The Video Game Library Newsletter - Vol. #021
The Pokémon spectacular!! Monster Kids, Pikachu's anatomy, and over 100 more Poké-books catalogued!
Hello there! Welcome to the world of Pokém….err… I mean, welcome back to The Video Game Library Newsletter!
This 21st volume is a celebration of Pokémon! The franchise has always been one of the richest (and most intimidating) corners of video game literature, and I can’t wait to share some of the discoveries, stories, and surprises that came out of this week’s digging.
This week really reminded me how much of a joy this project has been to build. If you’ve been enjoying these weekly digests every Sunday, I’d be grateful if you considered supporting at the Paid tier. It helps keep the archive growing, and comes with some extra content just for you.
This week’s 📰 News & Highlights may be a little lighter on headlines, but it’s packed with some truly exciting announcements from familiar names. From Square Enix’s long-awaited Final Fantasy Tactics artbook to Lost In Cult’s next Design Works tease, and some exciting items that you need to be adding to your shopping cart today!
In 📚 Behind the Shelves, I’m pulling back the curtain on a massive wave of Pokémon cataloguing. Over a hundred new titles logged in just the past week, covering everything from handbooks and sticker books to novels, comics, and activity titles.
In 💡 Recommended Read of the Week, I take a closer look at Daniel Dockery’s Monster Kids, a book that captures the rise of Pokémania with both nostalgia and insight. And follow it up with a ✨ Community Interview with Daniel himself!
In 💾 From the Archives, we spotlight one of the most fascinating fan projects in recent memory: Christopher Stoll’s Pokénatomy and Pokénatomy II, which reimagine Pokémon as if they were real biological organisms
Hang on to your Pokéballs - let’s dive in 👇
📰 News & Highlights
While the news is light this week, some of my favourite authors and publishers have shared some exciting announcements! Whether you’re into epic RPGs, iconic racers, memorable beat ‘em ups, or terrible platformers, there’s something for you in here!
Square Enix announced The Art of Final Fantasy Tactics (scheduled for Oct. 2, 2025 release in Japan) featuring artwork from the 1997 original game, the 2007 War of the Lions remake, and the upcoming FFT: The Ivalice Chronicles. No English-language edition has been confirmed yet, so fans are awaiting news on a localization.
While still a day early, Lost In Cult has announced that their next Design Works title will be revealed tomorrow - Aug. 18th! All way know is that they’ll be working with a hugely influential studio on this one.
Friend of the project, Darren Hupke, has some exciting news this week on behalf of his Pixels and Polygons publishing arm. Beat ‘Em Up Vol. 1 is now on-sale, after a bit of retooling to navigate some of the pesky legalities. This will be a very cool one to add to the shelves!
And let’s not forget some more good news - this time from author, Andy Kelly. You may recall my disappointment from last week’s volume that I had missed out on his Ridge Racer Type 4 Fanzine - One More Win. Well, he’s just announced that more printed copies are available - and guess who snagged one!
Limited Run Games’ Bubsy In: The Purrfect Collection Im-paw-sible Edition went on pre-order sale this week, and includes a hardcover art and design book from the mew-seum!
The German Games Industry Association has published its Annual Report of the German Games Industry 2025. This is available now for free download with a physical copy at Gamescom. Will be added to our site shortly!
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.
Pokémon. We all know what it is. A juggernaut of a franchise whose ever-expanding Pokédex is rivaled only by the number of books written about it. From Kanto to Paldea, Pikachu to Miraidon, it’s a rabbit hole I’ve been happily leaving to some of my more Poké-fluent volunteers.
But, unbeknownst to most, I’ve been secretly hooked on Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket since its launch. Not so much the battling, but the collecting. And I’ve gone full Poké Maniac with it, logging every ◆ card released so far and just recently hitting a big milestone: my 100th Promo Card. Not a single one missed. Gotta collect ’em all, right?
So, what better way to celebrate than by turning our attention to the bookshelves and expanding our catalogue of Pokémon publications? And oh boy, did we ever! Over 100 new books were catalogued this week, spanning every corner of the Pokémon fandom.
We started with the Handbooks, those trusty Pokédex-in-paper-form companions. I remember having the very first one in 1999 and loved it! We’ve still got more to add, but the progress is feeling good!
Then came the Activity and Sticker Books, Scholastic’s endless supply of publications that just keep coming at Rapidash speeds. Was surprised at how many came out just in the past year.
Of course we started going down the list of novels and comics to catalogue. This is where we made the most progress, but also the section that took the longest, trying to find/recreate the best versions of the covers from over the years of reprints.
And let’s not forget the growing Look and Find collection!
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.
💡 Recommended Read of the Week
Monster Kids: How Pokémon Taught a Generation to Catch Them All
Daniel Dockery
I can still remember Pokémon before it ever came to North America. A few Japanese classmates in my Grade 5 class had just returned from trips to Japan with books full of these strange little creatures. I sat down with a pencil and loose leaf, tracing all the images from the book. With their help, I learned the Japanese names long before I ever heard the English ones. Hitokage. Fushigidane. Zenigame. I still remember them. By the time Pokémon finally arrived here, I was already hooked. Gen 1 took over my life. 5am alarms to catch the anime each morning - closely followed by a 5:30am call to my friends land-line to talk about it (his parents hated that). I collected and traded (and once stole) cards in school. And of course, like most kids my age, called in sick with the “Poké-flu” more than once. I was completely caught up in the fever.
Reading Monster Kids by Daniel Dockery brought all of that back. A nostalgic reminder of those early days but also a smart history of how Pokémon exploded into the biggest multimedia franchise of all time. Dockery traces the story from Satoshi Tajiri’s childhood love of bug catching, to the Game Boy launch, to the way word-of-mouth and secrets like Mew fueled the craze. He explores how the anime made Pikachu a household name. How the trading card game took over schoolyards. The rise (and fall) of its would-be imitators. And how the series continued to grow with Gold and Silver before reinventing itself again with things like Pokémon GO. I’ve read a few “chapters” about Pokémon in other books, but having over 200 pages dedicated to the story was incredibly fascinating.
Dockery shows that Pokémon was never just a set of games or a cartoon, but a cultural event that connected kids everywhere, from link cables at recess to packed movie theaters on birthdays. He explains how the franchise tapped into something universal, inspiring curiosity, collecting, friendship, and competition. And throughout every page I was constantly being transported back to a moment in time that I had long forgotten.
Whether you grew up in the thick of Pokémania or are just curious about how a Game Boy game about catching monsters became a global phenomenon, this book is a wonderful and entertaining read. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
You can find details about Monster Kids here.
💾 From the Archives
Each week, I’ll dive deep into the shelves of The Video Game Library to spotlight a hidden gem or forgotten series — with the hope of surprising you with something new, unexpected, or long overlooked. This week, I wanted to share…
…a series of novellas bundled alongside a popular Sega magazine.
What if Pokémon were treated like real animals, complete with organs, skeletons, and scientific names? That’s the question biologist and illustrator Christopher Stoll set out to answer with Pokénatomy: An Unofficial Guide and its follow-up, Pokénatomy II. An imaginative explorations of Pokémon through the lens of modern biology, mixing fan creativity with zoology and anatomy in a way that’s both fascinating and unsettling.
The first volume began as a viral online project, with Stoll posting anatomical diagrams of the original 150 Pokémon. A 2016 Kickstarter campaign quickly turned those illustrations into a 300+ page book, complete with full-color cross-sections, detailed descriptions, and even Latin-style species names. Pikachu, for example, becomes Mus fulgur, the “lightning mouse,” with oversized electrical organs that explain its constant hunger and fatigue. Other entries are far darker: Voltorb is imagined as a horrific fusion of a Pokémon and a malfunctioning Poké Ball, while Gastly is reinterpreted as a colony of bacteria that coalesce into a gas-like form after a host dies.
The second volume arrived in 2023 and expanded the scope to Generation II’s Johto Pokémon. It follows the same approach but adds broader scientific primers on DNA, cellular biology, and adaptation to help contextualize the creatures’ strange traits. Some entries include Wobbuffet, whose true skull and brain are hidden in its tail, and Smeargle, whose paint-producing tail secretion comes from specialized anal glands. Like the first book, it stretches Pokémon canon just enough to make their powers feel biologically plausible.
These books were never officially licensed or sold in stores. Instead, they were self-published in limited runs, distributed through Kickstarter, Etsy, and the author’s personal website. Backers could choose between digital editions, standard hardcovers, or deluxe leatherbound copies with foil-stamped covers that mimic the look of a vintage field guide. Because of their limited print runs, they’ve become prized collectibles among fans who managed to snag a copy.
Together, Pokénatomy and Pokénatomy II offer a unique way to revisit the world of Pokémon, reimagining it as a fully fleshed-out ecosystem governed by natural laws. For fans who grew up with the series and now want a more mature, thought-provoking take, these books provide exactly that: a fascinating, sometimes grim, but always imaginative look at the power that’s inside.
📚 Want to check out some of these titles? We’ve catalogued them all right here at The Video Game Library.
✨ Community Interview
Daniel Dockery has been writing about pop culture since his high school days, with work appearing in outlets like Vulture, Inverse, Crunchyroll, and GamesRadar+. A lifelong fan of Pokémon and the wider monster-collecting genre, he set out to capture what it felt like to grow up inside the whirlwind of Pokémania.
That passion became Monster Kids. In our conversation, we talk about the origins of the book, the interviews that surprised him most, the challenges of capturing such a massive franchise, and why Pokémon remains so enduring decades later.
Hope you enjoy!
For those who might not know you yet, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background as a writer? How did you find your way into video game literature?
I’ve always loved writing since I was a kid and I actually began writing about pop culture in high school. My work then, as it was always destined to be, was quite terrible, but over the years, I’d like to think that I’ve gotten at least a little better. Now I write for sites like Vulture, Inverse, Crunchyroll and GamesRadar+, among others.
As for video game literature, it honestly came as a result of my fascination with Pokémon and the wider “monster collecting” genre. I’d wanted to write a book about it for years, and I’m so thankful that I was granted the opportunity.
So let’s talk about that book, “Monster Kids”. Pokémon has been written about before, but your approach feels deeply relatable and culturally insightful.
There had been other books written about Pokémon, but none quite like the approach I wanted to take. That’s basically the reason - The kind of book I want to see in the world about Pokémon doesn’t exist yet and I might as well be the one to write it!
Previous books about Pokemon were written at what seemed like a distance by people who were adults during the “Pokemania” era. They weren’t necessarily “in the trenches,” so to speak. I wanted my tone to relay that I’d grown up during that time period, one that was kind of a whirlwind, and now I was going to take fans that were my age and younger back to see how it was shaped.
The scope was crucial because I didn’t want the book to become instantly dated. An early version of the manuscript attempted to cover the entire history of the franchise and some important advice I got was that doing that would instantly make the book feel antiquated. Publishing moves slow and in the time between me turning in the book and the book being physically published, there would likely be an entire new generation of Pokemon games released. So I opted to bookend it with “Gotta catch ‘em all!” That provided a neat narrative goal - start around the time when the slogan was created and end when it started to disappear for various (some of which were legal) reasons.
You interviewed dozens of people for Monster Kids. Was there a particular interview or anecdote that surprised you or changed the way you saw the franchise?
One thing about Pokémon’s original US licensor, 4Kids, is that they’re usually identified from their anime dubs. But that’s only part of their efforts - they were essentially trying to install Pokémon into every facet of a kid’s life, from the anime to the merchandise to the sheer pop culture impact. So getting to interview Norman Grossfeld, who sort of steered the ship in that regard, was very interesting. He had a lot of business savvy and I loved to ask about his specific reasons for pushing for a certain direction with the brand. Again, that time period felt like a whirlwind to live through, and someone like Grossfeld was able to break it down in a way that made the chaos feel a bit more organized.
The most fun interviews, though, were the people involved with the Pokémon LIVE musical. The hoops they had to jump through and the ridiculous things they had to endure in getting Pokémon on stage - It ended up becoming my favorite section of the book.
Writing about something as iconic as Pokémon must come with pressure. Were there any challenges or roadblocks you hit during the writing or publishing process?
My biggest challenge came before I even started writing, as the book that became Monster Kids was actually my third take on the same subject. The first try was the aforementioned Pokémon history, but that fell apart. Then I tried to do an “encyclopedia” of monster collecting franchises, but I realized about 50 pages in that I was basically writing a more opinionated Wikipedia search. So finding the story was tough. That’s something that my agent at the time pressed for - What’s the story? What is the arc? It had to be more than “Here’s, umm, Pokémon and Digimon, I guess!”
There’s a beautiful thread in the book about how Pokémon captured the imagination of a generation. What do you think makes Pokémon so uniquely enduring compared to other franchises?
I could go on for an entire book about this…I think Pokémon is unique in the sense of power it gave kids. Especially in the early years. Have a Game Boy and a friend with a Game Boy? Trade a few times and you can have the best collection in the world. And you’d speak to that friend in a language that seemed totally alien to your parents. Usually gigantic pieces of pop culture are passed down through generations but Pokémon, for the kids that first experienced it, was totally new. It made those kids the masters of that domain. They were the very best, like no one ever was, because really, no one ever had been! You felt like a Pikachu pioneer.
In Monster Kids, you also explore the ripple effect Pokémon had on other shows and games. Do you think the "monster-catching" genre could have thrived without Pokémon’s influence?
Yes, but not quite in the same way. One thing about Pokémon, especially in the US, is that it never really had “rival” franchises. There was no Pokémon vs Digimon outside of some networks jockeying for higher ratings on programming blocks. Instead, it was like a bunch of animals that all drank at the same watering hole, and Pokémon helped ensure that it was a VERY big watering hole. Without Pokémon, I imagine that something like Digimon would’ve done okay, but being in Pokémon’s “shadow” actually allowed Digimon to become bigger in America than it would’ve been otherwise. Seeing Pokémon’s success allowed other companies to place their bets on their own monster catching fare.
What do you hope readers, especially those who grew up with Pokémon, take away from Monster Kids?
At the least, just a nice little nostalgia trip. I hope, though, that people don’t just take away a greater appreciation for the Pokémon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, etc., but a wider interest in the way that kids communicate and play and compete. That was a big thing I wanted to get across - Pokémon became a kind of language, one that opened up some people in a way that they’d never experienced before. Was it a huge franchising bonanza? Yes. But there were some profound benefits for some wannabe Pokémon trainers as well.
Do you have a favourite Generation?
My favorite game is Pokémon Crystal (Though HeartGold/SoulSilver are masterpieces), but the era I adore most is Generation 1. Red, Blue, Green and Yellow remain extremely interesting to me as both video game artifacts, snapshots of millennial pop culture, and touchstones in the evolution of not only video games but anime and other mediums as well.
You’ve written about pop culture in many forms, how does writing about video games compare to other media you’ve covered?
It’s not super different. You’re still writing about art, creation, technique and commerce. I think it’s mostly the specific terms that I worried about. There were so many pieces of technology to reference and I didn’t want to come off like I hadn’t studied up. Writing about video games can easily make one look clueless if they haven’t done their due diligence (Every month, we get at least one article that goes viral for stuff like “Mario, which originated on the PlayStation 64, gets married to Zelda at the end of Super Metroid: A Link To The Past.”)
Are there any other games, franchises, or gaming subcultures you'd love to explore in book form one day?
I have some ideas floating around but none that I’ve put any truly serious thought into. I’d love to do something about Mortal Kombat against the backdrop of the video game/pop culture violence moral panic that was occurring at the time of its explosion. That’s the one that sticks out the most to me. We’ll see what happens!
What other projects are you currently working on, or hoping to dive into next? More books on the horizon?
Along with writing pretty frequently for various sites online, my next book I Am The Night: Batman and the Animated Revolution comes out next year for St. Martin’s Press! It’s about the creation and impact of Batman: The Animated Series and it also dives into the cartoon renaissance of the early ‘90s. I’m very proud of it. After that? We’ll see!
And finally, where’s the best place for people to find you online, follow your work, or grab a copy of Monster Kids?
Best place to find me online is probably Bluesky as that’s where I post all my work anyway. As for Monster Kids, look it up on Amazon or wherever you like to get your books. It’s (hopefully) there!
Thanks for your time, Daniel!
🙏 And THANK YOU for Reading
That’s a wrap for this week’s deep dive into all things video game literature. 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)
Just realized I never subscribed to you on here! Fixed that and looking forward to more 🙌
Some of those books really take me back