Build your own Atari 2600 boxes

[rjchamp3]

Well a box is a box so If it looks real it will be real, remeber the boxes made back in day were made the same way, now if the box is altered then it's fake.

 

I lovet this idea I can remake my old boxes

 

Incorrect, the original boxes are not made out of two pieces.

 

 

So if you get a box maker you can do then right

[Mirage]

Many people may not be able to tell the difference, but anyone who has experience in the print industry will be able to tell an original from a fake -- at least in almost all cases. Granted, some may be very good, but the printing style (not quality, just printing style through a loupe) is going to look different, and the box construction as well.

 

If you're ever unsure, try to find someone local with print experience to look at the box and 99% of the time, they'll be able to tell, if they're good.

[Zonie]

Nice boxes. If I were to do it, I'd make GATEFOLD boxes. But that's just me. I cannot bring myself to spend the time making something I tossed away in a recycle bin years ago at the behest of my (now) Ex-wife!

[missioncontrol]

FYI A link to this tutorial has made its way to page 14 of Gameroom Magazine as a news blurb in GameRoom News....

[rjchamp3]

Many people may not be able to tell the difference, but anyone who has experience in the print industry will be able to tell an original from a fake -- at least in almost all cases. Granted, some may be very good, but the printing style (not quality, just printing style through a loupe) is going to look different, and the box construction as well.

 

If you're ever unsure, try to find someone local with print experience to look at the box and 99% of the time, they'll be able to tell, if they're good.

 

 

Well I look at it like this, if you never had the box it would be a nice replica thus still increasing you sales value of your game regardless, because eventually all of this stuff will be next to impossible to find and anybody would be happy to have an original cart with a replica box, I know I would and I know people will still pay.

 

Example: I never had a Flintstones Suprise at dinosaur peek box well I would love to have a replica and and hundreds of others would too.

 

I think

[missioncontrol]

So I made a Frogger box yesterday using the templates, I used standard card stock since I was just testing the waters with it. But overall I think it came out nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

I hope the original poster hasn't lost interest and plans on upping more designs since my photoshop/gimp skills are lacking. Next I will make a combat box.

 

These are going to be displayed nicely in my cubicle at work. I will make some nicer ones with proper materials to display in my gameroom.

[cdoty]

Some weeks ago, after reading this superb tutorial on how to create custom megadrive boxes, I started thinking about recreating replicas of original Atari 2600 boxes for all those spare carts that are missing one.

 

Do you know where I could find the templates for the Megadrive boxes? A translated version of the webpage seems to suggest that the templates have already been designed.

 

Thank you.

[+Allan]

So I made a Frogger box yesterday using the templates, I used standard card stock since I was just testing the waters with it. But overall I think it came out nicely.

 

 

I hope the original poster hasn't lost interest and plans on upping more designs since my photoshop/gimp skills are lacking. Next I will make a combat box.

 

These are going to be displayed nicely in my cubicle at work. I will make some nicer ones with proper materials to display in my game room.

 

Very cool. Let us know how things go as you make more. Finding the right card stock has been difficult for me. The paper/art stores I go to aren't very helpful.

 

Designing the box layouts isn't that difficult. I've been doing 5200 labels and it was easy to pick up once I had a template. Once you make one the rest come quicker. I'd like to make some 5200 boxes soon when time permits. I'd like to make boxes for the prototypes and conversions as well as a few 'pretend' ones.

 

The first thing you have to get to design a box are the right fonts. This can be hard sometimes because some of the more 'Classic' fonts aren't free on the Web.

 

The other thing that you need are scans of the graphics/pictures which can be hard to find.

 

When I get some time to experiment I will post my results.

 

Allan

[missioncontrol]

keep us updated on your results Allen. The card stock I used was the standard you pick up at wall-mart. Since mine are for display purposes they don't need to be perfect. I may play around with Photoshop and may even try to learn a little with Illustrator to make some more. I'm going for mostly common cart boxes first since they are the most recognizable. I am going to have to rummage through the box scans here and see what I should start out with.

[Mirage]

This is why I wanted to start a high-res (and I mean *high-res*, not low or medium) box/manual art scan archive awhile back, but there didn't seem to be much interest at that time. Probably because I admittedly didn't present it properly. I think this community could benefit greatly long-term from that sort of project.

 

I'll soon be in a better position to work on that... I'm moving 1200 miles away on Friday. I'll try a new announcement after we get settled in. In the meantime, if anyone here is interested in helping out with this, send me a PM so we can have a list of interested parties once it gets going.

[+Allan]

keep us updated on your results Allen. The card stock I used was the standard you pick up at wall-mart. Since mine are for display purposes they don't need to be perfect. I may play around with Photoshop and may even try to learn a little with Illustrator to make some more. I'm going for mostly common cart boxes first since they are the most recognizable. I am going to have to rummage through the box scans here and see what I should start out with.

 

 

Just do it in Photoshop. I think Illustrator may make it too complicated. The hard part is making a template. I would just use the Combat one for starters.

 

Allan

Edited March 12, 2008 by Allan

[missioncontrol]

This is why I wanted to start a high-res (and I mean *high-res*, not low or medium) box/manual art scan archive awhile back, but there didn't seem to be much interest at that time. Probably because I admittedly didn't present it properly. I think this community could benefit greatly long-term from that sort of project.

 

I'll soon be in a better position to work on that... I'm moving 1200 miles away on Friday. I'll try a new announcement after we get settled in. In the meantime, if anyone here is interested in helping out with this, send me a PM so we can have a list of interested parties once it gets going.

 

 

don't know what I can do to help, my collection consist of <200 games and I only have a handful of boxes carts which are not in the best of conditions, but I'd be willing to help any way I can.....

[Mirage]

Just do it in Photoshop. I think Illustrator may make it too complicated. The hard part is making a template. I would just use the Combat one for starters.

 

Allan

 

If you're using a newer version of PS and know what you're doing, you can have some vector elements. Most people would take PS and it would all be rasterized though (the fonts and other linework elements won't look as good -- they won't look right), so in a way, to do it very high-quality, Illustrator is the way to go. Just a little bit harder to use at first. If you're happy with the results though, that's all that really matters in the end.

 

It would be nice to get an organized effort going for this to make sure there's a good resource for people to pull high-quality art from, and this will reduce reinventing the wheel by each person, too. Soon, hopefully.

[Mirage]

don't know what I can do to help, my collection consist of <200 games and I only have a handful of boxes carts which are not in the best of conditions, but I'd be willing to help any way I can.....

 

Cool, thanks! Please PM me so I'll have a list altogether of interested parties for when we start this up. I'm sure it will be a month before we get settled in our new place and into our new jobs. I'll start a new thread when the time comes to announce it.

[missioncontrol]

Just do it in Photoshop. I think Illustrator may make it too complicated. The hard part is making a template. I would just use the Combat one for starters.

 

Allan

 

Yeah I was going to convert Paul's templates to psd format and take out the combat layers. I think I'll try to tackle River Raid since I didn't see any gradients to deal with.

[missioncontrol]

don't know what I can do to help, my collection consist of <200 games and I only have a handful of boxes carts which are not in the best of conditions, but I'd be willing to help any way I can.....

 

Cool, thanks! Please PM me so I'll have a list altogether of interested parties for when we start this up. I'm sure it will be a month before we get settled in our new place and into our new jobs. I'll start a new thread when the time comes to announce it.

 

 

PM sent..

[Rik]

There is one site that sells INTV box remakes.I'd ask if it printed on the boxes that they are indeed reproductions,if not,sorry,adios,not interested.Might as well make them myself.For me,that would be doing my part to help stop the spread of fakes being sold off as real to unsuspecting buyers,and ANYONE can be fooled.

Edited March 18, 2008 by Rik

[HARMIK]

Beeslife is the site for Intellivision reproduction boxes and yes it is printed on the box, small print on one of the flaps the boxes are awesome i am very very happy with them. I have a thred on this under Classic Gaming General

[Rik]

Beeslife is the site for Intellivision reproduction boxes and yes it is printed on the box, small print on one of the flaps the boxes are awesome i am very very happy with them. I have a thred on this under Classic Gaming General

That's great,good to see an honest seller!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited March 18, 2008 by Rik

[nathanallan]

I wasn't looking at this thread but it got so many responses in such a short time it got me interested.

 

But to make a box for my Solaris cart I'll have to get new ink, mine's a little low I busted out the hard-card and razorblades and everything--!

 

Great job on the boxes! About them being sold as original boxes... If I were to sell it, I would state clearly that it was a repro made by me (or whoever) and to me that would add to the value! This is just me, but IF I were to go and buy, say, a car that was all original and it was beat to hell, but it's all there, I wouldn't want to pay much for it. If it has things fixed up on it and new parts-- even not original but upgraded ones, I'd pay a lot more for it.

 

I paid a good amount for the 7800/NES controller, and it was not all original, yet he sold out of them. At asking price.

 

So these boxes, though worth less than a CIB game, has its own value in my eyes.

 

Now I gotta get more ink and make some boxes!

 

Nathan

[Paul Sernine]

I hope the original poster hasn't lost interest and plans on upping more designs

 

Not at all, but i've been awfully busy this days (In fact I have two more designs 95% finished. They'll get posted soon). My goal is to make designs for all my unboxed carts, buy I'm taking it easy, my spare time is very little.

 

missioncontrol, that's very good job with the frogger box.

 

About the megadrive boxes tutorial, yes these are cartboard while the originals where plasticmade. The autor is not making replicas but custom designs based on the japonesse versions of the original boxes. The templates seems to exists, though they are not published with the article, if someone is interested i could contact the author (i'm afraid he doesn't speak english).

[endrien]

So what exactly is

- Gross paper, at least 350 mg/m2.

- Aironfix (plastic transparent auto-adhesive cover).

 

And would this work very well for say producing a homebrew game?

 

I don't really understand how to make a box with the instructions though, like how does the back of the box attach to the front etc.

Would this look decent with just cardstock and no gloss paper/Airon fix(which I assume is a transparent plastic layer that sticks to the paper like tape?)

 

Also this needs to be a sticky.

Edited August 22, 2010 by endrien

[+pboland]

So what exactly is

- Gross paper, at least 350 mg/m2.

- Aironfix (plastic transparent auto-adhesive cover).

 

And would this work very well for say producing a homebrew game?

 

I don't really understand how to make a box with the instructions though, like how does the back of the box attach to the front etc.

Would this look decent with just cardstock and no gloss paper/Airon fix(which I assume is a transparent plastic layer that sticks to the paper like tape?)

 

Also this needs to be a sticky.

I would just use regular photo paper and not glossy. I assume you could just use something like Avery Self-Adhesive Protective Sheets maybe. This technique is very similar to the way I make new cart labels (Colecovision Labels), but instead of self adhesive sheets I use a high grade packing tape and get the same good looking results:

 

 

The one on the right is the repro label. Notice the colors are off a little. Just make sure you do a test print to match colors.

[DeusExMachina]

 

There is my problem, I only buy boxed copies. The only loose games I buy are Hacks & Homebrews so I feel that very soon I will get ripped off buy someone with a state of the art printer & scanner.

 

 

There is one way to tell if it is a fake. If you burn the box at the stake and it doesn't burn, then it is a fake!

[+pboland]

So what exactly is

- Gross paper, at least 350 mg/m2.

- Aironfix (plastic transparent auto-adhesive cover).

 

And would this work very well for say producing a homebrew game?

 

I don't really understand how to make a box with the instructions though, like how does the back of the box attach to the front etc.

Would this look decent with just cardstock and no gloss paper/Airon fix(which I assume is a transparent plastic layer that sticks to the paper like tape?)

 

Also this needs to be a sticky.

I would just use regular photo paper and not glossy. I assume you could just use something like Avery Self-Adhesive Protective Sheets maybe. This technique is very similar to the way I make new cart labels (Colecovision Labels), but instead of self adhesive sheets I use a high grade packing tape and get the same good looking results:

 

 

The one on the right is the repro label. Notice the colors are off a little. Just make sure you do a test print to match colors.

That should say "The one on the Left is the repro label" not right. Man, that is embarrassing.