More Than 20 Years Later, Supercade's Sequel Is Finally Here

Covers the years between 1985 and 2001

by Damien McFerran Thu 16th Mar 2023

Books about video gaming are everywhere these days, but back in 2001, they were far less common – and Van Burnham's excellent Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984 was one of the first to truly make a sizeable impact.

Covering the dawn of video game history, this lavish coffee-table tome was packed with imagery and text which effortlessly transported the reader back to the dark, smoky arcades of the '70s and early '80s.

Named one of the Top Ten Books of 2001 by LA Weekly and praised by video game legend Eugene Jarvis, Supercade arguably helped open the door for subsequent publications – but has only just gotten a follow-up, more than 20 years later.

Originally launched on Kickstarter in 2020, Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1985-2001 spans 450 full-colour pages, charting the impact of systems such as SNES, Mega Drive / Genesis, TurboGrafx-16, Amiga, Game Boy, N64, PlayStation and Xbox.

The original plan had been to ship the book in September 2021 so it would be exactly 20 years after the first volume, but a delay meant it is only now reaching the hands of backers – and our copy arrived in the office a few days ago.

It's a combination of photos, screenshots and text, with key systems and titles detailed and described by some notable names – including Nintendo Life contributor Roland Ingram and Boss Fight Books author Jon Irwin.

If you fancy picking up a copy, you can use the links below.

Please note that some external links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.