Blaster Master from the past
September 14, 2006 6:33 AM Subscribe
8-Bit Lit. An interview with Seth Godin and Peter Lerangis, two writers behind the pen name "F.X. Nine," who in the early 90's produced the memorable "Worlds of Power" book series spinning entire novellas for Scholastic out of various Nintendo games. Fun facts include the removal of all killing and even references to weapon use, the creation of the pen name as a way to make the books appear next to "Nintendo" in stores, and the embarrassment I feel actually remembering the passage quoted from the Blaster Master book.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- Brandon Blatcher
These were released in the early 1990s? At about the same time I (together with Marc Gascoigne and Carl Sargent, working together as "Martin Adams" -- as with F.X. Nine, a pen-name chosen because of where it would land on bookshop shelves) did four novels based on Sonic the Hedgehog. The four were written in four months, from pitch to finished manuscript: I did two, Carl did two, and Marc edited them for consistency and to put in more jokes.
There were plans to do titles based on Ecco the Dolphin (I still have my pitch for that) and Sega were pushing hard to get Virgin to license Eternal Champions, their would-be Street Fighter killer. Sadly the whole thing ground to an end. A shame. They were fun to write.
posted by Hogshead at 6:59 AM on September 14, 2006 [1 favorite]
There were plans to do titles based on Ecco the Dolphin (I still have my pitch for that) and Sega were pushing hard to get Virgin to license Eternal Champions, their would-be Street Fighter killer. Sadly the whole thing ground to an end. A shame. They were fun to write.
posted by Hogshead at 6:59 AM on September 14, 2006 [1 favorite]
and after reading the article, wow, i've totally read other seth godin books as an adult.
bionic commando's claw arm was a total purple cow.
posted by teishu at 7:01 AM on September 14, 2006 [1 favorite]
bionic commando's claw arm was a total purple cow.
posted by teishu at 7:01 AM on September 14, 2006 [1 favorite]
Early 90's Scholastic cash-in novellas--my God, the memories are flooding back. I never had the "Worlds of Power" books, but I did own the novelization of the long-forgotten Howie Mandel/Fred Savage fantasy flick Little Monsters. And I owned a few "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" books, which were of relatively high quality for quickie franchise tie-ins.
Did anyone else get those four-page Scholastic book catalogs delivered to their classrooms?
posted by Iridic at 7:12 AM on September 14, 2006
Did anyone else get those four-page Scholastic book catalogs delivered to their classrooms?
posted by Iridic at 7:12 AM on September 14, 2006
The Blaster Master book!
That game rocked so much, one of my favorites.
posted by sonofsamiam at 7:22 AM on September 14, 2006
That game rocked so much, one of my favorites.
posted by sonofsamiam at 7:22 AM on September 14, 2006
I had the Ninja Gaiden novelization from Scholastic. It entertained my ten year old self.
posted by dr_dank at 8:00 AM on September 14, 2006
posted by dr_dank at 8:00 AM on September 14, 2006
Pre-internet fame Seth Godin also wrote a guide to the Nintendo Game Boy called "Ultra Secrets Of Game Boy Games", which I bought back in '93 or so when I was 14. It didn't help me much.
posted by PenDevil at 8:09 AM on September 14, 2006
posted by PenDevil at 8:09 AM on September 14, 2006
Did anyone else get those four-page Scholastic book catalogs delivered to their classrooms?
Yes, and my loving parents let me get whatever I checked off. Never mind that I rubber-stamped anything that had to do with videogames, mysteries, or dinosaurs. My mother, also the school's reading specialist, must have known she'd get plenty of use out of them when I was done. That's the only reasonable excuse for how permisive they were, because I had so many they must have needed to account for them in a monthly budget.
posted by now i'm piste at 9:00 AM on September 14, 2006
Yes, and my loving parents let me get whatever I checked off. Never mind that I rubber-stamped anything that had to do with videogames, mysteries, or dinosaurs. My mother, also the school's reading specialist, must have known she'd get plenty of use out of them when I was done. That's the only reasonable excuse for how permisive they were, because I had so many they must have needed to account for them in a monthly budget.
posted by now i'm piste at 9:00 AM on September 14, 2006
I read Simon's Quest back in the day. After reading about the airbrushed violence and weapondry, I now better understand the confused feeling that the Castlevania novella left me with.
I was but a small boy, still years away from learning any of fiction's rules. I'd yet to sit in an English class and see the conflict-crisis-climax chart drawn. I just thought it strange to have reached the back cover of a book based on Castlevania without being scared or seeing any good fights.
posted by EatTheWeek at 12:19 PM on September 14, 2006
I was but a small boy, still years away from learning any of fiction's rules. I'd yet to sit in an English class and see the conflict-crisis-climax chart drawn. I just thought it strange to have reached the back cover of a book based on Castlevania without being scared or seeing any good fights.
posted by EatTheWeek at 12:19 PM on September 14, 2006
I played literally hundreds of videogames back then, and even I knew these books were crap.
There is a certain perfect awfulness in the phrase "I'll drink your spirit like cherry pop!"
posted by JHarris at 4:04 PM on September 14, 2006 [2 favorites]
There is a certain perfect awfulness in the phrase "I'll drink your spirit like cherry pop!"
posted by JHarris at 4:04 PM on September 14, 2006 [2 favorites]
I dunno. I really, really dug the Ninja Gaiden book, and Lerangis seemed to do a fair bit of homework on ninjitsu terms and martial arts meditation techniques.
I'd say that book was my all-time favorite in the series, but then I got my hands on Bases Loaded II while writing the article, and found it to be surprisingly well-written. I think part of that was because since a sports game doesn't really have much of a plot, the author was free to come up with something himself-- while he kept the names of the teams and the names of the players, he made up everything else (manager's name, plot, etc), and wrote a light-hearted sports comedy that used a LOT of baseball terms and didn['t seem to talk down to the reader at all.
posted by ShawnStruck at 4:46 AM on September 19, 2006
I'd say that book was my all-time favorite in the series, but then I got my hands on Bases Loaded II while writing the article, and found it to be surprisingly well-written. I think part of that was because since a sports game doesn't really have much of a plot, the author was free to come up with something himself-- while he kept the names of the teams and the names of the players, he made up everything else (manager's name, plot, etc), and wrote a light-hearted sports comedy that used a LOT of baseball terms and didn['t seem to talk down to the reader at all.
posted by ShawnStruck at 4:46 AM on September 19, 2006
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I seem to have vague recollections of reading the Blaster Master and Wizards & Warriors books.
posted by infidelpants at 6:56 AM on September 14, 2006