This Awesomely Retro New Book Depicts Classic Atari Game Art

Kick it old school.

Dan Carney

Oct 26, 2016

Disappointment happens. There’s the buzz-worthy new film that doesn’t live up to the hype. That cute new convertible that rides like a Radio Flyer wagon. But we were all conditioned for disappointment by the amazing artwork that Atari used to showcase its primitive 8-bit graphics video games.

The artwork in Atari advertisements, posters and packaging depicted stunning space battles, valiant warriors, impossibly beautiful women and steroidal sports stars. The Atari 2600 Video Computer System games delivered blobs of colored light.

Art of Atari is a gorgeous compilation of the amazing paintings used to promote the simplistic games. The book hits stores today for $39.99 in the regular edition and $99.99 for the leather-bound Deluxe Edition.

“For me, revisiting the beautiful artwork presented in this book is almost as good as taking a trip in Doc Brown’s time machine back to that halcyon era at the dawn of the digital age,” said Ernest Cline, author of the novel Ready Player One in the forward. “But be warned, viewing these images may leave you with an overwhelming desire to revisit the ancient pixelated battlefields they each depict as well.”

For a reminder of the best of those old games, take the advice of Atari founder Nolan Bushnell in this Maxim interview.

But if you do fire up the old Atari in fit of Art of Atari-fueled nostalgia, brace for disappointment by the graphics of the games themselves.