Supercade was Van Burnham’s ode to the golden age of video video games — a giant espresso desk guide that captured the visible historical past of video games from 1971 to 1984.
Now that golden age is getting a refresh as Burnham’s Supercade guide is heading towards a reissue, because of a profitable Kickstarter crowdfunding marketing campaign. As of final night time, the marketing campaign had raised $50,347 of its $34,000 objective. Greater than 259 folks have backed it, with 19 days to go within the marketing campaign.
The reissue of Supercade, which illustrated and documented the historical past, legacy and visible language of videogaming’s golden age, looks like it’s coming so early. I imply, I lived via this historical past, and it doesn’t appear all that way back, because the recollections of video games and arcades are so contemporary in my thoughts.
However this time was a long time in the past. Thirty years in the past, Burnham was working as manufacturing designer for {a magazine} in New York Metropolis. The “World Wide Web” was model new and she or he discovered different nerds nesting on-line who shared her love of classic videogames.
She would scan and share manuals from my unique Odyssey 2 console and get in heated debates about whether or not Okay.C. Munchkin! was a greater port of Pac-Man than Atari’s official model. She nonetheless says it’s.
Burnham questioned if any books had been written in regards to the video games she performed within the 70s and 80s. At some point, she went to Rizzoli on Broadway and requested if they’d any — on a shelf within the “technology” part have been Zap: The Rise and Fall of Atari by Scott Cohen and Sport Over by David Sheff (nonetheless her favourite guide about video games). That was actually it.
So she began doing analysis on Supercade. As she imagined what the guide could be like, she caught up on the historical past of video and pc video games and obtained a publishing deal. The unique Supercade guide — which I did a brief chapter for to chronicle the Xbox historical past — got here out in 2003 with 448 pages. Then Burnham wrote Supercade: A Visible Historical past of the Video Sport Age — 1985 to 2001, publishing that guide in 2023.
Now Burnham has signed as much as do the deluxe reissue of Supercade, which can doc the early historical past of the sport trade from 1971-1984 and can be much more complete than the unique guide with over 500 full-color pages. Burnham can be engaged on making a Supercade Museum.
“I’d always wanted to publish another hardcover edition because honestly people have been asking for one for over 20 years,” Burnham mentioned in a message to GamesBeat. “Lol. I also wanted the opportunity to really do it right, the way I’d originally envisioned the book. With the Supercade Museum in alpha at Ayzenberg’s Space Gallery and the next exhibition focused on the second generation and ‘golden age’ of games, it seemed the perfect time.”
She mentioned she is going to work intently with backers and contributors to make certain each egregious omission is included. Coloration TV Sport. Lazer Command. Wizardry. The reissue can be an identical in fashion and format to the unique, although with upgraded print options and new content material all through.
Burnham mentioned she by no means imagined that it could fund first day, not to mention in 4 hours — one hour quicker than the sequel.
“I’m so grateful for the support I’ve gotten from the game industry and Kickstarter community,” Burnham mentioned. “I think this history is really starting to resonate with younger generations… there is almost a deeper appreciation of this technology beyond the kids who grew up with it. Seeing Gen Alpha kids in awe of Microsoft Adventure running on an IBM 5150 makes me so happy and hopeful.”
The extra this mission overfunds, the extra superior the guide can be, she mentioned.
“For the sequel I added an additional seventy pages and increased the print run,” Burnham mentioned. “Anything beyond that will go toward stewarding the Supercade Collection — now one of the most significant archives of video and computer games, artifacts, art, and ephemera — allowing me to celebrate this history and keep original games playable for future generations to experience.”
