The 2600 Red/Silver Label Hybrid concept for reproduction and homebrew games

[Maztr_0n]

Well, simply put i found out a user called @ZippyOasys made a really neat hybrid between the Late 80's Red Label of 2600 games and the classic silver label for 2600 games for one of their projects. They used GIMP and the 2600labelmaker to do this, so i decided to also try it out using the same tools, as well as using the cart scan of silver label title Galaxian (1987 version) and Red Label title Dark Chambers (for end labels) and chose the Telesys title "Demolition Herby" for the following result.
 

 

 

I dont think its 100% perfect and i could've done this better than how i ended up doing this, but i thought it was cool to share.

Why on 2600+? Because as a Modern Atari fan i kinda thought of what a unified 2600 label standard for the 2020's (and beyond), i personally like all the label types but i have a certain fondness for the Red Labels, but some tend to think of the red label style as the "budget title" format, whilst to me i think the silver coloring of the silver labels just doesn't stand out from the 7800 or even the 5200 (despite the latters different cart size) and while i think the Black/Red end labels are really cool on silver releases, i much prefer how the Red Label has the game title, "atari 2600" denoting what platform the game is for and the catalog number, which i think just looks nicer, combined with the fact that red kinda pops out as "2600 Game", thus melding the two formats into "The ULTIMATE Label" for modern 2600 custom carts is an interesting concept.

I also kind of want to experiment with melding together this with the later Activision "Blue Labels" to make something unique for custom carts, as if they were made for modern releases, it would be cool imo to see a blue label that had the classic activision artwork style on the cart, but alse a unified blue label format, so i might work on that later.

Let me know your thoughts about this, Tips and other things would be much appreciated.

[Maztr_0n]

by the way on the activison thing, if anybody uses GIMP and can give some tips about making the little white border lines that the Blue Labels had, that would be much appreciated as i am very sure gimp doesnt have a shape tool

[Maztr_0n]

7 hours ago, Maztr_0n said:

by the way on the activison thing, if anybody uses GIMP and can give some tips about making the little white border lines that the Blue Labels had, that would be much appreciated as i am very sure gimp doesnt have a shape tool

Heres my attempt at a blue label equivalent, i think originally i wanted the white squares on the atari label itself, but i dont feel all that qualified to try that so best i could do is do that for the top label and use the squares on the label i would put on the website as a jpg. And in my next reply i will post the PNG file in my next reply for the activision blue label image so you can try it yourself, i also realized my version of Eras and the font i used for the blue label (Cardiff) have minor differences from the template, but hopefully i can try to fix that soon.

Edited July 3 by Maztr_0n

[Maztr_0n]

[MrChickenz]

What is this GIMP you speak of? It looks amazing!

 

EDIT: Is it a free Windows app? That’s what I see in my search results.

Edited July 3 by MrChickenz

[Maztr_0n]

2 hours ago, MrChickenz said:

What is this GIMP you speak of? It looks amazing!

 

EDIT: Is it a free Windows app? That’s what I see in my search results.

 

GIMP is an open-source image editing tool, like photoshop but it is indeed free. I use it on Linux.

[JetmanUK]

On 7/3/2024 at 2:15 AM, MrChickenz said:

What is this GIMP you speak of? It looks amazing!

 

EDIT: Is it a free Windows app? That’s what I see in my search results.

Don't be coy @MrChickenz, you know all about gimps. 😋

[2LTIME6100]

On 7/3/2024 at 3:15 AM, MrChickenz said:

What is this GIMP you speak of? It looks amazing!

 

EDIT: Is it a free Windows app? That’s what I see in my search results.

Yes, Gimp is free software. I used it to design a few labels for my games. It takes a bit of getting used to but then it works pretty well.

[MrChickenz]

1 hour ago, 2LTIME6100 said:

Yes, Gimp is free software. I used it to design a few labels for my games. It takes a bit of getting used to but then it works pretty well.

Oh, very nice! I like these!

[2LTIME6100]

9 minutes ago, MrChickenz said:

Oh, very nice! I like these!

🙂

[Maztr_0n]

On 7/4/2024 at 5:29 AM, 2LTIME6100 said:

🙂

 

On 7/4/2024 at 5:19 AM, MrChickenz said:

Oh, very nice! I like these!

Oh yeah, well. I kinda think despite the reputation that the Red Label and probably especially the Blue Label Activision games have for budget-ness, could be tweaked to become something new. A standardized format for the 2020's and beyond, And if i was able to do that on gimp, i think many else can too...

[Flyindrew]

I like the idea of having variant type boxes for new/homebrew 2600 + carts. Here are my ideas

 

1979 variant-Black box 

1982 variant (silver box)

1987 variant (Red box)

1994 variant (Jaguar style box)

2020's variant-Brand new concept design or something similar as to what is illustrated above. 

Edited July 5 by Flyindrew

[Maztr_0n]

6 minutes ago, Flyindrew said:

I like the idea of having variant type boxes for new/homebrew 2600 + carts. Here are my ideas

 

1979 variant-Black box 

1982 variant (silver box)

1987 variant (Red box)

1994 variant (Jaguar style box)

2020's variant-Brand new concept design or something similar as to what is illustrated above. 

thats cool. I like for repros to aim for that Red/Silver mix, because i much prefer the red label format of end labels and the color compared to silver, which just feels too interchangeable with the 5200 and 7800. And for Activision titles, i'm working on that Blue Label Standard, mixing that in with something more detailed.

Just showing some red label love. And of course, sharing it.

I like that idea.

[Maztr_0n]

I can make a few more for specific games somebody would want, and then put them here if you want to make your own cart of a rare game you want.

Just as an experiment, reply and i'll try to do it.