By Dustin Wilcox
Having penned multiple fantasy and video game-related works, author David L. Croddock will soon release Arcade Perfect: How Pac-Man, Mortal Kombat, and Other Coin-Op Classics Invaded the Living Room. The title explores the tales of developers who brought arcade pieces like Pong, Missile Command, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Street Fighter II and numerous others to consoles, handhelds and PCs.
Written in a narrative style, Arcade Perfect includes first-hand interviews from a wide array of programmers chronicling their experiences on various port jobs. Each chapter highlights one or more versions of a game, with platforms ranging from the ZX Spectrum to Arcade1Up. Some featured individuals include Ed Logg and Tod Frye, as well as developers from Sculptured Software, Probe Entertainment and Digital Eclipse.
The upcoming book, as Craddock puts it, “…exists as much to tell the stories of just a few of those unsung heroes as it does to point out why ports of games on Super Nintendo tend to look fatter than the same port on Genesis.” This mantra lends itself to a collection that is both highly technical and deeply personal as it details the trials of cramming powerful hardware into lesser consumer cases.
Arcade Perfect will be published in paperback and Kindle editions on September 13, coinciding with the 26th anniversary of Acclaim’s infamous “Mortal Monday.”