The Video Game Library Newsletter - Vol. #029

A nostalgia-packed Thanksgiving week, with a sides of GameStudies, GameDev and a wonderful new Mario storybook for the young ones in your lives.

Welcome back to The Video Game Library Newsletter!

First off, a very Happy Thanksgiving to all our U.S. readers! I hope the long weekend brought you great food, good company, and maybe even a bit of well-earned downtime. And for everyone who braved the Black Friday chaos, here’s hoping you scored some excellent book deals, whether you were treating yourself or getting a head start on holiday gifting.

Most publishers were clearly focused on Black Friday promotions this week, but a hearty number of new releases still managed to land right alongside the sales. Dark Horse continues to hold a big share of the spotlight this fall, but there’s also a strong showing from indie authors, GameStudies publishers, and several standout international editions that definitely deserve attention.

And while Canada didn’t quite get the luxury of a four-day weekend, I still managed to make a solid dent in a backlog of GameDev books on the site. Thanks to some incredible volunteer work, too, we pushed through a lot of cataloguing this week and made some real progress behind the scenes.

As always, if you’ve spotted a release we missed or want to see these roundups evolve, jump into the comments or swing by the Discord. Your insights help shape how we share the world of video game books each week.

So, for the final day of relaxation before returning to the Monday grind, let’s explore everything that hit the shelves.

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📰 News & Highlights

• Kicking off the week is a major milestone release from Dark Horse: Heroes of Might and Magic: 30th Anniversary Retrospective. This long-awaited celebration of the iconic strategy series finally hit shelves, offering fans a richly illustrated deep dive into three decades of world-building, character art, and game design. It’s a hefty, lovingly assembled tribute that documents the franchise’s origins, evolution, and lasting legacy.

  

• Dark Horse keeps the momentum going with Rosalina’s Storybook, created in partnership with Nintendo. This charming volume adapts Rosalina’s lore, originally tucked inside Super Mario Galaxy, into a beautifully designed children’s book format with new artwork and a narrative that highlights her celestial journey.

  

• Continuing to dominate the headlines, Dark Horse also dropped Tomb Raider Colossal Collection Vol. 2 this past week. This second installment gathers more classic, hard-to-find Tomb Raider comics in one massive hardcover, restoring Lara Croft’s early 2000s adventures with sleek remastering. It’s an essential archival piece for fans of the franchise and collectors of video game comics.

  

• This week also brought the official release of Jupiter Hadley’s The Best Life Adventure Games. The book highlights uplifting, wholesome, and cozy adventure titles, curated with Hadley’s enthusiasm for the genre. Having had the chance to preview it early, I covered it in detail in a dedicated spotlight, and it’s wonderful to finally see it out in the wild.

  

• I also wanted to take a moment to congratulate Emi Giaquinta on the release of his new book, A Book To Call Home. It’s a musical deep dive of Final Fantasy IX, exploring its soundtrack, its emotional moments, and how its melodies tell the story we all love.

  

• DK Publishing returned this week with another gorgeous art volume: The Art of Warhammer Video Games. This book showcases hundreds of pieces of concept art, character renders, and environment studies drawn from across the Warhammer video game universe. DK’s reputation for spectacular, oversized art books is on full display here.

  

• Rob Gallagher’s Artgames After GamerGate arrived this week in paperback form.
  The book examines the rise of artgames within the tense cultural climate shaped by GamerGate and the shifting relationship between digital art, activism, and online communities.

  

• Mark Liu’s Machine Learning, Animated also received its paperback release.
  Combining technical clarity with playful visuals, Liu demystifies complex machine-learning concepts using approachable illustrations and analogies. It’s a great cross-disciplinary title that has a gaming focus on Breakout, Space Invaders, Seaquest and Beam Rider.

  

• The newest issue of Retro Gamer, commemorating 20 years of the Xbox 360, is on newsstands. Feeling old yet? This feature spotlights the console’s defining games, hardware innovations, and cultural impact. As a bonus, it comes bundled with a 2026 Super Mario Bros. calendar celebrating the series’ 40-year history.

  

• EDGE Magazine followed suit with Issue #418 (Jan. 2026), sporting an eye-catching VHS-tape aesthetic. Covered in worn-out retro stickers and faux scuffs, the design leans heavily into nostalgia while promising to deliver EDGE’s usual mix of rigorous reviews, deep dives, and developer insights.

  

• Panini Manga brought Dark Souls: Redemption Vol. 2 to Portuguese readers this week. This continuation of the manga adaptation expands the bleak, atmospheric storytelling of the Dark Souls universe with striking black-and-white artwork. The Portuguese edition ensures even more fans can follow the journey through Lordran’s shadowy world.

  

• From France, 404 Editions released Minecraft: L’Encyclopédie des Monstres.
  The book serves as a definitive illustrated guide to the many creatures that inhabit the world of Minecraft, from Creepers to Wardens, complete with stats, habitat info, and survival tips.

  

• This week, GTM announced their Spanish-market release of Sea of Stars: Throes of the Watchmaker – The Concept Art of Bryce Kho. This edition brings Kho’s spectacular visual world-building to a wider international audience, emphasizing the artistic process behind the indie RPG’s acclaimed aesthetic.

  

• In Italy, the next entry in the localized Videogiochi Leggendari series is Elite: E i Giochi per i Primi Home Computer. This volume explores the creation and impact of Elite, one of the foundational space-trading sims, and its influence on early home-computer gaming.

  

• Italian readers also received Retro Gamer. Tekken (Vol. 3) from Sprea Editori.
  Focusing entirely on the long-running Tekken franchise, the issue includes franchise history, character retrospectives, and behind-the-scenes development insights.

  

• Rounding out the week in Japan, the Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake Official Guide Book (ドラゴンクエストI&II 公式ガイドブック【HD-2D版】) was released. This official companion is packed with maps, battle strategies, character data, and developer commentary tailored specifically to the new HD-2D remake.

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!

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📚 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.

My focus this week was on Game Development resources. I spent a good chunk of time digging into the Apress catalogue, particularly the titles aimed at bridging traditional programming topics with game creation. It turned out to be a deep and surprisingly varied well of material, covering everything from game engines to AI techniques to project workflows.

Some of the Apress books catalogued this week

Volunteer Tommy continued his amazing work on cataloguing the various Splatoon manga series, this week tackling the 16-volume 2017–2023 run. He’s been steadily building a really strong foundation for the manga section, and this particular series was no small task to get through.

All 16 volumes of the VIZ Media Splatoon manga

Meanwhile, volunteer Geneviève got through cataloguing all 9 volumes of the Collection Hors-Série from Jeux Vidéo Magazine in France. Simple covers, but would absolutely love to have this set on our shelves!

The ever-growing collection of Jeux Vidéo’s “Collection Hors-Serie”

On top of all the cataloguing work, I managed to grow my own collection with a batch of standout additions. A few of these have been on my wishlist for a while, and others were pleasant surprises that popped up at the right moment. Bringing them in now means they can be properly scanned, logged, and eventually folded into the broader archive. Always a nice way to close out a busy week.

Some amazing donations and recommendations that made their way to the shelves this week.

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.

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💡 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 month:

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🙏 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)