Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
The valuable Super Nintendo resource book Omnibus SNES book A-M by Brett Weiss features over 350 entries. Retro gaming discoveries await any reader…no matter their level of expertise or knowledge.
Various experts reminisce about these games while readers are also treated with facts, history, and reviews throughout this quality hardcover book. Readers get a great breadth of views ranging from the producers/programmers to media journalists/sellers.
Some of the “insights” needed more credible sources …something more solid than an Amazon reviewer. This information might have been convenient when constructing such a monumental work, but hearing from people directly involved in the game, or at least, professional reviewers, would have been better.
Author Brett Weiss covers the technical, marketing, logistic, and enthusiast point-of-views easily. He exhibits great knowledge and passion for all gaming. He provides great detail and comprehensive summaries that put players right back into these gaming memories.
Weiss adds a nice narrative to each entry as well as comprehensive research, quotes, and information that capture the uniqueness of each game. A few repetitive elements could have been alleviated with more careful editing. Better graphics for some of the nicely finished glossy pages would have been nice, but likely were not available.
The full-color presentation and design really provide the proper credit to the impact each game had (good, bad, or indifferent). Some of the screenshots could have been bigger and the slipcover gets damaged easily (be careful), but overall, The SNES Omnibus is a highly recommended (***1/2 out of four stars) work where readers can appreciate every single element.
Published by Schiffer Publishing, this 416-page hardcovered reference is a must-have for Super Nintendo fans. Check out the feature editorials at the end of the book. The Omnibus SNES book N-Z is also available now. A great, ample-sized (9″ x 12″) resource for the 16-bit Nintendo console. Well worth the suggested retail price of $49.99.
