Supercade, a visual history of the videogame age 1971-1984 van burnham review by Zube (zube@stat.colostate.edu) Created: Dec 29, 2002 Updated: Mar 22, 2008 http://www.stat.colostate.edu/~zube/supercade.txt If the videogame section of your bookshelf complains that it isn't home to any picture books, you should consider purchasing Supercade. It is expensive ($49.95), hardcover and of serious heft, but the pictures ... ah, the pictures. Where else can one find large screenshots of Thief, Qix and Crazy Climber on heavy, glossy stock? The shots of games, old ads, arcade flyers, cabinets, game systems and the like are nothing short of terrific. The pictures are worth the price of the book (a good thing, too). I feel a certain kinship with Ms. Burnham, as she professes unabashedly her love for Space Ace, a game that is usually and unfairly panned. I'm also most pleased to report that Willy Higinbotham finally receives some long-overdue recognition for his oscilloscope game. Alas, I have some serious problems with Supercade; admittedly, the first one isn't her fault. Consider the title. I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but every time I look at the front cover, I start singing, "It's Saturday Supercade, gather round, we'll get your video friends together ..." Any reminder of those cartoons from long ago brings back searing pain. Next, it was a surprise to me that the author wrote such a comprehensive visual history by herself (her name is the only one on the cover). This must have surprised a lot of people as well, since it just isn't the case. Many of the sections here are written by others: the Atari 2600 section is by Leonard Herman, the Tempest entry is by Steven L. Kent, etc. It is also clear that this is a *visual* history. Most games are given very brief synopses, sometimes only a couple of sentences in a caption. In addition, some of the writing is dreadful. For example: * The Turbo entry sounds like Sega's marketing department. "In this punishing cross-country event you must race your Formula-1 car through city streets, rolling hills, oceanside palisades, twisting country roads, narrow bridges, dark tunnels, and slick icy roads as you pass the other cars and avoid collisions for continued play. Changes in road conditions affect the handling of the car and make it easy to lose control, so be sure to keep a firm grip on the wheel." * The IBM PC entry sounds like Microsoft's marketing department. "But in the fall of 2001, the company [Microsoft] will change the face of videogaming with the introduction of the Xbox, its first home videogame console, which will capitalize on the company's software expertise and advanced technology to usher in the next generation in home videogames." * Huh? "With its themes of superior dance skill, Disco No. 1 was a precursor to modern dance games like Bust-a-Groove and Dance Dance Revolution." [This one is especially bad. Disco No. 1 has almost nothing to do with the Touch Me / Simon-inspired Bust-a-Groove and DDR. In Disco No. 1, the object is to enclose the dancing women with the trail left by your movements. Quantum and Qix are probably its closest relatives.] * Are young children the target audience of this book? "... but when the boss is finally killed, his goons turn into tasty apples. Mr. Do Yum Yum!" However, the worst part of the book is the "videogaming age" part. The book *isn't* subtitled _a visual history of videogames_ for a reason. The pictures of people in arcades or playing a home system are ok, but we are also treated to some inanity: a one-page shot of a mushroom cloud across from the Brookhaven National Labs entry a two-page shot of Spicoli in _Fast Times at Ridgemont High_ along with a Pac-Man quote a two-page image of a model train setup at MIT a two-page shot of five arcade machines through some blur filter a full-page screenshot of Defender obscenely defaced by (oh boy!) a large-type Beastie Boys lyric that mentions Defender I cannot shake the feeling that covering other games (Amidar, Quantum and Blueprint for starters) would have been a much better use of space and dead trees. In addition, I wish the author would let the games speak for themselves. Finally, I must apologize because I lied before. The worst part of the book is really the author's cliqueyness. At times, I feel like I'm reading a high-school yearbook with Ms. Burnham as editor. She seems to want everyone to know just how cool she is and that she can edit the yearbook based on her whims. For example, in the video game history TimeLine (p. 61), we have the following effrontery: "Future videogame fan and author of Supercade Van Burnham is born on June 28 -- coincidentally, on her mother's birthday -- at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina." I also found out that "she can kick [my] ass at galaga" that "Todd Zuniga is funnier than [me]" and that "This book was made possible by: Diet Coke; Puzzle Bobble; double lattes; Mario Party Naked ...." and this pap then goes on for roughly two additional column inches. Interesting in a puerile way? Perhaps. Related to the history of videogames? Only in connection with the existence of the book itself. Extraneous? Most certainly. ** Aside: Todd Zuniga may indeed be funnier than me, but I submit that he isn't very funny. Here are snippits from two of his game reviews from the June 2002 Official U.S. Playstation Magazine: p. 100, for Top Angler: "I'm sorry. I know better than to shoot fish in a barrel. But I'm laughing my bass off picturing a man in a mesh hat with a Dual Shock in his hand. I mean, really, are there tons of people waiting with 'baited' breath to buy the next fishing game?" p. 101, for WTA Tour Tennis: "The overlays, which are the game's only high point, should show where these slow-moving ladies get their hair and nails done instead of how many unforced errors have been committed." ** Finally, there are the requisite errors. We'll get to those someday, but for now, let's just pick on the index. Turbo isn't on page 269, it's on page 271; Dicso No. 1 should be Disco No. 1, etc. These were the first two I looked at, so perhaps I was just lucky, but it does make me feel uneasy about the rest of the index and the written entries as well. Oh, let's find at least one real error since it won't take long. I opened to the Apple II section to find Justin Hall stating that Zork was originally written for the PDP-11. It was actually written for the PDP-10. An Infocom company newsletter called _The New Zork Times_ mentions this in the History of Zork, found here: http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/Articles/NZT/zorkhist.html In summary, I recommend that you buy this book, read the early bits (except the obligatory Ralph Baer I-invented-home-video-games-just-ask-my-patent-lawyer foreward), read some of the bits written by other people but mostly stick to the pictures. If you can get lost in the pictures, it's a wonderful book.