Favorite VG books (top 5)

[Phaneuf]

I am always on the lookout for good video game books and i think this is a great way to discover new ones


My top 5:






Share your suggestions

[Greg2600]

It's fiction, but Ready Player One was very good.

[celerystalker]

It's fiction, but Ready Player One was very good.

I agree. Fun, quick read. For non-fiction, I like Supercade by Van Burnham, Memoirs of a Virtual Caveman by Rob Strangman, Jeff Rovin's How to Win At series, and the Bantam's Totally Unauthorized Secret series.

[Tanooki]

Game Over
The Best of the Nintendo Comics System - Captain N, Metroid, Gameboy, and more inside
The Best of the Super Mario Bros (comics - this and above are collected comics by Valiant in hardback form only)
The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past - made by Shotaro Ishinomori, sold in power supplies catalog early 90s, it's a manga, great one, kept it all these years.

I don't much have a fifth really. I've read some strategy guides that have full books in them like the old Interplay Star Trek Judgement Rites where the old book/tv authors wrote mini stories for each 'episode' as if it were a novella, and similar stuff happened in a very old Wing Commander I & II guide as well with stories, journals, etc that's readable (both cases) without knowing squat about the games or even if they existed.

I have also read Uncharted the novel it's not bad, kind of Indiana Jones like, but not a big favorite but I do question they never wrote another as they've done one for God of War 1 and 2.

[calthaer]

Most of my favorites have already been mentioned. I have several others on the shelf that I just haven't gotten around to reading much and therefore can't recommend yet.

One set of books that is interesting for nostalgic value (but they aren't great literature or anything) are the "Worlds of Power" books from the 1980s that contained stories about various NES games (Wizards & Warriors, Shadowgate, I think Castlevania, can't recall the others). Several were written by marketing guru Seth Godin, going by the pen-name of "F.X. Nine".

[celerystalker]

Most of my favorites have already been mentioned. I have several others on the shelf that I just haven't gotten around to reading much and therefore can't recommend yet.

One set of books that is interesting for nostalgic value (but they aren't great literature or anything) are the "Worlds of Power" books from the 1980s that contained stories about various NES games (Wizards & Warriors, Shadowgate, I think Castlevania, can't recall the others). Several were written by marketing guru Seth Godin, going by the pen-name of "F.X. Nine".

I have the Worlds of Power book based on Metal Gear. I'm not sure how many different games were done in those...

[retroman]

The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steven L. Kent is mine

[Tanooki]

I wanted to throw worlds of power in there but having not read it in over 20 years I couldn't as it could be fuzzy kid memories of crap. I keep intending to eBay a few but I always forget and miss a solid package deal as singles aren't worth it with shipping on books.

[Az]

Not a top 5, but a top pics list of those not mentioned yet.

The Ultimate History of Video Games - Probably my #1 pick, great read with tons of background info. I go back to this one at least once a year.

Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto - Decent read by the same author of Masters of Doom, although I prefer the Doom book over this one.

The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers Vol 1 & 2 - I'm in the middle of Vol 2 on this. Great interview book with tons and tons of obscure insider info. My only complaint is at least 50% or more of the discussion is on games for retro Japanese computers and not consoles. Even in those instances there's still interesting stories to be had even if you weren't a fan or aren't knowledgeable on those games or platforms.

Sega Mega Drive/Genesis Collected Works - Decent book, nothing you're going to read over and over though so it probably wasn't worth the $60 I paid for it. Has some cool artwork and documents but about 15 minutes worth of actual reading.

[bb_hood]

Has the Nintendo seal of quality. Ive seen the Zelda one also, but when I went back to buy it it was gone...

[buzz_n64]

High Score!- The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, The Ultimate History of Video Games, The Encyclopedia of Game Machines, and Game Over- Press Start to Continue.

[Tanooki]

That guitar book is slick, and there's a piano one as well (Zelda too.) I've been curious about it, but I can't read sheet music which drives me up the wall. I've got my dead grandma's 60+year old piano here and it's used for the kid to play slightly and mostly to house some of my stuff and a stereo which is just pathetic.

[Steven]

I like Memoirs of a Virtual Caveman by Rob Strangman.

Ditto! And not just because Rob was generous enough to allow me 5 stories of my own into his book. It really is a quality read through and through.



I love the bite-sized stories from different gaming generations spanning 20+ different writers. Kind of gives you a small snapshot of the times and the book is a quick, easy read. Plus it's 472 pages. Highly recommended if you love reading about life memories woven by deep video game roots.

And another gaming-related book I absolutely adore, and shocked no one has mentioned up to this point, is 8-Bit Christmas.

Reads like A Christmas Story meets the NES. Full of nostalgia and charm, it's sure to bring a smile to any old school Nintendo fan who recalls growing up with the system back in the late '80s and believed in the magic of the Christmas season.

[Dire 51]

Memoirs of a Virtual Caveman by Rob Strangman

Ditto! And not just because Rob was generous enough to allow me 5 stories of my own into his book. It really is a quality read through and through.



I love the bite-sized stories from different gaming generations spanning 20+ different writers. Kind of gives you a small snapshot of the times and the book is a quick, easy read. Plus it's 472 pages. Highly recommended if you love reading about life memories woven by deep video game roots.

And I thank you both for liking Memoirs enough to list it as one of your favorites.

I'm not going to be a schmuck and list my own book as one of my personal top 5. That'd be wrong. My top 5, however, does contain a couple of very influential books, at least as far as Memoirs is concerned. That said...

- The Winners' Book of Video Games (Craig Kubey, 1982)
- The Official Nintendo Player's Guide (Nintendo, 1987)
- Commodork: Sordid Tales from a BBS Junkie (Rob O'Hara, 2006)
- The 100 Greatest Console Video Games: 1977-1987 (Brett Weiss, 2014)
- Hardcore Gaming 101 Presents: The Unofficial Guide to Konami Shooters (Kurt Kalata, 2015)

Runners-up include all of the other HG101 books, Invading Spaces: A Beginner's Guide to Collecting Arcade Games (Rob O'Hara, 2008), Sega Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works (Keith Stuart, 2014) and Family Computer 1983-1994 (Miyamoto Shigeru, 2003).

[celerystalker]

I also like the HG101 books. The Castlevania one might be my favorite of them right now. For anyone who hasn't read Memoirs of a Virtual Caveman, though, I feel its real strength is that it so vividly presents a cross-section of Rob's life in the '80s and '90s, and anyone who has loved games during that time will find something to relate to, whether its the awkward breeching of the topic of games with other kids at school, the kinds of groups of friends you had as a young adult on your own for the first time (I definitely had my equivalent to his "Braunle group"), and experiences at video game stores at the time.

[Daltone]

Has anyone read the Doom novelisations? I imagine that they are absolutely terrible, but I still have an urge to read them.

[Tanooki]

I've seen them in the past, never been brave enough to actually try. I will say I've thumbed some pages into the God of War book and it's seemingly solid, and Uncharted reads well enough like one of the PS games.

[Phaneuf]

Thank you all for sharing your favorite books.

I will definitely read some of the ones that have been suggested

[fultonbot]

I love this topic!

History:

The First Quarter/Ultimate History Of Video Games - Steve L. Kent
Hackers by Steven Levy
Dungeons And Dreamers by Brad King and John Borland
Masters Of Doom by Davind Kushner
All Your Base Belong To Us : By Harold Goldberg
Game Over : Press Start To Continue
Extra Life : Coming Of Age In Cyberspace by David Bennahum
Confessions Of The Game Doctor by Bill Kunkel

Fiction

Lucky Wander Boy by DB Weiss
Arcade By Robery Maxx (written in 1983, it's a super paranoid book about video games)
Little Brother by John McNeil (written in 1983, it's super paranoid about computer games)