General References and Sources
Where appropriate in my writing, I’ve cited sources directly. Otherwise, here are the many sources I used in the development of each stage of my research.
As you read this book, you may wonder where I’ve learned so much about the history of gaming. Besides living through a lot of it and experiencing it firsthand, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time reading and referencing great articles, books, websites and magazine archives, particularly for details about games I never completed myself (which is, I’ll be honest, most of them) or for which I’ve needed to confirm aspects I’ve recalled but lacked the time or ability to re-encounter during my research.
Here are some of the excellent references I’ve utilized, all of which I’d recommend:
General References For All Series
Books
1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die, edited and compiled by Tony Mott (2010, Universe; Illustrated edition)
The Comic Book Story of Video Games: The Incredible History of the Electronic Gaming Revolution by Jonathan Hennessey (writer) and Jack McGowan (illustrator) (2017, Penguin Random House)
High Score! Expanded: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games 3rd Edition by Rusel DeMaria (2018, CRC Press)
Phoenix IV: The History of the Videogame Industry by Leonard Herman (2017, Amazon.com Services)
Replay: The History of Video Games by Tristan Donovan (2010, Yellow Ant)
The Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 1: From Pong to Pokemon and Beyond... The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World by Stephen L. Kent (2001, Random House (1st Edition) and Crown (New Edition))
The Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 2: Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, and the Billion-Dollar Battle to Shape Modern Gaming by Stephen L. Kent (2021, Crown)
Websites
MobyGames Video Game Database (1999-Present, https://www.mobygames.com/)
HardcoreGaming 101 (2004-Present, http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/, also available in ebook form)
The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers (1992-Present, https://dadgum.com/giantlist/)
Museum of the Game (includes Killer List of Video Games and the International Arcade Museum) (1995 – Present, https://www.arcade-museum.com/)
The Classic PC Gaming Era (1977-1989)
Books
101 BASIC Computer Games by David H. Ahl (1973, Digital Equipment Corporation and 1978, Workman Publishing)
The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games v2.0 edited by Felipe Pepe and authored by 119 volunteers (2019, https://crpgbook.wordpress.com/)
Deus Ex Machina - The Best Game You Never Played in Your Life by Mel Croucher (2014, Acorn Books)
Faster Than Light: The Atari ST and the 16-Bit Revolution by Jamie Lendino (2019, Steel Gear Press)
Hardcore Gaming 101 Presents - The Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures edited and compiled by Kurt Kalata (2011, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform)
Magazines
Atari Program Exchange (APX) Summer 1981-Winter 1983 and Program Author’s Handbook
Byte volumes 1.1 - 14.13 (1975-1989, McGraw-Hill)
Compute! issues 1-115 (1979-1989, Compute! Publications, Inc)
Computer Gaming World issues 1-66 (1981-1989, Russell Sipe / Golden Empire Publications)
Crash issues 1-71 (1983-1989, Newsfield Publications)
Dragon issues 1-152 (1976-1989, TSR)
PC Magazine 1.1 – 8.22 (1982-1989, Ziff Davis)
Retro Gamer 1-225 (2004-Present, Live Publishing / Imagine Publishing / Future Publishing)
Sinclair User 1-93 (1982-1989, ECC Publications / EMAP)
Sierra Newsletter / Sierra News Magazine vols. 1 and 2 (1981-1989, Sierra On-Line)
Your Spectrum / Your Sinclair 1-48 (1984-1989, Dennis Publishing)
Zzap!64 issues 1- 56 (1985-1989, Newsfield Publications)
Websites
The Adventure Gamer (2011-Present, https://advgamer.blogspot.com/)
The Adventurers Guild (2011 - Present, https://advgamer.blogspot.com/)
The CRPG Addict (2010-Present, https://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/)
Data-Driven Gamer (2018-Present, https://datadrivengamer.blogspot.com/)
The Digital Antiquarian by Jimmy Maher (2011-Present, https://www.filfre.net/, also available in ebook form)
Home of the Underdogs (1998 – Present, http://www.homeoftheunderdogs.net/)
The Infocom Gallery (1998-2004, https://gallery.guetech.org/)
Jason Scott’s Textfiles (1998-2003, http://www.textfiles.com/) and ASCII (2000-2020, http://ascii.textfiles.com/)
Lemon64 and LemonAmiga (1998-Present, https://www.lemon64.com/ and
http://www.lemonamiga.com/)
The Museum of Computer Adventure Game History (2001-Present, https://mocagh.org/)
Films
BBS: The Documentary by Jason Scott (2005)
Get Lamp: The Text Adventure Documentary by Jason Scott (2010)
Infocom: The Documentary by Jason Scott (2017)
I heartily recommend all of the above references if you find yourself more interested in the history of PC gaming.
The Classic Coin-Op and Console Era (1972-1989)
Books
Arcade 1: Illustrated Historical Guide To Arcade Machines by Richard M. Bueschel and Steve Gronowski. (1993, Hoflin Publishing Ltd.)
Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation by Blake J. Harris (2014, It Books, and Illustrated Edition 2015, Dey Street Books)
Encyclopedia Of Pinball - Whiffle to Rocket 1930-1933 - Volume 1 by Richard M. Bueschel. (1996, Hoflin Publishing Ltd.)
Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered the World by David Sheff (1993, Random House. Later republished in a 2nd edition by CyberACTIVE Media Group as Game Over, Press Start to Continue: How Nintendo Conquered the World in 1999 with additional content by Andy Eddy.)
The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers Vol. 1 by John Szczepaniak (2014, SMG Szczepaniak; two additional volumes followed in 2015 and 2018 and are also worth checking out!)
Magazines
Electronic Gaming Monthly vol. 1-5 (1989, Sendai)
GamePro vol. 1-4 (1989, IDG Communications / Peterborough)
Nintendo Fun Club vol. 1-7 (1987-1988)
Nintendo Power vol. 1-9 (1988-1989, Nintendo)
Websites
Atari Age (2001-Present, http://www.atariage.com/)
Blue Sky Rangers Intellivision History (2019-Present, https://history.blueskyrangers.com/)
Gaming History (2003-Present, https://www.arcade-history.com/)
Gaming.MOE (2014-Present, http://gaming.moe/)
HardcoreGaming101’s Korean Gaming retrospective by Sam Derboo (2010-2014, http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/korea/korea.htm)
RetroGaming with Racketboy (2004-Present, https://www.racketboy.com/)
I also wish to express my thanks to Youtuber GaryRetroGamer for putting together several great compilations of obscure arcade games from the 1980s. These videos and lists of games were a treasure trove and led me to discover many titles I might have otherwise overlooked!
Miscellany
As you will see throughout the series, I have also utilized other sources for specific details. Where appropriate, I’ve provided attributions either in footnotes or direct references within the text. In my historical write-ups of each genre, any information that is not directly cited derives from the sources in my bibliography and has been carefully fact-checked as much as is possible.
All dates for video game releases are sourced from copyright dates on the games themselves or MobyGames unless otherwise noted. There are times when MobyGames disagrees with other sources (including printed copyright materials or dates within the games themselves), and so I have tried to verify all dates whenever possible against at least one additional source included within my bibliography. Keep in mind that details about vintage software from the 1970s and early 1980s (particularly during the mainframe era) are often in contention due to the nature of how software was created and distributed during that period.
Box art is sourced from public repositories and is the property of the copyright holder.
All game screenshots were either taken from a repository such as MobyGames (credited) or captured by the author, either from personal playthroughs or public videos (with sources noted).