Since we’re talking about books this week, I figured I’d take some time to talk about these babies: The Worlds of Power Book Series
Before Shadowgate and Metal Gear.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with these things, they’re essentially kids’ books based on NES games that were popular at the time. They try to expand the stories in the video games by fleshing out some of the details that might have been glossed over in the games or the manuals. And was apparently a response to kids of the day not reading books, but playing those pesky video games instead. So, it seems like it would be a worthy endeavor to get kids interested in reading. Especially if you were brought up with those games, and not the full-blown multimedia extravaganzas we have today.
But the books themselves are… unique. They state on the covers that they’re not endorsed by Nintendo, and they definitely only use the story (or lack of) in the games they’re based on as a jumping off point for whatever adventures they were going to talk about.
The Worlds of Power book that I remember getting the most out of was the Wizards and Warriors book, which involved some kid getting sucked into the Wizards and Warriors universe and he has to help Kuros go through the game and defeat Malkil.
Was it silly? Sure. But as a kid, I loved it. I loved pretty much anything that would give me more enjoyment out of the games I was playing. Especially because we didn’t have a whole lot of money when I was growing up, and a $3 book was way more affordable than a $40 – $50 game. Especially when I could get that book from my school library for nothing.
Thanks, education system!