Lately, it seems that Kickstarter has become host to multiple campaigns focused on coffee table books filled with the images and history of systems past. After its first failed Kickstarter, retro-PC champ Giacomo Vernoni has roared back with another campaign for his Commodore VIC 20 Visual History, which is currently sitting at over $13,000 with a goal of $11,115.
The previous campaign was launched in March 2016, with the new one launching roughly 2 months later. Some may say that perhaps it was too early the first time around, as other active campaigns like the Visual Compendium of the Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom have shown that there is indeed a very new taste for these types of pictorial histories.
Much like the resurgence of physical cartridges, simply put, nostalgia sells. Vernoni’s Commodore VIC 20 compendium promises to deliver the goods with plenty of high-quality pictures of the awesomely aged PC, along with peripherals and cartridge games. Many of us played iconic titles like Sword of Fargoal and Choplifter on these amazing machines, and now it seems that we’ll finally get a book that displays them with respect and reverence.
If this is indeed an omen of things to come, the newer generation of gamers will get an attractively formatted glimpse into the past, and perhaps gain an appreciation for where it all started. With many iconic prints like Nintendo Power’s Final Fantasy Strategy Guide getting rarer, it would appear that we’ll all get some new history books to nerd out over.
Thanks, Giacomo, and welcome back!
