Movie, TV & Other Adaptations of Video Games

[Ayen]

It seems every time a video game is adapted into another medium, particularly a motion picture, the people in charge find a way to royally screw it up so bad that some results are just out right laughable. Why is that? The most notable examples of a bad movie adaptation of a game have got to be Street Fighter, Super Mario Brothers and the second Mortal Kombat movie. But there are some other rotten apples out there as well like the Resident Evil movie franchise (just die already), the Fatal Fury live action movie (yes, they made one) Tekken (yes, they made that one too) and now there are talks of a Need for Speed and Gran Turismo movie. Seriously, what the hell? The one that is still considered (last time I checked) to be the best out of all of these is the first Mortal Kombat movie and while that was a fun movie, I gotta be honest, it could have been a lot better. They made it PG-13, played a lot of it for laughs, made Goro into a laughing stock and made Sub-Zero and Scorpions slaves of Shang Tsung. And while I'm not going to pretend like Liu Kang's story was all that exciting in the games, giving him a brother and changing it to the typical revenge trope was just meh.

I can't think of many examples on the TV side of things but am leaving it open for discussion. While Mortal Kombat Conquest had its fair share of problems I thought some of the things they did were done well. They redeemed the Rain character in my eyes after the way he was treated in the second movie and Shao Kahn, oh my God their Shao Kahn is probably the greatest portrayal of him in live action they made him into a bawse and I love how Raiden and Shao Kahn are played by the same actor! That whole confrontation between the two at the end of the series was what the second movie should have been like.

Discuss.

[AssassinDX]

I can't think of many examples on the TV side of things but am leaving it open for discussion.

In my opinion they ruined the Sonic The Hedgehog TV show with Sonic Underground, trying to make it cool and edgey going into this Millennium. Mercifully it isn't canon to the original show and Adventures Of, those were awesome.

Speaking of which, The Legend of Zelda aired alongside Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog in the early 90's, I watched a few episodes and it is awful. Have you ever imagined Link as a cool dude using cheesy chat-up lines on Zelda? No? Well if you want to, watch it. If you're sane, pretend it never existed.

[Ayen]

I had actually forgotten about the Mario and Zelda shows they used to have on TV. Mario wasn't so bad IMO, it's just, Mario doesn't have a plot and to make up with this they basically ripped off a bunch of other stuff for the first half and then had them messing around in the Mushroom Kingdom in the other.

The Zelda show is just another reason why Link should never be allowed to have dialog. Princess Zelda was awesome in that, though.

[Slothy]

You know, I watched every RE movie a few months back and I've got to say, I think I enjoyed them just because of what a laughable train wreck they are. It's like every movie just throws trout at the screen to see what sticks. Hell, at this point I think they're just a jobs program for Paul Anderson and Milla Jovovich. And there was a Fatal Fury movie? Seriously?

And I don't even know what's up with Need for Speed and Gran Turismo movies. The former makes no sense because you could throw the name on pretty much any generic action movie featuring car chases. Just makes no sense. And don't get me started on just how a GT movie makes even less sense. Might as well make a Flight Simulator movie for as much material as there is to work with.

Part of me wonders if we'll ever see game movies have the same sort of break through comic movies did, but to be honest, most games aren't that well written, the ones that are are usually too long to work as a movie, and removing the gameplay removes the defining aspect that makes games interesting. Translating other media to movie is generally easier since most others are more story based and you don't lose their defining characteristic in the translation.

EDIT: oh man, I forgot all about the Sonic show from the early 90's. That show was awesome. Too bad every one after it wasn't nearly as good. The Sonic comic books that followed a similar storyline and had the characters from the show were also pretty great.

[Ayen]

I only know about the Fatal Fury one because Spoony did a review of it. You know Terry Bogard? You wouldn't even recognize him if it wasn't for name alone.

I know the Gran Turismo movie is just the studio trying to take advantage of the popularity of car movies thanks to Fast and Furious (it's probably the same deal for Need for Speed) and if it goes through it's going to be directed by the same person behind the 50 Shades of Gray movie so take my current interest and divide it into the negatives because that's how much I give a trout. But hey, if they can barely do good with the games that do have story they might as well take advantage of the ones that don't >.>

[Shorty]

I wrote out an entire post encompassing Prince of Persia, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil and Silent Hill and it's all gone and now I'm mad and have nothing else to say. :colbert:

[Ayen]

Ah, Tomb Raider. That had promise too since Angelina Jolie looked so much like the video game model of Lara, I don't know what went wrong there. I only seen the first Silent Hill movie and thought it was decent, then again I haven't played the games so I don't know how true to the source material they were with that. Neither played the Prince of Persia game nor seen the film.

[Slothy]

The first half of Silent Hill is a good Silent Hill movie. The last half not so much. And by the time it got to the barbed wire tentacle rape at the end I was laughing out loud in the theater which garnered some strange looks. The second one was an even worse movie, though I liked it more than I should. I'll chalk that up to 3 being my favourite game.

[Spuuky]

Really, they could do a good job, if they just picked an interesting game world, and then made a good movie that happened to be set in that world, rather than being tied to the games themselves. But that isn't possible for some kinds of settings, at least as non-animated films.

DOA: Dead or Alive is a hilarious video-game-to-movie adaptation to watch. I'll watch the Deus Ex: Human Revolution adaptation if it ever gets made, and I will let the seething rage it will undoubtedly invoke fill my soul.

[Psychotic]

I just want to pitch in and say that although I never had a Nintendo or Sega console at that point, the early 90's Mario and Sonic cartoons fucking ruled. I don't even care. We need more late 80's/early 90's style cartoons about video games right the fuck now.

[Shorty]

The original Silent Hill film was unique in that it encompassed elements primarily from the first and third games. It's mostly based on the first game's story except for the fact that the lead character looks like and dresses like the lead from the third game. It's pretty damn near the storyline for the first game, and they do quite a bit of recreating exact shots of the third game that I noticed, which I appreciated as a fan.

I like it. It's not a great movie by any means, and I can easily see how someone who has never played the games before would think it's atrocious (I probably would), but I do like it. I am bitter, though, because the ending of the first movie completely opened up the prime opportunity for the second game's storyline, and instead they made an absolute mockery of the third game's story.


The first half of Silent Hill is a good Silent Hill movie. The last half not so much. And by the time it got to the barbed wire tentacle rape at the end I was laughing out loud in the theater which garnered some strange looks. The second one was an even worse movie, though I liked it more than I should. I'll chalk that up to 3 being my favourite game.

Dude, the wriggling, wretching barbed wire janitor literally forces me to look away from the screen, I can't handle it D: It's terrifying!

edit: ohhhh you meant christabella yeah that was a bit silly. Whenever I think of "silent hill" and "barbed wire" I think of "dare you dare you double dare you" and have to close my eys through that whole scene :(

[Shauna]

I kind of want to write a blog about my thoughts and feelings on all the various Video Game movies because they are all amazing. But then I don't care enough.

[Slothy]

Dude, the wriggling, wretching barbed wire janitor literally forces me to look away from the screen, I can't handle it D: It's terrifying!

edit: ohhhh you meant christabella yeah that was a bit silly. Whenever I think of "silent hill" and "barbed wire" I think of "dare you dare you double dare you" and have to close my eys through that whole scene :(

Yeah, that's the part I was talking about, though the Janitor is cool. I literally laughed during the barbed wire scene in the church though and everyone turned and looked at me like I was crazy. I just couldn't help it. Once the barbed wire was going up her dress and my brain made the connection between that and tentacle rape I just couldn't hold it in. It was just so absurd.

[Ayen]

I kind of want to write a blog about my thoughts and feelings on all the various Video Game movies because they are all amazing. But then I don't care enough.

You should so we can do a crossover review one day and bicker back and forth like the guys from TGWTG.

[Jessweeee♪]

I remember there were like, two Sonic cartoons in the nineties. One of them I really liked and the other one I didn't realize was a different cartoon and became greatly disappointed with it.

Also the Mortal Kombat movies were awesome and they had an even awesomer sound track.

[Depression Moon]

I recall watching a little bit of the megaman cartoon, but never really liked it and of course everybody watched the Pokemon anime, but that shit is too kiddy to go back and watch now.

As for movies, yeah they've all been pretty bad. MK and Silent Hill are the only two that I can say I somewhat enjoyed. The Ratchet & Clank movie sounds like it might be promising. I'll have to finally play a Ratchet & Clank game before it comes out though.

[Del Murder]

I wonder how good the Uncharted movie will be. :roll2 I wonder why current gen AAA games are getting turned into movies when they are pretty much playable movies in their original form.

[Pike]

I'm interested in the Warcraft movie primarily because from what I hear they're going to be basing it off of the story/characters from Warcraft 1 and 2 with Khadgar and Medivh and stuff http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a109/Pikestaff/smiley/getin001_zpscd2687d5.gif

[Jiro]

There have been some pretty decent video game movies, but those are always judged by different standards. Held to ordinary standards, they're usually pretty shit -- average at best.

But I'm a big fan of the Prince of Persia film, the DOA film (c'mon who can't appreciate the tits), and even the Silent Hill film was pretty good despite not being a fan of horror or having played any games. Also the Resident Evil films are great fun if you disregard all of the canon :monster:

I've heard the Japanese live action Ace Attorney game is pretty fucking amazing. I don't know. Maybe we're making improvements!

[Shauna]

Ace Attorney was pretty fantastic.

[Ayen]

Ace Attorney was pretty fantastic.

There was an Ace Attorney show?

[Slothy]

Also the Resident Evil films are great fun if you disregard all of the canon :monster:

Also if you turn off your brain and accept that none of them will ever make sense. Not even in relation to eachother.

[Skyblade]

You know, I watched every RE movie a few months back and I've got to say, I think I enjoyed them just because of what a laughable train wreck they are. It's like every movie just throws trout at the screen to see what sticks. Hell, at this point I think they're just a jobs program for Paul Anderson and Milla Jovovich.

In other words, it captured Resident Evil pretty much perfectly?


Ah, Tomb Raider. That had promise too since Angelina Jolie looked so much like the video game model of Lara, I don't know what went wrong there.

The same thing that goes wrong with everyone who thinks that graphics are what make a good game.


I remember there were like, two Sonic cartoons in the nineties. One of them I really liked and the other one I didn't realize was a different cartoon and became greatly disappointed with it.

Yep. There was The Good One (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(TV_series)), which featured solid characters, good writing, and brilliant atmosphere, and The Bad One (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventures_of_Sonic_the_Hedgehog), which is still one of the worst shows I've ever had the misfortune to sit through. If you want more details, I'd check out The Nostalgia Critic's Review (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvTn8Qp8FAU) of the shows.




As to the original question, it's because it is very rare for a director to understand the differences in the media, or what makes a game good. Games are not movies. They don't follow the same sort of structure, or patterns, at all, and it makes proper translation extremely difficult.

For one thing, most games simply can't be made into a movie. Like most book to movie translations (90% of which suck), there is just too much going on to get it all in the incredibly short time limit allowed. The pacing of the story itself is also radically different from the sort you would get in a movie.

Let's say that we wanted to make Chrono Trigger into a movie (after all, if we're going to make a good movie, we should start with a good game, right?). There are no fewer than 27 bosses in Chrono Trigger. Yakra, Dragon Tank, Guardian and Bits, R Series, Heckran, Zombor, Masa and Mune, Nizbel, Slash, Flea, Ozzie, Magus, Nizbel II, Azala and Black Tyrano, Golem, Sir Krawlie, Blue Beast + Red Beast + Mud Imp, Giga Gaia, Dalton, Golem Twins, Lavos, Golem Boss, Dalton Plus, Lavos Spawn, Lavos Shell, Lavos Core, and Lavos's True Core.

Would you put all of those bosses into a single movie? If not, where would you cut? Ok, Nizbel II is out, since that fight has basically no story to it at all. Ozzie, Flea, and Slash get compressed into a single fight, so that cuts two more. What then? There is simply no way you can keep that much content in there, but most of the rest still can't be cut (ok, Sir Krawlie and the Golems maybe as well, but you're losing some comedic tone, as well as a lot of Dalton's build up). You don't have the buildup that you need to make the bosses meaningful characters, and you don't have the time to flesh anything out. You can cut things, sure, but then you're left with a bare bones story that doesn't match the games anyway, and yet probably still won't make sense to anyone who hasn't played the games.



TV Shows have a lot more potential. You can take the time to tell the story properly, and have a fleshed out look at the characters and story. The few good video game adaptations I've seen have been in TV format, for this reason (and even then, they have some issues). Of course, a TV show is a much bigger risk than a movie. If you make a movie from a game, you just have to get people in to watch it once, on a single weekend, and you've broken even, not to mention that you can still count on some DVD sales to hardcore fans no matter how rubbish the show is. But a TV show has to survive to make money, which means that it is a bigger risk.

[Shauna]

Ace Attorney was pretty fantastic.

There was an Ace Attorney show?

It was a movie. The live action movie was amazing and I wish I could see it again. I mean, I could just download it, but dammit I want to own a DVD. xD It came to a cinema near me during the annual event "Glasgow Loves Anime".

[Slothy]

Resident Evil 1 and 2 were awesome dude. :colbert:

[Botchmun]

Speaking of resident evil. I like how Alice is at the top of a list of Mary Sues I read but also she's living proof of something from roleplaying games. "Bone the DM, immune to failure."

Best video game adaption is the Super Mario Bros movie.

[Formalhaut]

Ace Attorney was pretty fantastic.

There was an Ace Attorney show?

It was a movie. The live action movie was amazing and I wish I could see it again. I mean, I could just download it, but dammit I want to own a DVD. xD It came to a cinema near me during the annual event "Glasgow Loves Anime".

It was Japanese wasn't it? That'll be good to watch. I'm almost at the end of the trilogy anyway!

Amid all this talk, no one has yet mentioned that live action Halo thing their doing as part of the Xbox One. My God. That'll be terrible, probably.

[Shiny]

I would love to see an animated show for Ace Attonery.

[Rostum]

There's some pretty big names behind the Warcraft movie, so I'm very interested to see how that turns out.