Apologies for the incoming back-in-my-day-speil, but kids today will never understand the vast gulf that existed between video game cover art and the actual game itself, particularly when it came to the Atari console.
Early Nintendo releases like Super Mario Bros. and Excite Bike displayed the highly pixelated 8-bit world of wonder you were getting into on the packaging for a spell. Atari, however, was something completely different, with artwork intended to capture a feeling, with surreal, cartoonish, or photorealistic illustrations that could transport you to another world. The game boxes and cartridge labels often looked more like something you’d find gracing pulpy sci-fi or fantasy novels. Sure, Missile Command looks like something out of Star Wars; in reality, you got low-res beeps and boops flashing across the screen.
