most decieving label???

[memorymoog]

What game has the most enticing label, but the shittiest gameplay? Id say, Inca Gold, or Entombed.

[Skatepunk60]

slot racers

[Snider-man]

First off, Entombed rocks, so shut the HEll up, Moog.

 

OK, getting away from the obvious Pac-Man, ET remarks, here are the games, I feel, had great labels and crappy gameplay.

 

1. Anything by Apollo. Their cart art was pretty good (except Skeet Shoot) but there ain't one game I can play for more than 2 minutes.

2. See number 1.

[moycon]

I'll agree with Apollo whole fartedly. I remember seeing the art for Space Cavern ...Awesome. I then remember playing it...Iwas even at the time underwelmed. I'll add the Mythicon games....Cool art...Crap games.

[StanJr]

My beef with Basketball is that you can score by shooting the ball UNDER the rim. I would also like a three point shot.

[Lost Monkey]

How about the reverse?

 

What's the best game with a bad looking label?

 

My vote would go to the entire early Activision catalogue. The labels soooo understated the quality of most of the games.

 

OT: Worst NES label hiding a good game - Mega Man! Why does MM look like he's really in a lot of pain and just trying to squeeze one off?

Mega Man

 

[ 02-11-2002: Message edited by: Lost Monkey ]

[StanJr]

The label to Flash Gordon looks nothing like the actual game (but the game is still good). Does that count?

 

The labels for Football and Basketball look great, but the games are weak.

 

Can't judge a Stan by its cover...

[King Atari]

Hey! Basketball is one of the best early games! Pure one-on-one action, me and my brother used to play it all the time. Now Home Run, that had some great artwork, but the game is so bad it can't be considered baseball (you pitch from second base, c'mon!). As for really deceiving labels, most of the stuff by Zellers.

[liveinabin]

NO! I really love the Activision labels.

They were less an illustration of the game and more of a game-specific logotype.

Lovely design.

I think super breakout is a bit misleading.

[liveinabin]

Hmm, as for labels that don't do the game justice... I'd say Gunfight.

God knows who drew that piece of crap

[Osmeroid]

I loved all (well, nearly) of the artwork from the 1st gen Atari games. I think Space War label was pretty far from the reality of the game. That is one DULL game!

 

Does Basic Programming count? Excellent cover tho.

 

I think liveinabin is right about the Activision stuff, it was very characteristic & I rather liked it too.

[Lost Monkey]

I guess I should clarify my feelings about Activision's labels. I do like them

 

They are simplistic and utilitarian. They did not promise (much) more than what you were actually going to get when you played the game. Their physical quality, however, was not good.

 

Activision (thankfully) spent their resources on the games themselves..rather than producing crappy games and then attempting to "shamefully misrepresent" the game with a super flashy label.

 

[ 02-12-2002: Message edited by: Lost Monkey ]

[Big Player]

The Casino label. All the hours I spend playing blackjack and never see the woman in the low cut dress. But then, it isn't like I wear a tuxedo when I play the game either.

 

Interesting side note: the game ends if you win over $10,000. Wouldn't that be a perfect time for her to make an appearance?

[liquid_sky]

fire fly.... it looked like a psycho yars revenge gone evil game. turned out to be eprom toilet paper.

'

Marauder, although a good game, wont ever match up to its awesome art

[Uncle Duke]

You guys are gonna hate me for this one.

 

...But I would have to say Space Invaders cover art was about the coolest one ever, but in my opinion, (and probably only mine) I thought Space Invaders was a horrid game. I dont like the side to side shooters very much. Just too boring or something, I dont know... But The artwork kicked, the cool flying saucers with that awsome looking sky and canyon. It looked like something from an 80's Sci-Fi book cover, or movie. It always reminded me of the movie The Explorers, if any of you has seen it. (Stars a very young River Pheonix)

[King Atari]

quote

It looked like something from an 80's Sci-Fi book cover, or movie.

 

Oh, please don't remind me of 80's sci-fi movies. Not so much the big name stuff, just the low budget crap that you don't remember appearing in theaters. You know, the kind that gets subjected to the local independent channel. Well, I don't have to explain it, you watch MST3K (without Joel/Mike & the 'Bots, I can barely stand cheap 80's sci-fi). But to stay on topic, the SI art is pretty cool, but the game is only OK (I always preferred Phoenix).

 

quote

My beef with Basketball is that you can score by shooting the ball UNDER the rim. I would also like a three point shot.  

 

Yeah, that was idiotic, and three-pointers would have been cool, but you have to remember it was 1978. That game was so primitive, it was actually before flickering! Just play it, no flickering! Amazing!

[Adrian M]

Defender has a horrible label. Anyone that didn't know what type of game Defender was would have a hard time figuring it out by looking at this label.

 

The spaceship is non-descript and the people depicted on the label have that early 1980's style that is so prominent on so many early 2600 labels (Berzerk anyone?). Some Atari labels have not aged well.

[liquid_sky]

quote:

---

The spaceship is non-descript and the people depicted on the label have that early 1980's style that is so prominent on so many early 2600 labels (Berzerk anyone?). Some Atari labels have not aged well.

---

 

I think that makes them all the more interesting. Surrounds label is pretrty deceving too.. although i always loved looking at it more than playing the game

[MagMax667]

The Swordquest games have pretty good labels, but the games are bad. More specifically, Fireworld has an awesome label (Tara and Torr looking at the chalice) but the game is almost unplayable. The label makes the game look like a good adventure game, but in the actual game, you just run around doing nothing.

[riki]

How about the Zellers labels and the Taiwan pirate labels? I think you can find scans on this site.

 

What's especially interesting, is how silly some of the Taiwan labels are. Take Popeye. He looks like a fat guy who likes to eat and stuff in their illustration. Even worse, they screw up on the names and everything. They don't even call the spinach "spinach" either. They call it cabbage. Also, there's this pirated alien game with a label illustration that says something like "E.T. GO COME!" (should be "go home," but... this sounds even sicker than the concepts behind those Mystique games. GO COME! hehehehe)

 

And of course, the Taiwan "Chess" game, where they have the 3-D Tic Tac Toe label illustration, but the game is actually Othello.

 

The Zellers "Farmer Dan" illustration is actually ripped from Activision's Plaque Attack game (Farmer Dan is actually Gopher I think). And "Challenge" is nothing like its cart label illustration, which looks like a scene from Ghostbusters.

[riki]

Actually, those Zellers and Taiwan games and labels aren't too appealing to me. And I'm not extremely interested in the games that Zellers and the Taiwan pirates ripped off.

[krambigmac]

About Basketball not having 3 point shots, I don't think real life basketball had the 3 point line til after 1978 but I might be wrong.

[Skatepunk60]

quote

 From: Rhode Island

 

HOLY CRAP ANOTHER RHODE ISLANDER!

 

Hey

[Junie]

I'd have to say just about every game made has deceiving label. A few examples are Space War, Asteroids, Maze Craze, etc.

 

I haven't played Space War yet really, but that "bullseye" screen is a sight to behold. Of course Asteroids you aren't flying around the Earth or stars, simply a black screen. And Maze Craze, it shows a Cop with a night stick like he is after that guy-- Well it is nothing more than 2 players trying to get thru the game no Cops, no computer players (It doesn't even keep score).

 

With all that said, I must say I love my Atari and currently 87 games, but if you buy a game based solely on the label image your be surprised when you play the game.

 

I would have to say I love the Activision game labels. They tell you how many players, controllers, etc. They also show a image of a actual screen shot of the game-- Can't get any closer than a actual image of the game itself

[krambigmac]

Sweet, another Rhode Islander. Cumberland here myself but I spend enough time commuting to Bryant College. Do you know of anywhere that has Atari games in this area? I used to go to the Taunton Flea Market before I got into this but it since burnt down.