SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works Book Review.
The Sega Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works is another stunning tome from Darren Wall and his team at Read Only Memory, this time devoted to Sega’s iconic 16-bit console. A console many of us grew up with and have many fond memories of. Again the book was funded through a very successful Kickstarter campaign achieving £98,725 against a £30,000 goal which really is amazing and shows the continued growth of the Retro Scene.
The book comes in hardback form only and measures 190 x 240 mm, there is 352 pages packed with development and concept art, original developer interviews and some previously unseen hardware schematics including 8 fold out pages. The paper quality is again very good and more or less what we have come to expect from the publisher, the foreword is by David Perry which is followed by a history section written by the book’s author Keith Stuart, this covers the very beginnings of the Sega Megadrive/Genesis, this section alone was a fascinating insight to those years and how the console became so popular around the globe.
The next section of the book has some fantastic photographic imagery of the various versions of the console, also images of many of the accessories including controllers and concept drawings of the VR headset. The fold out schematics are a stunning addition to the book and shows the level of access given to the guys when this book was created. The stunning imagery continues throughout with sections dedicated to Game Design and Game Characters, covering sprites and box art for all of Sega’s biggest hits, like Ecco the Dolphin, Sonic and tons more..
Finally the meaty section of the book covers the interviews with a number of Sega game developers. Each interview is about 2-3 pages long, some of those interviewed will be familiar with many gaming fans like Yu Suzuki (OutRun, Space Harrier, Shenmue) Makoto Uchida (Golden Axe, Altered Beast) and Ryuichi Nishizawa (Wonder Boy). What is amazing is the sheer amount of Sega Titles covered within all these interviews, a nice index at the start of the interviews identifies the page number where a specific game is discussed.
In conclusion this is another cracking book that deserves its place on any gamers coffee table, Read Only Memory continue to create masterpiece after masterpiece, go and get yours today.
-
RVG Rating - 9/109/10
Summary
A simply stunning book that pays homage to a console that really did set the standards.
Retro head and key holder of RVG.
