I am very excited and proud to announce that the book that I have been working on for the last nine months is finished and sent off to the printers!
"BEFORE MARIO - The Fantastic toys from the video game giant's early days"
Pre-ordering has started at Omaké Books right now.
A limited edition is available for 500 people who pre-order early. This version is numbered, has a special black cover and comes with a signed bookmark and Omaké Books trading card. It is also shipped two weeks in advance of the regular edition, for the incredible worldwide shipping rate of only 10 euro cents.
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| BEFORE MARIO "Black Cover" edition with gifts |
I expect this limited edition will be appealing to many Nintendo collectors. However, the regular "classic white" cover has turned out very beautiful as well, so it may be hard to pick a cover version.
Content wise, the black and white versions are identical.
Below a few of pages are presented that give a good impression of the content and style of the book.
As regular readers of this blog will know, until the 1960s Nintendo was a modestly successful company that manufactured playing cards for the local Japanese market. Twenty-five years later, Nintendo had become a world leader in electronic entertainment.
How did this miraculous transformation come about?
The BEFORE MARIO book will answer that question, through a richly illustrated overview of over fifty Nintendo toys and games, that represent this crucial period in the company's history (1965 to 1983).
These toys and games show the path that Nintendo traversed, as it evolved into one of Japan’s most admired and valuable companies.
Parts of this book are based on posts published previously on this blog, although these have been largely rewritten and revised for this publication.
In order to reach a large audience, the book text is bilingual, with the integral text provided in both English and French. But most space in the book is actually taken up by photos, not text.
As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case, hundreds of pictures tell most of the story. All photography featured in the book is new and taken specifically for it, using items from my personal collection.
The book has 224 pages, is bound and has a hardcover. Besides the core story told through the 52 toys, a number of additional content sections are thrown in as bonuses.
I am greatly honored that Satoru Okada provided a foreword to the book. Okada was one of the geniuses in Nintendo's first game design team, which he joined in 1969. He worked closely together with Gunpei Yokoi for many years and became general manager of the Research & Engineering department when Yokoi left Nintendo in 1996. Okada is the (co)designer of many of Nintendo's games and toys, including Game & Watch and the Game Boy. He was also director and producer for multiple video games, including the original Metroid, Kid Icarus and Super Mario Land.
In the foreword, Okada, who retired a few years ago, shares some intriguing memories from his early days at Nintendo.
I believe, BEFORE MARIO has become a great testament to the innovation and creativity demonstrated time and again by the Nintendo team, as they grew into their role as leader of multiple electronic entertainment revolutions.
The book is a historical record and reference guide. But most of all, it is simply a joy to flick through, as you discover what came... before Mario.
Check out order details at Omaké Books! And grab a copy of that collector edition while supplies last.
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