Artbook Recommendations

A forum to talk about stuff that doesn't fit in other categories, such as general Kojima games discussion, other games, etc.
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Mr. F
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Favorite Game: MGS2
Kojima games owned: -Metal Gear Solid
-Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty/Substance
-Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater/Subsistence
-Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
-Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
-Metal Gear AC!D
-Snatcher
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-Zone of the Enders: The Fist of Mars
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Artbook Recommendations

Post by Mr. F »

Okay, so I absolutely loooooooove artbooks for video games. I salivate when I see concept sketches and the like. I need more.

This is my (pathetic) collection so far:
-Final Fantasy Japan
-Resident Evil Archives
-Biohazard Ad Arts

The Art of MGS and MGS2 are musts, that I know, but what other game series have artbooks with exceptional quality and quantity?

Also, can anyone point me in the direction of sites that specialize in game art?

Thanks in advance. :D
Marc
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Post by Marc »

If you like Policenauts, I highly recommend the Policenauts Visual Databook. It can be found either on eBay or Yahoo Japan Auctions.
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Henry Spencer
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Favorite Game: Shenmue I, MGS, Snatcher, Zelda: Ocarina Of Time.
Kojima games owned: Metal Gear (NES)
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Metal Gear Solid (PSX)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (PS2)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (PS2)
Policenauts (Saturn/PSX/3DO)
Snatcher (PC Engine/Mega CD)
Zone Of The Enders (PS2)
Zone Of The Enders 2: Special Edition (PS2)
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Post by Henry Spencer »

^

Yup, highly recommended from me too, it's amazing. Shenmue also has some AMAZING artwork as well, I must say, and you can find them here:

Shenmue: http://shenmue.planets.gamespy.com/shen ... work.shtml

Shenmue 2: http://shenmue.planets.gamespy.com/shen ... work.shtml
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Artemio
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Post by Artemio »

I'd recommend the Okami art book, though I understand it might be a bit outside of what you are looking for.

The Shadow of the colossus guide also has some great sketches, but they are not as many as you might want. I would also recommend the Lunar books, but they might be even harder to find than the other ones suggested.

Finally, if you are into mech, get the ZOE premium pack if possible, the art book in there and the ones from Anubis are great as well.

http://junkerhq.net/MiscScans/zoeppimages.html (under premium pack book scans)
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87th
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Favorite Game: MetalGear 2: Solid Snake
Kojima games owned: METALGEAR SERIES
MetalGear (MSX2) [European]
MetalGear (NES) [European]
MetalGear (Famicom) [Japanese]
MetalGear 2: Solid Snake (MSX2) [Japanese]
Snake's Revenge (NES) [European]
MetalGear Solid (PlayStation) [European]
MetalGear Solid: Premium Pack (PlayStation) [European]
MetalGear Solid: Integral (PlayStation) [Japanese]
MetalGear: Ghost Babel (Gameboy Color) [European]
MetalGear: Ghost Babel (Gameboy Color) [European]
MetalGear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty (PlayStation 2) [European]
MetalGear Solid 2: Substance (PlayStation 2) [Japanese]
MetalGear Solid 2: Substance + The Document of MGS2 (PlayStation 2) [European]
MetalGear Solid 2: Substance (Xbox) [European]
MetalGear Solid 2: Substance (PC) [European]
MetalGear AC!D (PSP) [European]
MetalGear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PlayStation 2) [European]
MetalGear Solid 3: Snake Eater - Premium Pack (PlayStation 2) [Japanese]
MetalGear AC!D2 (PSP) [European]
MetalGear Solid 3: Subsistence - 1st Edition (PlayStation 2) [Japanese]
MetalGear Solid 3: Subsistence - Promo copy (PlayStation 2) [European]
MetalGear Solid 3: Subsistence - 1st Edition (PlayStation 2) [European]
MetalGear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel (PSP) [European]
MetalGear Solid: Portable Ops (PSP) [American]
MetalGear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - Limited Edition (+ Bonus Disc, Soundtrack and 6" Old Snake Action Figure) [European]

SNATCHER SERIES
Snatcher (Mega CD) [European]
Snatcher (Saturn) [Japanese]

POLICENAUTS SERIES
Policenauts Pilot Disk (3DO) [Japanese]
Policenauts (3DO) [Japanese]
Policenauts (PlayStation) [Japanese]
Policenauts (Saturn) [Japanese]
Policenauts (Saturn) [Japanese]

ZONE OF THE ENDERS SERIES
Zone Of the Enders (PlayStation 2) [European]
Zone Of the Enders: The Second Runner - Special Edition (PlayStation 2) [European]

BOKTAI SERIES
boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hand! (Gameboy Advance) [European]
boktai 2: Solar Boy Django (Gameboy Advance) [European]

OTHER SERIES
Penguin Adventure (MSX) [European]
Kabushiki Baibai Trainer Kabutore (DS) [Japanese]

KOJIMA-RELATED GAMES
Konami Krazy Racers (Gameboy Advance) [European]
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) [American]
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Post by 87th »

I wish they'd bring out a Sonic 2 art-book. Not because the art was all that amazing (although I get nostalgic over it), but the concept art was often very interesting, and sometimes even quite funny! (Click here for some examples)

I'd also like to see Konami publishing the MGS2 ideas book. If you haven't heard of it, I'll explain. During the development of MGS2, every member of KCEJ was asked to draw, write or otherwise express a new idea for MGS2 in a book. This happened very regularly (I can't remember whether it was every day or every week). A lot of the new ideas for MGS2 came from the book. You can see some examples of drawings from the book on the Making Of DVD that came with the PAL version of MGS2:SOL.
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Ghaleon
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Post by Ghaleon »

The art book covering the SCD Lunars is godlike. It's been a treasure of mine for years. I always liked the original art much better than the remakes, as well.

It has a ton of neat stuff -- some of the most interesting is art for the first "Lunar II" version, which was to feature older versions of the Lunar 1 chars.
BIG BOSS
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