I love reading books about video games, and learning more about the history of the industry and of the games themselves. I particularly enjoy reading about the history of Nintendo and learning things that I missed, as well as seeing others’ insight into the games. This is a reason I was excited to get my hands on the SNES Omnibus Vol 1, as it has write-ups on half the SNES games, from those beginning with the letter A to M.
Brett Weiss goes into detail on each game, and also includes a section called “Notable Quotables” which contains quotes from publications that talked about the games at the time they were released. The SNES Omnibus does not leave out any game, no matter how obscure, and I found myself learning about games I had not heard of before. I will even admit that I went out and acquired some of the games I had not heard of, and have been playing them. Expect to see some new retro reviews in the coming weeks.
It gave me a lot of joy to read more about not just the obscure games, but also some of the more notorious and some of my favourite games. What was a great feature of the book however was the “Insider Insight” sections, where big names in the retro community such as Patrick Scott Patterson, Cat DeSpira, Shawn Long and more gave commentary. Cat’s insights were especially good, given her very distinct style of writing, and the very personal stories she shared within her pieces. A full disclosure here, in that the specific names I mentioned are people I count among my friends and I want to make it clear that my praise for their writing is solely due to the merits of their writing and insight.
Two last things I must mention are firstly, that the artwork scattered throughout the book is a treat for me as a fan of these classic games. They are well produced pieces and visually striking. Second is that there are number of insightful text pieces also included to give more information about what was going on at the time as well as the impact the SNES had on gaming.
In conclusion, I have to say that this book is a must have for any fan of gaming. Whether you were a fan of Nintendo, Sega or any of the other companies at the time, there is something for you here. This is a book that is great for reference reasons, for those who want to learn more about the games, and for those who just want a great book to read.
Disclaimer: I was provided a review copy of the book in exchange for giving it an honest review.
In addition, I would like to add that there is an active Nintendo retrogaming Facebook community group you can join at https://www.facebook.com/groups/nintendoretrogamers/
For more, visit Retro Gamers Hub (www.retrogamershub.com) for their extensive collection of retrogaming interest groups to choose from.