A few days ago, we posted our review of PC Engine: The Box Art Collection, a stunning compilation of artwork from the heyday of NEC’s overlooked console. But that’s just another chapter in the ongoing story of Bitmap Books, a publisher devoted to covering all things old-school.

The company has put together a number of stunning printed works over the years, devoted to different platforms and genres. Whether it was covering the spectrum of the Famicom or talking about games in the Japanese role-playing genre, there’s literally something for everyone to read.

Sam Dyer serves as the company’s creative director, bringing his own classic gaming savvy and design into the picture with each new book they release. He joins us now to discuss how it got off the ground, and where we go from here!

GH: First off, how did Bitmap Books get started? What motivated you guys to hit the ground running?

Sam: I’ve always been into gaming, ever since getting a Commodore 64 in 1989, age 8. This love of gaming took me onto the Commodore Amiga, then onto the Sony PlayStation in the mid-90’s. I then took a break from gaming for a few years while I went to art college, and embarked on a career as a graphic designer. Fast-forward to 2012, and I started to get nostalgic for retro gaming, something that I think most people do when they get to a certain age! This was then something I got massively into, initially appearing and working on a podcast called Retro Asylum. I loved the fact that there were like-minded people out there that cared as much about the games as I did. Also around this time, I was feeling slightly uninspired with my career as a designer, and was not feeling creatively inspired by the type of clients I was working for. I’d seen another publisher produce a book on a retro system, and thought ‘hey, maybe I could do that!’. As it was my first love, it was always going to be the Commodore 64 that I wanted to cover. It just started as something fun to do at the evenings and weekends, playing around with screenshots and layouts. When I started to have something I was happy with, I decided to look into crowdfunding the book on Kickstarter, something popular at the time for similar creative projects. Commodore 64: a visual compendium was met with massive enthusiasm from the ‘scene’ and was fully-funded with nearly 1,000 backers. This came as a huge surprise, and spurred me on to then follow this up with a book on the Commodore Amiga. This was again wildly popular, and at that point I knew that I had something special in my hands. I didn’t intentionally set out to creative a publishing company, it was just me expressing my creativity. Once we released our first book, the whole thing snowballed and kept growing. I’m very blessed to work on Bitmap Books and design books about games. It’s honestly like my dream job. Fast-forward 10 years, and we now have 26 publish books. I have pretty much do Bitmap full-time, so it has also enabled me to make a career change.

GH: Why retro gaming? Do you believe it’s an avenue that needs more coverage, especially with today’s landscape?

Sam: Purely because this is a passion of mine. It wasn’t chosen for commercial reasons. It was a fusion of my two biggest passions: design and gaming.

GH: What sort of legal hurdles do you run into when it comes to publishing a classic gaming book? Do you ever need to worry about licensing or something along those lines?

Sam: One of the first things we did was to undertake proper professional legal advice, so we could understand what we could, and couldn’t do.

GH: What would you say is the best-selling book you’ve had thus far? And why do you believe it’s so popular?

Sam: A Guide to Japanese Role-Playing Games has been our highest, and fasted selling book. It’s hard to put your finger on why … I guess it helped that such a book didn’t exist, so we were first to market. The design, writing and presentation of the book also contributed towards its popularity. Stephanie Sybydlo’s cover art is totally epic!

GH: Let’s talk about your latest books. First off, the PC Engine Box Art Collection. How did the idea come about, and what do you believe the biggest fascination is with classic box art?

Sam: Our box art series started back in 2015 with Super Famicom: The Box Art Collection. I’ve always had a love for Japanese game packaging, so the thought of a book full of these covers, was something I really wanted to do. We then produced Game Boy: The Box Art Collection which also included some Western covers. A PC Engine equivalent had been on my radar for a few years, but it wasn’t until I was introduced to collector Lee Thacker, that the project became a reality. Lee kindly agreed to our photographer coming into his home and photographing all his games. Kurt Kalata was then hired to write about each game, in his own excellent style. It just all came together nicely. The cherry on top was working with Wil Overton again on the cover art. WOW!

GH: Do you believe there’s a big contrast between overseas box art and U.S. box art? (We could use the Sega Saturn game Astal as an example.)

Sam: Japanese game boxes tended to focus more on the ‘art’ and include less clutter such as logos, text and branding. This simplified approach arguably creates a more aesthetically pleasing design.

GH: There’s also an amazing book you produce surrounding Japanese Role-Playing Games. How much research did this one take to put together?

Sam: Bitmap Books created the design for the book, but the research and writing was purely down to Kurt Kalata and his team of collaborators. It was a huge undertaking, that took well over a year to pull together.

GH: One notable detail about your books are their absolute high quality. Even the slipcovers are something else. How do you go about designing these so that they’re not only highly readable, but long lasting?

Sam: We put a lot of effort into ensuring that our books look and feel premium. This is the one thing that we never compromise. As a designer, I get a real buzz out of experimenting with new techniques such as glow in the dark inks, electronic slipcases and little design features such as custom created pixel art and illustrations.

GH: Are there some gaming subjects that would be too difficult to cover in a book?

Sam: No subject is too difficult, but some are near-impossible due to the lack of licensing opportunities.

GH: Finally, what’s next for Bitmap Books? Or can you say just yet?

Sam: 2023 is proving to be a big one. We have multiple reprints coming throughout the rest of the year, plus new titles on horror video games and one about video game box artists. More soon!

Learn more about PC Engine: The Box Art Collection and other Bitmap Books releases here!