N
ostalgiaisnowofficiallybig
business.Fromthelaunchof
innumerable‘mini’consoles,based
onsystemsofyesteryear,totheswellingtide
ofcoffeetablebooksoftenfeaturinglittle
morethanemulatorscreenshotswitha
‘rememberthis,eh,doyou?’vibe,themarketis
beginningtofeelcrowded.
ToshiOmagari’sbooklandsintothiscrowded
market,butwhileit is indeeda coffeetablebook
withemulator-basedscreenshotsofarcade
gamesofyore,it hasa uniqueassetupitssleeve:it
concentratesonthetypographyin eachtitle,rather
thanthegamesthemselves.Thisshouldhardlybe
surprising,givenOmagari’shistoryasa typeface
designerfordesignhouseMonotypeUK.
Notmassivelydissimilarinconceptto
DaveAddey’sTypesetintheFuture,which
investigatedtypographyandtypographical
designinsciencefictionfilmstogreateffect,
ArcadeGameTypographylooksatclassic
titlesthroughthelensoftheiruseoftypefaces.
Indoingso,it distancesitselffrombeingyet
anothercash-grabscreenshotfest.There’salsoa forewordby Kiyonori Muroga, best
knownastheeditor-in-chief of Japanese graphic
designandtypographypublication IDEA Magazine,
anda concludingessayby Omagari himself.
Whileeachgameenjoys a brief summary,
includinglinkstoothertitles either in terms of the
gamesthemselvesorin the typography used, the
bookconcentratesprimarily on showing rather
thantelling.Asa result,you’re unlikely to read it
covertocover,butdipping in and out is enjoyable.
Plus,foranyoneworkingin the field of pixel art, it
couldprovea qualityreference manual divorced
fromthe‘I rememberthat game’ nostalgia-fuelled
tuggingatvintagegamers’ heartstrings.
Forthosewhoseinterest has been piqued,
there’sa decisiontobemade: the standard
paperbackrelease,which is finished to a high
standard,is publishedby Thames & Hudson
andgenerallyavailablefor £19.95 from
amazon.co.ukandother booksellers under
ISBN978-0-500-02174-3. For the collector,
however,ReadOnlyMemory has a hardback
variant,limitedto1,000copies, available on
readonlymemory.vgfor £35 (both prices exc
VAT)withcopiesleftatthe time of writing. The
contentofbothversions is identical – and well
worthpickingup,whichever you choose.CUSTOMISATION / HOBBY TECH
REVIEW
Arcade Game Typography
WhatmakesOmagari’sbookpossibleis that
classicgames,a fewvector-basedtitlesaside,
usedbitmapfonts– typicallyonan8x8-pixel
grid.Omagarihasextractedthesefontsfrom
a rangeofgames– A.D. 2083 toZeroHourin
alphabeticalorder,spreadacrossa generous
272 pages.Hepresentsthemenlargedto
showtexture,andredrawsthemontoa gridto
illustratehowthesurprisinglylimitedpixelcount
makesupthegreaterwhole.
Theresultsarestriking,particularlywhere
a singlecharacteris sizedtofilla page.Some
gamesarerepresentedbya fulldumpofthe
charactersetalone;othersincludea screenshot
toillustratethetypeface’susein-game.Inall
cases,it’sa full-colourfeastfortheeyes– aside
fromearlyblackandwhitetitles,ofcourse.
Thebookis laidoutintoroughchapters,each
ofwhichconcentratesoneithera singletypeface
familyanditsderivatives,ora givenstyleoftype–
SansRegular,BoldandLight,Serif,MICR,Slanted,
CalligraphyandLettering,HorizontalStress,
StencilandDecorative.Thesechaptersarejoined
byshortessays,oneortwopagesinlength,
expoundingona particularstyleorunusual
technique,aswellasanexplanationofthe‘rules’
ofarcadegametypography.Gareth Halfacree is the news reporter at http://www.bit-tech.net, and a keen computer hobbyist who likes to tinker with technology @ghalfacreeA limited edition hardback variant is available from Read Only Memory (ROM)A nostalgia grab with a difference, this book
concentrates on typefaces rather than games