Tecmo’s Rygar appears in a new 154-page fan book

We’re spoiled for great retro game books these days, yet those often fall into two groups. There are comprehensive catalogues which can be broken down according to console and publisher. Anything tied to big brands is on the other side. Every now and then, you stumble onto something so narrow and obscure that there’s no financial reason for it to exist — just a writer who loves a subject so much they can’t help themselves.

That’s Rygar: A Complete History of Rygar: The Legend of Argus, a 154-page deep dive into Tecmo’s classic shield-swinging platformer series. The book recently came out in a new extended edition with a poster, trading card, and stickers — and a deluxe version of the extended edition, which adds a wax pack of trading cards.

Photo by Matt Leone/Polygon

It’s the kind of thing you might expect from a book about Mario or Samus, but not so much from one about a semi-forgotten shirtless hero carrying, as foreword author Kurt Kalata calls it, “a gigantic spiked yo-yo.” And it’s fantastic.

Inside the book, you’ll find a rundown of Rygar history, press clippings, port breakdowns, interviews, fan art, sheet music, puzzles, and breakouts on things like action figures and marketing. It’s all bite-sized, with dozens of small sections rather than a longer narrative — which matches the layout, designed to look like an old game magazine, and the small, paperback format.

Legend of Argus is available now from writer Brian Riggsbee’s website.