Hi all! Just a quick update on the status of this. I’m getting together the final steps for submitting everything to the publisher. The manuscript has technically been completed for about a month or so, but I’ve spent the past few weeks collecting and organizing images for use in the book (and polishing up some of the text). One major thing I realized during this process is that some of the box covers didn’t have high resolution images available on the internet, so I’ve imported a bunch of them myself in order to scan them. I’m waiting on one more coming in the mail (the Famicom version of Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken) and then everything should be complete.
Here’s the final list of games that will be appearing in the book:
46 Okunen Monogatari
Abarenbou Princess
Asuka 120% Burning Fest
Battlemania Daiginjou
Bishi Bashi Special
Bokosuka Wars
Boku no Natsuyatsumi
Bulk Slash
Captain Rainbow
Chaos Seed
Chippoke Ralph no Daibouken
Choaniki
Dancing Eyes
Days of Memories
Dead of the Brain
Der Langrisser
Despiria
Devil World
Dezeni World
Digan no Maseki
Emerald Dragon
Ever17
Galaxy Fraulein Yuna
Gamera 2000
Ganbare Goemon 4 (SFC)
Garage: Bad Dream Adventure
Gekisha Boy
Geppy X
GERMS: Nerawareta Machi
Gimmick!
Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire
Great Battle
GunParade March
Hanjuku Hero 2
Harmful Park
Holy Umbrella
Hybrid Front
Jagur 5
Jesus
Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru
Kowloon’s Gate
Kuma Uta
Laplace no Ma
Last Armageddon
Linda^3
Live a Live
Love and Destroy
Love Quest
LSD
Madou Monogatari
Majyuuou
Maka Maka
Metal Max 2
Metal Wolf Chaos
Mizzurna Falls
Moon
Muchi Muchi Pork
Mugen no Shinzou II
Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari
Napple Tale
Nazo no Murasamejou
Neko Samurai
Noro to Koku no Koubou Kiri no Mori no Majou
Ore no Ryouri
Ore no Shikabane wo Koete Yuke
Pepsiman
Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken
Princess Crown
Psychic Killer Taroumaru
Pu-li-ru-la
Relics
Sakura Taisen
Sa-Zi-Ri
The Screamer
Segagaga
Segare Ijiri
Sengoku Turb
Slap Happy Rhythm Busters
Soma Bringer
Splatterhouse Wanpaku Graffiti
Square Satellaview Games
Square’s Tom Sawyer
Star Cruiser
Super Galdelic Hour
Suzuki Bakuhatsu
Tengai Makyou The Apocalypse IV
Time Twist
Tokimeki Memorial
Tokyo Nanpa Street
Tokyo Twilight Busters
Trio the Punch
Twin Goddesses
Umihara Kawase
Venus and Braves
War of the Dead
Wonder Project J2
Xanadu
Yoake no Mariko
Yume Penguin Monogatari
Yu-No
Zwei: The Arges Adventure
If you compare it to the list when we started crowdfunding this project, it hasn’t changed significantly, though a handful of titles have been swapped in and out. In a future update, I’ll discuss the titles that didn’t quite make the cut and the reasons why.
Also, the project was originally pitched as giving each game 250 words, with the intended word count being about 25,000 (for 101 games) altogether. I ended up getting a little carried away – the average length for each entry is closer to 350-450, with the total word count being about 42,000. There’s so much interesting stuff to cover!
Now, as to the release date! Unbound has planned this for the holiday market for next year. That means the official release date will be sometime in autumn 2019. Backers are expect to receive their copies in advance, probably in late summer 2019.
I know this is a long time, so what I’ll be doing is taking all of the entries for the book that have already been publicly released (either as part of the campaign or on the website) and putting them in a short ebook to distribute to backers. I think I’ll be continuing the “Japanese Video Game Obscurity” column on the site too. Everything else not currently published on the site will be reserved for the book, but there’s so much more interesting stuff to cover, and might be a good springboard for a potential second volume, if this one ultimately does well enough!
If you’re not a backer yet, then you can still get your name in the book (and an advance copy) by pledging at the Unbound website. This will remain open until the design process begins, after which the pledges will be shut down.
If you have any more questions, please let me know!