Does anybody remember books based on video games?

[Gapporin]

I was poking around eBay today when I noticed an auction for a Metal Gear novel based on the NES game, and it got my memory jogging. It was published by Scholastic (i.e. school fairs, book clubs, etc.) and I wasn't able to see the author's name. Of course, these were novels in a loose sense of the word, they're only about 80-100 pages long, and contain hints on how to beat the game.

I seem to remember reading a Super Mario Bros. and a Mega Man one before, but I haven't seen any in a long time. I thought it was pretty cool.

[Satan Claus]

- Wingcommander
- Warcraft
- Diablo

[Lady Jaye]

I remember seeing a Little Golden Book starring Pac-Man (the cartoon version).

[Cmosfm]

Pringles had the Choose Your Own Adventure books with Mario....remember those? They used to be all over flea markets, people used to just throw them away by the case load becuase no one wanted them. LOL

[jerkov]

Gapporin, I know exactly what you're talking about. It was the "Worlds of Power" book series made by Scholastic; I remember you could order these through a full color flyer that Scholastic sent out to schools every month or so. I ordered three of them in grade school: Mega Man 2, Castlevania 2, and Wizards and Warriors. CV2 and W & W are labeled as #4 & 5 in the series while MM2 is not numbered at all (it's also a larger size than the other two). I still have all three books, and I believe that these are the only three that I ever got. I wish I would've gotten more, I doubt they're worth anything, but they're pretty cool to have.

[jerkov]

I don't feel like editing my last post, but here's a list that I found at the end of the Wizards and Warriors book of other Worlds of Power books that you could order:

#1: Blaster Master
#2: Metal Gear
#3: Ninja Gaiden
#4: Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest
#5: Wizards & Warriors
#6: Bionic Commando
#7: Infiltrator
#8: Before Shadowgate

Junior Worlds of Power:
Mega Man 2

The author is listed as F.X. Nine for all the books.

I have no idea if they made anymore past Before Shadowgate.....man, I hate to admit it, but I'd really like having the entire series, especially that Before Shadowgate book.

[Spartikcus]

I remember seeing a Wizards and Warriors book with Fabio on the cover, he was all dressed up in Conan the Barbarian attire, not cool.
Oh and I have a Megaman and Ninja Gaiden book still in my collection.

[Crush Crawfish]

I can't imagine how you could possibly turn mega man 2 into a book... What the hell is it like?? I really need one of those!

[jerkov]

From what I remember, it basically describe's Mega Man's various battles with the robot enemies from the game up to his final confrontation with Dr. Wily. The book starts off with Dr. Light telling Mega Man that Dr. Wily has returned. Dr. Light tries to clone Mega Man so that several identical robots can go after Dr. Wily and his helpers, but Dr. Light makes a mistake, which sets up a pretty gay plot twist. I won't divulge it in case you actually want to hunt down a copy of the book and read it for yourself, but I doubt you'd be happy with what they do to Mega Man.

I think there's one on eBay right now actually. Just letting you know that since this was considered a "Junior Worlds of Power" book, it's shorter and even simpler to read than the other books in the series.

[SoulBlazer]

I HAVE all the World of Power Books. :D

My folks bought them for me years ago when I was a kid and they were new. I enjoyed all of them, and think Metal Gear and Castlevania II are the best (I still read them today).

I see them for very cheap, though. I don't think they are worth much.

[jerkov]

SoulBlazer, what's the Before Shadowgate book about? Any good? I'm a huge Shadowgate fan, so I'm naturally curious about what the story is about.

[Gapporin]

After doing some more digging up, I found out through barnesandnoble.com that there's also a "Bases Loaded" book in the series. It's strange, the release date seems to be in-between Infiltrator and Before Shadowgate, maybe it was another Junior book?

It had to be. You can't write anything pithy based on "Bases Loaded". LOL

[shopkins]

I was really interested in the Infiltrator book because I thought there would be a hint in there on how to land the helicopter, something I'd been trying unsucessfully to do for months. It was more than a decade ago, but I remember the hint as being just a coy repetition of the manual instructions. I stuffed the stupid book back on the shelf. I never managed to land the helicopter, but I did guess the four letter password that let me play the last two foot missions.

[jerkov]

Ah, Infiltrator........I will always hate that game. Not only were the helicopter missions impossible, but the foot missions were boring as hell. I was expecting a cool game and I was sorely disappointed. You don't even get any real weapons during the foot missions. Oh well, at least I only spent $2 on it.

Never heard of that Bases Loaded book, was it part of the Worlds of Power series? It really wouldn't fit in very well with the others, since all of the other books are centered around fantasy/action games. I also found a couple of recently completed eBay auctions for the entire series and no Bases Loaded book was included.

[Gapporin]

This page (http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/odd/scans/wop.html) talks about the Worlds Of Power series, and mentions Bases Loaded (actually, Bases Loaded 2) as being a Junior book. However, like the information I found on Barnes And Noble, hard evidence is sketchy.

Would be interesting to see if someone could actually track down a copy of it.

[SoulBlazer]

Well, I always thought it was "Beyond Shadowgate", myself. Oh well. :) It just covered the Shadowgate game -- it was a good book, probaly the third best in the series, but not my favorite.

The books did offer hints on the game, but of course they also made some plot changes as needed and what not. They were around 100 pages, yes, and I see them on Amazon for around $1-5 a book, for most of the titles. As I said, common.

I never heard of the junior ones, though....or that Choose Your Own Adventure Mario book. :o

[calthaer]

The Shadowgate book is actually a prequel of sorts to the Shadowgate game. It takes you right up to the point where you have to get into the castle door, as I remember it.

The books probably aren't worth much because they suck.

What does not suck, however, are the Infocom novels. The Zork Chronicles, The Lost City of Zork, Planetfall, Wishbringer, Enchanter, and I think a few others were all decent novels that I really enjoyed.

Another interesting thing to see are video games being made into comic books. I think we had a thread on that a while back.

[Alex Kidd]

I remember reading Balster Master at my library when I was about 10, and I thought it SUCKED... but then I don't care for the game either.
I bet the ones based on Ninja Gaiden and Castlevania and W&W and shit were good tho.

Alex Kidd

[Lone_Monster]

I don't know if this counts, but my friend has a StarCraft Manga.

[GamecubeFreek]

I have the Wizards and Warriors book. I got it a few years ago at a used book shop. They also had the Blaster Master one and two others that I cant remember. Unfortunately, at the time of my find, I was not too in to video games because I was young and stupid (I think I was 11). Anyhoo, my parents would only buy me one even though they were only 75 cents each, and I randomly chose W and W.

[Jorpho]

You may enjoy http://www.solidsharkey.com/wop1.html .

In my younger days, I too read Wizards & Warriors, Castlevania II, and Blaster Master. (I still have Blaster Master around somewhere.) The whole kiddie-pulled-into-bizarre-fantasy-world motif was getting thoroughly overused, but I did not otherwise find the books to be overly terrible at the time.

[-hellvin-]

I remember those old nintendo books where it would give you options on what to do next while reading and would award you coins and what not depending on what pages you had turned to. I would always get screwed for not having a certain item. No idea what they're called, I'm sure they've been mentioned in the thread. I also had this Zelda book where link went to fight Ganon and stuff. Heh, wonder if I still have those sittin around somewhere.

[Algol]

I bought the Blaster Master book at my school's book fair several years ago for $1.50, believe it or not. I still have it somewhere.

A teacher at the same school also had the Bases Loaded 2 book in her room. I only read the first couple pages.

I remember seeing a Mario choose your own adventure book at my school (noticing a pattern?) over ten years ago. Supposedly, there were fifteen books in the series, but I haven't seen any of them since.

[ubersaurus]

My friend has several of those novels, including the Metal Gear one.

I own a Zelda choose your own adventure, and a few picture books for Super Mario bros, Zelda, SMB 3, and Sonic the Hedgehog.And then you got the old Mario comic, and that rocked.

[Quintracker]

I've got several of the choose your own path mario books, and I think i also have a Doom book.

[AB Positive]

I remember having Ninja Gaiden, Castlevania II, Metal Gear, and Blaster Master as a kid. They were pretty good from what I remember, I'd like to track some down myself and re-read them :D

-AG

[Keir]

There was a whole series of books based on the Bard's Tale series. They started with Castle of Deception, which was meant to be Bard's Tale IV but unfortunately the game was never released.

Castle of Deception
Fortress of Frost and Fire
The Chaos Gate
Prison of Souls
Thunder of the Captains
Wrath of the Princes
Escape from Roksamur
Curse of the Black Heron

[potatobob]

I have two mario books and i remember seeing a Halo novel at the store a while ago. And they use to make sonic, tails, and knuckles comics if they count as books.

[kainemaxwell]

I used to have the Doom novel.

[Jive3D]

I did a book report in 6th grade on the Metal Gear book! I remember I made a mobile as part of my presentation with pics of the Mech and Solid Snake. Ha ha ha, that's funny, that I saw this thread now, I was wondering yesterday what I ever did with that Book.

The cover art for the Metal Gear book had solid snake looking like Michael Biehn (he was in Terminator 1). Ahh memories.

[rbudrick]

Hmm, I remember seeing a thread about this earlier in the week...I know I posted in it too...hmm, can' t find it. Carry on.

-Rob

[rbudrick]

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39770&highlight=blaster+master

Ahh, here it is.

-Rob

[Sanriostar]

I also seem to remember mention of a Star Control (Post SC2, pre SC3) novel somewhere. The reviewer didn't like it all that much.

[abadox1943]

yea infiltrator was impossible. was that game programmed and everything by one guy? i had the bionic commando and blaster master books in that series i think. funny stuff. i guess lots of people just have big radioactive pits in there backyard.....

[Raedon]

Well sure! Back when I was a kid most games CAME with back story books. I remember this one Amiga game, "Guild of Thieves" that came with a newspaper even.

beyond that I read all the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure ZORK books.

One of the better ones can be found online in.. *pauses for effect* ZORK - The Cavern of DOOM (http://www.boraski.com/zork/)

http://www.boraski.com/zork/zork1.jpg

[Gamemaster_ca_2003]

I used to have the Doom novel.

I thought the doom book was Non-Fiction

[Howie6925]

I have the worlds of power "blaster master" book.

[slapdash]

No one's mentioned (might have missed some) the books based on:

Tomb Raider
Mortal Kombat
Crimson Skies
Brute Force
Resident Evil
Primal Rage

[Spartacus]

I'm reading the three Halo novels right now. I know there are a lot of Mechwarrior novels. But they may have preceded the game, instead of the other way around.

[Snapple]

Mega-bump~!

For some reason, I came upon something online tonight that was talking about "Choose your own Adventure" books. And I just remembered for the first time in years that I used to own three or four of the Mario books. In fact, I got them when they were brand new. It was early when I was in elementary school, and hey, it got me to read.

And I LOVED them. I read them many times. I took every path to finishing the books. Holy crap, it was great. Not only did they let you make choices, but they also put little games in the book. And you'd use the results of playing the game to determine which page you'd turn to.

Damn, now I have to find them. I doubt that I still have my originals, but perhaps I can track them down on ebay or something. I highly recommend them. The stories are pretty cool, and the books are just fun.

I can't say anyone would enjoy them as much if they're reading them for the first time in their 20s or something. They are kids books, make no mistake, but they're still fantastic.

First time I remembered this stuff in many many years. And now all of a sudden I really want them.

In fact, if anyone happens to run into any auctions of them by chance, I'll be your best friend forever if you point them out to me either in a thread or via PM.

But mostly I just bumped this so that I could recommend the books to other collectors. They are worth finding.

[Sothy]

I loved that Infiltrator book man... Still gotta sit down and play that game soem day.


I also read a MYST book...no idea why...

[Dahne]

I used to have a Mortal Kombat book, back when I was in, oh, sixth grade or so. I think it was based on the movie that was based on the game. It was actually pretty good, as I recall. I remember a line from when they were wandering around the night before the tournament, about a guy who was preparing by jumping around a pair of swords laid on the ground - "if he missed a step, he's be missing a foot."

Why the fuck do I remember that?

[pacmanhat]

I remember enjoying the MK book as well...it went into a lot more detail than any other publication/movie did on the series' early storylines. I might have to find another copy of that and read it again at some point.

[FurinkanianFrood]

Didn't those lil' Atari records come with a little book?

I'm almost certain I had the Yar's Revenge one.

Also, if comic books count then there were a lot of Atari and Nintendo related ones.

[Griking]

I have a few books based on old adventure games by Infocom. In fact there was a series based on Zork alone. I also have some books based on the King's Quest, Warcraft and Doom

[Jorpho]

First time I remembered this stuff in many many years. And now all of a sudden I really want them.

In fact, if anyone happens to run into any auctions of them by chance, I'll be your best friend forever if you point them out to me either in a thread or via PM.

But mostly I just bumped this so that I could recommend the books to other collectors. They are worth finding.

http://www.gamebooks.org

You may also enjoy the small but steadily growing collection of scans at http://www.the-underdogs.org .


No one's mentioned (might have missed some) the books based on:

Tomb Raider
Mortal Kombat
Crimson Skies
Brute Force
Resident Evil
Primal Rage

I am rather skeptical about the existence of some of these, I must say. (Primal Rage!?)

[Bluteg]

I remember the Resident Evil novels. They came out around the time of RE2 on PSX.

[Aswald]

There were some choose-your-own adventure type books for Zork.

[Snapple]

First time I remembered this stuff in many many years. And now all of a sudden I really want them.

In fact, if anyone happens to run into any auctions of them by chance, I'll be your best friend forever if you point them out to me either in a thread or via PM.

But mostly I just bumped this so that I could recommend the books to other collectors. They are worth finding.

http://www.gamebooks.org

Well, I used the category search, and I did a title search for "Mario," and didn't turn up anything. So either they don't have an entry for it, so I just couldn't find it. Thanks anyway. I'll keep looking.

[Jorpho]

Do a Title search for Nintendo and it'll come right up.

[Julio III]

i remember i used to have a Sonic book, had some characters in it that i'd never heard of
also i had a Mortal Kombat comic

of course there is the Starship Titanic novel, written by Terry Jones instead of Douglas Adams

[SoulBlazer]

Just to throw this out, I recently found my Castlevania II book, in very good condition (the novel story based on the game).

PM me if interested. :)

[SuperNES]

there are the halo books, and a long time ago (in a galaxy far far away LOL ) i saw a sonic book at a thrift store. it was really old, they were still calling him dr. robotnik instead of 'eggman'. I dont know why i didn't grab it though.. oh well.

[Richter Belmount]

heh i own both a metal gear and doom 2 novel.

[Snapple]

Ah, thank you again Jorpho.

I recognize books 1, 3, 5, and 12. Those must've been the ones I owned.

I even remember the plot of 12 almost exactly. Iggy Koopa invented a machine that scrambled people's brains and made them "switch bodies." And he did this through a radio signal on a Koopa-owned radio station named WMUSH. And koopas ended up in mushroom bodies, and our hero (Luigi) didn't know who to trust. It's discovered later on that the cure for the brain switching is drinking this particular brand of soda. Moxious... something or other. Oh, and Luigi blocks the music from affecting him by sticking pizza in his ears.

It's been around 12 years since I last read it, and I still remember the name of the friggin' fictitional radio station. Why can't I have a memory like that when it comes to midterms?

[ubersaurus]

There's also a choose your own adventure style book series based on the Zelda Oracle of Ages/Seasons games. I know this, as I found one of them through our Library's network.

Resident Evil 3 had a novelization, I know that for a fact, as well.

[goatdan]

I just picked up the Halo trilogy. I haven't begun to read it yet (I'm stuck in the Bourne trilogy right now, which is excellent). I also have a Warcraft book that I haven't gotten around to reading yet.

I've noticed that in the past ten years, it isn't that there have been less books, it is that they are now aimed at a high age group.

Does anyone know if the Halo books are any good?

[ubersaurus]

I just picked up the Halo trilogy. I haven't begun to read it yet (I'm stuck in the Bourne trilogy right now, which is excellent). I also have a Warcraft book that I haven't gotten around to reading yet.

I've noticed that in the past ten years, it isn't that there have been less books, it is that they are now aimed at a high age group.

Does anyone know if the Halo books are any good?

The first and the third Halo books are very, very cool, and provide a large amount of backstory to the Master Chief, the Covenant war, and to the two Halo games as a whole. The 2nd isn't as good, but it gives a good deal of information on what the hell the marines and the Covies were doing on Halo.

I recommend checking them out if you have any interest in the Halo story-they made me a big fan.

[ubersaurus]

Damn you double post.

[slapdash]

Pardon me resurrecting an old thread again, but...



No one's mentioned (might have missed some) the books based on:

Tomb Raider
Mortal Kombat
Crimson Skies
Brute Force
Resident Evil
Primal Rage

I am rather skeptical about the existence of some of these, I must say. (Primal Rage!?)

I have books based on all of these, and yes, they all exist. Add Defender and Gauntlet too now.

[GamerNerd]

I have the Resident Evil: Code Veronica strategy guide, the Official Nintendo player's guide & a Super NES player's guide.

[Jorpho]

Pardon me resurrecting an old thread again, but...



No one's mentioned (might have missed some) the books based on:

Tomb Raider
Mortal Kombat
Crimson Skies
Brute Force
Resident Evil
Primal Rage

I am rather skeptical about the existence of some of these, I must say. (Primal Rage!?)

I have books based on all of these, and yes, they all exist. Add Defender and Gauntlet too now.

But... But... Primal Rage!? Is this an actual work of fiction, with words and a dearth of pictures? Or is it a comic book of some kind?

[Sam]

I'm trying to collect the WOP series but the last two:

#7: Infiltrator
#8: Before Shadowgate

Are proving tricky - havn't seen the junior series around either.

Other game books I have are:

Mario pick a path
Sonic pick a path
Zelda Oracle pick a path
Desert Strike

[tededfred]

I have all the Resident Evil ones (not including the ones based on the movies).
There are ones based on:
RE0
RE1
RE2
RE3
RE:CV
and two original stories.

They are pretty good. I've read them all but the latest 2 (CV and 0).

[legov8]

I have a Super Mario Advance one. It's one of those choose your own adventure books. It was made from Scholastic. It came with a Zelda one, but I gave it to my friends.

[Milk]

I picked up one of the MYST books when I was in junior high, mostly because it had a cool cover (fake parchment with a fake sealing wax symbol on it). I hadn't even played MYST, but the book was pretty good. It was about this kid with glasses who lives in the desert with his grandma, until his abusive father decides to return and teach him about a weird, subteranian culture. It's not until the final third of the book that it really gets down to the whole "crazy-ass books which take you to other worlds" MYST stuff.

[slapdash]

I am rather skeptical about the existence of some of these, I must say. (Primal Rage!?)

I have books based on all of these, and yes, they all exist. Add Defender and Gauntlet too now.

But... But... Primal Rage!? Is this an actual work of fiction, with words and a dearth of pictures? Or is it a comic book of some kind?

It is a novel, no pictures except the cover, all words inside. Here's proof (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1572972300/qid=1119652658/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-3097765-5291938?v=glance&s=books).