It wasn’t easy being a Nintendo fan in the early 90s: the wonderful Super Famicom was released in Europe as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, but it was hobbled by a bordered, 50Hz image and delayed release schedule. True Nintendo fans got hold of a Japanese console and bought their games on the grey import market.

As well as the benefits of faster, smoother, full-screen gameplay, Japanese Super Famicom cartridges came in beautiful portrait-shaped boxes, rather than the landscape packaging sold in Europe and North America. The stylish, intricate Japanese designs were almost always superior to those afforded the Western releases.

As a celebration of this unique artwork, Bitmap Books is proud to present Super Famicom: The Box Art Collection – a compilation of Japanese game packaging images, professionally shot and presented as a glorious hardback edition. The book features around 250 titles, including many rare examples and some that have never before been documented in print. Sourced from the archives of renowned collector Stuart Brett (a.k.a. Super Famicom Guy), each box is beautifully presented, life-size, with a critique of the artwork, plus interviews with other collectors, talking about their love of the format.

Super Famicom: The Box Art Collection comes in a square format book, bound in charcoal grey with a gold foil block logo and lithographically printed to the highest standards. Long-time games journalist Steve Jarratt, launch editor of Edge and Nintendo magazine Total!, has overseen the text and also written the foreword.

Super Famicom: The Box Art Collection is an unmissable treat for anyone who had a passion for Nintendo’s 16-bit games console, and who came to embrace the distinctive Japanese artwork adorning these iconic games.

Book specifications
276 pages. 250mm × 250mm. Hardback. Edge-to-edge high quality lithographic print. Sewn binding for enduring quality and the ability to lay flat for ideal double-page image viewing. Charcoal grey cover with gold foil blocked logo. Shrink-wrapped. Free PDF for viewing on the go.

Includes contributions from:
Stuart Brett, Masaaki Enami, Steve Jarratt, Damien McFerran, Van Orton Design and James Wragg.