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1[[quoteright:350:[[VisualNovel/MajotachiNoNemuri https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mnn_game_and_novels_9.jpg]]]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:The game (center) and the novels written by Jiro Akagawa.]]
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4VideoGames are a medium that can easily be adapted from a book or comic series. Typically, to gain a mainstream audience [[TheFilmOfTheBook a book is adapted into a movie]]. A less common occurrence is when a book is adapted straight into a game. These were common in the late 1980s and early 1990s when graphical computer games were becoming popular.
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7!!Examples:
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9* Creator/TomClancy is the TropeCodifier for this, with the ''VideoGame/RainbowSix'', ''VideoGame/GhostRecon'' and ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' series. Tom Clancy examples go all the way back to the late-1980s sub sim based on ''Literature/RedStormRising''.
10* Creator/TelltaleGames' ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}'' game and the ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' series.
11* The Literature/{{Discworld}} books have had a few games based on them: a TextAdventure based on ''Literature/TheColourOfMagic'', two Rincewind-centric games that took elements from multiple books, and ''VideoGame/DiscworldNoir'', which had an [[CanonForeigner original protagonist]] and storyline. ([[DevelopmentHell There still haven't been any big-screen films yet]], just [[MadeForTVMovie TV movies]].)
12* Creator/{{Infocom}}'s adaptations of ''VideoGame/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1984'' and ''Literature/{{Shogun}}''
13* Two for ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'' (not entirely serious).
14* ''VideoGame/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream''
15* ''VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesGrimm'' and ''[[VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesAlice Alice]]'' games take liberties with the source material, but are essentially {{Grimmifi|cation}}ed adaptations of books rather than any of the films based on the original written material.
16* A few comic-book games have adapted specific stories rather than general material or movie and TV versions of the characters or series:
17** ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' has been adapted into several games on several platforms.
18** The ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' SNES and Genesis games adapting the "Death and Return" arc from the comics.
19** ''[[VideoGame/UltimateSpiderMan2005 Ultimate Spider-Man]]'', which was supposed to be in-continuity with a current arc of the comic. [[ContinuityDrift It didn't quite work out.]]
20** ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance2'' is a loose adaptation of the ''Civil War'' CrisisCrossover.
21*** Years before that, ''VideoGame/CaptainAmericaAndTheAvengers'' was an even looser adaptation of the "Acts of Vengeance" crossover.
22** The ''ComicBook/IronMan[=/=]ComicBook/XOManowar'' game adapts the intercompany crossover of the same title.
23* ''VideoGame/TheIncredibleHulkUltimateDestruction'' got a RecursiveAdaptation comics miniseries released simultaneously with the video game, creating an ambivalent example. Like the ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' example, it was supposed to be comic-book canon but didn't end up fitting properly.
24* The UrExample comes from Tellarium Games in [[TheEighties the early 1980s]]. They adapted several books into games with varying degrees of success from InNameOnly (''Swiss Family Robinson'') to canonical sequels to the author's original work. The most famous of these was their {{canon}} sequel to the ''Literature/GreenSkyTrilogy'', which got the greenlight from Zilpha Keatley Snyder provided they use the game to [[AuthorsSavingThrow reverse a decision she regretted making in the final book]]. She actually drew the map of the tree city Orbora for the game, and her music-professor husband, Larry, wrote the music.
25** Creator/RayBradbury also helped write a ''Fahrenheit 451'' game for them that acts as a sequel to the book.
26* In 2010, ''VideoGame/DantesInferno'' was produced as an action-adventure game. The ''weird'' part is that the [[RecursiveAdaptation tie-in novel]]... was [[Literature/TheDivineComedy the actual 700-year-old epic poem]], just with branding and art from the game.
27* The game ''VideoGame/MegamiTensei'' was born from a novel series, ''Literature/DigitalDevilStory'', that would become a large series containing plenty of spin-offs, such as ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series, as well as many sequels using the original ''Megami Tensei'' name.
28* The official website for the ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'' has an InteractiveFiction [[http://www.alagaesia.com/game/ game]], ''Alagaesia Adventure Game''. Considering that it's featured on the official site, it's probably at least a semi-official adaptation.
29* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companions_of_Xanth Companions of Xanth]]'', a 1993 adventure game based on one of the ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' books. Fittingly enough, [[ShapedLikeItself the book in question is about someone playing a computer game that allows the player to explore Xanth]].
30* One of Creator/InterplayEntertainment's early games was an AdventureGame based on ''Literature/{{Neuromancer}}''.
31* ''Literature/CallahansCrosstimeSaloon'' was also adapted (by Creator/{{Sierra}}) into an AdventureGame.
32* ''VideoGame/{{Metro 2033}}'' is based on a Russian novel of the [[Literature/{{Metro2033}} same name]].
33* ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}'' was based off ''Literature/TheWaterMargin''.
34* ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve'' was the sequel to a novel.
35* ''Literature/RendezvousWithRama'' was also adapted (by Creator/{{Sierra}}) into ''{{VideoGame/Rama}}''. [[DevelopmentHell There was going to be a movie...]]
36* ''VideoGame/RobotCity'' was adapted from the novel series of the same name, set in [[Creator/IsaacAsimov Isaac Asimov's]] universe.
37* ''VideoGame/TheAncientArtOfWar'' was based on Sun Tzu's ''Literature/{{The Art of War|SunTzu}}'', a 2,500-year-old treatise on military strategy. Sun Tzu appears in-game as the most challenging opponent.
38* ''VideoGame/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorldTheGame'' is based on [[Comicbook/ScottPilgrim the comics]] rather than [[Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld the movie]], but the game and comic book were released in tandem.
39* While the ''VideoGame/HarryPotter'' video games are mostly based on [[Film/HarryPotter the films]], they sometimes contain elements from [[Literature/HarryPotter the books]] which were not included in the movie versions.
40* ''WesternAnimation/TheTick'' game was primarily based on the AnimatedSeries, but also used several characters exclusive to the comics, such as the Running Man, the Red Scare and Clark Oppenheimer.
41* ''VideoGame/AGameOfThronesGenesis'', based on the book but released alongside the TV series
42* ''Film/TheCatInTheHat'' had a game to go with the live-action movie version. While the movie is not considered to be all that good, some versions of the game are actually pretty good.
43* The 1989 Infocom game ''VideoGame/CircuitsEdge'' was based on Creator/GeorgeAlecEffinger's middle-eastern CyberPunk novel, ''[[Literature/MaridAudran When Gravity Fails]]''.
44* Around the time ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' movies came out, ''[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' (book, not movie) was adapted into a so-so ActionAdventure game. The same publisher released [[VideoGame/TheHobbit2003 a game adaptation]] of ''Literature/TheHobbit'' the following year, well before ''Film/TheHobbit'' films.
45* The ''VideoGame/{{Coraline}}'' video game is a rare example of a game adapted from both [[Literature/{{Coraline}} the book]] and [[WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}} the film]] it is based on. It also predates the animated movie's release by a week.
46* ''VisualNovel/MajotachiNoNemuri'' is based partly on two novels written by Jiro Akagawa's two novels, namely Majotachi no Tasogare (Twilight of the Witches) and Majotachi no Nagai Nemuri (Long Sleep of the Witches).
47* ''VideoGame/TheWitcher'' was based on an obscure Polish series. It became a surprise hit that brought the books to the attention of a wider audience, which in turn spawned [[Franchise/TheWitcher more games and a Netflix series]].

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