The History of Nintendo Volume 2 – 1980-1991 The Game & Watch Games Review

A little background info…

This is the latest English language translation of a release from Pix’N Love Publishing, an independent French based company who specialise in gaming related publications. Luckily for us, with their British branch now in place they have taken to translating some of the 25  French language books they have released over the past 5 years. Following on from The History of Nintendo Vol.1 which chronicled the early days of Nintendo from 1889-1980, The History of Nintendo Vol.2 is the fifth book to be translated to English and concentrates on the Nintendo Game & Watch era from 1980-1991. Written by Florent Gorges in collaboration with Isao Yamazaki this full colour 200 page paperback volume is packed full of information on every G&W LCD game ever released with full reviews and in-depth information on the full range of Nintendo LCD handhelds.

Jumping in

Flicking through the opening pages you are met with a story about how the author came to be so smitten with the Game & Watch from an early age and this passion for the subject is reflected throughout the following pages.

A full index of the Game & Watches is up next and this is fully illustrated with photos of each model, making it easy to spot the one you are looking for and turn to the corresponding page. The book also contains an in-depth history of the Nintendo in its transition from a card games manufacturer to an electronic toy maker and the Game and Watch’s subsequent development with quotes from leading names from Nintendo including its creator Gunpei Yokoi. When I say in-depth I really mean it, this book leaves no stone unturned in its quest to teach you about the subject at hand. And following the index and history you come to the ‘meat and veg’ of this book, the Game and Watch reviews. Page after page of information on all of the G&W units in chronological order all backed up with fantastic colour photographs of packaging and the games themselves, each review contains information on release date, price (when released), rarity and a write up on the gameplay involved. Every Game & Watch series is covered from the early ‘Silver’ right through to Multi-screen and even the later Mini Classics released by Stadlbauer.

In summary

I’ve had this book for a couple of weeks and its been top of the pile on my coffee table all that time. Everyone who has thumbed through its pages has exclaimed things like “wow, I remember those” or “I never knew they made so many”. This book is not only a must-have addition to any would-be G&W collectors library, nor indeed any retro gaming enthusiasts library. In fact I would go so far as to say that this book would be of value to anyone who has the faintest interest in videogaming history whatsoever,  it is that good. There are two small downsides I can find, the first (and believe me this is such a small downside that it is almost not worth mentioning) is that small parts of the book could have been translated to English slightly better, although all of it is easily understandable. The second downside is the price, at £24.99 it may seem off-putting to someone who has not had a good look through its pages, to those who have though; you will find it is worth every penny. As such, this book gets my first ever 5 invaders.   Pix’N Love website Pix’N Love Twitter page