Worlds of Power

The "Worlds of Power" books are a series of novelizations of video games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The books are characterized by the fact that they often retcon their source material, usually include game hints written upside down at the end of chapters (some also had a tear-out "trading card" in the middle with a tip in mirror writing on the back) and are written in a simplistic, easy-to-read style. The middle portions of some books, such as Bionic Commando and Blaster Master, are breezed over. Books in the series consist of novelizations of

* 1. "Blaster Master" by A. L. Singer
* 2. "Metal Gear" Alexander Frost
* 3. "Ninja Gaiden" by A. L. Singer
* 4. "" by Christopher Howell
* 5. "Wizards and Warriors" by Ellen Miles
* 6. "Bionic Commando" by Judith Bauer Stamper
* 7. "Infiltrator" by A. L. Singer
* 8. "Before Shadowgate" by Ellen Miles

Junior Edition Books

* "Mega Man 2" by Ellen Miles
* "" by A. L. Singer

Of all of these titles, only the "Blaster Master" book is considered canon (see "Blaster Master" for background information on this).

One thing of interest about the "Worlds of Power" books is that all novels are written based on titles from third-party developers/publishers (e.g. "Bionic Commando" was from Capcom, "Blaster Master" was from Sunsoft (company), and so on), and the titles are written under the pen name 'F.X. Nine' (a pseudonym employed by author Seth Godin) by various authors. One author, Peter Lerangis, revealed he used the pen name "A.L. Singer" (which is clearly an anagram of his last name).

Despite including books based on games like "Blaster Master", "Bionic Commando" and "Metal Gear", the books were usually written under a policy of no lethal violence against living things. Human enemies would only be shot with tranquilizer darts or otherwise knocked unconscious (although the climax of "Bionic Commando" sees a string of human deaths), bosses in "Blaster Master" were said to be holograms, scorpions were made robotic in "Metal Gear", and weapons were airbrushed from the cover art of the books.

External links

*Everything2 nodes of the [http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1761208 Simon's Quest] and [http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1780024 Wizards & Warriors] novelizations
* [http://castlevania.classicgaming.gamespy.com/Features/book.html Castlevania Dungeon: Worlds of Power - Castlevania 2] - A review of the Castlevania 2 novelization
* [http://solidsharkey.com/wop1.html Solidsharkey.com Worlds of Power Archive] - An archive of the complete text of some "Worlds of Power" books, along with synopses of others
* [http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/davros/57/bm/bm_legacy.html Blaster Master: The Legacy] - explains the storyline of the Blaster Master series, with several canon and non-canon additions
* [http://bmunderground.chaosr.com/ Blaster Master Underground (BMUG)] - a complete record of all games in the series, including external media and background development history on each game
* [http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/odd/scans/wop.html About Worlds of Power] - a background information page about these books, published on tsr's NES Archive
* [http://www.gamebooks.org/show_person.php?id=1716 Demian's Gamebook Web Page (F.X. Nine)] - a list of books written under the name 'F.X. Nine'
* [http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3152540&did=1 8-Bit Lit: Inside the NES' Worlds of Power Series] - a retrospective on the series with interviews of the series creator and one of the authors