NESBOOK (DELUXE EDITION)

Gaming as we know it exploded as a mainstream hobby predominantly in the 1980s, with many companies competing to position theirselves as the market leader, but few as successfully as Nintendo. Cementing their new company direction in some style and evolving their earlier rudimentary consoles and portable Game and Watch devices into fuller experiences, the Nintendo Entertainment System was home to some truly exceptional experiences, and was the birthplace of many franchises that many players still enjoy to this day.

This 8-bit phenomenon may be more than 40 years old, but it dominated the gaming scene back in the day, shifting more than 60 million systems, leaving a huge impression on many people. So, whilst we've made books on the portable sibling platforms, we thought it was high time that we focused on where it (mostly) began for Nintendo. That's where NESBOOK: The Unofficial NES Companion comes in.

We've been making books for more than 5 years now, with Paul Murphy (Ninty Media's owner) having tackled the trio of Game Boy platforms in recent years (DMG, 2023, COLOR, 2024, ADVANCE, 2025) as well as writing about all the amiibo way back in 2021. Paul's penchant was always more for handhelds, Nintendo handhelds in particular. He didn't get a NES until adulthood and thus lacks the attachment and dare we say it, nostalgia for Nintendo's original mainstream home console. Luckily, Stuart Gipp (a freelancer and probably better known for being part of Retronauts) stepped in to revisit many games from the vast repertoire available. What you get here is pure, unadulterated love for the NES, packaged in an unofficial history book, with Ninty Media acting as the publisher. It may feature a different lead writer, but thematically the structure of the book will be similar to what we've done before. Just for the NES.

As well as a quintessential list of the best NES games, there will be a historical dive into the platform as well as more in-depth retrospectives on many of the titles that defined the console. There's a comprehensive, hand-drawn timeline and the retrospectives will be written by some outstanding freelance writers which go into more detail about the definitive NES games, with these iconic franchises accompanied by some mesmerising artwork, as also happened in the GAMEBOY books. If you loved those, then you'll both love this and know what to expect.

A wide range of contributors have chipped in with the writing, including:

Chris Scullion (Currently VGC, previously ONM), Dani Cross (Freelance Journalist), Damiano Gerli (gaming Journalist and Historian), Jonathon Greenall (Freelance Journalist), John Rairdin (Nintendo World Report) and many more. The illustrations that accompany the features will be beautifully created by Thiago Radice, Iago Machado, Raphaella Silva, Darren Palma and many more. We have many of the same artists that worked on previous GAMEBOOK entries so there's continuity and familiarity with the artwork. 

The NESBOOK will obviously cover the NES era, from the early 1980s through to the release of the SNES, with a few more modern elements considered too, like the NES Classic Mini and the LEGO NES. It'll touch on many accessories too, as well as a little nod to its main rival, the Master System as well as Nintendo's roots.

As well as some interesting pieces alongside the best games, it also has some brilliant photography inside the book as well. The book will is 21cm x 21cm in size, identical to its predecessors, the GAMEBOOK, the GAMEBOOK COLOR and the GAMEBOOK ADVANCE. Coming with a hardcover finish, the book will be printed on high-quality, uncoated paper stock and all sorts of cool content across 220 pages.

This deluxe package includes the NESBOOK, a NES metal pin badge, a foil bookmark and a NES-themed, as well as a digital copy too! It's also individually hand numbered and limited to just 200 numbered copies.