Neogeo: A Visual History (Books)

For a brief few years in the early 1990s, the NEOGEO was the pinnacle of video gaming. An elite, exclusive console that didn't just emulate the arcade experience, as so many 8 and 16-bit consoles tried to do. It was the arcade experience, pixel for pixel, on your TV at home. Born in the days before polygons, the NEOGEO was a staunchly 2D system that gave birth to some of gaming's most iconic franchises such as Fatal Fury, The King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown and, of course, Metal Slug.

NEOGEO: A Visual History is the first officially licensed NEOGEO art book of its kind to be released in the English language. A pictorial celebration of all things NEOGEO, it's crammed full of beautiful images split into dedicated chapters, including Hardware, Box Art, Character and Concept Art, and Pixel Art. This imagery has been collated and photographed from all over the world, then handpicked to appear in this unique and exclusive volume.

NEOGEO: A Visual History also features official interviews with key staff integral to the NEOGEO's history, including producer Yasuyuki Oda, artist Tatsuhiko Kanaoka (Falcoon) and composer Hideki Asanaka (sha-v).

The book weighs in at a healthy 400 pages in length, A4 in size, and is available in hardback only. Metallic gold ink is used throughout and the binding employs thread rather than glue, so it will be much more durable and can open flat, minimising imagery lost in the binding. Produced using the very best in print techniques, it will happily grace any gamer's coffee table.

NEOGEO: A Visual History promises to be a real collector's item for all fans of the NEOGEO system and of classic gaming in general. It provides a fascinating insight into the world of the mystical NEOGEO console something that was so unobtainable for many of us back in the '90s.