Growing up in the 1980s at the dawn of the Nintendo age meant that I was an easy sell for any kind of subpar merchandise that featured a smiling Mario or a brave Link.  I was especially swayed by Nintendo-related books.  I've gone on about the Valiant/Nintendo comic books and the Worlds of Power series, but today's focus is on something a little more basic.  Younger children could get in on the Nintendo merchandising fun with Moblin's Magic Spear, an easy-to-read storybook based upon The Legend of Zelda.  Nintendo Player has a scan of the book and it's just packed with early character art of Link, Ganon, a Moblin, and the elderly shopkeeper who lives inside a hole.

For a long, long time Link journeyed through Hyrule.  He battled many strange monsters and bought many magic items to help him in his quest.  As he crossed a small lake on a tiny wooden raft, Link counted the objects he carried.  "I have my sword, a bag of rubies," he thought, "and one small bottle of fresh water.  I think I'll need more magic in order to rescue the princess."

It's not the most engrossing tale to come out of the Nintendo universe, but the young children of 1989 were probably enamored with it.  The story tries to make sense of the some of the events that happen in the original Legend of Zelda game (such as why Moblins always have more spears to throw and why those spears vanish when they strike something), but even as a kid I came to the conclusion that the author was really overthinking things.  Moblins always have more spears to throw.  That's just the way things work in Hyrule.