I forgot how big the cart boxes were for the 400/800. The console wars of the late ’70s and early ’80s were fought largely through package art and package design. Demo centers were few and far between, but we all saw the boxes faced out under glass counters or behind the registers. The 400/800 packages were bigger, Atari would have us believe, because the contents were more sophisticated. Pac-Man wasn’t just a game when played on the Atari 400 and 800. It was a “computer program.”
When I got my 800 in ’82 or ’83, it came bundled with Pac-Man and Donkey Kong.
(Photo via vigorito; box scan via Atari Mania)
2 Warps to Neptune 