Video game collectors, aspiring gaming historians, and those with who have a special place in their hearts for Nintendo’s Game Boy should check out Amazon’s deal on this comprehensive encyclopedia. Aptly titled The Game Boy Encyclopedia, the 320-page hardcover book features all 1,100-plus games for the original Game Boy and GBC that released in the West. Amazon’s discount drops the price of the $43 reference book to only $26, which is the best deal we’ve seen so far.
If you like reading about major moments in the history of video games, we’d also highly recommend reading The History of the Game Boy, which finally received an English translation last year.
$26.14 (was $43)
Written by veteran video game journalist Chris Scullion, The Game Boy Encyclopedia looks at every game released in the West for both the Game Boy (~580 games) and its 1998 successor, the Game Boy Color (~560 games), which tallies up to around 1,150 games total. Inside the book, each game is covered with screenshots and trivia factoids, resulting in a comprehensive, though unofficial, look at the system over its long and storied run.
If you’re looking for some more gaming history, you can check out Scullion’s other books on other influential video game consoles and their libraries. You can complement the GameBoy book with the NES, SNES, and N64 Encyclopedias. The SNES book also includes section dedicated to the Nintendo’s biggest flop, the Virtual Boy, and its small 22-game library. All three books are available now in hardcover and paperback.
On the Sega side, fans can return to the company’s 16-bit era with this book on the Sega Genesis. There’s also a Dreamcast Encyclopedia that covers over 600 games from Sega’s last home console.
The Video Game Encyclopedia Series
- The Sega Genesis Encyclopedia
- The Sega Dreamcast Encyclopedia
- The NES Encyclopedia
- The SNES Encyclopedia
- The N64 Encyclopedia
- The GameBoy Encyclopedia
The History of Nintendo Books
The aforementioned book The History of the Game Boy is the final entry in a four-part investigative book series written by journalist Florent Gorges. Unfortunately, the first two books in the series have been out of print for a long time, but you can get the Game Boy-focused one as well as The History of the Famicom/NES, which received an English translation last year, too.
Both books are deeply researched and based on many hours of interviews Gorges conducted with developers who worked at Nintendo before and during the lifecycles of the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy family of systems.
Bitmap Books also has a very good selection of reads dedicated to classic video games and modern masterpieces. Amazon recently restocked the publisher’s 664-page tome that takes a deep dive into the horror genre. You can get the hardcover edition of From Ants to Zombies: Six Decades of Video Game Horror for $42. Fans of Beat-’em-up games can check out Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side-Scrolling Beat-‘Em-Ups for $43.75.
Bitmap has also published books on retro consoles, the gorgeous box art of video games, and more. These are beautifully designed books that are meant to be both educational and showpieces in your collection, and each release is typically a chunky read that goes into exhaustive detail on its subject matter.
Note: Prices tend to shift dramatically on Bitmap’s books and all of the titles listed below have sold out numerous times over the years.
