It’s official, I’ve written my first coffee table book about gaming. Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side-Scrolling Beat ’em Ups is a 450-page hardback book that follows the classic genre from its birth in 1984 with Irem’s Kung-Fu Master, right through the glory days of the 1990s and ending with Streets of Rage 4 in 2020.

I started writing Go Straight in October 2019, after mulling the idea over for a while. The announcement of Streets of Rage 4 felt like the right time to get started, as its reveal marked something of a grand resurgence for the side-scrolling genre – something we’re thankfully still enjoying well into 2021.

The book will go through over 200 games in the genre in chronological order. Each write-up features a blend of making-of facts, gameplay impressions, tips and tricks, cheats, trivia and much more. As this is a Bitmap Books release, you can also expect a ton of lavish pixel art pages and colourful double spreads that celebrate the artistry of the genre.

Go Straight will launch February 2022 via Bitmap Books. You can sign up to their mailing list to be alerted as soon as pre-orders open.

-Dave