Nintendo Announces Official NES Book 'Playing With Power'

Now you're reading Playing With Power.

By Seth G. Macy

Nintendo is giving 17 of its NES classics a scholarly exploration by way of an official hardcover retrospective.

The Prima Games book, titled Playing With Power, is available November 18, and explores classics such as the Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Donkey Kong. The other games in the book aren't listed in the official product description, but you could probably figure them out by crossing 3rd party games off the list of titles on the NES Classic Edition and starting from there.

In fact, Nintendo calls the book a "perfect companion" to the NES Classic Edition. Included in the hardcover book are interviews with developers, a "showcase of vintage advertising and priceless excerpts from Nintendo Power," and a feature emblematic of the era, now almost entirely gone from gaming: hand-drawn maps.

The whole thing comes in a slip cover resembling an old-school NES cartridge, and is available for pre-order right now.

Playing With Power

A similar, but unofficial NES/Famicom book from Bitmap Books recently disappeared from Kickstarter mysteriously, only to return for one final day. The visual compendium was fully funded, and then some, and has an expected ship date of January 2017. Could this official book have anything to do with the brief and mysterious disappearance of the unofficial compendium? Only Nintendo and the folks at Bitmap Books can say for sure, but they probably won't.

Seth Macy is IGN's weekend web producer and just wants to be your friend. Follow him on Twitter @sethmacy, or subscribe to Seth Macy's YouTube channel.

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