The A.N.A.L.O.G. Compendium

by A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing

From the editors of A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing magazine, featuring the best Atari 8-bit programs from their first 10 issues.

The Art of Computer Game Design

By Chris Crawford

From the co-founder of the Computer Game Developers Conference and author of several hit games such as Legionnaire, Eastern Front, and Balance of Power.

Atari Lynx Hint Book

Atari's own internal "Bible" of Lynx game info, with a foreword from John Skruch!

Break A Million at Pac-Man

By Zavisca, Ernest, Ph.D. and Gary Beltowski

Republished in hard cover as Win at Pac-Man.

The Complete History of Video Games

By Paul Glancey

From Computer and Video Games magazine. History of video games, as told from a European perspective.

Dreamcast Worlds: a design history

By Zoya Street

A look at SEGA, its Dreamcast, and the thoughts and work which went into the development of three select Dreamcast games: Phantasy Star Online, Skies of Arcadia, and Shenmue. The book is based on a master's thesis, derived from research and interviews with the games' developers and designers as told from their perspectives.

Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 Unported license.

Print and digital copies of this book are available at the author's Web site.

Available for download in both EPUB and MOBI formats. FBReader is recommended for reading the EPUB file format.

How to Beat the Video Games

By Michael Blanchet

Includes basic information and playing strategies for 20 arcade games, from video game wizard and tournament champion Michael Blanchet.

How to Win at E.T., the Video Game

By Consumer Guide

Everything you need to know on how to get the little guy safely back home.  The authors are Scott and Todd Rogers, and the editor was Jim Gorzelany.

How to Win at Home Video Games

By Consumer Guide

Covers 70 games for the Intellivision, Colecovision, Odyssey 2, and especially the Atari VCS. Strategies and tips were provided from several top gamers at the time, including Todd Rogers.

How to Win at Pac-Man

By Consumer Guide

One of many strategy guides for Pac-Man.

How to Win at Video Games: A Complete Guide

By George Sullivan

To emphasize the importance of Pac-Man on classic video games, Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man are each covered in their own chapters. It also covers the Atari 2600 Pac-Man and the Coleco table-top. Each games is described with a B&W illustration (not to scale), a brief description, and sections on the controls, scoring, and strategy & tactics. There is also a chapter on home systems, listing "the five companies that offer home video games" (Atari VCS, Intellivision, Odyssey^2, ActiVision [sic], and Channel F). Another on handheld and table-model games, and finally "Great Dates in Video Games", which includes the Arkie awards up to 1982, and a brief glimpse of the future.

How to Win Video Games

By Consumer Guide

Covers 9 arcade games in depth (Asteroids, Centipede, Defender, Donkey Kong, Omega Race, Pac-Man, Phoenix, Qix, and Tempest), and gives brief summaries for 4 more (Frogger, Missile Command, Ms. Pac-Man, and Turbo). Also mentions 4 up-and-coming games (Eliminator, Hyperball, Mouse Trap, and Stargate).

Mastering Pac-Man

By Ken Uston

All about Pac-Man, with b&w diagrams and 7 patterns. There's also chapters (but no patterns) for Ms. Pac-Man, as well as 2 illegal Pac-Man knockoffs - Puc-One and Mazeman.  There's also chapters for the Pac-Man handhelds by Coleco, Entex, and Tomytronics, and even a chapter (with patterns) for the Atari VCS/2600 version!

The Player's Guide To Atari VCS Home Video Games

By Electronic Games

From the editors of Electronic Games. Arnie Katz wrote the reviews and "Video” Frank Tetro Jr. the playing strategies.  Other EG staffers who helped were Joyce Worley, Ross Chambelain, Bill Heineman, and Henry Cohen.  The book also had help from people at Atari, Activision, and Games by Apollo.

Playing Donkey Kong To Win

By Video Game Books, Inc.

Contents same as any other "how to win at Donkey Kong" book. How else would you play….to lose?

Video Fever: Entertainment? Education? or Addiction?

By Charles Beamer

Psychological & social study on video games and the effects on the kids who play them.

Video Invaders

By Steve Bloom

Offers a brief history of video games, and talks with some of the people in the industry. It also offers strategies for 14 arcade games, as well as games for several home systems such as the VCS/2600, Intellivision, Odyssey2, and the Astrocade.

The Video Masters' Guide to Centipede

By Ron Dubren

Many illlustrations and great Centipede tricks and patterns! Illustrations are all black and white, and many screenshots are on grid.

The Video Masters' Guide to Defender

By Nick Broomis

Lots of hand-drawn B&W illustrations.

The Video Masters' Guide to Pac-Man

By John Birkner & Jim Sykora

Illustrated.

The Winners' Book of Video Games

By Craig Kubey

Covers dozens of arcade and home, along with chapters on video game-related topics such as etiquette, music, and trivia. The author also enlisted the help of several people in the industry from all the major coin-op and consumer companies.