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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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