Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life

Author Chris Kohler has writtenna superb volume covering the rose of Japanese gaming culture. Unique insights from premier developers including Miyamoto. Well-written and concise. A must-read for classic gaming aficionados.

[Disclaimer: A full review will be forthcoming after I finish the book].I recently purchased this book and, in one day, have gotten about 40 or so pages in. I can easily say that I am greatly enjoying my time with it so far.Kohler writes very clear and concise. It has been very informative to read on the Japanese side of the video games industry, especially regarding its origins and both some of the significant people and companies that made it happen. Kohler's pacing for the two chapters I have read so far seems to be very balanced; just enough side information, fun facts, pictures, and minor variations throughout that make this so much more than a dry history book or thesis paper (which, ironically, this book started out as). It has been entertaining as well to read more in depth on Shigeru Miyamoto's beginnings (i.e., childhood interests, novel and academic/technical experiences, first encounters with Nintendo).As Kohler puts it in the introduction, what you are getting here is a snapshot from his perspective and research of how the Japanese contributed to the video game industry as a whole. I noticed other reviewers stating things such as: "there were other companies other than Nintendo", it is "too narrow in scope", and it is "too short and too shallow", but would like to remind you that Kohler never claims his intent is to provide an all-in-one, comprehensive book on the subject matter. I believe, if you go in with this knowledge, it won't disappoint.Even though I have a long way to go before I'm able to provide my definite thoughts, I feel confident in saying that I'd highly recommend this book to any gamer that has an appreciation for not only the games that they play, but the companies and individuals that started the games industry as well.I hope this helps you in making a decision. I'm glad I chose to give this one a try.

this is a good life-long journey in the vein of nintendo power and more. how did i know? cuz' i used to grade this guy. his father wrote most of the book but he handled the final edit. it's like a real family writing together. i was over at gamefaqs typing reviews for fun and believed this book to be pretty accurate. i like it and found that some developing can lead to more. i was a dos instructor with published software, he was a pupil of mine. fun read, fun time, thumb up big.........

I enjoyed this book, mostly. Within its scattershot set of chapters about Japanese games in general, there's a fascinating, albeit sketchy, history of Nintendo that contained many small revelations for me, despite that I've been playing video games incessantly since 1987 or so. But the rest of the material was less compelling for me. The chapter about music games and music in games actively frustrated me--it gave only a brief survey of either topic, and seemed to spend most of its words on a tedious, obsessive examination of Final Fantasy albums. A chapter about Akihabara, Japan's premier consumer electronics marketplace, pushed the trivia-to-insight ratio similarly high. In his effort to treat video games as if they deserve the attention of artists, Kohler concentrates too much on material that is only interesting to fans.Still, on the whole I'm glad I read this book, and I hope Kohler's stated desire to encourage further such works is satisfied; there is clearly much more to say.

Classic

I really tried to like this book. I'm a huge history and video game fan so I figured I'd like this one. I was wrong.First off this book is externally narrow in scope. Nintendo and Nintendo only apparently made video games. The authors bias toward Nintendo and Japanese culture is extremely apparent. Now I know the subtitle of this book is "how Japanese video games gave the gaming world an extra life" but Mr Kohler apparently thinks all video games came out of Japan and the one that didn't aren't worth mentioning.The book is extremely scattered. The author jumps from topic to topic within chapters with no regard for narrative flow.In short I struggled to read this book. I skipped many chapters (I don't care how many albums were based on FF games) and I found his complete disregard for any company or country other than Nintendo and Japan extremely narrow minded.

As an almost 40 year old American man, I've of course grown up playing Japanese video games. This book is an interesting look at video gaming's history, and how the Japanese have had such a large part in making it what it is today. Highly recommended.

My son needed this book for school it arrived fast and for a decent price.

Das Buch "Power Up - How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life" ist eine wirklich gelungene, englischsprachige Lektüre über den Bereich Videospiele, jedoch mit der deutlichen Konzentration auf japanische Entwickler und Spielereihen (insbesondere Mario-Spiele und Final Fantasy Reihe). Die Texte werden durch zahlreiche kleine Screenshots und Fotos (beides schwarz-weiß) begleitet. Die "japanische Prägung" ist jedoch auch genau die Lücke in der Literatur, die der Auto schließen möchte. Inhalte sind dabei sowohl Analysen zu Spielinhalten und Spielentwicklung (wie entstand bspw. Donkey Kong und welche Geschichte erzählt das Spiel). Auch wird der japanische Videospielmarkt beleuchtet. Bspw. erfolgt eine Führung durch Akihabara mit dem Ziel dem Leser ein paar Hinweise insbesondere zum Gebrauchtwarenkauf zu geben. Auch wird in dem Buch deutlich wie stark auch der Markt für Videospielmusik in Japan ausgeprägt ist. Insgesamt werden nach und nach sowohl im Entwickler- als auch im Käuferverhalten Unterschiede zum Amerikanischen und Europäischen aufgezeigt, wobei die Bereicherung durch die Art der Geschichtenerzählung als tragendes Element in dem Buch stets wieder auftaucht.

I was getting this book since I'm a big fan of retronauts a podcast about retro games, and this book really didn't disappoint it is well written and has a lot of interesting stuff in it, at times it was a bit long winded about stuff that I wasn't that interested in but it is well written which made me such with it, and I'm happy that I did. I liked it a lot, and it you're interested in games it probably will entertain you as well.

Fast shipping. Son loves it.