History Main / Novelization

** Creator/RASalvatore's novelization of ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' spends more time flashing out Anakin and Padmé's relationship. He also has scenes exploring Padmé's family that were cut from the movie and spends some time fleshing out the Lars family and Shmi's relationship with them. Its also calls back to wounded Tuskan Anakin encountered in Brooks' Episode I novelization. [[SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfUnits It's also responsible for propagating the "one unit equals one clone" error which left the Clone army numbering in the millions.]]

* The ''Film/Constantine2005'' novelization was a lot better than the film: the scenery and events were amazingly detailed, it had better-defined characters, and there were even more elements from the original ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'' comics incorporated into the story -- the ghosts of Constantine's old friends stalking him, the inclusion of pagan Gods, references to Midnite's gladiator games, etc.

* Most of the ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' series have had novel adaptations, sometimes resolving very differently from the anime. And some side stories and sequels originate as novels. Notable is ''Beltochika's Children''; initially, it was Creator/YoshiyukiTomino's rejected plot for ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Char's Counterattack]]'', which, in turn, is an adaption of Tomino's novel ''Hi-Streamer''. In other words, it's a novelization of TheFilmOfTheBook (by the same author).

** ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'' warranted two novelizations, one the traditional paperback "junior novelization", the other the longer hardback ''Driven by Emotions''. The latter has each emotion recount the film's events from his/her first-person perspective in turn. Fear, Anger, and Disgust's actions are greatly expanded upon with details about how they guide Riley through a typical school day while Joy and Sadness are missing (and what they think of the environment). An entire additional scene involving Fear directing Riley to a library so everyone will have an idea what they might be facing [[spoiler:as she runs away to Minnesota]]. Sadness's chapter (which closes the book) reveals why she made Riley cry so soon after she was born and suggests that her urge to touch the core memories and turn them sad, which she isn't quite able to explain/understand in the film, is the result of [[spoiler:her being drawn to them because ''they want her to touch them'']].

* The junior novelization of ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', goes into Ming's perspective a bit more than the film.

* ''WebVideo/EscapeTheNight'' has received a [[Fanfic/EscapeTheNightNovelization fan-made one]] [[https://archiveofourown.org/series/862056 here]], covering all the seasons with some characterization explanations and fixed-up plot holes. [[{{Doorstopper}} Each installment has over 100,000 words.]]

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'''s Jr. Novelization does keep the main plot intact, but without the music, condenses the numbers greatly. It also gives some small changes and additions. While not so much adding WordOfGod stuff, it does give out some small details you don't always know about. For example, the novelization states that Elsa was eight when the accident happened and gave Kristoff a bit more to do during the coronation, including the fact that he didn't stay for it. He just went back to get more supplies before Elsa was crowned. It also has Kristoff [[spoiler: punch out Hans for trying to kill Anna and Elsa during the climax.]]
** ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'' warranted two novelizations, one the traditional paperback "junior novelization", the other the longer hardback ''Driven by Emotions''. The latter has each emotion recount the film's events from his/her first-person perspective in turn. Fear, Anger, and Disgust's actions are greatly expanded upon with details about how they guide Riley through a typical school day while Joy and Sadness are missing (and what they think of the environment). An entire additional scene involving Fear directing Riley to a library so everyone will have an idea what they might be facing [[spoiler: as she runs away to Minnesota]]. Sadness's chapter (which closes the book) reveals why she made Riley cry so soon after she was born and suggests that her urge to touch the core memories and turn them sad, which she isn't quite able to explain/understand in the film, is the result of [[spoiler: her being drawn to them because ''they want her to touch them'']].

* The junior novel of ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMutantMayhem'' follows the movie fairly accurately, however it ends up CutShort [[spoiler: with Superfly's first defeat, lacking any of the third act such as the FinalBattle with the turtles and mutants against Superfly's OneWingedAngel, April hijacking a news station to explain that the mutants are trying to save them, and the public accepting them as heroes.]]

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

* The junior novel of "WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMutantMayhem" follows the movie fairly accurately, however it ends up CutShort [[spoiler: with Superfly's first defeat, lacking any of the third act such as the FinalBattle with the turtles and mutants against Superfly's OneWingedAngel, April hijacking a news station to explain that the mutants are trying to save them, and the public accepting them as heroes.]]

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' had several novelizations based on [[Film/{{Transformers}} the 2007 movie and its first two sequels]].
** Creator/AlanDeanFoster penned the novelizations for ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' and ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen.'' Both books stick fairly closely to the finished films plot but with a number of minor differences such some changed dialogue and scenes. Jazz is killed when Megatron rips out his spark rather than being torn in half. Notably, Wheelie is called Wheels and has a more privative Dinobot-esque way of speaking, a holdover from an earlier script draft. Here, the Fallen promised to make Megatron a Prime as reward for his aliegence and Megatron abandons him to die after Optimus revealed that he lied.

** Creator/PeterDavid wrote the novelization for ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon''. It features several scenes that were changed in the finished film such as having [[TheScrappy Mudflap and Skips]] killed by Sentine Prime. Notably Megatron's offer of a truce is accepted by Optimus here and the Decpticons leave Earth for Cybertron.

%% This examples list is being alphabetized. Folders not completed yet:
%% Live-Action TV, Video Games, Western Animation

* ''Franchise/DragonBall'' has an English-language junior novel series based on the manga and features images taken from it for illustrations.

* Even the SliceOfLife {{yonkoma}} ''Manga/HidamariSketch'' was adapted into LightNovels.
** The original ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' franchise has had novelizations of ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'', ''Anime/MacrossDoYouRememberLove'', and ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'' (the ''DYRL?'' one, in particular, restores several plot points from ''SDF'' and adds new scenes [such as a mock combat between Hikaru and a newly-recruited [[TheAce Max Jenius]]). However, good luck finding translations, as the folks at Harmony Gold haven't budged...

* ''{{Anime/Robotech}}'' was adapted into a successful 12-volume novel series by "Jack [=McKinney=]" (a pen name for James Luceno and Creator/BrianDaley). The series led to more than one TieInNovel, creating a 21-volume novel series that significantly expands on the original television series. The novels based on the unproduced scripts for ''The Sentinals'' were later adapted into the comic book series.
** The novelizations were declared to be CanonDiscontinuity by the current head of ''Robotech'' licensing and production... and then the ones based on the T.V. series were later re-issued with new covers under the current ''Robotech'' branding. However, the novel-exclusive stories and related omnibus remain out of print, although some are officially available as e-books. All of the novels are easy to find through the used book circuit.

* ''Fanfic/TheBoyWithoutAFairy'' is a much darker and realistic retelling of the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' with Link's backstory given much more detail, and since he's able to talk in this story, he's able to form and express his own opinions of his adventure. Since he can speak, there are much more dialogue and interactions between the characters, with Link and Navi's bond being the most prominent.
* ''Fanfic/TheMythOfLinkAndZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' directly adapts the events ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' with ComicBookFantasyCasting. Link is given an AgeLift, Zelda is given a RaceLift, and some new characters are added, and there are some original subplots, such as [[spoiler: a massive brief war against the Yiga Clan, the addition of powerful spirit animals wielded by Zelda, Link, Ganondorf and Impa]]. There are also some changes to the canon, such as [[spoiler: Ganondorf being Groose's reincarnation, and the revelation that Ganon is actually a victim of Demise's curse, which has possessed him and his power for its own bidding.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'' was adapted into book form a few months after premiering. While retaining the basic plot and structure of the film, many scenes and details were altered. Since almost the entire novel is from Twilight's point of view, she had to be added to scenes she wasn't in for the film, with some of those Twilight-less scenes deleted altogether for the book. The beginning also mentions the events of ''Literature/TwilightSparkleAndTheCrystalHeartSpell'' by the same author.

* The novelization of ''WesternAnimation/Elemental2023'', shows more of Wade's perspective than the movie did, including more detail on his and Ember's first date and the epilogue.

* ''Film/FirstBlood'' was based on [[Literature/FirstBlood a book]]. The sequels weren't, but the original author wrote novelizations of the first two. They're quite good.
** David Morrell, the author, lampshades the trope by addressing the most significant CanonDiscontinuity between novel and film. In the ''preface'' to the first sequel, he explicitly acknowledges that, "In my book, [[spoiler:Rambo died.]] In the films, [[spoiler:he lives.]]"

* When ''Film/{{Grease}}'' was novelized, the novelization dealt with the songs by turning them into prose dialogue. It was [[https://web.archive.org/web/20191028220412/http://montyonmovies.blogspot.com/2008/12/grease-novel.html awkward]]. On the positive side, however, the novelization is a vast expansion of the film, starting before Danny and Sandy meet and incorporating loads of extra scenes, such as the characters dealing with the death of Buddy Holly. Scattered throughout are profanities more representative of the original stage version (Kenickie calls Danny a "faggot" at one point); and there is a T-Bird named Roger, as in the play - Doody is merely the name of an otherwise unimportant Rydell student. But that's not all - the entire story is told from the point of view of Sonny, whose girlfriend is a Pink Lady named Marcia, the addition of whom causes all of the Pink Lady/T-Bird romances to be shuffled around.

* Because Creator/JimHenson himself supervised their writing and provided tons of material to author Anthony Charles Hockley Smith (as revealed in a 2012 ''Empire'' magazine tribute to Henson), the 1982 novelizations of ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'' and ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' contained information and scenes that didn't make it into the finished films. For the former, this included the names of all the Skeksis and Mystic characters, the alternate name for the Mystics ([=uRu=]), the passages in an invented language which were changed to English for the final script, the deleted funeral scenes, etc.. The ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' novelization was again very close to the movie but contained expanded versions of the doorknockers and Fireys' sequences, the backstory of Sarah's mother leaving the family for an actor she worked with (and whom Jareth is the fantasy world equivalent of), and so forth.
** ''Labyrinth'' also had a children's picture book version with drawn illustrations, written by Louise Gikow. It stuck closely to the film, with one ''big'' change -- the issue of Jareth being a StalkerWithACrush isn't brought up. Not only is the DreamBallet sequence presented as a delaying tactic, but the climax also has him destroyed by ThePowerOfLove (specifically, Sarah's love for Toby). In the film, [[spoiler: Sarah figures out that his Reality Warper powers don't include control over her, and a declaration of this is enough for him to admit defeat]]. This change didn't apply to the novelization or the ''Photo Album'''s telling (which used dialogue excerpts and stills from the film), aimed at older audiences.

* The novelization for ''Film/JawsTheRevenge'' is written by Hank Searls. Despite being the trope namer for VoodooShark, it is better than the movie (it would be hard to do worse.) It explains that a voodoo curse was put on the shark and that's why it was attacking members of the Brody family (though it's not clear why or who is doing this). It also has tighter and more action-packed scenes, chooses [[spoiler: to not resurrect Jake]], and has a subplot involving Michael Caine's character smuggling drugs, making it more interesting and more thought out than the movie.
** It is explained who is responsible. It's a Voodoo witch doctor named Papa Jacques, who cast a curse on the Brody family because Michael Brody was a jerk to him a few times, and Papa Jacques lives by DisproportionateRetribution, and therefore finds murdering Michael's entire family to be a reasonable form of retaliation.

* In fact, there's a novelization of ''Film/TheRoom2003'' (not authorized by Tommy Wiseau), written in the same terrible style as the original film. It also elaborates on certain plot points: Lisa cheats on Johnny because she's dissatisfied with him [[ItMakesSenseInContext fucking her belly button]], and Denny asks for baking ingredients because he is [[{{Foreshadowing}} making meth brownies]]. [[http://theroomnovelization.blogspot.com/ It's also available for free.]]

* ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}: The Movie'' has ''[[http://www.amazon.com/Spaceballs-Book-Jovial-Bob-Stine/dp/0590412264 Spaceballs: The Book]]''. By ''Scholastic Press''. Think about that for a second: the novelization of a ''Creator/MelBrooks movie'' was marketed expressly to ''elementary school students''. Fortunately, the plot and humor are intact, but the language is heavily {{Bowdlerize}}d.
** Heck, they ran ''ads'' for the movie on the back cover of ''Junior Scholastic'' magazine.

** 1935's ''Film/WerewolfOfLondon'' got a novelization long, long after its release (sometime in the 70s). While it told the same basic story as the film, about a botanist who becomes a werewolf, it had some differences (not the least of which is Glendon's first name is inexplicably spelled "[[SpellMyNameWithAnS Wilfrid]]"). There are more about Glendon's savage feelings after becoming a werewolf. His senses are keen, he wants to reunite with werewolves, as him. This included a radically different ending: Glendon and his fellow werewolf, [[spoiler:Dr. Yogami]], attempt to stave off their transformation by seeing a hypnotist. It fails, and the two transform and fight. Glendon kills [[spoiler:Yogami]] and then the hypnotist. The novelization then concludes with Glendon turning back into a human and [[spoiler:contemplating killing himself with the hypnotist's gun]].

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' has novelizations for many episodes. Alan Dean Foster's Log books, novelizations of ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries,'' do an especially good job at fleshing out the stories and characters and adding depth, so much so that it's hard to enjoy the series if you read the books first. (Nothing against the series here, except {{Creator/Filmation}}'s [[LimitedAnimation ultra-cheap animation]]. The Log books are just that good.)
** Foster did it again with [[Film/StarTrek2009 the reboot film]], and he included scenes that would be cut from the final release.
* A.C. Crispin novelized the entirety of TheEighties TV miniseries ''Series/{{V 1983}}'', together with its sequel ''V: The Final Battle'' in one {{Doorstopper}} of a book. It works well, mostly because Crispin doesn't just stick to the scripts. However, the transition between miniseries and finale is awkward. ("Four months later", anyone?) The book contains a couple of shoutouts - a helicopter pilot is named "Joe Harnell" (Harnell was creator Kenneth Johnson's AssociatedComposer and scored the first miniseries); two of Mike Donovan's colleagues are named after T.V. writers, Sam Egan and Jeri Taylor ([[Series/StarTrekVoyager Yes, that one]]). Who at the time were working at Creator/{{Universal}} (Egan wrote "Next Stop, Nowhere" the TropeNamer for TheQuincyPunk), as Kenneth Johnson had done.
* British police drama ''Series/TheBill'' had scripts from its first seven seasons novelized as compilation volumes by author John Burke. This proved simple enough in the original seasons when there were only 12 episodes each year. After the program shifted to doing 90+ episodes a year, liberties began to be taken about which scripts could be adapted and which ones couldn't. One advantage of the novels was that they took separated episodes and wove them into a single, flowing storyline. Eventually, the T.V. series itself would do it, too.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' (and its spin-off, ''Series/{{Angel}}''), like many Creator/TheWB[=/=]Creator/TheCW productions, has a large number of both original novels and novelizations. The occasional good novelization (for example, ''The Diary of Rupert Giles, Vol. 1'', ironically by Nancy Holder, author of the infamously atrocious original post-season seven novel, ''Queen of the Slayers'') seeps in. But most appear to be nothing more than copies of the script with the stage directions edited into prose format, such as the T.V. series's novelization first episode, ''The Harvest.''

** The first season of ''Series/RoundTheTwist'' was novelized in a single book with extra behind-the-scenes info, and the third and fourth seasons had novelizations of each episode.
* ''Series/HomeAndAway'' has been novelized.

* A large portion of ''Creator/MontyPython's Big Red Book'' consisted of sketches from ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' edited into humor book format. As the show was SketchComedy, though, the book isn't a novel ''per se''.
* A few early ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' episodes received the novelization treatment. The author used the extra space to add depth and plug the occasional perceived plot/characterization irregularity.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' stories began to be novelized soon after the show debuted. From 1973 to 1994, Target published almost every single Doctor Who story from the original series run in novel form, plus several unbroadcast stories such as audio drama ''The Pescatons'' and three stories slated but never made from the canceled Season 23. In the era before home video, the Literature/DoctorWhoNovelisations were the only way many young fans had to relive the story. Despite their literary shortcomings (with some honorable exceptions), they are still sought-after and fondly remembered to this day.
** After Target's demise, BBC Books filled in their gaps; in 1996, they novelized the T.V. Movie; in the 2010s, they novelized Creator/DouglasAdams' ''Who'' stories, including ''Shada'', which was abandoned during production; and in 2019, Eric Saward novelized his two Dalek stories, ''Resurrection of the Daleks'' and ''Revelation of the Daleks''. They began releasing novelizations of the revival series in 2018.
** Further, the movie script written by Creator/TomBaker as a proposed Doctor Who feature film, ''Doctor Who Meets Scratchman'', was also [[Literature/DoctorWhoMeetsScratchman novelized]]. James Goss, who collaborated with Baker on the novel, took full license to go timey-wimey by adding in Doctors who hadn't yet been even created when the script was originally written, including the Fifth, Tenth and Thirteenth Doctors.
** ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' also has novelizations of all the first season, the first two stories of season 2, and "The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith". They use the space to add scenes that explain a few things (like adding events from "The Sontaran Strategem" and "The Poison Sky" shown from Sarah Jane's viewpoint to "The Last Sontaran") and add ShipTease for Characters (like Luke/Maria in "The Last Sontaran").
* ''Series/YesMinister'' and ''Yes, Prime Minister'' found their way into print not as straight novelizations, but in the guise of James Hacker MP's "diaries", including some additional material not featured in the T.V. scripts. The "editors" of Hacker's papers ([[DirectLineToTheAuthor in fact, the series' creators]]) included the points of view of other characters such as Sir Humphrey Appleby and Bernard Woolley via segments supposedly gleaned from such things as correspondence between civil servants, or "private papers" allegedly released to the public under the Thirty Year Rule -- meaning the authors' preface was dated decades [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture into the future]].
* British-published novelizations of American T.V. shows were everywhere in the 1980s; some only had one book because of the parent show's short run- basically these would be novelizations of the pilot episode (''Series/{{Automan}}'', ''Shannon''[[note]]a series with a post-''Series/{{Kojak}}'' and pre-''Series/KnotsLanding'' Kevin Dobson as a widowed New York cop/single father who moves to San Francisco so his late wife's parents can take care of his son while Shannon's fighting crime in the City By The Bay[[/note]]), others got into plural figures (like ''Series/KnightRider'' and ''Series/StreetHawk'' - the latter only lasted for 12 episodes after the pilot, but there were four books published covering said pilot and six regular episodes), with the champion being ''Series/TheATeam'' (which clocked up ten books, all but one of which were based on episodes - only the first six of which were published in the U.S.).

* ''Series/DempseyAndMakepeace'' had six books by various writers, with the first by Jesse Carr-Martindale (one of the show's writers). Unusually, the first book wasn't based on the premiere as much as on a later season one episode, "Makepeace, Not War" - and the next two by ''Starburst'' regular/author John Brosnan under the pseudonym John Raymond. Brosnan got into trouble with London Weekend (the show's producers) when parents complained that he'd made the stories somewhat more explicit than the series was - in ''Lucky Streak'' (based on the episode of the same name and "Judgement"), Makepeace shoots a rapist in the crotch, which does not happen in "Judgement."
* The ''Literature/RedDwarf'' novels are somewhere between a novelization and an original TieInNovel, taking elements from the episodes and connecting them with original material. (The first one, for instance, combines elements of "The End", "Future Echoes", "Kryten", "[=Me2=]" and "Better Than Life" with an original plot in which Lister comes up with a plan to get back to Earth.)
* The ''Series/MorkAndMindy'' pilot was novelized both in standard and photo-novel forms.

* ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'': During the show's run, 12 novelizations were released, covering 15 episodes (including two multi-parters) from the first two seasons: #6 ("Food Fight", as ''It's Morphin Time!''), 7 ("Big Sisters", as ''Rita's Revenge!''), 12 ("Power Ranger Punks", as ''The Terror Toad''), 37 ("Clean-Up Club", as ''Megazord to the Rescue!''), 43 ("Something Fishy", as ''Putty Attack!''), 45 ("Crystal of Nightmares", as ''The Bad Dream Machine''), 51 ("Grumble Bee", as ''The Bumble Beast''), 57 ("Enter... The Lizzinator", as ''The Super Zords!''), 61-63 ("The Mutiny", parts 1-3, as ''Lord Zedd Strikes Back!''), 64 ("The Wanna-Be Ranger", as ''Alpha, the Hero''), 66 ("Bloom of Doom", as ''Bloom of Doom'') and 77-78 ("White Light", parts 1 and 2, as ''Tigerzord Power'').
* ''Series/{{Sliders}}'': Brad Linaweaver did one for the two-hour pilot episode, incorporating several deleted scenes and the author's additions to the plot. These include Professor Arturo's dislike of his first name and more background on the Soviet Earth's history.
* The novelization for ''Series/OneFootInTheGrave'' reassembles plot elements from the first two seasons in a different order, so most of the same things happen but often for quite different reasons.
* ''Series/{{Porridge}}'' had a novelization for each season, written in the first person from Fletcher's point of view.
* A WhatCouldHaveBeen example with Creator/EnidBlyton's Noddy series. Sometime in 1963, Blyton planned on making an official novelization of the live-action puppet series ''The Adventures Of Noddy" episode [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Wum7wEJC8 "Noddy and the Moon" from 1956.]] The book was titled "Noddy Goes to the Moon" and was teased in the 24th book "Noddy and the Aeroplane" when it was originally released in Feburary 1963. Due to the author's health starting to decline alongside showing signs of dementia, "Noddy and the Moon" was never written and published.

* ''Series/{{Rev}}'' had a tie-in novel which consisted of a retelling of the events of the first series via Adam's "diary".

* The number of novels based directly on or set in the various game worlds of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' is immense. In today's large bookstores, there can be multiple shelves of them.

** ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'', a game built with the same engine (albeit not by [=BioWare=]), had a novelization as well.
* ''VideoGame/StarControl'' got itself a single paperback novelization titled Interbellum. Despite wearing the same cover as the Star Control 3 game, the content seems to be a story set just before the game involving the Commander of the previous game and his pet ortog (a creature never mentioned before or since). We think. Details of the alien races and the plot involved are so bizarre and short; that fans of the game aren't completely sure the book isn't simply the result of a crazed text replacement job.
* The ''VideoGame/TexMurphy'' adventure game ''The Pandora Directive'' has a hard-to-find novelization written by the Tex Murphy co-creator Aaron Conners.

* ''Literature/Mother2'' by Kumi Saori is based on ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' and changes a lot of details up and is DarkerAndEdgier not unlike ''VideoGame/Mother3''.
* Rand and Robyn Miller, the original creators of the ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' franchise, collaborated with David Wingrove on a trilogy of novels that served as a sequel, prequel, and an even earlier prequel to the games themselves.
** There was a ''Myst'' strategy guide that read like a novelization. It included a brief backstory segment of the main character being a photographer (explaining the screenshots throughout the book) who found the Myst book in a library while looking for photography books. It also intentionally had him make mistakes on some puzzles to illustrate what you have to do if something goes wrong. The guide also included a more standard strategy guide format after the novelization version.
** The answer book for ''VideoGame/RivenTheSequelToMyst'' uses the same approach. It has sections that have varying solution reveals, from obtuse questioning the environment to a literal walkthrough of the game in short story form. The latter is a true novelization of the game and a decent read.
* An interesting semi-example: Nintendo's official StrategyGuide for ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' was written in a novelization format (for example, instead of telling the reader directly "Light the torches to open the door", it was "Link saw some unlit torches. When he lit them, the door opened.") The guide also contained official art and [[AllThereInTheManual background information]] that can't be found anywhere else. It was somewhat entertaining, but that extra atmosphere didn't do much good when you were lost in the Water Temple for four hours. (Nintendo apparently agreed -- they haven't tried anything similar since.) There was also a straighter novelization of the game, about which the less said, the better.
** They also made the guide for ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' a pseudo-novelization complete with summaries of the previous games' plots, official art, and specious but interesting descriptions of Hyrule's culture and history (which were since contradicted by ''Ocarina of Time'').
** There are also several mangas of various games, including ''Ocarina Of Time'', pretty fair themselves and sometimes include bonus side stories (some of which are dubiously canonical, but still fun). In fact, the side story for ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' manga details the origin of the titular mask quite well.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames'' had {{Gamebooks}} from Scholastic.
* Several of Creator/{{Sierra}}'s classic AdventureGame series had {{Strategy Guide}}s (''Literature/TheKingsQuestCompanion'', etc.) that included novelizations of the games alongside more standard walkthroughs.
* Creator/AlanDeanFoster's 1984 ''Literature/{{Shadowkeep}}'' is said to be the first novel based on a video game.

* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'':
** S.D. Perry wrote [[Literature/ResidentEvil a series of novelizations]] that covered the earlier mainline entries until ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilZero Zero]]''. The novelizations of the first two games (''Umbrella Conspiracy'' and ''City of the Dead'') were published alongside two side-novels (''Caliban Cove'' and ''Underground'') that attempted to flesh out and [[OvertookTheManga expand the story]] beyond the events of the first two games when those were the only titles available at that point. Most of Perry's additions ended up being contradicted by Capcom when they released ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'', resulting in Perry having to explain away her contradictions in the novelizations of those games.
** A two-volume Japanese-language novelization of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheUmbrellaChronicles'' was also written by Osamu Makino (who also wrote an alternate Japanese novelization to the [[Film/ResidentEvil2002 first live-action movie]], as well as novelizations of ''[[Anime/ResidentEvilDamnation Damnation]]'' and ''[[Anime/ResidentEvilVendetta Vendetta]]''). It was eventually translated into German of all languages.
* Blizzard's key franchises ''VideoGame/WarCraft'', ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' and ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' all have several novelizations (''[=WarCraft=]'' has mangas, as well) of varying quality. The ''Franchise/WarcraftExpandedUniverse''' ones have been mostly awful, but a couple of good ones are hidden in there. Some of the novels use scrapped material: ''Literature/LordOfTheClans'' was originally meant to be an Adventure game. ''Nova'' reveals the upbringing of the main protagonist of ''[=StarCraft=]: Ghost.'' Even those that don't are largely {{canon}}.
* The ''Franchise/{{Star Wars|Expanded Universe}}'' video game ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire'' had a novelization by Steve Perry, who also wrote for the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' and ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'' universes. This was particularly terrible and made it even clearer that Dash Rendar was a Han Solo knockoff.
** ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed'', another big multimedia ''Franchise/StarWars'' project by Lucasarts, received a novelization written by Creator/SeanWilliams. It not only expanded on Starkiller's thoughts and motivations but developed his love interest Juno Eclipse far more than the game did. It was decently-received and spent a week on top of bestsellers lists.
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars'' had a novelization, which alternated between surprisingly good to facepalm-inducingly bad. The main character got promoted from Private to Sergeant on his first day for no decent reason.
** When a [[FanFic/TiberiumWars fanfic]] is written specifically to relieve from the distaste, and it's much better than the official novelization, it just speaks for itself.

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4: Deadly Fortune'' is a NoExportForYou two-volume novelization written by the game's scenario writer that [[AdaptationExpansion further fleshed out the game's background]], like a better explanation as to why Dante was in Fortuna. It also contains some details omitted from the game, such as [[spoiler:Nero being Vergil's son, which was never revealed in the games until ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'']]. [[note]]Some categorize it as a LightNovel.[[/note]]

* The first ''[[VideoGame/XCOMUFODefense X-COM]]'' game has had two novelizations made of it: An American one with a female Commander working to build up a new military base in Switzerland (written by Dianne Duane), and a Russian one that tells the tale of a member of your first eight recruits.
* The RPG ''VideoGame/BetrayalAtKrondor'' had a novelization written by the [[Literature/TheRiftwarCycle author]] upon whose work it was based. The book took the "script" route, mostly putting fight scenes into words and adding banter where it might have been missing in the game - and cutting many, many sidequests and much banter and content from the game, in turn.
* Some FanFiction based on video games takes this route; just like official novelizations, the quality varies from "excellent exploration of the source material" to "wild tangents away from the plot of the game" to "glorified {{walkthrough}}". The same goes for FanFic novelizations, but for [[{{Doorstopper}} fairly obvious reasons]], these have an alarming tendency to become DeadFic.
* The novelization of Creator/DouglasAdams's ''VideoGame/StarshipTitanic'' was written by [[Creator/MontyPython Terry Jones]], who also voiced a parrot in the game.
* ''The Heart of the Tiger'' (''Literature/WingCommander III''), ''The Price of Freedom'' (''Wing Commander IV''), and TheMovie (''Film/WingCommander'') expand further on the content of the games and novel, and in the case of the game {{novelization}}s provide the [[{{canon}} official storyline for the W.C. universe]]. (The players of the games get to decide what path they take.) The movie's novelization is the only place to see the Pilgrim traitor plot cut from the movie and generally fixes some plot problems caused by or missed in post-production editing.
* ''Literature/WorldsOfPower'' was a series of novelizations of various third-party NES games published by Scholastic and written by various authors under the collective pen name "F.X. Nine" (a name chosen for indexing purposes due to the first three letters of "Nine" matching Nintendo's). Since the books were aimed at children, the cover art from the games were retouched for the book versions to omit any weapon a character might be using (like Solid Snake's gun or Ryu Hayabusa's kunai knife). The stories were often altered to downplay or omit any deaths (most notably, Ken Hayabusa doesn't die in the ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' novel). There were eight regular books in this series, plus two "Junior Edition" books aimed at an even younger audience.
* ''VideoGame/{{Descent}}'' had a trilogy of novels written. They're actually ''excellent'', taking what little plot the games had and [[AdaptationExpansion massively expanding it]]. The stories do diverge a bit but follow the same basic plot and themes. The author did an impressive job of taking the games' mechanics and providing believable parallels to them: for instance, Energy Centers, glowing hallways that restore the ship's power, don't exist in the novels, but the characters do plug the ship into the mine's power grid at one point to achieve the same effect.
* ''VideoGame/{{Ico}}'' has a decent novelization by Miyuki Miyabe (with an English translation courtesy of Alexander O. Smith) that expands a lot on backstory (like why Ico and Yorda are in the castle at all) and answering a lot of questions (such as why Ico doesn't have a health bar in the game).
* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' has a novelization for every game, written by Oliver Bowden. Most of these were LooseCanon, however starting from ''Literature/AssassinsCreedForsaken'', the books were written with greater attention at filling in continuity gaps and took care to narrate incidents from AnotherSideAnotherStory.

* ''VideoGame/WarcraftII'' had a big, fat strategy guide where the missions are told from the perspective of a member from both sides. Both narrators have articles on the Warcraft Wiki.
* ''Crysis: Legion'' serves as one for ''VideoGame/Crysis2''. It's written by Creator/PeterWatts, which gives you a rather good idea about what to expect.
* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' has an unofficial novelization named after the game called [[Fanfic/UndertaleFanNovelization Undertale]].
* ''VideoGame/XBeyondTheFrontier'' received a novelization in 2005 called ''Farnham's Legend'', written by ''VideoGame/{{X}}'' series lead writer Helge T. Kautz and translated into English by Steve Miller and Andreas Fuchs. Unfortunately, the English version is tough to find, and seemingly [[NoExportForYou never made it stateside unassisted]] (you can get it from the Egosoft.com store, though).
* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' has a novelization called ''[[Literature/FiveNightsAtFreddysTheSilverEyes The Silver Eyes]]''.

* ''VideoGame/GodOfWar2018'' has a short [[Literature/GodOfWar2018 novelization]] that focuses on the internal monologues of the two protagonists.

* ''Webcomic/DarylAndSusie'' got a loose novelisation in ''[[https://myweirdwriting.wordpress.com/index/ Daryl and Denise]]''.

* An in-universe example appears in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Itchy and Scratchy: The Movie". Bart is forbidden to see the titular film and tries to read the novelization (written by Creator/NormanMailer, no less).
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' had three novelizations and one picture book. The picture book was based on "The Great Jungle Gym Standoff", but adding Gus to the plot (who was absent during the episode), and the novels were based on "The New Kid", "The Experiment", and ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut''.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' had books based on the episodes "Big Pink Loser", "[[Recap/SpongebobSquarepantsS1E1HelpWantedReefBlowerTeaAtTheTreedome Tea at the Treedome]]", "Sandy's Rocket", "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS1E4NaughtyNauticalNeighborsBoatingSchool Naughty Nautical Neighbors]]", and "New Student Starfish".
* ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' had books based on the episodes "WesternAnimation/HouseOfBloos", "[[Recap/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriendsS2E1TheBigLablooski The Big Lablooski]]", "[[Recap/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriendsS2E12BlooDoneIt Bloo Done It]]", "[[Recap/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriendsS2E11ByeByeNerdy Bye Bye Nerdy]]", "[[Recap/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriendsS2E5MacDaddy Mac Daddy]]" and "Go Goo Go"

* Inversion: three episodes of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' were derived from children's tie-in books, two episodes with the same titles as the books--"Powerpuff Professor" (on T.V. as ''[=PowerProf.=]''), "All Chalked Up" (Him appeared as an old man in the book but as a butterfly on the episode), and "Substitute Creature."
* In-universe example: In the ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "Season's Beatings", Jeff says he'll name his newly-adopted son Nemo after his favorite book: the novelization of ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo''.

* There exist book versions of episodes from ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' aimed at young readers, such as "Sunspot's Night Out" and "From Pluto With Love".
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' had a few chapter books. While many used original stories, some were adapted from episodes. For instance, "Star-Spangled Babies" was an adaptation of "Discover America". Several picture books adapted the show's episodes and one based on the ''WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp'' special.
* One of the strangest examples of this trope was a ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' book for use in elementary schools [[https://www.amazon.com/King-Hill-Based-Bobby-Episode/dp/0439056969 that adapted the episode]] "Bobby Slam".

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' has a picture book adapting "Summerween" and two chapter books aimed at younger readers with the plots of "The Hand The Rocks The Mabel", "Double Dipper", "The Time-Traveler’s Pig" and "The Land Before Swine" from Season One.
** A few years after the end of the series, a book of "bedtime" stories was released, adapting several episodes of both seasons.

* A lot of Disney and Pixar animated films have junior novelizations which change plot elements: including scenes not present in the film (e.g., the novelization of ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' adding an extra scene in the ending where Simba is alone at the top of Pride Rock at night), changing the fates of certain villains (e.g., the novelization of ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'' having Grem and Acer falling into a garbage truck instead of being beaten up inside a bar in London, England), etc.

* ''Fanfic/BreathOfTheWild'' directly adapts the events ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' with ComicBookFantasyCasting. Link is given an AgeLift, Zelda is given a RaceLift, and some new characters are added, and there are some original subplots, such as [[spoiler: a massive brief war against the Yiga Clan, the addition of powerful spirit animals wielded by Zelda, Link, Ganondorf and Impa]]. There are also some changes to the canon, such as [[spoiler: Ganondorf being Groose's reincarnation, and the revelation that Ganon is actually a victim of Demise's curse, which has possessed him and his power for its own bidding.]]

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' has a novelization called ''[[Literature/FiveNightsAtFreddysTheUntoldStory The Untold Story]]''.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' had a few chapter books. While many used original stories, some were adapted from episodes. For instance, "Star-Spangled Babies" was an adaptation of "Discover America". Several picture books adapted the show's episodes and one based on the ''[[WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp All Grown Up]]'' special.

** S.D. Perry wrote a series of novelizations that covered the earlier mainline entries until ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilZero Zero]]''. The novelizations of the first two games (''Umbrella Conspiracy'' and ''City of the Dead'') were published alongside two side-novels (''Caliban Cove'' and ''Underground'') that attempted to flesh out and [[OvertookTheManga expand the story]] beyond the events of the first two games when those were the only titles available at that point. Most of Perry's additions ended up being contradicted by Capcom when they released ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'', resulting in Perry having to explain away her contradictions in the novelizations of those games.

* ''VideoGame/WarcraftII'' had a big, fat strategy guide where the missions are told from the perspective of a member from both sides. Both narrators have articles on the [=WOWwiki=].

** ''Film/TheWolfMan(1941)'' novelization have Larry Talbot's fight with a big bear at the gypsy camp, where he almost loses his mind and goes berserker. This scene was deleted from the final movie.

** ''Film/TheMummy(1932)'s novelization had more details about Imhotep's mummified distorted remains's description, and his sarcophagus was discovered in the Nubia desert.

* ''Film/TheMummy'' (1999) has a novelization which is mostly faithful to the movie, while expanding on the background of the main characters, and including a prologue that goes into the events surrounding the affair between Imhotep and Anck-su-namun, including their plotting to murder the Pharaoh.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' had books based on the episodes "Big Pink Loser", "Tea at the Treedome", "Sandy's Rocket", "Naughty Nautical Neighbors", and "New Student Starfish".

* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', after the manga series originally ended in May, 2020, Japan, a novelized adaptation began in June of that same year; it follows the manga religiously, following a Story Arc structure per book, where one Volume adapts about two to four manga volumes depending on the arc.