Robert Bannert, Thomas Nickel, Heinrich Lenhardt (Foreword)
Today, retro is a staple for any true gamer, but 20 years ago, enthusiasm for pixel graphics from the 8- and 16-bit era was far from common. The early 3D generation had taken a firm hold of the video game world: what began with the first PlayStation in 1995 was steadily pushing our beloved bitmap buddies aside—the pixel seemed to be yielding to the polygon. With one exception: in the handheld domain, classic 2D graphics are still very much alive! Fueled by the early success of Pokémon, the nearly forgotten Game Boy experienced a renaissance and even saw further hardware iterations. First, the pocket gaming device got a long-overdue color makeover with the Game Boy Color, and after its success, it received a true successor in 2001: the Game Boy Advance. This new device became a technically advanced, pocket-sized arcade and console cosmos specializing in modern 2D pixel graphics. It breathed new portable life into many of our favorite Super Nintendo games but also gifted us with plenty of its own classics: two Advance Wars strategy games, multiple Castlevania and Metroid episodes, perhaps the most beautiful 2D Zelda, two unforgettable Golden Sun RPGs, beautiful monster tournaments in its own Pokémon generation, and pixel shooters like Gunstar Future Heroes—all proving that pixel graphics are still viable. These features make the small GBA the world’s first genuine retro memory console: without it, the retro boom of recent years might have looked very different—or might not have happened at all.
It's no wonder that Nintendo's handy pixel treasure chest is the declared favorite pocket gaming device of game journalists Robert Bannert and Thomas Nickel. After detailing the 16-bit cosmos with their retro books on the Super Nintendo and Mega Drive, they now turn their attention to the Game Boy Advance in their third PIXELBOOK. Their unofficial GBA PIXELBOOK, spanning over 300 pages, describes what is perhaps the best handheld generation. They illustrate the most beautiful and important classics of this mobile gaming era with numerous specially created images and level maps—more numerous, detailed, and larger than in the first two PIXELBOOKS. Editorially, the concentrated pixel splendor is accompanied by numerous classifications, analyses, background reports, and a foreword by renowned German game journalist Heinrich Lenhardt.
PUBLICATION DETAILS
LANGUAGE | BINDING | EDITION | ISBN | YEAR | PAGES |
German | Hardcover | | 9783982106137 | 2023 | 300 |
English | Hardcover | | TBD | 2024 | 300 |
OTHER NAMES
The Unofficial GBA Pixel Book
Das Inoffizielle GBA Pixel Buch
TAGS
Authors/Narrators: #RobertBannert #ThomasNickel #HeinrichLenhardt
Publishers: #BitmapBooks (Bitmap Books) #elektrospieler (elektrospieler)
Format: #Hardcover
Accessibility: N/A
Genres: #Compendium
Companies:
#Nintendo (Nintendo)
Public Figures:
N/A
Games:
N/A
Misc:
#PixelArt (Pixel Art)
#GBA (Game Boy Advance)