A few months ago, I reviewed Bitmap Books’ I’m Too Young To Die. This was the first book from the publisher I reviewed after buying and enjoying a few over the years. If you’ve read any of my fighting game reviews, you know how much I like controllers. In fact, I’m the kind of person who likes having individual controllers for each device, despite the fact that many controllers I own can work on multiple platforms. When I was offered a review copy of Bitmap Books’ upcoming (at the time) celebration of video game controllers in Trigger Happy, I felt like it would be a perfect fit for not just my coffee table, but also the site, with how many controllers we’ve seen across Nintendo platforms over the decades.
With Bitmap Books’ releases, there’s more than just the content of the book as usual. Trigger Happy shipped with a lovely holiday-themed wrap and was packed to withstand even a car running over it, I think. Since I didn’t look into it too much, I was surprised to find a nice set of controller lithograph photos when I opened the book for the first time. I will probably get these framed, but these were a mere sampler for what Trigger Happy includes.
Trigger Happy is a collection of Christian Wenk’s photography of his controllers that serves as a lovely coffee table book, but one that includes some history and useful information about the controllers featured. Before going further, this isn’t a book you want to buy if you care about the detailed bits and bobs within controllers like the analog stick modules, switches, or even the kind of lever used. It is more of a high-quality collection of stunning photographs that pushed me to look into improving how I take my own review photos compiled by console, year, and generally serving as a brilliant slice of one of my favorite aspects of gaming today.
Just having good photos isn’t enough, and I think the elegant iconography used for the ports and controller features might be my favorite aspect of the entire book. That might be an exaggeration, but I adore good iconography, and the work here is incredible.
My first console was a PlayStation, but I played on my cousin’s NES back in the day. In the last decade or so, I’ve been slowly learning about other controllers and arcade sticks thanks to the likes of 8BitDo, Victrix, Razer, and Haute42. I expected Trigger Happy to just feature the popular controllers, but Christian’s collection even includes a plethora of limited editions and variants like the Final Fantasy XVI DualSense controller I bought in Singapore and other recent colorful controllers like the Forza Horizon 5 Xbox controller.
I like being surprised and wasn’t sure how Trigger Happy would organize the controllers. After a short and visual timeline of major controller revisions, the actual photography begins with controllers split up into four categories: Select and Start, Push the Button, Wireless Wonderland, and New Game Plus. Each category features not just Christian Wenk’s photographs, but high-quality screenshots with some commentary for a specific controller and game when needed. This commentary includes the likes of James Rolfe (Angry Video Game Nerd) and the legendary John Romero.
Among those four categories, with a focus on different aspects of controllers or how specific additions served as turning points, I was very happy to see a few unlicensed or third-party controllers highlighted. Discovering what was popular during a specific era in another country is always good, and it even reminded me of some of the bootleg controllers you found around the PlayStation’s launch.
I mentioned the iconography, and it isn’t just in the intro section, but is used to indicate what features each controller had. This is something I appreciate a lot because it is good to have a quick visual reference while skimming through, looking for say Namco’s Jogcon. While Trigger Happy is very much a book you’re buying for the photography and history of controllers, the actual commentary and accompanying history for each one is a lot more than just dressing. The text isn’t just tacked on to make this more than a photo book, but a well-researched work from someone who clearly cares about controllers.
Trigger Happy, like other Bitmap Books, has impeccable print quality and binding. It isn’t lost on me that a book featuring great photographs also happens to photograph well. I usually don’t care for dust jackets since they always end up getting worn out or damaged, but I very much appreciate the hardcover here that even lasted a fall (not my fault, thankfully) in my living room. Bitmap Books purchases come with an included PDF, and while that is good to have for the more text-focused titles, this is one you absolutely want to own physically.
One aspect of Trigger Happy that I’d love to have seen expanded upon, or maybe this will be saved for a sequel book, is arcade controllers. The photos used for the NES Advantage and Neo Geo Arcade Stick not only make me wish I could buy those right now, but also made me a bit sad to not see half the book focus on how amazing arcade controllers have been over the years. This seems out of scope given the focus of this book, but I will keep hoping to see an arcade controller and stick-focused book from Bitmap Books in the future.
Speaking of wanting to buy controllers, Trigger Happy almost got me to order a used Slime Controller from Japan, but I already own too many controllers, as you can see in my own photographs for this review here. Maybe when I review another controller book, I’ll have some more interesting controllers of my own to show off.
While I’m Too Young To Die was more of a learning experience, Trigger Happy is literally a celebration of the many years of amazing and not-so-amazing controllers across platforms, generations, and more. It is a lavish package that has me hoping we see another volume cover more of the arcade controllers and fight sticks. If you love controllers, you should honestly already have this on your coffee table. It is essential and gorgeous through and through.
Review copy provided by Bitmap Books
