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"ABC to the VCS" by Leonard Herman. 154 pages. Published by
Rolenta Press, 1996. Available through Rolenta Press, rolenta@aol.com.
Leonard Herman's book "Phoenix: The Fall and Rise of Home
Videogames," is well known as arguably the most comprehensive and
informative look into the history of home videogames, from its infancy to
the present. His latest effort, "The ABC to the VCS," is a
directory of software that focuses specifically on the king of the classic
home videogame consoles, the Atari VCS (2600).
Mr. Herman appears to have successfully catalogued and
categorized almost all of the games in the NTSC 2600 library. Each
chapter denotes a theme/genre with a listing of the games that fits the
theme, along with a capsule summary of each title.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Mr. Herman and his
qualifications, he has been involved with the 2600 since the time
of its original release. He wrote several articles for Electronic
Games and Videogaming and Computergaming Illustrated and was in
attendance at the Consumer Electronics Shows and the Toy
Fair during the heyday of the 2600. Currently, Leonard
is involved in Videotopia, the traveling videogame museum exhibit
that just recently kicked off its nationwide tour in Pittsburgh,
PA.
Perhaps the most compelling aspect of his book (in addition to the
fact that virtually every single US-release 2600 game is
summarized), is that reviews of games such as Rush Hour by
CommaVid, Snowplow by Sunrise, and the Impossible
Game by Telesys, have capsule summaries! Yes, he was fortunate
enough to play finished versions of a handful of games that are not known
to be in the hands of ANY collector.
Classic gaming enthusiasts who get warm and fuzzy over the mention of
the Atari VCS 2600 will want to include this book in their home
library. It is the definitive reference source for 2600 lovers.
We urge everyone who shares in this love-affair with the Atari
2600 to support Leonard Herman's efforts and to contact him
about purchasing his book. Congradulations, Leonard, on a job well
done!
"ABC to the VCS" is available from:
Rolenta Press
PO Box 3814
Union, NJ 07083-1891
For additional inquiries about the book, you can contact the the
publisher directly by emailing Rolenta Press at:
rolenta@aol.com.
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