Metal Gear - Worlds of Power Novel (Scholastic)

This was a novel released by Scholastic, as part of the Worlds of Power series of books. The series was based on a number of popular Nintendo Famicon (also known as ‘NES - Nintendo Entertainment System’ in Europe) titles such as Castlevania and Ninja Gaiden.

In parts it is close to the actual events of Metal Gear, in terms of the chronology of particular stages of the game. However, the names of Solid Snake, Dr. Pettrovich-Madnar and his daughter is where the similarities end. The name of the main antagonist is CaTaffy! The twist of the story in the game is not present in novel and that in itself makes it a weak attempt at a novelisation of what was a better story in the actual playthrough of the game. It must be noted though, that this novel is based solely on the NES version of the game and not the MSX2 version, so that in itself provides a less than accurate depiction of what Kojima intended. (See the Metal Gear wiki for a list of MSX2 and NES version differences).

That said however, the game didn’t really have a strong story, it was made better with the addition of the rest of the series. As part of a larger story arc, we can appreciate the games premise more.

Also, if you’re a kid, the Worlds of Power novel would probably appeal to you more as it’s definitely aimed at the “childrens novel” market and taking that into consideration, it probably does its job well with a strong hero character (rock on Solid Snake!) and well written descriptions of surroundings in parts.

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