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Inside the NES Worlds of Power Series

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the shamed-and-amused-at-the-same-time dept.

If you grew up in the 80s, chances were you'd at least heard of the Nintendo Entertainment System. For those of us that read Nintendo Power, ate Nintendo cereal, and (ahem) for a brief time even wore a Nintendo hat, the NES experience was fairly powerful. As such, reading about Nintendo games is a perfectly logical step. 1up has a long piece looking at the World of Power book series, a series of novelizations of some of the most popular NES titles of the day. Castlvania, Master Blaster, and Metal Gear all received the literary treatment ... with varying degrees of success. From the article: "This trend toward whitewashing death and violence also extended the books' text. In Blaster Master, all the defeated 'underboss' characters that look like mutated animals turn out to be holographic projections placed over formless blobs. In Metal Gear, Solid Snake is described as a 'walking arsenal,' yet he only uses his various weapons to shoot locks off doors. In Ninja Gaiden, Ryu's father is shown losing a duel to the death in the game's prologue, and is said to have passed away in the book's early chapters. Yet he turns up at the very end of the book, very much alive. In Infiltrator, a double agent that is ordered to be sent away to be 'voided' has his fate described as either having his memory wiped, being exiled, or getting demoted." So, how many folks (besides me) actually read these thing?

19 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. This, at least, matches... by geminidomino · · Score: 4, Informative

    From TFA:

    In Ninja Gaiden, Ryu's father is shown losing a duel to the death in the game's prologue, and is said to have passed away in the book's early chapters. Yet he turns up at the very end of the book, very much alive.

    Tsk tsk tsk. Someone didn't play the game through. Ken Hayabusa IS alive until the end of the game.

  2. Just a hat? by Traiklin · · Score: 5, Funny

    pfft, you pussy. Wearing only a Nintendo hat?

    I used to wear shirts, Hats, underwear, my shoes had Nintendo laces, I watched the Super Mario super show, read Nintendo Power like it was the bible, ate the ceral, played my NES like it was a gift from god and was damn proud of it.

    you make it seem like it's an emberassment to of worn a hat. Tell that to the so called "fanboys" of today with their aligent to a system that don't have any of the merchandise that goes with the system to truely define you as a fanboy!

    1. Re:Just a hat? by rmadmin · · Score: 2, Funny

      I bow to you sir. I was also a Nintendo zeolot. Oh those were the days. Cuz ya know.. "Sega's graphics suck!" ;)

      --


      Can all fish swim?
    2. Re:Just a hat? by Alicat1194 · · Score: 2, Funny
      used to wear shirts, Hats, underwear, my shoes had Nintendo laces, I watched the Super Mario super show, read Nintendo Power like it was the bible, ate the ceral, played my NES like it was a gift from god and was damn proud of it.

      Don't forget "and watched Captain N: The Game Master ."

      --
      You can learn a lot about a person if you just take the time to inject them with sodium pentathol
  3. Well? by dido · · Score: 4, Funny

    Power Series huh? But does it actually converge?

    --
    Qu'on me donne six lignes écrites de la main du plus honnête homme, j'y trouverai de quoi le faire pendre.
  4. Corrections by Bozzio · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The article summary refers to "Blaster Master" as "Master Blaster" and then the article says it was a Capcom game, when in reality it was a Sunsoft game.

    Blaster Master

    --
    I just pooped your party.
    1. Re:Corrections by Allison+Geode · · Score: 5, Informative

      Blaster Master is a game. Master Blaster runs barter town.

  5. I did! by Dial-Up · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I read the Metal Gear novel when I was very young. I remember it being a very interesting book too, though that may have been because it was my first action novel. I had never even played the game, heh. The book gave hints on how to play the game after every chapter, which I thought was neat. Of course, having never played the game, I didn't know if the tips were actually useful, or just filler to try and push the game. I did eventually play the game Metal Gear with an emulator and was severely disappointed. I don't think I could make it off of the third screen.

    1. Re:I did! by VGPowerlord · · Score: 2, Informative

      Shh, don't mention the forest of Metal Gear to Hideo Kojima. It didn't exist in the original version of Metal Gear.

      Metal Gear's appearance on the MSX2 system coincided with the most successful years of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The game later made its way to the NES but in an entirely different form than Director Kojima intended, who thinks of the NES version as an inferior adaptation of his much-loved series. Now you can experience the Metal Gear saga's landmark opus for yourself!
      --Konami's MGS3: Subsistence Metal Gear site

      For that matter, we also never got the real Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake until MGS3: Subsistence. Instead, we got Snake's Revenge, a cheap knock-off created specifically for English speaking audiences.

      --
      GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
  6. Blaster Master by cashpiles · · Score: 2, Informative

    I read Blaster Master along with Castlevania when I was about 12 years old. At the time, I thought Blaster Master was an awesome book. I'd get all pumped up and slightly frightened when I came to a part in the book where a boss battle would be described. From a 12 year old me's perspective, I give the Blaster Master book a 9/10. INTENSE!

  7. Filthy Mega-Lies! by RedMagus77 · · Score: 2, Funny

    What irked me about the books was how MegaMan kept using metal blade on everything. Cause you know using that would have you running out before you left the first part of the stage, and some bosses would just laught it right off. I'm looking at you there AirMan.

    1. Re:Filthy Mega-Lies! by Firehawke · · Score: 3, Informative

      Maybe he used the shoot-two-pause trick. Shoot two metal blades, hit start to bring up the subscreen, and reselect Metal Blade. That resets the shot counter (on each third blade it would drop one weapon power bar) and allows you effectively infinite blades.

    2. Re:Filthy Mega-Lies! by Firehawke · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, it's really uncommon to run out of metal blades in general unless you're a poor shot and waste a lot of them. Still, once you get them, they tend to get a LOT of use in stages.

      On the other hand, Mega Man 2 was the game that taught me an interesting lesson in terms of Mega Man games-- as soon as I get to the final boss, I think to myself, "Okay, what's the most USELESS weapon in my arsenal? That simply HAS to be its weak point."

      Bubble Lead. Top Spin. Electric Spark. Strike Chain.

      It's always the most difficult to use weapon, the one that almost NEVER is effective elsewhere in the game.

  8. Remember them? by Logan+Smith · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hell, I still have them! Except Infiltrator... I haven't been able to find it in years. My name is Logan, and I am a tremendous dork.

    --
    Logan Smith
  9. Talk about an understatement... by vistic · · Score: 3, Interesting
    If you grew up in the 80s, chances were you'd at least heard of the Nintendo Entertainment System.

    Are you kidding me? I don't think there was anyone then who had only heard of the NES. At least for people born around 1979-1981. No one had just heard of it... you had heard of it, seen the commercials, marveled at it at your friends house, begged your parents, seen the shows, talked about it at school, read comics, played with demos at the Captron World of Nintendo store in your local mall...

    The NES was everywhere. It was *THE* toy of my generation.
  10. The Megaman 2 novel is online also by Ayavaron · · Score: 2, Informative

    The Megaman 2 novel is also online. Here's a link: http://themechanicalmaniacs.com/downloads/mm2book. pdf

  11. on to the.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    any book that has "on to the pink caves" can't be all bad.

  12. Can we get a spoiler alert? by FatalTourist · · Score: 2, Funny

    Some of us are still working on the game!

    --


    Escape Pod Films: Sketch Comedy and Web Series
    1. Re:Can we get a spoiler alert? by geminidomino · · Score: 2, Funny

      The game came out over 15 years ago. Statute of limitations. King Kong Dies.