PC Engine: The Box Art Collection

PC Engine: The Box Art Collection celebrates the diversity, vibrancy, sophistication, and personality seen across the covers of the best and most interesting Japanese releases for NEC's undersized powerhouse of a console.

The PC Engine was more than just a games console. It was part of a movement in the late-1980s that saw a bold new aesthetic emerge in Japan that would soon spread across the globe, shaping art, design, and creativity everywhere it went. As the country’s games, movies, music, design, and fashion influenced one another, the brilliant box art of the PC Engine’s remarkable library capably captured the spread of artistic approaches and styles that made up the movement.

At 372 pages in length, PC Engine: The Box Art Collection includes more than 300 professionally shot pieces of box art, along with carefully reproduced screenshots – all presented with Bitmap Book’s design-led approach. Featuring games such as Adventure Island, Darius Plus, Bomberman ‘93, YS I & II, Soldier Blade, PC Denjin, Akumajō Dracula X: Chi no Rondo, Devil Crash, and Street Fighter II: Champion Edition. 

Founded by Sam Dyer in 2014, Bitmap Books creates meticulously researched, visually ambitious books that bring your classic gaming memories to life. Bitmap partners with game industry figures like Mark Cerny, Ste and John Pickford, Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert, SNK producer Yasuyuki Oda, and many more. Many titles are proudly unofficial, but others are done with SEGA, SNK and Atari, officially-licensed books that come complete with enhanced access and exclusive assets. Bitmap’s best-sellers are: A Guide to Japanese Role-Playing Games, The Art of Point-and-Click Adventure Games and The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games.