We've reviewed a couple of great gaming-related books at GBAtemp but it's heartwarming to see one of our very members come up with such a book of their own. One such endeavor comes from @ReyVGM , who has been around here for a long time and was even a moderator in the IRC channel. ReyVGM, or Rey Esteban, recently launch his first book The NES Endings Compendium: Years 1985 - 1988. In it, he explores the endings of NES games from 1985 and 1988 (150 games total) while revisiting some of the gaming industry's most iconic games.

ReyVGM's book is inspired by magazines from the 90s such as Nintendo Power and EGM and is presented in a similar nostalgic fashion. This means that each page looks different and as such he couldn't use a template. This design choice led to him taking nearly an entire year to complete the book. But Ray has no regret regarding his decision.

However, prior to this project, Rey tells me that he did not know anything about book design. After asking some prominent book-designers about an adequate software, he settled on Adobe InDesign and spent a couple of weeks to learn the ropes by watching YouTube tutorials and doing some tests.

Once he felt confident that he had the skills required to start, he began writing and designing the book.

​

After nearly a year since then, The NES Endings Compendium: Years 1985 - 1988 is now available to purchase. You can get a copy in paperback for $20 or in hardcover for $30 on Amazon. You can also purchase a digital (PDF or MOBI) on Itch.io as from $8.

Special thanks to @bladerx for pointing out ReyVGM's work and we wish him the very best with his book and hope to see more books about gaming history from him!

The NES Endings Compendium Amazon Link
The NES Endings Compendium Itch.io Link

 

[Prans]

Great work again @ReyVGM !

And if anyone else has similar projects they want to showcase, feel free to reach out!

 

[Scarlet]

I feel like this post should be prefaced with a spoiler warning ;O;

 

[Deleted User]

It's always so weird seeing artwork like this in books. Its like "wow, video games are in books, we're accepted now! Video games are prestigious!" I don't own any actual "pixel books" but I might make this my first.

 

[Jacklack3]

It's always so weird seeing artwork like this in books. Its like "wow, video games are in books, we're accepted now! Video games are prestigious!" I don't own any actual "pixel books" but I might make this my first.

I still have the Super Mario Maker book that came with the physical copy. It's very nice and even has codes you can put into the game for easter eggs.

 

[SaulFabre]

Cool stuff about retro gaming!

 

[Deleted member 560282]

I'm getting nostalgia now, thanks

 

[MikaDubbz]

You know what would be cool? A book chronicling every major known release to the system after it's life had been deemed over, be it by reputable devs or homebrewers. The NES alone has seen countless post mortem releases, many of which have been fantastic. And this is the stuff that doesn't get the greatest most cohesive coverage, so it would certainly be helpful as well.

 

[Bladexdsl]

hope you got nintendos blessing otherwise....

 

[raxadian]

Eh... nice but not my thing. Now if it was Nes manuals...

 

[ReyVGM]

It's always so weird seeing artwork like this in books. Its like "wow, video games are in books, we're accepted now! Video games are prestigious!" I don't own any actual "pixel books" but I might make this my first.

Yep, there are a lot of video game books being made today. None of them broach this subject though, that's why I decided to make one of my own.

Hope you enjoy it if you do buy it.

 

[MarkDarkness]

Looks good! Will buy the digital version.

 

[Deleted User]

Yep, there are a lot of video game books being made today. None of them broach this subject though, that's why I decided to make one of my own.

Hope you enjoy it if you do buy it.

Replying to say that you replying to my post was the highlight of my week. Also your pfp reminds me of this great Batman beat-em-up on Wii developed by WayForward. It made me want to replay that game. I think the only video game-related books I own are the Dark Horse Zelda and Mario books. I don't have the art gallery for Zelda but I have the Hyrule Historia and the Mario encyclopedia that they made. That was pretty mediocre but something about their upcoming Sonic one looks interesting to me, but I don't think I'll pre-order if I'm not shown more of the actual book. I don't really read physical books all that much because I'm an cool (in big'ol quotes) youngin who doesn't got time for those dumb things, but I think that might be why seeing these books is so surreal to me. I tend to veer towards later NES games like Kirby's Adventure, Little Samson, and Mega Man 4, but in the past year or so I've really enjoyed the likes of Ninja Gaiden, Contra, and Castlevania so I think it's good that this book came into being when it did, at least for me.

 

[ReyVGM]

Replying to say that you replying to my post was the highlight of my week. Also your pfp reminds me of this great Batman beat-em-up on Wii developed by WayForward. It made me want to replay that game. I think the only video game-related books I own are the Dark Horse Zelda and Mario books. I don't have the art gallery for Zelda but I have the Hyrule Historia and the Mario encyclopedia that they made. That was pretty mediocre but something about their upcoming Sonic one looks interesting to me, but I don't think I'll pre-order if I'm not shown more of the actual book. I don't really read physical books all that much because I'm an cool (in big'ol quotes) youngin who doesn't got time for those dumb things, but I think that might be why seeing these books is so surreal to me. I tend to veer towards later NES games like Kirby's Adventure, Little Samson, and Mega Man 4, but in the past year or so I've really enjoyed the likes of Ninja Gaiden, Contra, and Castlevania so I think it's good that this book came into being when it did, at least for me.

If I knew it was going to be your highlight, I would have replied sooner

Yeah, that Batman by wayforward is great. The DS version is pretty good too.

Glad you're able to enjoy some books at least

Looks good! Will buy the digital version.

Hope you like it as much as I enjoyed making it (minus the stress, uncertainty, and long working hours).

 

[Deleted User]

If I knew it was going to be your highlight, I would have replied sooner

Yeah, that Batman by wayforward is great. The DS version is pretty good too.

Glad you're able to enjoy some books at least

I'm not sure if I would say I just don't enjoy them. Me saying I'm "too cool" for books is a joke, I just don't know a thing about the industry and I have so much other things to do that I don't really pay any mind to them. Also I had no idea there was a DS version before this. Its so weird seeing the beautiful artwork crunched down to DS sprites. Oh no, now I'm just asking the world for a DS pixel book! Nah, but I do like the look of DS games a lot actually. 3D stuff looks like PS1 more so than N64, and mixed with the tiny resolution and more efficient sprite-making methods, the outcome is very distinctly DS. One thing that stands out to me more than anything is seeing the modern character designs and art styles on these older-looking games. I think it's the same reason why seeing super detailed Gamecube versions of older character designs in Melee looks so interesting. This has nothing to do with anything though so I'll stop.

 

[DinohScene]

Nice work Rey!
Nice work!

 

[DS1]

Eh... nice but not my thing. Now if it was Nes manuals...

There is a blogspot blog called “TheGayGamer” that has at least 65 obscure/rare Japanese game manual scans, mostly NES and Gameboy. I know that doesn’t seem like a lot, but very few people are making an effort to preserve or showcase these things.

Hell, one of the largest and most complete old school game collections in the world was donated to the video game hall of fame, but it is completely locked out to the public, and they haven’t bothered digitizing it or anything :/

 

[raxadian]

I hope Archive.org eventually get scans of every game manual ever because they were great, typos and wrong advice and all. Games nowadays don't even bother giving you even a digital game manual.

 

[stanleyopar2000]

You know what would be cool? A book chronicling every major known release to the system after it's life had been deemed over, be it by reputable devs or homebrewers. The NES alone has seen countless post mortem releases, many of which have been fantastic. And this is the stuff that doesn't get the greatest most cohesive coverage, so it would certainly be helpful as well.

PatTheNESPunk released an entire compendium of every NES game I believe...

 

[gamer765]

That book must cost a fortune to print. Each page is like an entire ink cartridge worth of color.