Caruso, Norman. “The Video Game Crash of 1983.” The Gaming Historian. The Gaming Historian, 24 March 2011.

This article summarizes the effects of the Video Game Crash of 1983. In the presentation, the focus leans toward the pieces of the article that chronicle E.T. The Game’s role in this event and the effect it had on licensed properties. Since consumers no longer had faith in the quality of Atari games, the market crumbled and was almost demolished. The article also touches upon Nintendo’s role in changing the process of licensing properties by restricting third party developers for their 8 bit system, the NES, and how the brought the industry out of its depression. The gives context to the existence of “The Monster Returns.”

Pearson, Roberta and Anthony N. Smith. Storytelling in the Media Convergence Age. New York: Palsgrave Macmillan, 2014.

The first chapter of Storytelling in the Media Convergence Age opens with a summary of the first Super Mario game that describes the basic plot elements and archetypes of the game. The quest, the hero, the damsel in distress, the boss battles, and the two dimensional side scrolling are all outlined. Many games, both in the Mario franchise and out of it, continued the pattern in attempts to recreate the success. The introductory chapter highlights the archetypes that serve as the foundation for Frankenstein: The Monster Returns. The player is given the task of saving the kidnapped Emily from Frankenstein, and along the way he must defeat numerous minor ad major villains.

Wolf, Mark J.P. The Video Game Explosion. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008.

Chapter 40 of The Video Game Explosion contains a section that touches on the relationship between video games and other media, specifically film. The section points out that after the Video Game Crash of 1983 Hollywood studios lost interest in the market. However once the popularity of Nintendo’s NES was clear, Hollywood studios regained interest in the market, particularly an economic interest. Video games since the early 80’s had been adapting TV and film to the medium, and after the resurgence of consoles in the late 80’s this trend resumed. Popular films gave inspiration to video games, as highlighted by the video game tie in of 1994’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The film-video game relationship was mutually beneficial, as both mediums essentially advertised for the other.