Boss Fight Books - Nightmare Mode: A Boss Fight Books Anthology

Readers!

As a teenager, I grew addicted to the compilation CDs that were always available to impulse buy at the register of my local music store: Punk-O-Rama. Give Em the Boot. Mailorder is Fun! Fat Music for Fat People. Youll Never Eat Fast Food Again. Plea for Peace. Hey Brother... Can You Spare Some Ska?

These compilations were a win-win. Independent music labels got to show off the talents of their artists, including the smaller bands that hadnt taken off yet. Fans were treated to new b-sides by beloved bands, or new versions of old hits, and the compilations always sold for much cheaper than albums.

Now that I run an indie music label for books (technically called a publishing company), Ive been scheming up a way to highlight our own b-sides and rarities. Boss Fights authors have done so much great writing about (and around) the topics of their books that never made it into the books themselves. Wouldnt it be cool to do our own late 90s punk compilation?

Here youll find essays that were cut from the original books alongside standalone essays in which Boss Fight authors return to the game or franchise they wrote about. If youve read their book, heres a little more quality writing on that topic. If you havent and you like what theyre up to, a whole book awaits.

Speedy Shovelry: Shovel Knight Speedrunners

David L. Craddock, author of Shovel Knight

Davids book, based on interviews with the lead developers at Yacht Club Games, was not hurting for interesting details from Shovel Knight s development. (A benefit of working on a book about a more recent game is that the creators still remember a lot.) One of the pieces we could not fit in the book was this chapter on speedrunning: a window into how game developers now consider speedrunnersand even collaborate with themin the making and patching of a game.

Darkness, Rage, and the Power of Waking: Self and Survival in Kingdom Hearts III

Alexa Ray Corriea, author of Kingdom Hearts II

Alexa Ray wrote her book on Kingdom Hearts II knowing that the much-delayed third main series game was coming, but could only guess what it would contain. When KH3 was finally released, her readers hounded her for an update: What did she think of the latest release? And how did KH3 affect her feelings on the rest of the sprawling franchise? This essay is her answer, presented here for the first time.

How Princess Peachs Story Draws on 2000 Years of Women in Peril

Alyse Knorr, author of Super Mario Bros. 3

When Alyse turned in her kitchen sink first draft of her SMB3 book, it was around 80k words: more than twice as long as the final version. While Mike and I helped pare away at some of what was in that original draft, Alyse did most of the heavy lifting for us by taking out a lot of material that was important to the Mario series but less specific to SMB3 . She later turned one of those sections into this meditation on the history of the damsel trope in both gaming and our wider culture.

Meet Tom Keegan, the Mo-Cap Director for Battlefront II and Wolfenstein

Alex Kane, author of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Alex Kane s KotOR book offers an appreciation of process that includes story, art design, VO, and more. For this interview, we get to fast forward closer to the present day and see a more contemporary Star Wars game employ motion capture technology that the KotOR team, working in the early 00s, could only dream about.

The Fans Who Wont Let Mega Man Die

Salvatore Pane, author of Mega Man 3

Sals book focuses on Mega Man 3 but touches on the entirety of the Mega Man series, so this article makes for a terrific natural extension of the project: Watching fans pick up the slack when Capcom dropped the ball on continuing the series. Even now after the so-so release of MM11 , its great to see a roguelite fan game like 20XX keep the formula fresh.

The Book of the Dead: S.D. Perry and the Novelization of Resident Evil

Philip J Reed, author of Resident Evil

Philips essay is lifted straight from his book. All other chapters in the book address Resident Evil so directly that a chapter about its novelizations felt like too much of an outlier. In its own right, the essay is an absorbing peek behind the curtain at the world of novelizations, and a look back on the book that kickstarted a novelists impressive career.

The Great Zelda Timeline Debate

Gabe Durham, author of Majoras Mask

This piece was written directly for my Majoras Mask book and omitted late in the game. Every writer has to decide just how far theyre willing to stray from a books stated subject to pursue a fascinating tangent. When several early readers got to this part of my book and politely asked, What does all this Zelda timeline stuff have to do with Majora ?, I knew Id pushed too far. Instead, we present it to you now: the short essay that my deleted scene was probably always meant to be.

On Not Playing Super Mario Odyssey

Jon Irwin, author of Super Mario Bros. 2

Jon is as excited about the idea of Mario as he is with the hero himself. He originally wrote this piece for a gaming website upon Odyssey's release but it was never published. If a Mario game exists to hide secrets, as Jon suggests in his book, then theres nothing sweeter to a lifelong Mario fan than reveling in the anticipation of a new Mario game waiting impatiently on your shelf to be played.

An Evening with Uematsu, Final Fantasys Music Man

Chris Kohler, author of Final Fantasy V

When Chris interviewed Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu in 2009, live video game music was still an experiment. Since then, its become an industry. This interview serves as a perfect introduction to a subject our author Sebastian Deken would eventually devote an entire book to: the enduring legacy of Uematsus brilliant soundtracks.

Party Like Its 1999: Japanese Retrofuturism and Chrono Trigger

Michael P. Williams, author of Chrono Trigger

Immediately after writing his Chrono Trigger book, Mike poured many of his unused ideas into this essay about how the game fits into the Japanese tradition of imagining a bright, utopian future driven by friendly technologyand our nostalgia for those colorful visions from a future that has not come to pass.

To be honest, I dont think this book will be as difficult a read as our Doom -inspired title Nightmare Mode suggests: Nightmare Mode is famously the 1993 games highest difficulty setting. A more literal editor would have probably selected Doom s medium difficulty for its title, though Hurt Me Plenty just doesnt sound like the title of a book of video game essays.

Although... you know what? Hurt Me Plenty is a great name for a 90s punk music compilation. Fat Mike, if youre reading this, the idea is yours if you want it.

Yours,

Gabe Durham

Editor, Boss Fight Books