Official SNK Neo-Geo Book: NEOGEO: A VISUAL HISTORY ネオジオ〜目で楽しむ軌跡〜 (Publisher Bitmap Books)

frazer99

Living on the wrong, side of the Pennines,
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ha ha, you can keep me in check Colin :lolz:
 

BlackaneseNiNjA

The Fatal Fury Disciple
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This is fantastic news! Well, now I know what everyone in my family is getting for christmas this year :lolz:

Well done you guys!
 

Yamazaki

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congratz!

Looking really forward to it - also nice to hear some familiar names like Falcoon - who I interviewed in Osaka HQ back in 2006 :)
 

frazer99

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Gyrian

Hardened Shock Trooper
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This is downright fantastic news, what a great setup you guys have put together! The bitmap books are top notch. Wish you all the best ahead, and you can be damn sure I will be supporting this effort when ordering opens up. :)
 

NeoTurfMasta

DANCE DANCE KARNOV!,
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My role in the book is purely Karnov related. At least half of the book is dedicated to him.
 

Rot

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My role in the book is purely Karnov related. At least half of the book is dedicated to him.

When I heard your name mentioned Gordo... I assumed it might be a DPRK type deal...

Will contribute for a bowl of rice and fried locusts...

xROTx
 

LoneSage

A Broken Man
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Looking forward to the interviews with SNK personnel - cheers, mate.
 

Dampfwalze

Armored Scrum Object,
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Nice. I am very tempted to buy this.

Qestions: how many pages you are aiming for? Approximately what will be the ratio between written content and pictures/artwork?
 

frazer99

Living on the wrong, side of the Pennines,
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Nice. I am very tempted to buy this.

Qestions: how many pages you are aiming for? Approximately what will be the ratio between written content and pictures/artwork?

Number of pages is expected to be around 300. Bitmap Books are more focused on the art/design rather than reams of text and detail so expect more emphasis on concept and pixel art, large images and high quality photos, both single pages and spreads. At this stage I can't say what the ratio will be with certainty but I hope this helps.
 
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BlackaneseNiNjA

The Fatal Fury Disciple
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Number of pages is expected to be around 300. Bitmap Books are more focused on the art/design rather than reams of text and detail so expect more emphasis on concept and pixel art, large images and high quality photos, both single pages and spreads. At this stage I can't say what the ratio will be with certainty but I hope this helps.

Thank you for keeping us in the loop. Looking forward to the new interviews and insights. These are great times for ng fandom indeed!
 

frazer99

Living on the wrong, side of the Pennines,
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Thank you for keeping us in the loop. Looking forward to the new interviews and insights. These are great times for ng fandom indeed!

Hey no worries - I agree these are certainly great times!!
 

massimiliano

ネオジオ,
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Hi! So glad this is now official and getting such a warm welcome from the community!

I'm really grateful to Fraz who contacted me to participate to this initiative last year, I thought this would have been a great, unique project, allowing finally to share all the information we put together in almost 25 years... the result is an exceptional teamwork, of people sharing a great passion.

I'm particularly happy about SNK's official involvement beyond the mere licensing... after initial contacts (some of which I brought from my previous interview work with SNK in 2009) Bitmapbooks managed to present an idea that got their immediate enthusiasm, deciding to participate not just endorsing the initiative but sharing exclusive content, like interviews and material previously unseen which, I assure, all the hardcore fans will appreciate.


Far from the exceptional design work that Bitmapbooks is capable of, as already proved many times, as collectors we wanted this to be accurate, fact-checkable and exhaustive... we spent most of the time putting together sources with a new and fresh approach looking to magazines, advertisement and any kind of official material useful to present the most detailed history about neogeo, especially in the first years.


As an example, I went as far as buying all the Gamest issues from 1990 onwards (and some other magazine as well), going trough a thorough study and translation (by myself or when too difficult relying on a professional translator we hired) of articles and advertisement with the team, to understand and report the very beginning of the neogeo era, resulting in a deeper, structured and definitively more accurate dive into the "new world" SNK bravely brought to light in 1990.

I'm quite proud to say that basically there is no picture taken from the internet, as every document has been scanned from the original.. this can give you an idea of the monumental effort and amount of documents we (Fraz, me and Brian) brought together for this project.... not many collectors has ever done something like that and I hope this initiative will help other big collectors understanding they should probably do the same and share what they have, instead of keeping it dying on a shelf.

Speaking of previously unseen material, a special mention goes to Gemant, who contributed with a *unique* document, the most updated highscore list ever made (we are trying to include it as an appendix at the end of the book).

I'm particularly grateful to him as during all these years he kept tracking official records published by Gamest, Arcadia and NeogeFreak magazines, but also going together to the arcades in Japan asking for videos and meeting directly the players who made these world records...an experience that we would like to share with this book.

Finally, there will be another appendix where Gemant (mostly) me and Fraz spent a lot of work: the *definitive* masterlist.

I'd like to state that, while in the past there have been attempts to catalog all the release dates and information regarding the neogeo universe, for this book we adopted a fact-checkable approach, the only possible on an official publishing, so all the data reported has been retrieved from scratch, taking in consideration only official sources, in particular magazines like Gamest (both advertisement and the dedicated release date page) , subsequently NeogeoFreak, but also other mooks like All About SNK and so on... the result is a completely original, totally fact-checkable document, free from any influence of previous works.


This is the book that has been missing for more than 20 years... detailed, colorful, pleasant to look even just for the gorgeous pictures and, most important thing, written along with SNK itself... I hope you all enjoy it!

Massimiliano
 
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ChopstickSamurai

I have earned the, right to PM Rot.,
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I have a couple other books from Bitmap Books so I'm very excited about this one. Their presentation is top notch and the books are just beautiful. This will be a must buy for me.
 

Fygee

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Really looking forward to this. The collectors edition shall be mine.

I'm glad that other Kickstarter book went under now. This looks to be the real deal (and won't be full of stolen content like the other one).
 

wingzrow

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Nobody seems to like the Pocket Color. Hopefully there's a sizable few pages in it at least. Maybe we can finally get a complete list of all the MVS Neo Geo I.D. numbers after all these years.
 

xsq

Thou Shalt Not, Question Rot.,
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Wow Massi, that sounds grand! If I didn't know any better I would warn you not to oversell it ;)


Nobody seems to like the Pocket Color.
Don't be silly.
 
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massimiliano

ネオジオ,
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I'm glad that other Kickstarter book went under now. This looks to be the real deal (and won't be full of stolen content like the other one).

Despite my personal opinion on content, I think there is space for everyone, as mentioned few weeks ago, it has been a unfortunate coincidence that they decided to make an English version after the French one, in overlap with an official book... but doesn't mean that or other initiatives won;t happen, maybe just later on (which frankly seems to me quite fair, as eventually, Neo-Geo is an SNK property).


Wow Massi, that sounds grand! If I didn't know any better I would warn you not to oversell it ;)

hehe, you can clearly tell I'm a passionate Italian after all... I'm sure my excitement is understandable, all I can say is, from my prospective, this aims to be a great re-telling of the neogeo story... it won't be perfect, of course, but surely all people involved did their best!

Edit:

.. and forgot to mention but I'll get no money whatsoever from this book!
 
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Gyrian

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Thanks for sharing the extra details, Massi!
This is sounding even better by the minute. It's a perfect storm of talent, dedication, diligence, and love & appreciation for this platform. I can't wait to see the finished work. :)
 

sylvie

NG.COM TEMPTRESS
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Can I be on the back cover?

also this is really cool and I would love to have this. I love the image you posted. Not your everyday coffee table book.
 

wyo

King of Spammers
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To those involved: Thanks for putting in the work!!

I am most eager to see the definitive master list. Hopefully you can fill in all the NGH number blanks ;)

Any chance of getting a comprehensive list of production numbers across the various formats and regions?
 

Burgers5750

Kabuki Klasher
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This news is incredibly exciting and hopefully another step forward in the resurgence of SNK.

Well done to all involved for getting this project realised.
 
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