Spector Posted August 24, 2020 Share Posted August 24, 2020 (edited) I've enjoyed reading Brian Matherne's Atari 2600 homebrew books which act as a good reference guide for the notable releases of the last twenty odd years. But are there any books out there that go through the original back catalogue from the 80s, picking out the best games with reviews and screenshots? There's something to be said for reading a physical book even now Edited August 24, 2020 by Spector 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timdu Posted August 24, 2020 Share Posted August 24, 2020 Have you checked out the 4 books that I offer? 2600 CONNECTION . There are 4 volumes. These books are comprised of the print newsletters of the 2600 Connection from the years 1990-2009. Please check out my web page : http://www.2600connection.com/books/books.html thanks, Tim 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted August 24, 2020 Share Posted August 24, 2020 (edited) Good idea, Tim. They are well worth getting. Edited August 24, 2020 by high voltage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special Teams Posted August 24, 2020 Share Posted August 24, 2020 I highly recommend these: You can download the first book free as a .pdf to see if it's what you're looking for. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spector Posted August 25, 2020 Author Share Posted August 25, 2020 (edited) I've also noticed that Michael D. Salzman has written a lot of paperbacks in his "Unauthorized Atari Companion" series that are very similar in style to the Brian Matherne books I was talking about earlier, and they cover individual software houses as well as arcade conversions in general: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=unauthorized+atari+companion&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss I think they look quite good, but judging by the sample pages, the writing is terrible! Virtually every sample page has grammatical and/or spelling errors that make it look like it was written in high school. Surely someone has told Mr Salzman about this so he can fix them? They are so amateurishly written. Such a shame because I would be interested in purchasing some of his books otherwise. Edited August 25, 2020 by Spector 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cvga Posted August 26, 2020 Share Posted August 26, 2020 (edited) 6 hours ago, Spector said: I think they look quite good, but judging by the sample pages, the writing is terrible! Virtually every sample page has grammatical and/or spelling errors that make it look like it was written in high school. Surely someone has told Mr Salzman about this so he can fix them? They are so amateurishly written. Such a shame because I would be interested in purchasing some of his books otherwise. I have a love/hate relationship with these books. I've purchased several of them and love the idea and the look of them. However, I agree that the writing isn't always the best. Issues sometimes extend beyond spelling and grammar. Sometimes his information is wrong and other times it seems as if he only played a game for a very short period of time (or read wikipedia as some lines are taken nearly verbatim) in order to write something about it. However, I do think that his skills have improved over time and the books, especially the monthly magazines, have a certain charm to them. I like the brevity of each topic and it's easy to pick up and put down (because you get to a natural stopping point) when I only have a few minutes. Here are a couple of examples from the Unauthorized Sports Almanac... Grand Prix - "the computer controlled cars are mostly random". FALSE: They are same every time. Memorizing the best path is the best way to a quicker time. Home Run - It's difficult to take a guy writing a sports book seriously when he writes, "Your team is one point behind". Overall I like the books though. As I mentioned, there's a certain charm to them and have a folksy newsletter feel. In addition, they're not very expensive. I'd recommend picking a couple up to see if you like them (which I never thought I'd say after reading the first one). Edited August 26, 2020 by cvga 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarifan88 Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 As far as the Michael D. Salzman books are concerned, I started out with the zines which are mini game magazines in full color. They are nice, but short, so I went for a few of his books. I recommend the following: The Unauthorized Atari 2600 Arcade Companion Volume 1 The Unauthorized Atari 2600 Arcade Companion Volume 2 The Unauthorized Atari 2600 Activision Companion Volume These are the ones that cover the best Atari 2600 games. They are really written to give you an intro, history, and strategic tips for each of the games. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 This is not a reference guide, nor a Atari history book, but a great Atari book nevertheless 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogerpoco Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 (edited) On 8/25/2020 at 11:54 PM, cvga said: I have a love/hate relationship with these books. I've purchased several of them and love the idea and the look of them. However, I agree that the writing isn't always the best. Issues sometimes extend beyond spelling and grammar. Sometimes his information is wrong and other times it seems as if he only played a game for a very short period of time (or read wikipedia as some lines are taken nearly verbatim) in order to write something about it. However, I do think that his skills have improved over time and the books, especially the monthly magazines, have a certain charm to them. I like the brevity of each topic and it's easy to pick up and put down (because you get to a natural stopping point) when I only have a few minutes. Here are a couple of examples from the Unauthorized Sports Almanac... Grand Prix - "the computer controlled cars are mostly random". FALSE: They are same every time. Memorizing the best path is the best way to a quicker time. Home Run - It's difficult to take a guy writing a sports book seriously when he writes, "Your team is one point behind". Overall I like the books though. As I mentioned, there's a certain charm to them and have a folksy newsletter feel. In addition, they're not very expensive. I'd recommend picking a couple up to see if you like them (which I never thought I'd say after reading the first one). Not much to add, I have the Activision Companion-it's almost a "daily" for me, just picking it up and checking stuff out-I very much enjoy it, but the grammar is a bit amusing at times! Hehe, on Grand Prix in particular-the cars ARE seeded the same, but your speed dictates how fast you encounter them-a player going for a very fast time will see the exact same car pattern every time, for slower drivers it will "seem" different, tho as you said, it really isn't. I'd actually like to see that one in particular "flushed out" a little, spelling/grammar corrections, a checklist of Patch Scores, and even possibly a small extended strategy section on each game, co-written by someone very good at each particular game. Dibs on Dragster!!! No, that's the honest, to reiterate-it leaves a bit to be desired, but I still "couldn't do without it". *Edit* Interestingly, there is a note in the front of the book for people to email him about errors... Edited August 27, 2020 by Rogerpoco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cvga Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 11 hours ago, Rogerpoco said: *Edit* Interestingly, there is a note in the front of the book for people to email him about errors... Yeah but the email address has a typo. Just kidding 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 (edited) I was the lead on this book for Prima back in 2017, Atari Flashback: The Essential Companion: https://amzn.to/32BJ3SK It was meant as the official companion for the Atari Flashback 8 consoles out at the time, but it covers Atari 2600 history and 67 first party Atari 2600 games in some visual detail, including how to play them. Edited August 28, 2020 by Bill Loguidice Added cover photo 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogerpoco Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 1 hour ago, Bill Loguidice said: I was the lead on this book for Prima back in 2017, Atari Flashback: The Essential Companion: https://amzn.to/32BJ3SK It was meant as the official companion for the Atari Flashback 8 consoles out at the time, but it covers Atari 2600 history and 67 first party Atari 2600 games in some visual detail, including how to play them. OK, I was remiss not to mention this-it's my *other*daily. Seriously? WOW! It's a GREAT book, the detail is perfect, it explains game settings, etc, I have recommended Atari players pick it up, whether they were playing Flashback or not, it's really a great, valuable book! Again, WOW! You Rock!!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cvga Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 4 hours ago, Bill Loguidice said: I was the lead on this book for Prima back in 2017, Atari Flashback: The Essential Companion: https://amzn.to/32BJ3SK It was meant as the official companion for the Atari Flashback 8 consoles out at the time, but it covers Atari 2600 history and 67 first party Atari 2600 games in some visual detail, including how to play them. I got this book for Christmas a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it. The writing is excellent. I remember thinking that it probably would have sold better if it didn't appear to be directly tied to the Flashback 8 console (maybe it sold more because of that though - who knows). Either way, I highly recommend this book! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 Thanks for the nice comments about the book. I'm not really sure how well it sold because I did that one for a flat fee and we had less than two months to finish it (hence all the other writers). It really couldn't have been solely a general Atari 2600 book because the whole reason it existed was to support the Atari Flashback 8, which is also one of the reasons why it only had first party Atari games in it (to get Atari's blessing). However, as you know, how it was written, it really was a general Atari 2600 book, just with a few pages talking about the Atari Flashbacks and how controls mapped to them, etc. In any case, considering all of the obstacles, I was pretty happy with how it turned out overall. It was a bit outside the usual Prima comfort zone so I don't think they marketed it as well as they could have (not that many of the big publishers I've written books for have been great with promotion, frankly), but they were obviously interested in trying different things at the time since this was not too long before the whole book division went under and they pivoted to be just a website. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salzmafia.com Posted August 29, 2020 Share Posted August 29, 2020 On 8/25/2020 at 2:35 PM, Spector said: I've also noticed that Michael D. Salzman has written a lot of paperbacks in his "Unauthorized Atari Companion" series that are very similar in style to the Brian Matherne books I was talking about earlier, and they cover individual software houses as well as arcade conversions in general: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=unauthorized+atari+companion&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss I think they look quite good, but judging by the sample pages, the writing is terrible! Virtually every sample page has grammatical and/or spelling errors that make it look like it was written in high school. Surely someone has told Mr Salzman about this so he can fix them? They are so amateurishly written. Such a shame because I would be interested in purchasing some of his books otherwise. Every book encourages corrections. Those who have submitted corrections have not only been thanked but also rewarded. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salzmafia.com Posted August 29, 2020 Share Posted August 29, 2020 On 8/27/2020 at 5:37 PM, cvga said: Yeah but the email address has a typo. Just kidding Made my day, thank you. lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salzmafia.com Posted August 29, 2020 Share Posted August 29, 2020 On 8/27/2020 at 6:13 AM, atarifan88 said: As far as the Michael D. Salzman books are concerned, I started out with the zines which are mini game magazines in full color. They are nice, but short, so I went for a few of his books. I recommend the following: The Unauthorized Atari 2600 Arcade Companion Volume 1 The Unauthorized Atari 2600 Arcade Companion Volume 2 The Unauthorized Atari 2600 Activision Companion Volume These are the ones that cover the best Atari 2600 games. They are really written to give you an intro, history, and strategic tips for each of the games. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salzmafia.com Posted August 29, 2020 Share Posted August 29, 2020 On 8/25/2020 at 2:35 PM, Spector said: I've also noticed that Michael D. Salzman has written a lot of paperbacks in his "Unauthorized Atari Companion" series that are very similar in style to the Brian Matherne books I was talking about earlier, and they cover individual software houses as well as arcade conversions in general: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=unauthorized+atari+companion&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss I think they look quite good, but judging by the sample pages, the writing is terrible! Virtually every sample page has grammatical and/or spelling errors that make it look like it was written in high school. Surely someone has told Mr Salzman about this so he can fix them? They are so amateurishly written. Such a shame because I would be interested in purchasing some of his books otherwise. Very well balanced criticism. Thank you. But why buy something so "amateurishly written" when you can get issues 20, 21, and 22 of the Throw Back 'Zine for free from now until Sunday evening? https://www.patreon.com/posts/40952588 Enjoy and thank you for the plug! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salzmafia.com Posted August 29, 2020 Share Posted August 29, 2020 On 8/25/2020 at 2:35 PM, Spector said: I've also noticed that Michael D. Salzman has written a lot of paperbacks in his "Unauthorized Atari Companion" series that are very similar in style to the Brian Matherne books I was talking about earlier, and they cover individual software houses as well as arcade conversions in general: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=unauthorized+atari+companion&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss I think they look quite good, but judging by the sample pages, the writing is terrible! Virtually every sample page has grammatical and/or spelling errors that make it look like it was written in high school. Surely someone has told Mr Salzman about this so he can fix them? They are so amateurishly written. Such a shame because I would be interested in purchasing some of his books otherwise. Oh and for the record, Brian's books are based on mine, not the other way around. The content and formatting, particularly in his early books are based on mine, further I've designed all the covers for his books except for the Christmas/winter themed ones. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spector Posted August 30, 2020 Author Share Posted August 30, 2020 10 hours ago, salzmafia.com said: Every book encourages corrections. Those who have submitted corrections have not only been thanked but also rewarded. 10 hours ago, salzmafia.com said: Very well balanced criticism. Thank you. But why buy something so "amateurishly written" when you can get issues 20, 21, and 22 of the Throw Back 'Zine for free from now until Sunday evening? https://www.patreon.com/posts/40952588 Enjoy and thank you for the plug! 10 hours ago, salzmafia.com said: Oh and for the record, Brian's books are based on mine, not the other way around. The content and formatting, particularly in his early books are based on mine, further I've designed all the covers for his books except for the Christmas/winter themed ones. Oh no!!! Fair enough, I wrote that line about the writing being amateurish without thinking about the writer actually reading my comments! There are quite a few mistakes though. In saying that, having looked at your kindle download of issue 20 where you talk about Space Invaders, the standard is clearly higher. Maybe I was unlucky and looking at bad pages, I don't know. But thanks for giving us those downloads to begin with. If it's any consolation, at least understand that when I criticised your books, it was because I thought they were worth talking about. They are informative and give really useful advice on the dipswitches and skill levels of each game. It acts as a reference guide to the games as well as a review. I have already got the kindle version of your first Arcade Compilation guide, and I may now go for the other one too. The Parker Brothers one looks tasty as well. But one piece of English language advice: "it's" only has an apostrophe when it is an abbreviation of "it is". Don't use an apostrophe otherwise ie. "on its own". There! I had to say it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cvga Posted August 30, 2020 Share Posted August 30, 2020 15 hours ago, salzmafia.com said: Brian's books are based on mine ... further I've designed all the covers for his books except for the Christmas/winter themed ones. The cover art on all of these books is truly excellent. You did a great job on them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spector Posted August 30, 2020 Author Share Posted August 30, 2020 1 hour ago, cvga said: The cover art on all of these books is truly excellent. You did a great job on them. I second that. They make you think "I want to have that on my shelf." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salzmafia.com Posted August 30, 2020 Share Posted August 30, 2020 7 hours ago, Spector said: Oh no!!! Fair enough, I wrote that line about the writing being amateurish without thinking about the writer actually reading my comments! There are quite a few mistakes though. In saying that, having looked at your kindle download of issue 20 where you talk about Space Invaders, the standard is clearly higher. Maybe I was unlucky and looking at bad pages, I don't know. But thanks for giving us those downloads to begin with. If it's any consolation, at least understand that when I criticised your books, it was because I thought they were worth talking about. They are informative and give really useful advice on the dipswitches and skill levels of each game. It acts as a reference guide to the games as well as a review. I have already got the kindle version of your first Arcade Compilation guide, and I may now go for the other one too. The Parker Brothers one looks tasty as well. But one piece of English language advice: "it's" only has an apostrophe when it is an abbreviation of "it is". Don't use an apostrophe otherwise ie. "on its own". There! I had to say it! Thank you. If you email me corrections that you noticed, I'll let send ya something nice ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salzmafia.com Posted August 30, 2020 Share Posted August 30, 2020 3 hours ago, cvga said: The cover art on all of these books is truly excellent. You did a great job on them. Thank you! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salzmafia.com Posted August 30, 2020 Share Posted August 30, 2020 1 hour ago, Spector said: I second that. They make you think "I want to have that on my shelf." Thank you! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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