The Super Nintendo hosted an impressive spread of best-in-class role-playing games, making it a favourite machine of many genre aficionados. Those games also left a profound legacy of influence that went far beyond the RPG genre alone. The Definitive Book of SNES RPGs Vol. 1 serves as an essential, highly visual guide to an era of game history that every gaming fan should know.
Written by the highly respected game critic and researcher Moses Norton, The Definitive Book of SNES RPGs Vol. 1 brings you over 550 pages packed with detailed writing, developer quotes, and genre history – and is filled to the brim with restored art and lost knowledge, printed to the highest standards. As the first volume in the series, The Definitive Book of SNES RPGs Vol. 1 is alphabetically focused, concentrating on games titled A-to-K, including The 7th Saga, Eye of the Beholder, Breath of Fire, Chrono Trigger, EarthBound, EVO, Final Fantasy II, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Knights of the Round, and many more.
The book is not a trivial ranking of favourites, a bartering of factoids, or a stroll down memory lane. It is an uncompromising and exhaustive study of the artistry, ideology, and legacy of SNES RPGs using a methodology and scope that has never been attempted before in any published work.
Norton set out on a mission to understand not just what the games contain – but also what they mean. Built around a collection of essays, The Definitive Book of SNES RPGs Vol. 1 asks why these RPGs continue to endure, why they still top ‘best of’ lists 30 years later, why fans still clamor for their remakes and remasters, and what philosophies animated their pixels and prose.
Framed by a foreword from writer and editor Alex Donaldson, founder and director of the Mist Network and RPG Site, and anchored by a comprehensive release timeline spanning the Super Nintendo's place in tech history, The Definitive Book of SNES RPGs Vol. 1 guides adventurers through the halcyon days of 16-bit storytelling with rigor and reverence, simplicity, idealism, and humour.
For collectors, historians, scholars, and lifelong genre fans this is the definitive resource, a hardcore hardcover for those who believe that video games – especially role-playing games – are an art form all their own. Echoing this admiration of the arts, the cover boasts a gilded design by professional artist Stephen Sitton, aka Stumpyfongo, featuring iconic RPG villains Kefka Palazzo, the Goddess Tyr, and Lavos.
Includes quotes, insights, and anecdotes from:
Alec "DMCPCRT", Alan Lee, Alex Donaldson, Alex Inigo, Alexander “SNESdrunk” Scott, Akira Toriyama, Antony Cummins, AshSaidHi, Atsushi Hashimoto, Bethany "Mama Terra", Bill Tucker, Brian Milne, Carlos Rocha, Chehade Boulos, Chris Kramer, ChronoKatie, Clyde Mandelin, CriterionX, CS Lewis, Daniel Greenberg, Dany Boolauck, David Giltinan, Davidvinc, Dean Guadagno, Dev Madan, Doug Bell, Dustin and Nolan of New Game Plus Podcast, Erek Ladd, Eyesonbee, Francis DiPersio, Francois Marcela Froideval, Gary Gygax, Glenn Murawski, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Hiromichi Tanaka, Hirokazu Ando, Hiroyuki Ito, Jakob Rosenberg, James Deighan, Janet L. Whitmore, Jared Knabenbauer, Jay Malone, Joe Bourrie, John Riggs, J.R.R. Tolkien, Joshua Hallaran, Julian Titus, Julie Bell, Jun Ishikawa, Justin Berenbaum, Kazuko Shibuya, Kaori Tanaka, Kinu Nishimura, Kouji Yokota, Kurt Kalata, Livnat, Makoto Ikehara, Mariko Ohara, Masato Kato, Matt Conti, Matthias Linda, Megan Hertz, Mike Legg, Nadia Oxford, Neisuke Nakashima, Nintendork, Nobuo Uematsu, Patrick Brickhouse, Robert Jerauld, Ryan Buckley, Ryuji Sasai, S.M.G Szczepaniak, Satoru Iwata, Shigesato Itoi, Shinji Imada, Steven A. Schwartz, Steven Lynn, Summer Rose, SuperDerek, Syncoplay, T. Wade Langer Jr., Takashi Tokita, Takashi Yoneda, Ted Woolsey, Tetsuya Takahashi, Thierry Boulanger, Thomas Mallory, Tokuro Fujiwara, Tomoya Asano, Tomoyoshi Miyazaki, Toshirio Kondo, Treeky, Wayne Holder, William Stiernberg, Yasuhiko Kamata, Yasunori Mitsuda, Yoshie Minami, Yoshinori Kitase, Yoshio Kiya, Yuji Horii, Yuzo Koshiro, Zach Maston, and more!
About the publisher:
Bitmap Books work with the world's most experienced writers, designers and gaming experts to create meticulously researched, visually ambitious retro gaming books. As a design-led publisher, visual quality matters to us. We don’t just obsessively pursue the best printing quality currently available. We want to constantly push the envelope when it comes to expectations about printing techniques.
