Supercade - A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1985-2001 by Van Burnham - Book Review

The first volume of Supercade wasn't exactly a shrinking violet when it came to its page count, but volume two goes even further, adding seventy pages for a total of over 520! And with fold outs too! We haven't been this spoiled this that waiter dude handed out those choccies at the ambassador's shindig! (One for older British readers there...)

It should go without saying that the period covered by this tome was a tad busier than that by the first book, encompassing as it does the rise of the NES in America, the 16-bit computer and console generations, and then the true breakout of the 32-bit (and successor) machines up to the turn of the century. 

Being a US-centred tome, the starting point has to begin with the fallout from the Great Video Games Crash. A defining moment in the US market, it pretty much had naff-all effect anywhere else. Indeed, whilst US home consoles became something of a taboo subject as far as retailers were concerned, here in the UK, we were seeing a sorting out of the 8-bit home computer market, leaving the three main formats (Sinclair Spectrum - soon to be owned by Amstrad, Amstrad's CPC range and the Commodore C64). There were others (Acorn's BBC Micro and Electron being the most common of the rest) but of consoles, Britain seemed to care little at the time...

So here we are, 1985, and it's the NES that kicks off the timeline, which is as it should be considering its impact. There are brief mentions of the Amiga 1000 (two pages), Atari ST and Commodore C128 (a half page each). That sums up the computer angle of the book and whereas the mainstream consoles are featured as the years pass, there is no mention of the PC. I get why as you face the choice of what manufacturer to pick, and when from. Was it the 286 processor and EGA graphics? 386 and VGA? The introduction of 3D graphical acceleration? Tough call, but maybe a couple of pages wouldn't have gone amiss, especially as there are more than a few PC titles covered.

That is nit-picking to the extreme, however, as Supercade is all about the games and, as you'd expect, they receive the proper attention they deserve. Presentation is once again top notch and this truly is a delight for the eyes. Each game gets a write up too, and these are informative, informed and entertaining. A series of VIP Gallery entries add extra sauce to the content, and as befits a tome with scholarly leanings, the bibliography and webography offer plenty of sources to peruse.

Really, there is not much I can add other than to say that this volume is a perfect follow up to the first and does justice to a period of video games history that proved formative for many. My first console was a Sega MegaDrive back in 1990, and from there came the Game Gear, SNES, N64, PlayStation and pretty much everything since. Many of the games given full treatment here were defining experiences for my console gaming education, so that added warming glow of nostalgia was a cherry on top whilst devouring the pages. 

I picked my copy of Supercade Volume 2 up from the local Waterstones, but a quick search can find you a new copy for under £30 from the usual online sources. As with the best of coffee table tomes, the Supercade duo will remain highly valued reading material on my shelves for many years to come. Once again, congratulations to Van Burnham and team. 

Supercade - A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984 by Van Burnham - Book Review

Now this is a coffee table book and a half. First published in 2001, Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984 (hearby just called Supercade 1, for as Yoda said, there is another), aims to address the requirement for demonstrating the aesthetic beauty of videogames as well as its evolution. Over 440+ pages, Van Burnham and a gaggle of contributors lay out the history of the art form as well as the hardware and characters between 1971 and 1984. And it is stunning.

Seriously, this is an art book first and foremost, with full pages dedicated to photography and screen grabs. Artwork pops off the page, and what would now be considered archaic graphical resolutions are celebrated in luxuriously high detail. Indeed, on my first read through, I pretty much ignored the text and looked at the (very) pretty pictures. But there is more to Supercade 1 than just the eye candy. Oh, much, much more...

As Maria told the von Trapp children, the beginning is a very good place to start, and this they do in Supercade 1. From the foreword by the late Ralph H. Baer, the history lesson begins at Brookhaven National Labs with Tennis for Two before moving on to MIT. It is this grounding in the very early history of computer entertainment and the intertwining of imagery and historical research that makes Supercade 1 a perfect introduction to videogames, what they started out as and how they evolved in their formative years. Every entry is well researched and written in an easy style. Tear yourself away from the visual feast and you will learn stuff too.

You heard the but coming, didn't you?

Yes, but only a little one. This is a US-centric tome and, to be honest, that's understandable. Due to the coverage of arcades, there is a hefty dose of Japanese titles, but only two pieces of Japanese home hardware: Sega's SG-1000 (giving useful context to who Sega were before their 16-bit glory days) and Nintendo's Famicom because, well, obviously! But what about everyone else? You do get the ZX Spectrum. I am not going to deny its obvious importance to the UK gaming scene, and the ZX81 did see a US release as the Timex 1000, but where are the others? The Amstrad CPC? The BBC Micro?? The Grundy NewBrain??? Honestly, some people! ;-)

In truth, it is rather churlish of me to complain too much - this is a visual history of videogames and the early days were heavily driven by US and Japanese companies. There is only so much you can include in a book this size (remember, it's a hefty beast at nearly 450 pages), and what it does cover, it covers extremely well. There are certainly many other resources for those who want to look from a UK/European perspective, and when all is said and done, most of the titles mentioned in Supercade are, at worst, genre classics, and at best, defining examples of the art form. 

Supercade 1 is a superlative feast for the eyes (and the brain) on a subject that, although covered in various guises over the years, really deserved the coffee table treatment, and it sure has received that here. While it is currently sold out at the US-based webshop here, have a Google and you may pick it up from an online retailer for not stupid money. This is the perfect coffee table book about video games, and one that deserves to be on yours. if you don't have a coffee table, buy one or, if you must, place this book carefully on a sturdy bookshelf.