Growing up in the 80s, I – like so many others – had a love affair with my Nintendo. And to this day, the NES remains my console of choice. It just had so many legitimately classic games… and many of them really hold up.

But for me, and I know I’m not alone here, I sunk more time into Mega Man 2 than any other game for that console or since. I played the heck out of that game. I played it through to the end countless times. I beat the eight robot masters in nearly every order.

Everyone has that one game that defines them. That game that hit the sweet spot at their most impressionable age. Mega Man 2 was MY GAME.

In the years since, I’ve remained a huge Mega Man fan. I’ve played many of the games, but I’d be lying if I said I played all of them. I mean, there are DOZENS of them just in the seven core series. In total, including all the weird spinoffs and whatnot? Wikipedia claims there are a whopping 130 games!

But what’s this about “seven core series”? Again, some fans may quibble with what constitutes a “core series,” but here we go.

The original Mega Man series (the one that’s near and dear to my heart) ran for 8 games across the NES, Super Nintendo, and original PlayStation (and Sega Saturn, apparently). Those games were released from 1987 through 1996. In 2008, Mega Man 9 came out for Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360. It was a smash hit, and two more installments came out on current-gen consoles for a total of 11 games.

(There were also 5 Game Boy games featuring the original Mega Man.)

Then Mega Man X (an entirely different robot) blasted through the SNES, PlayStation, and PS2 for 8 games from 1993 through 2004.

Mega Man Legends was a quick and forgotten series for PlayStation that broke the mold and had a few mediocre games in the late 90s.

If you had a Game Boy Advance, you might be familiar with the Mega Man Battle Network series of 6 games and Mega Man Zero, which had 4 games.

Over on the Nintendo DS, there was Mega Man ZX and Star Force, which had 5 games combined.

And there you have it: seven core series that ran for multiple titles. That’s a lotta Mega Man.

And if you haven’t been paying attention, UDON Entertainment and Capcom have been putting out glorious English editions of the “official complete works” books for each series.

What are they? Glad you asked. They’re gorgeous hardcover art books that chronicle the conceptualization, production, design, marketing, and merchandising of the games. They’re pure celebrations of Mega Man, in each of his incarnations.

Each book includes official artwork from the series (core games plus related spinoffs), along with character designs, concept sketches, location artwork, key visuals, creator interviews, tribute art, and more.

Currently available are four titles for your Mega Man library: Mega Man, Mega Man X, Mega Man Zero, and Mega Man Battle Network. The newest release, Mega Man Star Force: Official Complete Works, is still slated to be released this month. And based on the release order (which was chronological), it doesn’t look good for books based on the short-lived Legends and ZX series. Alas.

Even if you’re less familiar with a particular series, the books are still fascinating reading and browsing. I’ll admit I’ve never played a Mega Man Zero game, and my knowledge of Battle Network ends with a few episodes of the Mega Man NT Warrior anime (which ran for an astonishing 209 episodes!!).

But flipping through these books makes me think crazy thoughts. It makes me want to sit down and play through every game of each series. My brain tells me that’s a fool’s errand; it would take me the rest of my life. (Remember, the Mega Man games are some of the most notoriously difficult games ever made.) Nevertheless, my heart tells me to go for it. Because really, why not?

But even if I never get past the stage select screen on many of these games, I’m beyond thrilled to have the books in my library. No Mega Man fan should be without them, and no one interested in classic game and character design should pass them up. They’re just beautiful and endlessly thrilling (for a Mega Man nerd like me).