The Video Game Library Newsletter - Vol. #042
Writing this took me away from Pokémon Pokopia...so please read it.
Welcome back to The Video Game Library Newsletter!
Thanks for tuning in this week! If you’re anything like me, the allure of Pokémon Pokopia is likely weighing heavily on you right now. And here we are, Monday evening, scrambling to get this newsletter finalized while my Poké-villagers are hard at work building homes.
February was a pretty insane month, and we easily have more than enough books on the horizon to keep us busy for the rest of the year. And since we’re coming up on our 1-year anniversary of this send-out, I might look at a recap of some of my favourites in the coming issues.
In the meantime lots to talk about again this week. French readers have a dozen new books to explore, Dark Horse has a trio of headlines that are sure to please, and there’s some great gaming magazines hitting shelves all across the globe.
So, let’s dive in!
📰 News & Highlights
To kick things off, one of the most popular pickups I’ve seen in the community this week is Jeremy Parish’s The History of Metroidvania - Decade One: 1980–1990. Rather than jumping straight to the genre’s re-emerging modern canon, this first volume traces the form through the 1980s and the 8-bit era, following how exploratory action design took shape before “metroidvania” was a term anyone was using.
Dark Horse hit us with a double-whammy this week, not only publishing the aforementioned Metroidvania book, but also releasing Castlevania: Nocturne - The Art of the Animated Series. A full-color hardcover art book containing hundreds of pieces of never-before-seen concept artwork, production design, and stunning storyboards featuring characters, environments, monsters, and more, all from the first two seasons of the lauded Netflix horror series!
And if that wasn’t enough, Dark Horse (again) has also announced that The Art of Octopath Traveler: 2020-2023, coming in July! This comes after the 2023 Japanese release of the book, capturing the beautiful vistas of Orsterra from Champions of the Continent and Octopath Traveler II.
I had to triple check, as I had sworn this book had already released, but alas, it’s just been in pre-order purgatory for the past while. Elden Ring: Official Art Book Volume III: Shadow of the Erdtree released this past week, from Udon Entertainment. The 3rd book in the series that collects all the fantastic artwork from the DLC Expansion across 320 pages.
White Owl have been giving us lots of great stuff lately, and I’m particularly excited for their latest official announcement - Beyond Fear: Inside Action Horror Games. Author Nick Akerman peels back the skin of genre to reveal emotional stories and the decisions that can make or break the people behind them.
These “Cover Reveals” from Square Enix always make me laugh. 99% of the time, they are identical to the Japanese counterparts…but I suppose it’s a good excuse to promote the books. Like The Art of Final Fantasy XVI: Echoes of the Rising Tide, which is scheduled to go on sale in May!
Big thanks to The Artbook Collector for this latest tip-off. Looks like Trigger, the animation studio behind Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is publishing The Art of Edgerunners, with the book hitting pre-orders this week. Head over to the great writeup here to learn more.
For Minecraft fans, the official novels from Mojang Studios continues their releases, with the latest, Minecraft: Adventure School, releasing earlier this week. In this next blockbuster Minecraft novel, a young adventurer must test their skills as a hero while navigating new challenges, friendships, and rivalries.
IDW’s Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds one-shot arrived as a prequel tie-in to Sega’s new racer, with Iasmin Omar Ata writing and Ryan Jampole handling the main cover and interior art. The setup sends Sonic and company racing through dimensions with Dodon Pa’s travel rings.
Panini Manga’s English edition of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – Vol. 1 is out now, bringing the game’s story into manga form. Written and illustrated by Mangado and Sideranch, the first paperback runs 192 pages and adapts Cal Kestis’s post-Order 66 story from the 2019 Respawn game
Bendy and the Silver Screams is a new 160-page original graphic novel from Scholastic, written by Dave Scheidt and illustrated by Alex Arizmendi. That makes it a fresh standalone Bendy story rather than a direct tie-in, and Scholastic is shelving it for readers 12 and up.
And wrapping up the comic cavalcade for the week, Cult of the Lamb: Last Sacrament Special #1 just released on digital shelves from Oni Press. This double-sized, 48-page special is the epic culmination of Cult of the Lamb’s groundbreaking comics expansion from esteemed creators Alex Paknadel and Troy Little.
Celia Hodent’s The Gamer’s Brain returned in a second edition from CRC Press this week, expanding the 2017 game-UX staple into a 330-page revision. Hodent has also said the new edition adds two chapters, covering ethics and new technologies, which makes this more than a cosmetic reissue.
Books on “parenting” are becoming a prominent sub-genre on our site, with lots of great literature covering all perspectives. Well, this week, author Andrew Fishman reached out to share his new book Parenting A Gamer. Set to release this April, it’s a practical, research-based guide helping parents understand gaming, set healthy limits, and support kids without constant conflict.
Now in paperback, Ben Egliston’s Cryptogaming: Blockchain and the Financialization of Videogames remains a slim but pointed study at 87 pages. Published in Palgrave Macmillan’s Games in Context line, it examines how blockchain game developers and venture capital firms framed promises around player income, ownership, and new value chains.
Insight Editions’ Video Games in 100 Objects takes the museum-catalog approach, compressing fifty years of game history into 176 pages of hardware, peripherals, memorabilia, and other artifacts. Very impressed with the roster of contributors, with Joe Funk joined by Dan Hsu, Dean Takahashi, John Davison, Van Burnham, and Josh Harmon.
Orders are now up for Nintendo Force #82 March/April. This issue is all about Capcom, with games like Resident Evil: Requiem, Monster Hunter Stories: Twisted Reflection, Pragmata, The Disney Afternoon Collection and Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection getting featured.
UK gaming magazine, 110% Gaming, has been nearing its 150th issue milestone, and this week, it got one step closer with 110% Gaming Magazine #143. This issue comes complete with a 75-question gamer quiz, a section on favourite Minecraft hacks, and an exciting LEGO Fortnite board game. And for all you artists, out there, try your hand a drawing your favourite video game character for a chance to win £250.
French Pokémon readers got a whole wave of amazing Pokémon reads this week. Starting with the Color Your Pokédex books, with separate paperback volumes for Galar, Sinnoh, Paldea, Unova, Kanto, Kalos, Johto, Hoenn, and Alola. The Hachette Jeunesse line includes each Pokémon’s type, weaknesses, category, and evolutionary path.
Also newly available in French is Pokémon: Bienvenue à bord!, Scholastic’s 32-page Level 2 early reader by Christy Webster. It is aimed at ages 6 to 8, so this one sits firmly in the beginner-reader lane rather than manga or fiction for older fans.
Continuing the onslaught of French Pokémon books and magazines, Panini Kids’ Booster Mag! #7 just hit store shelves. While not exclusively video games, this special edition magazine focuses heavily on the world of Pokémon, and even comes packed with some trading cards.
And finally from Panini Kids, Aventure Pokémon #5 released this week. In this issue, Rhod and Fuecoco (Chochodile) discover the joys of winter. But the climate of Glaseado Mountain (Mount Nappé) can be unpredictable. And our friends will find themselves facing the harsh elements… On the video game front, get all the information you need about Pokémon Legends: ZA and discover, for the TCG, a themed deck featuring Mega Charizard X-ex. Finally, test your Pokémon knowledge with some games. Happy reading, young Trainer!
Mana Books has brought us Warcraft: Le Puits de Soleil Vol. 1 – La Chasse au Dragon, reviving the first volume of Richard A. Knaak and Jae-Hwan Kim’s Sunwell trilogy for French audiences. The original manga-style series debuted through Tokyopop in the mid-2000s, so this is very much a return of an older Blizzard tie-in rather than a brand-new comic.
And speaking of “Soleil”…Soleil Manga has been busy with video game releases this past week! First, French readers can now enjoy Animal crossing - new horizons : Mon île de rêve Tome 4. Translated from the Animal Crossing: The Bestest Island manga series, this is the 4th entry in a 5-volume run that has been getting an early French treatment before hitting other languages. Always great to see!
We also have a new Kirby manga in the form of Kirby Fantasy: Gloutonnerie à Dream Land Tome 12. The series is a celebration of the pink puffball’s 25th anniversary, and is straight from the talents of Ibuki Takeuchi. Great to see this continue for French fans!
Italy has been a little quieter lately, but this week they got a new FNAF book with Five Nights at Freddy’s. Gli incubi del Fazbear #11. This translates all three bone-chilling novellas from the 2021 English release “Prankster”.
Heading over to Japan, first up we got Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Official Setting & Concept Art Collection, a 256-page paperback credited to the Famitsu Book Editorial Department and published by Kadokawa/Famitsu. The book pulls together released illustrations, character materials, early design drafts, environment art, equipment designs, and story reference material for Marvelous’s latest Rune Factory.
ドラゴンクエストVII Reimagined 公式ガイドブック followed close behind the Dragon Quest game itself as Square Enix’s official guidebook for the remake. It even include developer interviews, and features Yuji Horii himself.
For The Battle Cats fans, ネコテン 1 collects the first volume of PONOS’s comic into a 128-page paperback from Poplar Publishing. Even before the book release, ネコテン had already shown up as a recognizable side branch of the brand in merchandise and promotional material, so seeing it graduate to a collected volume makes sense.
The Battle Cats also picked up a picture book with The Monkey and the Crab Battle – The Battle Cats Original Picture Book, published in Japan by Poplar. Written by Haritora and illustrated by Tagawa Hideki, the 32-page paperback reworks the folktale “Sarukani Gassen” into an original Battle Cats story and is billed as the franchise’s first picture book.
This week’s Famitsu is the March 19, 2026 issue, No. 1938, a 144-page issue from Kadokawa. Its lead feature is a pre-release package on Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twin Dragons of Fate that rounds up the game’s setting, characters, monsters, battle systems, new mechanics like the “dragon energy gauge,” and a developer interview; the same issue also includes a feature on mountain-climbing games and a launch special on Pokémon Pokopia.
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 cataloguing challenges, there’s always something new as we dig deeper into this ever-expanding archive of game-related literature.
I know I sing my praises for the volunteer team every week, but this week in particular was notably impressive. Nearly 100 more books catalogued on the site.
To kick things off, let’s start with Justin, who was an absolute machine this week, getting all of the outstanding Sierra Hint Books catalogued. Some amazing point+click adventure games from yesteryear that are definitely pulling at the ol’ nostalgia strings. Anything here resonate with you?
Tommy continued to get more CRC Press and Routledge books catalogued this week, ensuring the GameStudies and GameDev continue to be the 2 largest collections on the site. Also special shoutout to getting Beyond Fear up just in time for this newsletter…thanks Tommy!
Alex just joined the team, and has already made a mark with the cataloguing this week. He’s been working through some Devil May Cry manga and novels that we were sorely missing from the site. Giving me flashbacks to Easter 2022 when I picked up DMC1 for the PS2… Such a great game!!
I said at the beginning of the year that I really wanted to focus on Prima Strategy Guides, since the backlog is so huge. Well, week-after-week, Fran has been driving us towards our goal. Some special love to “D” this week with Devil May Cry, Dark Age of Camelot and Dead or Alive.
When I saw these French Pokémon books, I thought…oh no…9 books to catalogue ahead of the newsletter. Then I remembered…we have a French-speaking Pokémon pro on our team! Geneviève working miracles again to get these all catalogued in the nick of time.
Another brand new member to our team, Fallon, dove in head-first with the Persona 4 Dengeki comic run. In just 2 days, we’ve seen 7 more manga fully catalogued in English and Japanese. I really gotta get around to trying our P4. Loved Persona 3 and Persona 5.
And final callout to Jamie, who since last week has moved away from the Persona books and is now working on Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai collection. 3 down!
Reminder, that I’m still looking for 2 more volunteers who can commit time and help us catalogue each and every week! If that’s you, reach out!
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 past spotlights:
BOOK SPOTLIGHT - REDO FROM START (USA & JAPAN)
Andrea Pachetti (2025); Microzeit Publishing; Non-Fiction, Game History
"I had originally intended to start with the CRACKER books, but Paul Norman’s eyes….they drew me in."
BOOK SPOTLIGHT - A Brief Legal History of the Video Game (Une Brève Histoire Juridique du Jeu Video)
Geoffray Brunaux (2025); Mare & Martin; Non-Fiction, Game History
"...sets out to recount the history of the video game industry, not through sales numbers or nostalgic releases, but through the courtroom battles that helped define one of the world’s most influential entertainment sectors."
BOOK SPOTLIGHT - The Best Life Adventure Games
Jupiter Hadley (2025); Pen & Sword Books - White Owl; Non-Fiction
"The Best Life Adventure Games isn't just a catalogue. It's a love letter to the art of slow, thoughtful play."
🙏 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)
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Some of this I did know about, and some I did not. It's nice to be informed, as always. The books on here look interesting.