The Video Game Library Newsletter - Vol. #026
Tongue-pulling fun for all ages! Plus a trio of Bitmap Books, Neopets still exists?, The Sims in France, and a truly Profound Waste of Time.
Welcome back to The Video Game Library Newsletter!
Last week was absolutely packed with announcements and releases. If you missed any of it, definitely check out our coverage! And a big thank you to everyone who reached out to chat Video Game Books! Your enthusiasm keeps this community thriving.
This week’s a little quieter on the news front, but we’ve still got a handful of fun new releases and some really exciting projects on the horizon. On top of that, our volunteer team has been crushing it behind the scenes, knocking a huge chunk off our backlog. They’ve done some amazing work.
Remember - if you think you have the time and the passion to really make a difference in growing The Video Game Library, we’d love to have you join the team. Maybe the next new volunteer is you!
Also, if the newsletter has ever made you smile, spotlight your work, helped you discover a new book, or stirred a bit of nostalgia, your support genuinely matters. Every subscription helps keep this project growing.
Now, let’s dive in to this week’s highlights!
📰 News & Highlights
Like I said, a bit slower this week, but some fun reads on the horizon. Comment below with your favourites!
We’re kicking things off with a banger! A Profound Waste of Time - Issue 6 has officially gone live on Kickstarter. I absolutely love these prestige indie mags, and haven’t been disappointed with an issue yet. Astro Bot, Team Ninja, Danganronpa, Giant Squid, and a ton more. Do yourselves a favor and go check this crowdfund out!
Next, fans of Nintendo’s My Mario campaign have another adorable addition to look forward to. The second “Hello, Mario” book, “Lick-Lick Yoshi”, is an orange board book that invites readers to interact with Yoshi. Pull his tongue, hatch baby Yoshis, eat fruit, and more! It ties into a special Yoshi app and fresh merch lineup.
Now onto the world of Bitmap Books. First, while we’ve known about Trigger Happy for a while, the official marketing campaign has begun. A vibrant visual guide to the world of game controllers, their design, history, and amazing ability to transform who we are, and what we are capable of, presented through 560 stunning photos.
Next up from them is their upcoming Leaps + Bounds: A Visual Guide to Nine Console Generations. While their advertising hasn’t quite started for this one yet, it does look like they’re gearing up for a 2026 release. This claims to be a vibrant journey through gaming history, celebrating the evolution of consoles from the 1970s to today.
And to round out the trilogy of headlines from Bitmap, their website now lists an upcoming Fatal Fury/Garou Densetsu: The Ultimate History book, once again dipping into SNK. And if the Neo Geo, Metal Slug or King of Fighters books are any indication of quality, we’re all in for a treat!
It’s been a year since The Omelette Fairy, the first book in the series. And as of this week, we have book #2! Neopets: The Discarded Magical Blue Grundo Plushie of Prosperity is a full-color graphic novel where everyone in Neopia has been turned into toys, and it’s up to TDMBGPOP (yes, that’s its name), to save them! I’m personally amazed at how long this IP has been going, thinking back to the browser game of the late 90s. Love seeing the fandom continuing across the printed page!
Nine Sols is a game I haven’t tried yet, but hear nothing but great things about. Pre-orders for Fangamer’s physical edition has gone live this week, and bundled with the Deluxe Edition is an original, 16-page epilogue comic book with the story and art by Shihwei Yang and Pege Ho.
Video Games, Literature, and Close Playing: A Practical Guide released this week from Routledge, and is packed with 24 case studies of mainstream and indie games to introduce key video game and literary study concepts, ideas, definitions and possibilities.
And from CRC Press this week, we saw Alan Thorn’s Game Development with Godot 4: A Complete Introduction get a release. Godot is a rapidly growing free and open-source game engine and this book aims to offer an accessible and fun intro to the tool.
Over in France, Hommage aux Sims from Ynnis Éditions got its official release (a little over a week ago, but I missed it). Through exclusive features and interviews with team members who worked on the game as well as community members, this book sets out to pull back the curtain and shine a light on this transformative franchise.
The new São Paulo cover for Sonic the Hedgehog: Blue Racer launched this week, marking another milestone in Sonic’s high-speed Racing Around the World campaign. First unveiled at the McLaren Racing Live London event in July 2025, the manga blends Yuki Imada’s sharp illustrations with Min Ho Kim’s vivid colors. Following the earlier AI-edited Singapore cover controversy, this latest release should hopefully help restore some of the fans’ confidence.
And speaking of Japanese manga, Fire Emblem Engage #6 from Shueisha has just hit shelves in Japan this week. In this volume, the journey of Alear, the divine dragon in human form, to collect the twelve rings reaches its final stage!
To round things off, a fun magazine entry to the site. Japanese life design magazine, Casa BRUTUS, has just started selling its Dec. 2025 (Vol. 308) issue, and it’s all about Mario! I know I don’t usually catalogue Magazines (mainly because that’s done really well elsewhere, and is a HUGE time-sink) but in the case of these “special coverage” volumes, I make exceptions. This one has over 100 pages dedicated to Mario.
Did I miss something cool? Want to see this laid out differently?
Drop it in the comments or swing by our Discord to share it with the community.
Let’s keep this celebration of game-inspired books going strong!
📚 Behind the Shelves
Every week, I take you behind the scenes of The Video Game Library. From surprising discoveries to cataloging challenges, there’s always something new as we dig deeper into this ever-expanding archive of game-related literature.
Want to kick things off with a big shoutout to our volunteers this week. Tommy, Leslie and Geneviève have been doing some amazing work with the cataloguing. From the Wordware series for GameDevs, to the Splatoon manga series, to Gamergate interviews books. Makes my day every time I get home from work to see more books catalogued in detail on our site!
The Discord has been buzzing all week with some amazing contributions. Big shoutout to user “@Newsdee” who was kind enough to shine some light on a few books from their own collection that weren’t catalogued yet. I was able to go through the list and remedy that on Monday and Tuesday!
And would also like to give a shout-out to Discord user “@sCZther” who has been doing an amazing job compiling a list of Czech video game books. Our catalogued collection is minimal in the Czech language, and this was such a fun subset to start on to help expand our global representation. Thank you so much “@sCZther”!!
Stumbled across some of these “A Computer-Awareness First Books” on archive.org this week, and while not all of them were video game adjacent, these 5 did have enough relevance to catalogue onto the site.
And finally, while I’ve seen this series pop up a few times on Amazon listings, I only JUST realized that it is, in fact, a spin-off of the Mana series. Would NOT have figured this out if not for Discord user “@SuperPotato” pointing me in the right direction. So naturally, I catalogued all 5 volumes (in both Japanese and French).
This, as usual, is only a small sample of all the things that have been happening behind the scenes, so take a peek at the site to see everything that’s been added since last week! And while you’re at it, drop your thoughts in the comments below. Your feedback helps shape how we deliver these looks behind the curtain.
💡 Book Spotlights
Every week I like to zoom in on a few standout books from the collection. Sometimes it’s brand new releases, other times it’s older gems that deserve more love.
If you’re looking for deeper dives and not just quick headlines, check out some of these spotlights from this week:
BOOK SPOTLIGHT - If Video Games Have Taught Me Anything
Jon D. Harrison (2025); Non-Fiction
"At the risk of oversharing, this has been the perfect pick-up-and-ponder material for the washroom visits, and I imagine I’ll enjoy many more weeks of thronely thoughts."
BOOK SPOTLIGHT - Game Changer: Playing To Win at Xbox, EA Sports, and Liverpool FC
Peter Moore (2025); Liverpool University Press; Autobiography
"It reads as both a professional journey and a personal reflection on identity, ambition, and staying grounded. And despite knowing very little about football or footwear, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole ride."
🙏 THANK YOU for Reading
That’s a wrap for this week’s Newsletter. I hope you discovered something new, surprising, or just plain fun.
As always, your feedback helps shape this project - so don’t be shy! Drop a comment below, join the conversation on Discord, or just reply to this newsletter and share your thoughts.
And if you’re enjoying these weekly roundups, please consider supporting The Video Game Library with a paid subscription or forwarding this to a fellow fan. Every little bit helps us keep preserving and celebrating these incredible works - and the passionate people behind them.
Until next week — happy reading,
Dean (Founder, The Video Game Library)