Phoenix:
The Fall & Rise of Videogames
3rd Edition

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Anyone who is a true classic gamer should know who Leonard Herman is.  I had the pleasure of meeting Leonard Herman about eighteen months ago.  At that time, we talked a lot about his videogame collecting, his love of Monopoly, and his writing.  His writing has been available in a number of magazines, including Classic Gamer Magazine, Electronic Gaming Monthly, Pocket Games, and the Official Playstation Magazine.  He has a strong presence on the web as well, with a number of published articles at Gamespot.

But the REAL reason that you should know Leonard Herman is for two books he has published: ABC to the VCS, and Phoenix: The Fall and Rise of Videogames. 

ABC to the VCS is a comprehensive directory of the game cartridges available for the Atari VCS, or 2600.

This review takes a look at Phoenix: The Fall and Rise of Videogames.  Phoenix could be considered as the Bible of video game history.  The book covers virtually every videogame accomplishment -- from Willy Higinbotham's oscilloscope game up through the new Nintendo GameCube.

The first edition of this book was released in 1994.  An updated second edition was released in 1997.  This review covers the new third edition, which was released in the summer of 2001.

The book starts with a "forward" by Ralph Baer, the creator of the "Brown Box," which was later released by Magnavox as the Odyssey.  I'll have to admit that I was expecting something special from Mr. Baer that would have described the entire evolution of video games.  Instead, Mr. Baer writes almost two pages of text that come off more as a pontification for his inspirations for the "Brown Box."  Granted, Mr. Baer's contributions to the industry, and a discussion of the inspiration behind the "Brown Box" has a place in the book, but it shouldn't be in the "forward."  I'm sure that Mr. Baer is a brilliant man, and he has an impressive list of accomplishments. I'd certainly like to meet him, and talk to him.  However, the vision he presents in the "forward" is entirely too narrow.  I would have preferred to see a "traditional" introduction of the book.

The next section of the book documents some of the major changes in this edition of the book.  They include new chapters on the years 1997- 2000, new photos, "Focus-On" sections, cover gallery of major US magazines and books, and a larger 8.5 x 11 format.  Leonard Herman also credits a number of people for their contributions to the book.

I think the larger format is a great idea.  The second edition of Phoenix had a smaller page size, which made the text small, and sometimes difficult to read.  The larger page size in this edition allows for a larger font size, which makes this book very easy on the eyes.

Leonard Herman

Now, we can move into the "meat" of the book -- the history.  Phoenix documents the complete history of videogames.  While the majority of the book focuses on the home videogame consoles, coverage has been provided for major milestones in coin-op gaming, hand-held gaming, and computer gaming.  Other milestones, such as Billy Mitchell's "perfect" game of Pac-Man are included as well.

Pinball is also mentioned several times in this book, but all of the pinball information generally has some kind of tie-in with videogames, such as Atari's pinball division in the late 70's, and Williams "Pinball 2000" hybrid videogame/pinball machines.

Every videogame console is documented in this book.  When I say documented, I mean it.  The history of each console is here from cradle to grave.  Leonard Herman has done a great job of assembling the facts for each videogame console.  For example, the Atari 2600 is covered starting from early development up until it was taken off of the market.  Coverage includes add-on equipment, stories of what went on at Atari during that time, and even some information on how Atari licensed titles such as Space Invaders & Pac-Man for use on their consoles.

Even the smaller, or little-known systems are here, such as the Astrocade, or the Arcadia, and even the Coleco Adam.  All of the games are here.

There is even listings and information for videogame equipment that was not available in the US, but could be found elsewhere.  One such device was the Satellaview, which was available in Japan.  It would attach to a Nintendo Super Famicom (SNES) unit, and allow you to download games off of a satellite.

I'd have to say that my favorite parts of the book cover the systems that didn't make it to the market.  If you have ever wanted to read about systems like the Sega Neptune, or the Atari Cosmos, they are documented here.

In the back of the book, there are several Appendix sections that detail classic gaming web links, a cover gallery for various books and magazines that cover gaming.  There is also a section covering computers, such as the Atari 8-bit line, TI99-4a, Commodore, etc.

Conclusion:

Phoenix is a great book.  Every classic gamer should have a copy.  $24.95 is a reasonable price for this book, and with the holidays just around the corner, it would make a great gift for the classic gamer.  

You have to keep in mind that this book is a BASIC history of video games.  There is pertinent information on the games, the people, the companies, etc.  The information isn't extremely detailed, but what you need to know has been provided.  Phoenix could be considered as a Joe Friday "Just the facts, ma'am" type of book, and that suits me just fine.  Leonard Herman could have gone way overboard with facts, details, names, places, etc., and we could have ended up with something that resembles the size of a New York City phonebook.  The book doesn't have color photos or fancy artwork.  Instead, Leonard kept things clean and simple.  I think that adds to the "charm" of the book.

And while I am praising the author for keeping things simple, let me praise him for something else.  One thing that annoys me is when I read books that have a bias.  I mainly see this in the reviews found in a lot of gaming magazines.  Leonard Herman has done a wonderful job of sticking with the facts, and keeping his opinions out of the book.

The book is presented in chronological order.  Each chapter takes one year, and documents what was going on at that time.  As I said above, the information isn't incredibly detailed, but everything you would need to know has been presented.

There are plenty of photos showing the consoles, and unreleased equipment.  All of the photos are in black & white, and they certainly add to the value of this book.

There isn't much about this book that I found to be negative.  Previous editions of the book have had some serious spelling problems.  While they have been greatly reduced in this edition, there are some occasional grammatical errors.  Also, as I said above, I expected something more from the forward that Ralph Baer wrote.

For more information, to view an
excerpt of the book, or to order a
copy of Phoenix, visit the Rolenta Press web site