Udon Comics published the english version of the SF artbook recently. I'm interested in it, but the reviews on Amazon say it is very similiar to a magazine or strategy guide in terms of its construcion.

There are hardcover versions available, but they're limited to 2 different covers with 500 copies of each and cost over $90. I was hoping for a hardcover version with high quality paper, but I'm not going to spend $100 on it.

I know its a long shot, but is the Japanese version in English? I've read that that used higher quality materials for the book. Lastly, has anybody actually read through this thing? Its supposed to have all kinds of info and trivia on the SF games along with all the art that used to litter the strategy guides.

Yes, I have both the Japanese street version and the English version that Udon released (both copies I have are softcover, however the Jap version does use high quality photo paper like you mentioned, and because of that, looks 2x as thick, when it's not. The US version is on standard paper like a strategy guide and thats probaby why those Amazon people compared it to one, it looks like one from the outside, but its not, its alot more detailed.

The Jap version is all in Japanese and can't be read if you dont understand Japanese. Both are almost the same, except the Jap version includes info on how to get a Chunli credit card from the Bank of Japan and also has info on some hentai-ish female SF action figures in their "toys" trivia section. The US version on the other hand removes those few items but gives you tons more info on American toys, including new Udon art busts, SF arcade stick, controllers, and also shows all the US SF box art for all the games that was used over the years, as well as a second interview with some of the original SF 2 artists from 2004's Comic-con when they visited the US (the Jap version has none of this). As far as the main info in the book, there's some typos, but its mostly intact, if you're a hardcore SF fan and know everything about SF, you wont learn anything new here, but it just lays out the entire history of all the games VERY well, with dates, backround info, and tons of stuff. It also has sections with pictures of EVERY move of EVERY character in EVERY game, and EVERY ending for EVERY character from EVERY game, its really quite complete.

They do talk about some neat trivia that I had never heard about, like how SF Alpha 3 was coded by one person (it seems as far as I understand, that they took most of the existing code structure from the other Alphas that had already been made and cut and paste alot or somesuch), they also talk about how Akiman was told to make a sequel to SF 1 back in 1989 but somehow misunderstood and made Final Fight instead LOL.

It's a great book, if you want quality paper, spend 90 bucks or get a Jap version that you can't read, if you want good paper, just get the Udon released American version for like 30 :D Either way, its worth it!

While on the subject, can anybody suggest some good art books that are game related? I've seen the Capcom Design Works ones, but thats about it. I'd be more interested in books covering a company rather than a single game or series, but I'm just looking for some good stuff. Didn't Konami put out a Castlevania:SotN book as a preorder bonus in Japan?

Please mention some good sites to order from!