This week, we are proud to launch our ongoing curated book series with some help from the incredible UK publisher Bitmap Books. Specializing in classic video game art, the books that Bitmap puts out are stunningly beautiful. They feature gorgeous art from the games, and the interviews cover a huge array of talent from journalists and reviewers to composers and designers.
Previously unavailable from an official US distributor, we are thrilled to be able to offer a limited number of six of their best books.
All of the books will go on sale on Friday (9/20) at NOON (CT) via mondotees.com.
NES/Famicom: A Visual Compendium - By Steve Jarratt and Damien McFerran and published by Bitmap Books. Expected to Ship in October. Ships Worldwide. $39.99
With its cutting edge graphics and extensive catalogue of iconic games, the NES/Famicom played a huge part in the history of videogaming. For many, this would be a turning point in their lives, leading them to become artists, game designers and programmers. It helped to popularize manga and anime among Western gamers, and brought icons of Western culture into Japanese homes. Nintendo’s little eight-bit console changed the world of entertainment forever, and its influence cannot be overstated.
NES/Famicom: A Visual Compendium aims to showcase the very best pixel art, box art and product design on each system. Spread over 536 pages, it features more than 170 classic games, with articles on the leading developers, interviews with key figures in the industry and mini-features on subjects such as packaging, fan art and unreleased games.
SNES/Super Famicom: A Visual Compendium - By Steve Jarratt and Damien McFerran and published by Bitmap Books. Expected to Ship in October. Ships Worldwide. $39.99
Focusing on the Super Famicom in Japan and the SNES across North America and Europe, SNES/Super Famicom: A Visual Compendium offers a visual snapshot of the best games, developers, box art and product design from across these territories. As the name suggests, the book is mainly visual; it won't be a super-detailed insight into the SNES/Super Famicom, but more a visual companion designed to stir up excitement and nostalgia for this fantastic machine and its legacy of classic games.
The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games - Edited by Felipe Pepe and published by Bitmap Books. Expected to Ship in October. Ships Worldwide. $39.99
Spread over more than 500 pages, The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games reviews over 400 seminal games from 1975 to 2015, covering the role-playing classics we all know and love such as Ultima, Wizardry, Fallout and Mass Effect – all brought to life with vibrant and engaging in-game images. Each entry also shares articles on the genre, mod suggestions and hints on how to run the games on modern hardware. The book is completely by written by fans, AAA developers, indies, journalists, modders and industry personalities such as Chris Avellone, Ian Frazier, Scorpia, Ferhegón, Richard Cobbett, Brian ‘Psychochild’ Green, Durante, George Weidman and Tim Cain, to name but a few.
The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games comes as a hardback and uses thread-sewn binding for extra durability. The cover features a specially created artwork by fantasy artist Jan Pospíšil.
The Art of Point-And-Click Adventure Games - Edited by Steve Jarratt and published by Bitmap Books. Expected to Ship in October. Ships Worldwide. $39.99
A visual celebration of one of the most loved genres in gaming history, The Art of Point-and-Click Adventure Games is a sumptuous 460-page, hardback coffee table book packed with the very best pixel art and classic scenes from the most defining games of this genre. It will also contain extensive and exclusive interviews with the key developers, designers and artists behind some of the most beloved games and characters in the history of the medium. The book starts with a foreword by Gary Whitta (PC Gamer magazine/ROGUE: A STAR WARS STORY).
The book covers titles such as King’s Quest, Myst, Toonstruck, Discworld, Blade Runner, Gabriel Knight, Flight of the Amazon Queen, Simon the Sorcerer and of course other classics, such as The Secret of Monkey Island, The Dig, Maniac Mansion and Full Throttle. All of the most famous and iconic point-and-click adventures are covered, as well as some lesser-known games and home-brew efforts.
NEOGEO: A Visual History - By Steve Jarratt and published by Bitmap Books. Expected to Ship in October. Ships Worldwide. $39.99
For a brief few years in the early 1990's, the NEOGEO was the pinnacle of video gaming. An elite, exclusive console that didn’t just emulate the arcade experience – as so many eight and 16-bit consoles tried to do – it was the arcade experience, pixel for pixel on your TV at home. Born in the days before polygons, the NEOGEO was a staunchly 2D system that gave birth to some of gaming's most iconic franchises such as Fatal Fury, THE KING OF FIGHTERS, Samurai Shodown and of course Metal Slug.
NEOGEO: A Visual History is the first officially licensed NEOGEO art book of its kind released in the English language. A visual celebration of all things NEOGEO, it’s crammed full of beautiful visuals split into dedicated chapters, including Hardware, Box Art, Character and Concept Art and Pixel Art. The imagery has been collated and photographed the from all over the world, which has been handpicked to appear in this unique and exclusive volume. NEOGEO: A Visual History also features official interviews with key staff integral to the NEOGEO’s history, including producer Yasuyuki Oda, artist Tatsuhiko Kanaoka (Falcoon) and composer Hideki Asanaka (sha-v).
Super Famicom: The Box Art Collection - Edited by Steve Jarratt and published by Bitmap Books. Expected to ship in October. Ships Worldwide. $39.99
It wasn’t easy being a Nintendo fan in the early '90s; the wonderful Super Famicom was released in Europe and the US as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, but it was hobbled by a bordered, 50Hz image and delayed release schedule. As well as the benefits of faster, smoother, full-screen gameplay, Japanese Super Famicom cartridges came in beautiful portrait-shaped boxes, rather than the landscape packaging sold in Europe and North America. The stylish, intricate Japanese designs were almost always superior to that afforded the western releases.
As a celebration of this unique artwork, Bitmap Books is proud to present Super Famicom: The Box Art Collection – a compilation of Japanese game packaging, professionally shot and presented as a glorious hardback edition. The book features around 250 titles, including many rare examples and some that have never before been documented in print. Sourced from the archives of renowned collector, Stuart Brett (aka Super Famicom Guy), each box is beautifully presented life-size, with a critique of the artwork, plus interviews with other collectors, explaining their love of the format.
