivision or the coleco vision

[@subidral1991]

I found an in box Parker Bros "Jedi Arena" at a local Seattle thrift store. Great art work as well!

[@LGR]

Yeah, I'm totally down for some more box art videos! Never seen the Marauder box, that thing looks sick.

[@BlooditeDrakan]

Lazy Game Reviews LGR at a MJR video?! My day is complete!

[@GamingPalooza]

I think my favorites are the collage covers.... they always catch my attention.

[@Rustoization]

Great video. Please try to get John Hancock on more often.

[@chris4087]

metaljesusrocks have u heard of terryifying 9 11 copy is metal slug copy. I acquired it recently is quite good.

[@xboxSkilZZ1]

Hi MetalJesusRocks I'm a young video game collector and was wondering if you had any tips about being a collector, I apologize in advance if you have already made a video covering this

[@JohnRiggs]

I was always curious about that penis helmet on the Missile Command box art. Love that classic art! Always cool to see John Hancock.

[@xINVISIGOTHx]

I used to cut all the pictures and screenshots out of the Atari 2600 game instruction booklets.... now I have a bunch of booklets with holes in them :(

[@jonathannoel7144]

Why did metal jesus thank John for "having him on" its metal jesus' show?

[@johnhancockretro]

Awesome, someone got the joke :)

[@EDNOOOOO]

Hit the nail on the head Metaljesus, the Atari covers remind me of my old high schools sci-fi book collection. I best the Atari cases even smell a little like those old books. You can really see the old school airbrushing style in a lot of the covers, as an airbrush artist I just love the style.

[@rakeyohn222]

Hey guys. Enjoyed the video. I can feel the nostalgia in my chest. The 80's were such an exciting time to be a kid discovering video games.

[@sic6664]

It would have been cool if you also showed some gameplay from each game to sorta compare the cover and the actual game.

[@professionallyunprofession5729]

Great video!! I think y'all should do a Worst Atari 2600 Box Art video.

[@videogameobsession]

Great video guys! I love the old Atari VCS box art. I remember being a tad disappointed, as a young lad when the games didn't live up to the box art, but I got over it and still enjoyed them. ;) ... ... ... Some of my favorites are Defender, Adventure, Night Driver, Haunted House, and probably my favorite of all time, YARS' REVENGE. ... ... ... I've scanned 55 Atari 2600 boxes in high resolution in case anyone is interested in checking them out. > videogameobsession.com/videogame/atari2600

[@MartinVasquez]

I'm definitely enjoying the box/cover art videos. I think the art plays a big part in the experience of classic games. Who doesn't remember being a kid and staring at a game box in the store? It was an almost hypnotic experience! Lol. But since boxes and labels often get lost over time, videos like these are a really great way to celebrate classic gaming! Especially for those of us that don't have easy access to these games. Great job with the videos, and thanks for posting them!

[@Bigbacon]

this is one of the reasons I LOVE atari collecting.. the box art is always amazing and quirky as hell.

[@justinrvarga7236]

zenuke yes :) I totally agree..

[@TheStevenWhiting]

Didn't know Sega made games for the Atari.

[@kingvoxel6516]

Great subject to do a video on! Atari box art really captured my imagination as a kid... and still does!

[@losalfajoresok]

Those T-shirts!!! Hey MJ: A little complaint: you should have shown some gameplay footage of every game at least in a smaller screen, to compare the artwork with the actual game. Anyway, amazing stuff!!

[@MetalJesusRocks]

Lord Alfajor I considered showing the gameplay...but often it doesn't hold up next to the covers. However, I may do that with future videos because we are talking about the gameplay. Great suggestion!

[@losalfajoresok]

MetalJesusRocks that's the joke: most games don't hold up!! Thanks for answering me MJ!

[@Naztalgic]

Love the Cover Art hope to see more episodes like this. The whole time i was watching this i was thinking about Record covers as well such as Iron maiden and Book covers from the 80's I really miss this art style

[@technoir1119]

Love Demon Attack. Probably my favorite on the 2600.

[@SkotNealey]

Tech Noir yes it is!

[@thaddeusmcgrath]

Tech Noir That one and Q-Bert, excellent games!

[@jazzfan5000]

Tech Noir Yes! And also Cosmic Ark!

[@N0sferat66]

Awesome video! I like the boxart of: Berzerk Frostbite - love the silly cartoony style! Circus Atari Zaxxon Enduro Yar's Revenge Outlaw - Gotta love Western movies! Asteroids - Stunning boxart. really amazing Defender - Once again a B-movie boxart Defender 2 - I love these 80's sci-fi boxart And a lot more, ofcourse. You can not go wrong with the Atari 2600.

[@GamingPalooza]

i love old school atari box art

[@gabrielirlanda]

Wow, I remember how those covers really helped to get you immersed inside the game, you were probably a square with 2 little squares underneath but you really felt like COBRA, Agassi or whichever superhero was on the cover. I remember especially Berzerk, you could feel those high-tech robots trying to kill you. Nowadays kids have everything, paradoxically the technology is destroying kids imagination day by day.

[@alexroberto9255]

Guys, congratulations for sharing your fellings about old games! I was born in 1985, I started playing games with Super Nintendo, in 1990's. So, it's really important understand the history of the games coming from people that lived that time. Really cool! :D

[@michaelwolfe9496]

Cosmic Corridor , Berzerk , Defender, Thunderground, Cosmic Ark , Xenophobe ,and Infiltrate all have pretty cool box art as well. If you do a part, two maybe include some of them?

[@a1superfantastic]

Great choices, guys! Your comments about the cover art selling the game were so true... back in the 2600 era, way pre-internet, except for word of mouth there was no way to know how good these games were until you opened the box, so cover art did so much to spark our imaginations. My personal favorite head-turners were Warlords, Missile Command and Yar's Revenge. Fortunately all turned out to be great games!

[@Cameroo]

Oh man. Yeah the original Atari 2600 had some great art on them. I've always loved Haunted House and Missle Command's art. Also, the first wave of old Konami games for the NES had great covers also. I wish I could find the name of the artist.

[@jam237]

You guys rock

[@Ruudos]

I kept thinking the whole time "will they show Dark Chambers"? And yes there it was at the end of the video. LOL. One of my favorite Atari 2600 games too.

[@Daehawk]

Man I LOVED the artwork on those boxes. Asteroids was my favorite. Love them all though. Even if the game was nothing like it or as exciting as the box art :)

[@88DreadGT]

That Space Invaders cover is very special to me. It's was the 1st game I ever got (besides Combat which came with the system) when I got an Atari for Christmas in 1981. I remember the cart itself had the generic looking black label that simply said "space invaders" in red letters and list of variations. The game broke on me and we got it exchanged. The new one had a sticker of the box art on the cart.

[@Gamevet]

This video brought back so many memories of playing the 2600 back in the day. Yeah, the box art on those games were some of the best. One of my favorite boxes is Star Raiders.

[@enelan619]

I love the art from the old games! I could sit and stare at them for hours! Part of why I started collecting was to get back some of those old memorable games! The NES had a ton of great artwork as well! I would love to see a video just on that!

[@CrazyJoe]

I always thought the same about Space Invaders. Boston all day.

[@garagemdotipo]

What is a B movie? I'm not an American

[@MetalJesusRocks]

Carlos Edward A B-Movie is typically a low-budget non-commercial hollywood movie. Usually they take bigger risks because they don't have the big named actors or expensive special effects... but they are often a lot of fun. Think: Rocky Horror Picture Show, StarCrash, The Room, Miami Connection, Plan 9 From Outer Space.

[@garagemdotipo]

MetalJesusRocks Got it! Thank you for the explanation. I love you videos! greetings from Brazil

[@byteblok]

The big box games of the 80’s were the pinnacle of crazy art and goodies in the box.

[@DigitalHeroGames]

Awesome examples. Personally Yars' Revenge is one of my favorite covers. Love it.

[@MrNifster]

Love the retro box art - didn't know SEGA made games for Atari!

[@markuscone]

MetalJesusRocks Good guys, always win...even in the 80s!

[@dogmd7]

Another excellent, unique video. Keep up these videos with the special guests!

[@michaelmojica9057]

Just awesome guys!. That cover art was truly a head of its time.

[@tvandlust]

Fantastic video. I love these covers. The games were so simple and often so abstract that the box set HAD to take liberties and often to great effect. I would collect Atari boxes games if I wasn't so hung up on handhelds. They're so cool.

[@matsal4204]

METAL JESUS ROCKS !!!!!!!!!!!! The Messiah of Gaming!!

[@NESRomancer]

Seriously love the Atari games. Especially the colourful, cyberpunky ones like Asteroids, Vanguard and Marauder. Tempest is pretty epic too. And god damn, that shirt that John is wearing - Where can I get one?

[@LermitFernandez]

My favourite, without a doubt whatsoever, is Berzerk.

[@ng2115]

Yawn, you woke me up..

[@Kenhawk98]

Little suggestion, if you unbox a game in camera, show it to the audience, it was sort anticlimactic to see you opening Tac-Scan in front of john but not show the game or how it looks inside, (some small shots would've been nice), also for a video of 2600 boxes a sneak peak at the contents of every game also would've added a lot to the experience considering that they are so varied.

[@MetalJesusRocks]

Kenhawk98 More b-roll footage. Gotcha. I can do that! Thanks for the feedback!

[@adamd3441]

Do videos on the ColecoVision and Intellivision systems!

[@horvay7745]

I've seen John in so many videos (not just on this channel). Why doesn't he have a KZbin channel?

[@MetalJesusRocks]

Horvay The Immortal John Hancock has a KZbin channel: kzbin.info

[@horvay7745]

MetalJesusRocks Thanks, Metal Jesus, you rock.

[@STEEVEWES]

14:36 was my favorite part. it makes me laugh.

[@chipperwilliams7854]

Is John really immortal or is he lying to us?

[@TheWiiChannelDrWii]

swordquest is the great cover box

[@izzathafiz]

I do appreciate great box arts for games, and more of these would be fine too. I think you had touched on the box art topic in older videos as well (comparison of US vs Japanese box arts). Love the video, keep on rocking!

[@DailyGoatShow]

Love your videos Metal Jesus! Definitely an inspiration to those of us starting out.

[@Gloop97]

I'd love to see more of these cover art videos :)

[@SkotNealey]

it's so weird to hear MJR say "I-MAGIC" because we always pronounced it "M-Magic" like "Imagination."

[@pdavis2272]

I really like Swordquest Earthworld and Fireworld's box art.

[@ip3onmyspace158]

Don't forget waterworld and the unofficial version of Airworld!

[@MattPlaysBass25]

Boston is one of my favorite bands.

[@TheStevenWhiting]

Growing up in the 80s the covers where why I was so cynical with gaming back then. Never owned a system till the 90s but I'd always see the systems in stores like WHSmith etc. What I hated was, although looking back the cover art on the boxes were good, obviously, the games never looked like that when played. I have a specific memory of finding a Spectrum game in our house in early 90s. We never owned one, I think it was off a magazine. I remember thinking to myself "This is why computer games are crap. The game never looks as good as the box art". :) Yes, I know it's cause I had no imagination. It being before the time of amazing graphics, where we now see cover art and know that is actually what you get. Now it's amazing and fun. However, ironically, I now love games like Dwarf Fortress :) you see fancy images of that game people have drawn, we all know the game looks nothing like that. But I finally have an imagination and see why the cover art back then was good.

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

Really enjoyed this one - always good to see more boxes… especially with 2600 stuff, where most titles tend to be found loose these days. Generally, I always loved the unified styles Activision used, being able to pick up a game, know it was from them was great for that 'trust' you'd get from a company early on. Plus, great for showing the action shots right away. I tend to love the painterly style from those early Atari ones too. Slot Racers is a big standout, but Asteroids, Combat, Indy 500, Star Raiders/Solaris (yup, they reused the box art there) are some other favourites.

[@atarileaf]

awesome idea for a video. I have maybe 25 or so boxed atari games. Some of my favorites are the classics like Space Invaders and Asteroids. Video Pinball is a great 70's style cover. One that I don't have but I just love the art is Star Ship. Great Star Wars looking cover. Recently I bought a boxed copy of Solar Fox. Great box and such a fun game. Great video MJ :)

[@elclasicorecontraretro]

AWESOME VIDEO! Really very nice. Just one thing... NO DEFENDER!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! 🤨🤨🤨

[@dreamcastruls]

Cool video, John is the man!

[@electricadventures]

Excellent episode, some very cool games and excellent covers. The 2600 is a great system to collect for, not only do you have the variety in the style of the covers you can get some really playable games.

[@LongshoremanX]

These games are in great condition

[@Letstalkretro]

Great video. We love the artwork of those games as well. Our favourite that you didn't mention is Yars' Revenge. Keep it retro!

[@webdiddy]

Tell DMP that I NEED more "gamer eats" episodes, those are my absolute favorites!!!!

[@MetalJesusRocks]

Tony Graf New Gamer Eats episode...coming soon!

[@webdiddy]

Sweet!

[@sovietman2591]

I gave my friend a complete in box Version of pac man for the Atari 2600. I'm a terrible friend

[@Mrdavidt363]

I like all the old 2600 art made by Atari, themselves, e.g. 'asteroids', 'space wars', 'missile-command', 'space invaders', 'adventure', 'night-driver', 'combat', et.al.

[@mrpopsicleman]

Some of my favorites not included in the video are Gravitar, Moon Patrol, Space War, Space Combat, Yars' Revenge, Asteroids, Defender, Galaxian, Star Ship, Outer Space, Stellar Track, Star Trek, Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom, Spider-Man, and Joust.

[@bluearmy893]

My personal favorites are the 20th century FOX box covers. Porkys, M*A*S*H, Alien, Flash Gordon, Crypts of Chaos, Revenge of the beefsteak tomatoes, etc. But honestly, Most if not All 2600 box art is just awesome. There's nothing better to have a great game with amazing box art to compliment it, but even if the game sucks, you still have the amazing art lol, that's the beauty of the 2600!! :-)

[@Peterplayingguitar]

Great T-shirts guys!

[@jazzfan5000]

What about Berzerk, Cosmic Ark, H.E.R.O., Defender (even though the port wasn't so good, the box art ruled), Pele Soccer, Dodge 'em, Adventure (somewhat reminiscient of the old C.S Lewis Narnia novel covers), The Swordquest series, and who could forget Yars' Revenge?

[@sglider]

Awesome vid and John has an awesome collection. I can still, heartbreakingly so, remember the day my parents talked me into throwing out my 2600 game boxes because the cartridges would be easier to store. ARRRGGH! Anyway, some of my favorite covers from back then, Yars Revenge, Phoenix, Outlaw, Defender, Berzerk, Indy 500...pretty much any cover art that came directly from Atari.

[@rayallen144]

Moon Patrol, Crystal Castles, Q-Bert, Cosmic Ark, Defender, Fire Fighters, Dig Dug, Freeway, Fishing Derby and Planet Patrol

[@Asterra2]

Talking about Kaybee's during the crash. In fact, $5 was sort of the median price in the ol' dump bin. A whole catalog of games was going for $3 each, and three particular titles from M Network (Astroblast, Space Attack and I think Armor Ambush) were $1 each. All three of those titles are actually quite fun, and run at 60fps unlike their Intellivision counterparts. But I remember one day in particular when I located Swordquest Waterworld in a bin. I was not aware of its future rarity; all I knew was that it was the third game and I had the first two. Its price was probably the highest you could find for a 2600 game at the time ($13 I think) but I picked it up anyway.

[@SkotNealey]

Do an Intellivision one! I don't think the Colecovision covers would be interesting, though. I really liked the Parker Bros. boxes. STURDY and opened like a gift box, so it was easy to reuse over and over. I still use my REACTOR box.

[@Asterra2]

You know what you guys (or maybe just guy) need to do someday? Instead of talking about those days when you'll kick back, listen to some vinyl ELO, and play through some of your 2600 collection, actually film some of that. Don't underestimate the appeal of vicariously "hanging out" with somebody enjoying their hobby. It's a different audience, but it's an audience.

[@AverageJoeVinyl]

I loved all the adventure game artwork, like Adventure (duh), Haunted House, Riddle of the Sphynx, Swordquest, etc. Also, I really liked Defender's artwork.

[@BlooditeDrakan]

Man. The old PC boxes and Atari 2600 games had some amazing artwork. What happened? Those aside, western box art for all the other systems are just boring or generic.

[@Dorelaxen]

I always loved the art to Berzerk on the 2600. Being from that time period, I was a big fan of the Buck Rogers tv show, and Berzerk captured that look and feel. The lone human with bad 70's hair fending off killer robots in his pristine white jumpsuit. Just a perfect little time capsule. Speaking of Buck Rogers, I always thought the guy on the cover of Missile Command looked like he was wearing a Draconian fighter pilot helmet. That's what I loved about the art for those older games. It made you imagine amazing things, but the games themselves were rather primitive. Take Surround for example. It's literally THE simplest game on the system, it's just Snake, 2 colored lines trying to box each other in. Yet the cover shows two guys (again, with bad 70's hair) at these massive computer consoles digitally duking it out, possibly for the fate of the world! It just adds SO much to these older titles.

[@greybush38]

I grew up with Atari, got my first in Dec of 80! You guys are dead on, art sold games not gameplay. Crypts of Chaos, Berzerk, Coleco boxes were great with the arcade cab on the front even though a lot of coleco games sucked but you bought it just because! Supercharger boxes were great too, Mindmaster, Phaser Patrol, we could go on. Thanks for the great video your guys are great! Merry Christmas.

[@cimerians]

Wizard of Wor by CBS very cool cover art. Also loved the art for SSSnake (horrible game though). Missile Command, Space Invaders awesome. I even liked Swordquest and the Raiders of the Lost Ark boxes.

[@Jellycakelap]

Atlantis by Imagic - Riddle of the Sphinx - Imagic and Space Ark - Imagic -- something about their 'live action' covers were awesome. :D

[@samljer]

Joust had a pretty epic cover. and "bioshock" for atari as well, you read that correctly ;) and a game called zaxon? zaxxon? xaxxon? its been awhile lol. xaxxon also had a 5200 version which wasnt as good. my 2c.

[@bluearmy893]

Like you mentioned in the video, What's so cool about this box art is that this box art motivated your imagination while playing these games. A "negative Nancy" would say "this crappy game is nothing like the cover", BUT that's the beauty of Atari, is using your imagination which makes these games so much more fun and personal. There's nothing like it and I'm a believer, long live Atari!!!

[@cbmeeks]

I remember seeing E.T. at Revco Pharmacy (now, CVS) for $0.50 EACH. They had dozens of them on the shelf. Man, wished I had bought about 20 copies.

[@RetroGamePlayers]

These are all great, but I just love the SEGA logo at 12:22. Great system, great video! !

[@prophismusic]

Metal Jesus Rocks & John Han Rocks. I have an old school 2600 with the wood grain style, but just a handful of carts. Such a mysterious time in gaming. Lots of really Fantastic cover art here!

[@tonylenzi166]

Demon attack is my favorite 2600 game I have it in box also that and jungle hunt my only 2 cib 2600 games I paid 2 bux for both of them lol I have them both loose to but they were my favorite games growing up I used to have 450 2600 games I always left my Atari at my camp ground I met my X wife at 16 ND obviously I was hanging w friends on weekends ND wat not so didn't go camping w my dad on weekends much nemore nd he ended up giving my Atari nd all the games to to family in the campsite next to us it sux I had alot of expensive games well wat would b expensive today I was not happy I need to get sold of them ND c if they still have it all that would b amazing but I highly doubt it

[@sheets75]

You should check out the Art of Atari book that came out recently, if you haven't already. One interesting tidbit from that book I learned is that Ralph McQuarrie, who did the production design for Star Wars, was the painter of the Vanguard cover.

[@davidcaliff2640]

Hey metal Jesus I know this has nothing to do with this video but I have a platinum hits copy of Halo: Combat Evolved and has only been played once but I wasn't sure if you had a copy yourself. I'd like to send you my copy as I don't have any use for it anymore. P.S I respect your appreciation for metal also. Get back to me if you see this thanks!

[@jcchaconjr]

You already showed my favorite game cover from that era, which was Space Invaders, but in general I just love the aesthetic of the early Atari published games. The graphic design of the boxes was very clean, I liked the use of various colors for the boxes, and they must have commissioned some of the best artists of the time to create those cover images. As you guys mentioned, they really did a lot to stimulate the imagination when playing those games. Some of my personal early favorites were Breakout, Night Driver, and Adventure.

[@klaudijevtrkaciteritorij4301]

More of rare cover arts by Atari games, especially by classic games like Space Invaders,Pitfall,Misille Command and the others by start of this episode

[@lwispe]

Thanks guys, really cool. I don't have a lot of boxed 2600 games but man was that art badass or what. To a kid in the eighties, looking at the cool cover art was enough to want a game :) And then you run home to play it and find out the whole game is a white circle chasing after a brown dot in a pink field filled with green blobs, set to a 3-note melody. Oh, videogames.

[@mongooseonaunicycle2056]

Atari box art always sparked the imagination, as did the games being that they just barely resembled what they were supposed to be. The box art was really a way to help gamers imagine what they were playing, It was a real art and doing it right could leave gamers gazing at the box for ages helping create context to very basic games......but great fun games......well sometimes......ok it was a little hit or miss.

[@CaptainFrugalReviews]

I love the classic Atari artwork, I really miss the comics coming with games.

[@justinrvarga7236]

Great video Metal. I wish I kept all my Atari stuff from the late 80' :( Mum ended up giving the whole set away. For me Yars Revenge cover was the best :)

[@casualkirk]

No doubt, the Vanguard box art was appealing on a subconscious level because it was done by none other than Ralph McQuarrie, the legendary concept artist for the original Star Wars trilogy.