Retro fans will likely remember Howard "Gamemaster" Phillips. Having worked for Nintendo of America between 1981-1991, he became their spokesperson and was widely known for his vast knowledge of NES games. Now, he's back with a new book, launching Gamemaster Classified: An Insider's Guide to Nintendo's Coming of Age on Kickstarter.
Not to be confused with GamesMaster's TV revival, this "tell-all" book promises to reveal Howard's insights from his time at Nintendo, including behind-the-scenes details about the Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd. lawsuit over Donkey Kong. Ending on March 11th, it's already been funded, hitting just under $33,000 at the time of writing.
This isn't Phillips first effort on Kickstarter, either. Back in 2012, he'd previously worked on "Gamemaster Howard's Know-It-All App", though this failed to meet the funding goal.
Within this project, Phillips is also working with Matthew Taranto, a webcomic artist best known for creating "Brawl In The Family" and, more recently, Switch game Tadpole Treble Encore. Within this new book, he'll be offering his perspective on the NES era, also handling the included comic breaks, page layout and artwork.
You can back it from £14/$19 for a PDF copy and a £29/$39 for a hardcover book, with additional tiers also include signed copies. It only has one stretch goal - which has been reached at $30,000 - adding a "Top 30" section covering Phillips' and Taranto's favourite NES games.
Will you be backing this new book? Let us know in the comments.
[source gonintendo.com, via kickstarter.com]
Comments 23
This piqued my interest, but regrettably they're not shipping physical hardcover books worldwide. It's limited to USA, Canada, and Mexico.
Also, not to be confused with the British GamesMaster magazine.
I do like reading me some Miyamoto and Yamauchi drama but would be more interested in a SNES/N64/GameCube era book. Anyone know of any juicy Nintendo books about this time period or even just the 90s?
What a pity it doesn’t ship to Europe! Would have loved to back this.
I was considering it, but the PDF is a bit cost-prohibitive for me. Maybe eventually when it drops in price on Google Play or something.
Nice! He’s always got some cool stories
Hey, I remember seeing this guy in Nintendo Power! Love the throwback to the magazine's first issue in the cover art.
I think most fans in their early 30's and older will enjoy this.
@boxoctosis fair assessment, he is an interesting guy...
Finally we can find out the truth about goldeneye.
Damn, it isn't coming to europe
Honestly, he could easily tell the story of working for Nintendo from 1981-1991 in a YouTube video.
That's some "high quality" art!
Yall remember brawl in the family, Man that was the *****.
@Snatcher I regret never getting a Dededoll.
Thanks for the link, NL! I know a lot of you are located in Europe and it was a very difficult decision to not ship worldwide, but I've had a devil of a time in the past with shipping overseas. Various intl postal services have lost dozens and dozens of my packages, leading to unhappy customers and me footing the bill to send out more books (which in addition to replacing the books themselves can cost as much as $50 postage per package)! It's been frustrating...
@TeamRocket47 I wish there was a way I could reorder, like, 200 of the things rather than the minimum of 1000!
@MatthewTaranto 1,000?! Geez, I didn't know the minimum was that high! Well, if you ever figure out a way to get less, you can have my money!
@MatthewTaranto I hate to seem like a stalker, but would you know how to submit comics to Nintendo Force? I wrote some I'd like to send in, but don't know how.
@TeamRocket47, I don't believe we take comic submissions, but try contacting NF's editor in chief Lucas M. Thomas on Twitter.
Crowdfunding for a book? Seriously?
This sounds like the kind of thing the Nintendo Ninjas shut down very very very quickly. Either it's all marketing sizzle and the contents are bland and corporate-approved, or this thing seems bound for legal trouble.
Careful Howard, you know Marcus Lindblom (the EarthBound localizer) wanted to write a book too but NoA Legal silenced him pretty quick.
@NEStalgia Exactly.
That would be very interesting!
@MatthewTaranto oh snap, I am just happy you are actively drawing again. BitF was my favorite webcomic (still is actually)! I missed out on the hardcover edition, but I did buy tadpole treble twice in support! Thank you for all the laughs!
@Ryu_Niiyama Thank you for such a nice message! It's always nice to hear from people who've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of my stuff.
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