Larry Bundy Jr is well known figure in the gaming scene. I first became aware of him via ScrewAttack Europe, but didn’t follow him regularly until he started his Fact Hunt series. Being a fan of trivia in general, this series very much appealed to me, and I soon began looking up more of Larry’s content. His other series such as Games Yanks Cant Wank, introduced me to other youtubers I have started following, including TopHatGamingMan (whom I interviewed here) and Daniel Ibbertson aka DJ Slopes. Larry has an excellent sense of humor, and having spoken to him myself, I can confirm he is a good person ( I even managed to find trivia he had never heard of before). Now he and Unbound Media have released a new book of the series, detailing gaming and gaming media related trivia and having been given a press copy of the book, I will now give my thoughts.
The book, entitled Fact Hunt: Fascinating, Fun & Downright Bizarre Facts About Video Games, is divided into different sections. These cover a variety of topics such as Cancelled Sequels Released As New Games, Female Protagonists Before Samus Aran ( The trivia I one upped Larry on), Games renamed for Silly Reasons, and Completely Stupid Ninja Themed Games just to name a few. There is a neat section as well called Completely Random Video Game facts and along the way there are guest sections from people like the aforementioned Daniel Ibbertson as well as RabbidLuigi, DYKG, Ashens, Violet Berline and more. The trivia within goes from the European home computer scene, to the modern era of gaming and more. Facts about peripherals and gaming robots are also mentioned. This is a treasure trove of gaming facts that will satisfy anyone, and Larry’s writing ( as well as the writing of the contributors) has a nice sharp wit to it, that keeps you engrossed. I read the book in one sitting, and then re read it again because I had enjoyed it so much.
While I wish I could praise it nonstop, there were some issues I had. For one, there were not enough jokes at the expense of Peter Molyneux, Larry’s arch nemesis. But in all seriousness, some of the material here is composed of entries from Fact Hunt episodes that are is just repeated verbatim, jokes and all. This is understandable, but I would have liked to have seen some changes here and there to the reused pieces. Fortunately, many of the repeated topics Larry had covered before do have new entries included, and some entries have been updated to reflect new information that has come to light as well as changes to the situations some games found themselves in.
Overall, Fact Hunt is a great book for trivia lovers and gaming enthusiasts alike. The content is well presented, and you will find yourself learning something new. I was never very familiar with the European gaming scene until recently, and this book has helped me learn a lot about games I never knew existed. I highly recommend checking it out, because what is here is top quality. The recycled material is still good in book form, and the new material is great. The guest contributions are well done and offer some great insight into the industry. Larry Bundy Jr and his collaborators should be very pleased with the results here, as they knocked it out of the park.
You can find Larry’s YouTube channel here
In addition, I would like to add that there are active retrogaming Facebook community groups you can join. For more information, visit Retro Gamers Hub (www.retrogamershub.com) for their extensive collection of retrogaming interest groups to choose from.