All About Atari Red Box / Label Games
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- Опубліковано 3 жов 2024
- Today we talk a little about the Atari Red Box or Red Label games that were available all during the Tramiel era or the Atari Corp era. They were available between 1985 right up until the 2600 was discontinued in very early 1992. But what made the red box games special? What did they have in common outside of the packaging and red labels? And how many were there in total? We talk about this and more in todays video!
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This is the first time I ever even heard about the red box Atari games. I had long moved on to the Commodore 64 and then NES before these ever hit the market. Cool history, though.
Same! No consistency to their label design over the years which actually kind of bugs me. Later consoles did a much better job.
I love the red label games. They look classy to me and most of them are really fun!
Well you're a Classy Atarian so of course you have good taste! I knew I liked you!
They're some of the best quality games available for the 2600, and they stand out on the shelf next to the other games.
There were not only Coleco games in the red label series... they also re-released Q*bert which was originally by Parker Brothers. But Parker Brothers probably gave up on their games with the crash or shortly thereafter (depending on region). Also, since you criticize there being two versions (2600 and 7800) of some games, some of the 2600 versions were re-releases from games that were already programmed and available way before the 7800's launch, so it wasn't that much effort to keep them on sale. Also, even then the 2600 probably had a far greater user base than the 7800, so they could sell way more 2600 cartridges than 7800 ones of a game. Already Coleco acknowledged that their 2600 Donkey Kong outsold the complete Colecovision library because of the great user base.
Interesting history to add to the story.
Good point the 2600 user base was much larger so they probably did sell better. Or had the potential too. Good point on Q-Bert too!
I don't think anyone in the 80's and early 90's knew, or would guess that Red label games and silver labeled games would be sought after and collectables in the future.
I think the Silver era was the Atari 2600's peak with games like Joust, Millipede, Vanguard, Moon Patrol, Kangaroo, ect..
People really didn't seem to think about stuff like that at all. But videogames were still essentially in their infancy after all!
Oh and good points on the silver era those are all great games!
In fairness no one thought at Christmas that there would be atari mania in march 2024
Nobody thought they would be collectible, because they weren't very good games.
Most of the 2600 games I own since my childhood are red box ones! Here we have two fun facts:
- in the red box era, Stargate was rereleased as Defender II with a reversed cover artwork, which it's a really weird choice;
- Solaris never had a real cover, so they recycled the Star Raiders artwork and reused in greyscale, then they added the starship from Solaris/Defender II on the back cover!
Oh good stuff! I should've mentioned that so thank you for bringing it up!
@@TheAtariNetwork we'll help each other, dude! 🍻
Hahah! I noticed that on my Solaris cart like 27 years ago when I originally bought it used, I felt they really cheaped out on the label. The game itself is absolutely top tier though.
I had alot of the '77-'82 multi-color boxed games and a couple '82-'84 silver boxes. I was not even aware of the '86-'91 red boxed games until many years later. The last game i ever got for my 2600 was Pitfall 2 and by 1985 i was deep into my C64. I do still have my 4-switch woody and all my games plus i've collected more over the years. You can still find alot of those red boxes on ebay still sealed. Atari Corp obviously had a hard time selling off their inventory due to most kids already owning a Nintendo or Home Computer by the second half of the 1980s.
I have a complete set of red label games, I think they're great! Something I feel like I should say, Sentinel is the only 2600 game released that utilized the XE light gun. Cool video!
My childhood memories of Atari are from like 83 till the 90s, so the red labels were my Atari games.
I'm glad other people remember them fondly too!
Solaris & Secret Quest are awesome! 2 of the 1st games i picked up for the 2600+
I have to say that's probably two of the better if not the best games you could've grabbed! Nice choices
Those were probably the best games ever on that system....well those and Fatal Run, but good luck finding an original copy of that one.
I am in Europe and I own 14 boxed and 8 loose. Some are re-releases (like Joust, Q*Bert or Defender) but the majority of them are the newer games (Solaris, Fatal Run, Jr. Pac Man, Midnight Magic or BMX Airmaster). I thought there were a lot more around, but this means I'm more likely to complete the red box collection at some point. They are nice-looking indeed, although I still think the older silver boxes are more iconic
I agree 100% the old boxes are the most iconic for sure. Well to most people again the red box games are the games some of us remember. Now you are right now that I think about it most probably are newer games! I was looking at it in three categories and didn't think to combine the 2. So I agree with you when you combine the games found both on the 2600 and 7800 along with the new stuff they probably make the majority. I'll have to double check though...
Maroon 2600 games are special to me, as those were the ones sold in dollar stores. Midnight Magic and Solaris, for a dollar a piece? Sign me up!
It’s clear that the red box is an inversion of the 7800 scheme of silver and red. That or red was the 2600 color on the silver label games anyway.
He's been wanting to make this one for months i had to watch
Thanks for the support! Idk if it turned out perfect I had to make concessions like always but I'm happy with it!
Red labels are the 7800 era of games
I liked the silver boxed games.
I always just figured the Redbox games were just games that were released later after the crash of '83 mostly to appeal to a demographic of those who couldn't afford a newer system like an NES. I started finding them at thrift stores in the early 1990's for like $3 a cartridge, or in bundles with other carts for like $10(I ended up with many repeats of Pac-Man, Combat, and ET this way). Midnight Magic was a really good pinball game, and enjoyed playing it for hours, Solaris was the epitome of space shooters for the 2600, absolutely superior graphics, sound, and gameplay...extremely challenging too. My search for more red carts continues, but retro game prices have gotten to ridiculous levels over the past several years, I regret not finding more in the late 90s early 2000s before gaming enthusiasts drove their demand up.
I missed out on getting any red label games back in the day. I plan on getting a few.
Also the editing for these videos are really hitting it out of the park
I'm glad you like it Jolt! Yeah check out Video61 he has some good deals on new and shrink wrapped red box stuff like Gravitar for 12.99 I believe!
I know the reason why-the box the Atari 2600 Jr. came in was maroon. While the Atari 7800 came in silver.
Your a smart gecko!
6:29-6:32 - I highly suspect that was due to Jack Tramiel knowing the European Market. To be fair though, those classics you list off were iconic here in The US at one point, so why Atari Corp held off the NTSC Red Label Treatment is beyond me.
Don’t forget that there were at the same time also the XEGS with blue (bigger) boxes. And games like Crossbow were on this console a 3rd time.
I completely forgot about the XEGS but yes those were in a blue with sort of yellow stripes designs.
I think it was just a time of repackaging the Atari Games. Cost Cutting & New Packaging. And pretty much what you said. The last cartridge's in my opinion was cost cutting & not as good as the original cartridges. Many of the original cartridges came with dust protectors. Toward the end most Atari 2600 game cartridges didn't' come with dust protection. I think it was cost cutting so they could offer you the games for cheaper.
Thanks for the overview of the red boxes. I had no idea about this stuff until a year ago and thought them an oddity.
I am a big fan of the original box and label designs. One of the biggest reasons I got into collecting 2600 games was seeing John Hancock’s collection of the colorful boxes in his shelves. As far as aesthetics are concerned, the red boxes don’t do anything for me. Having said that, some of the games are amazing. I haven’t played it yet but Radar Lock speaks my language, and I’m looking for a box copy.
With regard to the tree falling question, the simple and tl;dr answer is yes 😊 There is an objective reality that exists apart from and independent of my own empirical observations. However, we would be talking in hypotheticals, I suppose. It’s almost like the concept of nothingness. As soon as we talk or think about it, it’s no longer nothing but becomes something.
Socrates you are one smart cookie! Thanks for answering another one of those critical questions! Now we just need to know the burp and sneeze thing and the answer to life and everything!
The colorful boxes are cool too and I definitely see the appeal. But I'm a red box guy myself. It's okay we don't need to agree on and like the same things! What's important is we enjoy the hobby and can have fun discussions about these things that really only matter to us!
Thanks for watching and for the comment!
I got three Red Label 16 in 1 Game Cartridge, they never had a box.
Two 16 in 1 have the green label underneath the red label, you can just about see it, and the last has no green label underneath.
I had a ton of fun with the Atari 2600 version of Mario Bros and I wouldn't consider it a waste of resources, because I didn't have a 7800 and if they didn't make it I wouldn't have the memories of playing the game with my brother.
Yeah it probably wasn't the best example especially because it was done way before the 7800 one and the Atari corp era!
Thought this was gonna be Red Box like the weird movie service.
Imagic, Activision, Parker, Spectravideo and so on all had their own packaging and cartridge styles and I think I liked it that way. So I don’t think Atari cartridges coming in the same box made a difference. I even liked Beamrider with its futuristic label art not looking like other Activision games; that made it special! Besides, many of my games were sold as naked cartridges at a wholesale warehouse for what would be 2.5 € today (not adjusted for inflation)… it never occurred to me to have them all lined up nice and tidy on a shelf. It was chaos. And the chaos was good.
Thanks for the video john !
You're welcome!
Reminds me of the red label ps2 Greatest Hits. Almost like a precursor .
Oh that's a good point. It's almost exactly like that! What a good comparison thank you!
I only have two red label games, Pac-Man Junior and RoadRunner, and I've always wondered if they were even legit, LOL. Great video
Oh they are very legit! And 2 great red box games too!
One similar case I do like, is Activision being released by local Atari in Brazil, with silver label, and later even with the cartridge mold from Activision being used and Atari name being removed.
Very informative.. I've always wondered why they changed the color, now I know why !. Thanks !
Your welcome I'm glad the video was useful to somebody! It seemed like an odd topic but one I've been wanting to cover.
Red labels do resemble the one red button on the controller, and i think that's a nice touch.
Great video very informative and entertaining...now if you can solve the most mysterious riddle ever, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop....the world may never know 😮😮😮
According to Mr owl it's one....two...... Three. But I think he cheated so the world may never know
I don’t understand why Atari didn’t port some of their awesome computer games to the 7800 instead of the tired arcade ports.
Atari red box games ≈ Nintendo black box games in that the were early releases for the consoles (red for the 2600 Jr & black for NES) Yes the 2600 as a platform had been around but the red boxes were technically to coincide with the 2600 Jr's launch.
Oh I like that comparison too! Nice job
@@TheAtariNetwork thank you
Great video!
Thanks for the kind words and thanks for watching!
Great Vid! Like the uniform look of the red box. I still prefer the 2600 version of centipede (outside 5200 track ball) and fatal run. But would mostly go for 5200 and 7800.
Thanks C Money! I like the uniform look too idk why but that sort of thing makes me happy. The 2600 version of centipede is cool but I've always preferred 7800 versions of most of the games myself!
Thanks for watching!
@@TheAtariNetwork yeah I am the same with a uniform look, I get it. Think those are the only two I prefer on 2600. Looking forward to next vid!
Is the narrator referring to 7800 games not being able to run on a 2600 "junior" at 2:12 or red label games? My original 2600 Jr plays the red label games. Jr. Pacman is probably my most played atari game and the Junior handles it perfectly.
The 7800 games not running on the Jr sorry if that wasn't clear
@@TheAtariNetwork good video👍
Nice video! 🎉
Thank you I appreciate that!
But why not making the 7800 games red instead? It would make more sense to chance the color of the new console games, and nit the okd ine, that could end up being confusing because older games used silver.
I don't think I had Any boxed games, 90% of my Carts were $1/2 Used finds at Flea Markets or FuncoLand
I had 2 Atari games with the box growing up. Chase the ChuckWagon that my mom had ordered and we weren't allowed to touch, and for some reason Pac Man. Whenever I got games I'd rip the box apart and throw it out. I was young and had no clue the boxes would mean anything one day, I just wanted the game!
@@TheAtariNetworki made the same mistake with Nintendo, super Nintendo, and Gameboy games. I would throw away the box and manual and just keep the cartridges.
I had no idea the boxes and manuals for all of those games would be worth mega money some 30 to 40 years later.
But they didn't make 2 ports of games like Donkey Kong, and DK Jr or Mario Bros. Those games already existed. They likely had to pay for Jr and DK as they were originally published by Coleco. They were certainly NOT ports of 7800 games. Some others were though. Furthermore, a lot of the 7800 games were years old when Jack released the 7800 in 1986.
Good video. I never knew this.
I’ve been wondering why “Atari Force” hasn’t been revived as a stand alone IP, building real stories behind all the simple games in the 2600, 5200 and 7800 libraries (perhaps even buying some dead publisher IPs like Imagic).
I have the prelims of an Atari Force video in the works and I planned on mentioning something like that. Atari Force is an interesting topic to me but I don't think many people knew much outside of the free mini comics
Why are some labels two colors (black and red) as opposed to full color? I just got the Solaris cart and really don't like the overall design. They couldn't even budget new artwork as it reuses Star Raiders. The cart is not spring loaded and actually die cuts 2 holes on the top to save on plastic for the cartridge slot piece. I really like the black spine full-color label carts. I am tempted to redesign the Solaris label to fit in with the rest of my collection. I might even move the chip to the same spring-loaded cartridge case if that is simple enough.
You absolutely should do that to your Solaris if it makes you happy. I always stand by the fact that it's your cartridge, do what you want with it!
Now as for the Black and red stuff and even the few black and white games it all comes down to cost. Jack Tramiel was cheap and cut almost any corners he could. That's really all there is to it.
The why Atari got the rights to publish Coleco made games was not from a lawsuit. Atari protested to Nintendo about the special port being made for the Adam Computer, but but instead of going to court Nintendo told Coleco to cease & desist. Coleco complied with Nintendo, and canceled it out right. The answer is far more simple Atari just bought the rights to republish Coleco's most popular ports after they shut down their video game division. You can't claim the "lawsuit" for Venture & Mouse Trap for those IPs belong to Exidy not Nintendo (it makes the lawsuit reason make zero sense). Also note Q*Bert (the fifth red box port from another company) was originally produced/published by Parker Brothers. Jack just wanted their top selling past games together with some new titles as a "budget system" like what he did to the Vic 20 after the C-64 came out. Atari did sue Coleco at one time, but that was over the expansion module which ended in a settlement.
Does the red color vary between cartridges or have some of them just faded over the years? I have a few of these and some have a lighter red while others have a darker red.
As far as I know they were generally the same but there could've been variations between printings and stuff. Again happy Jack Tramiel was cheap as cheap could be so if he could save a few pennies on a different shade of red he might've done so.
Which red box games are most collectible and most valuable?
Good question. So I know Yars Revenge NTSC version complete in the box is up there. So is sentinel. I'm struggling to think of any others off the top of my head as most are pretty reasonable
I guess they removed the spring mechanism on the red label carts to save on costs?
Yes sir. Anything and everything to save a penny old friendly jack did
damn! oh whell! great video good work thank
It's interesting because the 7800 seemed to have such promise back then and delivered such crap games and ports. My gut feeling thinking about the 7800 was that it felt so expensive and out of reach but then my parents got the Colecovision which turned out to be superior.
thinking back to what I played from the 2600 (I think I could only use coleco's 2600 adapter) was I spent way too much time on empire strikes back, ET, and pitfall.
Too bad they cheaped out with those case holes near the top that always collected dust and grime on the sticker or developed holes over time.
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:
02:45 *Red box games categorized into re-releases of existing successful titles, 2600 versions of 7800 releases, and new exclusive titles.*
05:28 *Red label games were designed to help consumers distinguish between Atari 2600 and 7800 games, falling into three main categories: brand new, ports of 7800 titles, and classic re-releases.*
06:09 *Despite 43 red label games released over 7 years, not all were available in all regions, with North America receiving around 29 titles, leading to regional disparities in game availability.*
Made with HARPA AI
Your mom
So 2 minutes in, and we have an answer. Why is this video 8 minutes longer than it needs to be?
If I were you I'd hit dislike and move on... Or you could start an Atari Network hate group where you work to expose how lazy my videos are! I'll join!