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[Kilau]

N64: a visual compendium

Revisit over 100 retro video games that defined one of Nintendo’s best consoles, in Bitmap Books' collection of interviews, game art, and rich N64 history.

www.bitmapbooks.com

N64: a visual compendium tells the fascinating story of a console that changed the gaming world. Inside its pages you’ll find a rich written history of a machine that marked the moment Nintendo moved to fully embrace 3D, resulting in some of the best games ever made – and a turbulent period for one of the globe’s most celebrated entertainment companies.

Continuing Bitmap Books’ visual compendium series, this unofficial chronicle of Nintendo’s remarkable console doesn’t only share a riveting, in-depth account of the gaming giant’s move to keep pace with the rise of 3D. It is also packed with meticulously realised screenshots and game art, which accompany profiles of over 150 titles that defined the N64, from Super Mario 64 andGoldenEye 007 to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Banjo-Kazooie. You’ll also find spotlights of lesser-known titles such as Beetle Adventure Racing, Mischief Makers, World Driver Championship, and Body Harvest. And every one of those profiles is written by a developer involved in the game, or a game journalist with a deep connection with the N64.

As well as a foreword penned by GoldenEye 64 and Perfect Dark’s David Doak, N64: a visual compendium is filled with exclusive interviews with game industry luminaries such as Jim Wornell (Nintendo), Michael Mendheim (BattleTanx), Kevin Bayliss (Diddy Kong Racing), Remington Scott (Turok) and Julian Eggebrecht (Star Wars). As such, the book brings a bounty of unique insight, unearthing parts of the console’s story not told elsewhere. It also includes a number of rigorously researched features, zeroing in on everything from the iconic N64 controller to the sought-after 64DD disk drive peripheral.

Being a Bitmap Book, you can expect the highest standards of design and production throughout its 436 pages. You’ll find numerous professionally shot photographs of Nintendo hardware and peripherals. We’ve used the very best lithographic printing techniques, with every page brought to life through vibrant Pantone inks, meaning everything looks and feels fantastic. Your copy of N64: a visual compendium will also come packaged in a sturdy 3mm protective board slipcase sporting an animated-effect lenticular cover. And with four bookmark ribbons inspired by the N64 logo, you can find favourite pages lighting fast.

The 1990s was a wildly innovative time for video games, with new players, new technologies, and new audiences presenting Nintendo with tremendous opportunity and challenge, as it readjusted to a new era. N64: a visual compendium offers an unmissable profile of that period. If you adore Nintendo, or retro gaming history, it’s an essential addition to your bookshelves.

Looks like another gorgeous book coming to us from Bitmap Books. I own several of their system themed books and they are all very top notch.

Preorders: 12 Noon UK time.

This will be a short pre-order period, and it will then ship pretty much straight away

Price: $39.00 USD

 

[Sleepwalker]

Where can you get these and which ones are out already? Looks awesome would like to own a few.

 

[Kilau]

Where can you get these and which ones are out already? Looks awesome would like to own a few.

You can find their books here.

Every Bitmap retro video game book in one place | Bitmap Books

Browse every Bitmap Books title ever published, from our award-winning retro video game books to deep dives into popular culture, collectible toys, and more.

www.bitmapbooks.com

They do reprints regularly or you can buy from sellers on Amazon for a little markup.

 

[Omnipunctual Godot]

I own several of these books. Very high quality.

 

[Saber]

Looks incredibly awesome

 

[Romulus]

Man coming from ps1, I remember the N64 felt like a massive leap when it came to the cream of the crop titles.

 

[Chittagong]

The NES and Super NES books are incredible. Interviews with top profile people, and even stuff like print proofs of original Super NES packaging with paste up instructions to the printer.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

FTLOG buy them all. The books are super high quality, and each purchase comes with a digital version of the book in PDF format if you buy directly from them (the Box Art pdf is almost useless....that pdf is watermarked to all hell and back for legal reasons).
Quality:
Images are crisp and usually 3/4 or full page
Ink is very high quality on the images, not bleeding and no smudging
Bindings have held up well (I have only opened two though)
The writing is good as well...clearly made by folks who are passionate about what they do...they remind me of Double Jump from back in the strat guide days.
Shipping value is INSANE on these as well. Just buy multiplies at once and the shipping is fast and very affordable (except for Australia and New Zealand...you all are screwed).

Rated 1000000000 out of 10.

Receipts:

 

[squidilix]

N64: a visual compendium

Revisit over 100 retro video games that defined one of Nintendo’s best consoles, in Bitmap Books' collection of interviews, game art, and rich N64 history.

www.bitmapbooks.com

Looks like another gorgeous book coming to us from Bitmap Books. I own several of their system themed books and they are all very top notch.

Preorders coming soon.
Price: $39.00 USD

 

[StereoVsn]

N64: a visual compendium

Revisit over 100 retro video games that defined one of Nintendo’s best consoles, in Bitmap Books' collection of interviews, game art, and rich N64 history.

www.bitmapbooks.com

Looks like another gorgeous book coming to us from Bitmap Books. I own several of their system themed books and they are all very top notch.

Preorders coming soon.
Price: $39.00 USD

That’s awesome. I have around 10 of Bitmap Books titles and they are all awesome.

I especially recommend their major system books, and their recent JRPG and Beat’M’Up books.

 

[Omnipunctual Godot]

That’s awesome. I have around 10 of Bitmap Books titles and they are all awesome.

I especially recommend their major system books, and their recent JRPG and Beat’M’Up books.

The PC Engine one is amazing.

 

[calistan]

Lots of familiar names in the contributors section. Do you know who did the design? I think it would have been great to lay this out like a classic magazine from the period, it looks a bit plain in the images in the website. Could have been more fun, and fun was surely the essence of Nintendo 64. Presumably this is a template they use for other books. Emulator screens and no artwork. Still, I'll buy it.

 

[Vyse]

Looks so cool. I just got NES Endings Compendium. Worth a look!

 

[StereoVsn]

The PC Engine one is amazing.

Yep, basically all their “system “ books are top notch. We need a Saturn one!

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Looks awesome.

 

[killatopak]

That looks cool. Would love to have in my collection of books.

 

[tylrdiablos]

I've clicked the "Notify me when available" button. I'm hoping they list it on Amazon too for the fast shipping.

 

[Panajev2001a]

I've clicked the "Notify me when available" button. I'm hoping they list it on Amazon too for the fast shipping.

They use free 1-2 days DPD shipping in the UK at least, phew…

 

[Panajev2001a]

Btw, really good books too: https://www.geeksline-publishing.com/

Just impossible to buy even the digital version of some of these books and they refuse to reprint them .

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

I’m gonna get this one. Seems to be better than the previous Nintendo Visual Compendiums they did, which were good but didn’t rock my world. On the other hand, their Box Art books are some of my favorite, and that JRPG encyclopedia may be one of the best books ever made about video games.

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

I've got the Spectrum one but in the box that is the polystyrene replica that the computer came in back in the day.

 

[Chastten]

Just took a look at their website and now I kinda wanna get a few of their books. Love the pictures and artwork in them and they seem to be high quality prints.

Might order this as well as the Japanese RPG's book, as that one piqued my interest as well.

 

[Romulus]

Wow. Something about that imagery makes me feel like I was opening up the n64 box for the first time again. And that's considering I've owned 3 n64s over the last 25+ years.

 

[StereoVsn]

Just took a look at their website and now I kinda wanna get a few of their books. Love the pictures and artwork in them and they seem to be high quality prints.

Might order this as well as the Japanese RPG's book, as that one piqued my interest as well.

That one is great. I also recommend Point and Click adventure book, Beat’M’Up book, first person shooter book, CRPG book and really any other console system book they you are interested in.

PC Engine, Neo Geo and SNES were probably my favorites out of that lot.

 

[Kilau]

 

[Badlucktroll]

I wonder what the world would be like today if they used a cd drive in the thing. a good fast one too!

 

[AJUMP23]

Might be a nice companion for my N64 sitting on my shelf.

Also we should all feel this way.

 

[marquimvfs]

Me gusta N64, but damn, 193,00R$ plus 186,00R$ of shipping to Brazil. Not to mention the possibility of being taxed. After taxes it will cost approximately 120,00U$

 

[SegaManAU]

Thanks for the heads up! Just purchased!

 

[GriffinCorp]

Ordered! Thanks for sharing this OP. My childhood is built on many memories of the N64!

 

[Omnipunctual Godot]

I still need to go back and grab the horror game book they put out around last Halloween. Maybe I'll get both.

 

[Kilau]

Mine got delivered while I was out of town, so finally had a chance today to check it out. It's amazing and beautiful. Everything I expect from Bitmap Books. Picked up the JRPG book at the same time for combined shipping, speaking of shipping, thank God for Bitmap's stellar packing. FedEx had mangled the box but the books inside were packed lovingly and totally protected, arrived perfect.

 

[Dacvak]

I’ve been debating on whether to get this book, or get Pat Contri’s new N64 book (which I think wraps up its kickstarter today). I got his Ultimate NES book, and it was just absolutely phenomenal. Having a hand-written review for every single game in little bit-sized reading chunks is perfect coffee table book material.

Thing is, I’m way less familiar with NES games than N64 games, so I’m not sure I’d appreciate the thoroughness of Pat’s Ultimate N64 book. I consider myself pretty experienced with most of the N64 library already. This Bitmap book seems more stylized and generalized, which makes me wonder if I’d like it more.

Both books are about 450 pages and presumably cover a lot of the same stuff. I’m sure the Bitmap book is a lot prettier, while Pat’s book would be more thorough and detailed. I don’t want to get both books but I just don’t know which one to go with. My life is so difficult.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Cool books. I'll buy some in one order when they get around to doing a Genesis/Mega Drive book.

 

[Dacvak]

Mine got delivered while I was out of town, so finally had a chance today to check it out. It's amazing and beautiful. Everything I expect from Bitmap Books. Picked up the JRPG book at the same time for combined shipping, speaking of shipping, thank God for Bitmap's stellar packing. FedEx had mangled the box but the books inside were packed lovingly and totally protected, arrived perfect.

Could you take some pics inside the N64 book or send me the pdf or just a few pages from the pdf? I want to get a feel for the variety of content in there. I’m leaning towards the Bitmap book at this point, and my birthday is next week so I’ll probably ask my fiancé for it.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Mine got delivered while I was out of town, so finally had a chance today to check it out. It's amazing and beautiful. Everything I expect from Bitmap Books. Picked up the JRPG book at the same time for combined shipping, speaking of shipping, thank God for Bitmap's stellar packing. FedEx had mangled the box but the books inside were packed lovingly and totally protected, arrived perfect.

I unwrapped it today, too.
Their packaging is indeed outstanding, I love me opening a parcel from BB.

I've been reading it up to Doom 64. The games covered are presented in chronological order. It's funny because a lot of the comments focus on the negative sides of many games, something you wouldn't expect from a book that already makes a selection of the console's library.

I don't think "visual compendium" is the best BB book series - the iconography on display isn't really the best, and the comments aren't very lengthy or detailed - but the overall quality is so high, it's still a pleasure to take these trips down memory lane.

 

[Chittagong]

I think this is the weakest of the three compendiums.

Given N64’s small library, it is necessarily much thinner. But what really stands out to me is the lack of high quality primary interviews. Most of the text is editorial, journalist musings, or references from articles from the web.

Compare this to the SNES book where they had a big feature of Griffin who created the SNES branding, with their original print proofs and mockups.

There are some interesting tidbits like the in house designer who created the Animal Crossing and Metroid Prime logos, a fair bit about Rare and their evolution, and Factor 5.

But the NCL angle is regretfully thin, given the importance of the origin stories of EAD N64 contributions. If they were to use online sources anyway, there would have been an absolute treasure trove of stuff on Majora’s Mask, for example. But the really interesting stuff, like how SM64, OoT and Wave Race 64 really came to exist is light in the book.

Also the insanely unlikely SGI architecture is glossed over quickly as a toss over from Sega.

Making the book cover black is a bizarre choice, given that NES and SNES books are white.

Generally an entertaining read but can be done in one sitting, whereas the previous books lasted forever.

 

[TVexperto]

I think this is the weakest of the three compendiums.

Given N64’s small library, it is necessarily much thinner. But what really stands out to me is the lack of high quality primary interviews. Most of the text is editorial, journalist musings, or references from articles from the web.

Compare this to the SNES book where they had a big feature of Griffin who created the SNES branding, with their original print proofs and mockups.

There are some interesting tidbits like the in house designer who created the Animal Crossing and Metroid Prime logos, a fair bit about Rare and their evolution, and Factor 5.

But the NCL angle is regretfully thin, given the importance of the origin stories of EAD N64 contributions. If they were to use online sources anyway, there would have been an absolute treasure trove of stuff on Majora’s Mask, for example. But the really interesting stuff, like how SM64, OoT and Wave Race 64 really came to exist is light in the book.

Also the insanely unlikely SGI architecture is glossed over quickly as a toss over from Sega.

Making the book cover black is a bizarre choice, given that NES and SNES books are white.

Generally an entertaining read but can be done in one sitting, whereas the previous books lasted forever.

I agree, the images are nice but the text and content is really really lackluster

 

[SkylineRKR]

I have the Neogeo book and wait for DC and Saturn.

 

[violence]

While it’s still nerdy, I guess having this isn’t as bad as having one of those anime statues.

 

[kurisu_1974]

Those pictures are way too sharp

 

[Paasei]

Never heard of this before and only seeing the thread now. Thank you, some of these books look amazing. Ordered the PC Engine book. Will get more if the experience is as good as they say.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Making the book cover black is a bizarre choice, given that NES and SNES books are white.

Uhm…