The SNES Pixel Book

by Bitmap Books

Long before giant polygonal ships populated by gamer avatars soared through the digital cosmos, or highly tuned 3D race cars hurtled across photorealistic open-world landscapes, gaming was all about pixels. At first, they were clunky affairs, made of simple forms and abstract shapes, barely recognisable as their real-world counterparts. But as gaming hardware became more powerful, so the artist s craft began to take shape, producing beautiful, timeless artwork that reached its peak on Nintendo s 16-bit Super Nintendo. To commemorate this era of gaming, we re proud to announce The SNES Pixel Book . For more than three years, authors Robert Bannert and Christine Bauer have worked with the help of retro-gaming professional, Thomas Nickel, to evaluate and edit almost 100,000 screen shots, exclusively made for this book, converting them into level maps and huge pixel images. They ve also written extensive articles and analyses of the various genres and game designs. Originally produced in Germany where the SNES was hugely popular Bitmap Books has painstakingly translated its 268 pages to produce a definitive English language version. The finished hardback book is 250mm x 250mm in size, comes in a heavy board protective slipcase, and includes an exclusive bookmark. The book is full colour throughout, beautifully printed on high quality paper, and sumptuously illustrated by some of the very best game artwork on the SNES. For connoisseurs of pixel art, fans of the Super Nintendo, or anyone simply wanting to reminisce about the 16-bit era, The SNES Pixel Book will be a fine additional to your retro-gaming collection.

Genres: Video Games, Nonfiction, Gaming, Art, Games

268 pages, Hardcover

Published December 2, 2019

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like all Bitmap Books this is a visual treat with beautiful layouts. Unfortunately the writing is pretty bad - its the usual breathless description of game mechanics and supposed cultural significance that anyone who's spent any amount of time reading mainstream games press (i.e. probably anyone buying this book) has seen countless times. I would have liked to see deeper research on the actual staff members responsible for the beautiful images here - outside of the usual team leads, staff are never mentioned by name, which is a huge shortcoming. It also really could've used an actual game dev on-staff, who might have been able to give more technical details on the techniques used in the pixel art that this book is nominally about. I just don't know what value there is in describing how Super Mario World or A Link to the Past set the world on fire for the umpteenth time, or how much money a game goes for in today's secondary market, yknow? It's a pixel book, let's talk about the pixels.

Anyways, it is wonderful to look at.

[Galen Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the most part, it does a good job of peppering nostalgia with insight to trends of the SNES era. I would have liked to have seen a bit more analysis, and a bit more on sports games and some of the oddities (such as Super Scope and Game Show games), both of which get short shrift, but over all it is a great trip down memory lane.

[Federico Lucifredi · Rating 5 out of 5]

High quality of print, exceptional collection of content. Two thumbs up!

[Tommie Haag · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just awesome, as always from Bitmap Books!

[Frederik Bukowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun journey through childhood memories of playing old games on the SNES.

[Ruslan Strazhnyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really nice art book with the retro gaming history!