Dynamite; $39.99

Thanks to the advancements in technology, the video game art of today largely consists of screenshots that are rendered in the game engine itself. But back in the day of early Atari – when home consoles were first even a thing – the four-bit graphics weren’t anything worth showing off. Instead, box art was primarily made up of drawings and paintings meant to give the person playing an idea of what to imagine was happening when they stared at the pixels on the screen.

Dynamite’s Art of Atari is the ultimate celebration of this era in video game history. Via various artist profiles, it provides an in-depth look at the box artwork of this period. It also includes a look at arcade cabinet design, home console design, controller design, and – my personal favorite – the advertisements of that era. Anyone with even a vague interest in video games or pop art will get a lot out of this book.

-Carrie Wood