And that’s why we’re back looking at another outstanding Bitmap release – PC Engine: The Box Art Collection. This is a bit of a different collection however because unlike some of the other releases we’ve looked at, this is primarily an art book. Don’t worry, not entirely and it’s not quite what you think, but the real goal of this book is to showcase the outstanding art of Japanese PC Engine games. Now, you might be thinking that that’s a bit niche and boring, and you’re right it is, and you’re wrong, it’s not.
Let’s start off by getting the nitty gritty out of the way…this is one of my personal areas of expertise. Way back in the day, I ordered tons of PC Engine games from Japan and hung out on old phpBB forums. While I was there, I ended up compiling a complete list of all PC Engine games along with estimated rarities and short descriptions in English of what every single title was and it got published by Digital Press a long time ago. That book is of course long out of print but there’s a certain amount of familiarity here and it’s from that perspective that we’re going to look at PC Engine: TBAC.
The first chunk of PC Engine consists of an excellent foreword and one of the best histories of the PC Engine that I’ve ever seen anywhere. It’s detailed, interesting, and exceedingly well-researched, making for a fascinating read. This is everything you ever wanted to know about the creation, marketing, sales, and eventual fall of the PC Engine and it’s absolutely great. Capping off the introductions is a collector interview with one of the biggest PCE fans out there. It’s all fun to read and really sets the stage because after 25 pages, we get to the meat of the book.
More than anything PC Engine: The Box Art Collection is a showcase of some of the best titles the PC Engine had to offer. What’s immediately apparent if you’re a fanatical expert is that not every game is here. They couldn’t, of course. This book is massive at 371 pages and there are over 650 games for the PC Engine as well as a number of unofficial titles which include some rather saucy content. Naturally nothing like High-Leg Fantasy (yes, it’s an X –rated Final Fantasy ripoff) is included, but even without those releases, not everything could be included. There’s just too much! What you do have however is a massive book that covers about half of the PC Engine library. That’s a lot!
The format here is pretty straightforward. Every single page is full-page coverage of some of the best (and some of the worst) PC Engine games. Not every game that’s covered here is a gem, but most of them have either spectacular or incredibly unique artwork. If you’re a US Turbografx game, you’re out of luck though, as only the Japanese games and art are covered here! In addition to a full scan of the front cover of every game, you get small thumbnails of the title screen and two screenshots for every single game covered. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but remember, this is a cover art book. What you also get is a detailed paragraph explaining each game along with a sentence or two on each cover. That’s a heck of a lot more than I had in my book and some of the information is honestly fascinating! The amount of love for the PC Engine here is incredibly evident in the detailed and polished information on over 300 games that keeps you leafing through and reading about games you definitely won’t play and more than a few that you’re going to want to. There are some notable exclusions here such as Kaze Kiri Ninja Action, Hana Taka Daka, and a few others, but the spread is pretty great.
Naturally, there’s no purpose in going over the details of all the titles included in this excellent book but suffice it to say there’s a wealth of information here and some outstanding cover art too! One of the only real problems with PC Engine: The Box Art Collection is that if you’re a purist and you’re here for the art, you may actually be a bit disappointed. As you may have noticed by now, every single page shows a cover scan of a different PC Engine game. Oddly enough though, every scan shows the game in the jewel case! There’s definitely room to zoom in a little further on the artwork with a scan of the manual itself sans jewel case, but for some reason, it’s cases only (black for huCards, white for CD games, all is right with the world). This is a mild disappointment because, if I’m being entirely honest, I wanted to see some of that art just a bit closer up! If I had to guess, it’s likely that whoever donated their collection to scan wouldn’t take the manuals out, but it’s still a surprising choice.
Aside from the jewel case scans, the entire book is simply magical. Want to look up a specific title? It’s in the detailed two page index at the end, just find the page and flip to it! The construction of the book itself is excellent as well. Bitmap Books is known for high quality bindings and PC Engine: The Box Art Collection does not disappoint. The book features a high-end case binding with cloth stitching, expertly glued and designed to be left open without straining the spine. This is a book that is crafted to last for years without coming apart and specifically reinforced for the weight of the glossy, thick paper. In short, it’s awesome! Oh, and don’t worry about shipping damage. Bitmap has some of the best packaging in the business with protective foam on all corners, stylish paper wrapped interiors, and an outer box that both conserves cardboard and looks good doing it!
If you’re a PC Engine aficionado, this is a dream book. Detailed art, coverage of every title, a fascinating history lesson, and all in an excellent quality package. If you’re not, a fan, you might be after reading through PC Engine: The Box Art Collection and at the very least, you’re definitely going to want to check out some of these lost classics! This is the stuff that never came to North America (at least most of it) and we really did miss out. If you’re on the fence here, don’t be! PC Engine: The Box Art Collection is an invaluable resource for any PC Engine fan regardless of how many games it covers and you are definitely not just going to want it on your shelf! This is a book that was meant to be read…so get it and read it!
This review was based on a physical copy of PC Engine: The Box Art Collection provided by Bitmap Books and is available directly from their website here.
Nate Van Lindt has been a gamer since the days of yore (aka Commodore 64), and has played a bit of virtually everything out there. He's also an avid comic book collector, both vintage and current, and reads a fair amount of sci-fi and fantasy. On top of that, he watches a fair number of movies and TV shows as well. Oh, and he has a family, a full-time job, and lives somewhere in the urban wilds of Southwestern Ontario, Canada, foraging for old video cables and forgotten game soundtracks.