TV adaptations of video games

[BakerMan]

I'm surprised nobody made a thread about this (or did they? I don't know), but here it is now.
A thread about video game adaptations in TV shows/movies.
The good:

The bad:

The ugly:

And everything in between:

Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, Donkey Kong, Sonic, Kirby, etc., this is the thread for that.

 

[hippy dave]

Loved Fallout recently, great characters.

 

[BakerMan]

can't go through a tv adaptations thread without posting these lmao

also, imo the donkey kong country cartoon and sonic underground are kinda opposites
SU: Good animation, pretty good story, bad music
DKC: Bad animation, good story, great music

Case in point:
Exhibit A

Exhibit B

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Traditionally, they've been so bad that most people prefer to forget they ever existed.
More recently, we've been blessed with consistently decent to great ones.

Detective Pikachu was my favorite, followed by the Sonic the Hedgehog movies.
The Super Mario Bros movie was decent. Didn't expect much from it, with it being made by Illumination and all. I loved all the references they included, the animation was nice, the Peaches song was hilarious, but the plot was nothing special. It didn't really do anything to stand out. As the first ever Mario movie, it didn't need to (don't mention the 1993 movie, I'm trying to purge that from my memory), it just needed to be a faithful reproduction of the video games, which it did a good enough job at. But the sequel is gonna have to shake things up lest the plot be an exact copy of the first one (as the games tend to be)

Super Mario Bros Super Show was the shit back in the day. It probably wouldn't hold up as an adult, but as a kid, I loved it.

 

[Robert Newbie]

Traditionally, they've been so bad that most people prefer to forget they ever existed.
More recently, we've been blessed with consistently decent to great ones.

Detective Pikachu was my favorite, followed by the Sonic the Hedgehog movies.
The Super Mario Bros movie was decent. Didn't expect much from it, with it being made by Illumination and all. I loved all the references they included, the animation was nice, the Peaches song was hilarious, but the plot was nothing special. It didn't really do anything to stand out. As the first ever Mario movie, it didn't need to (don't mention the 1993 movie, I'm trying to purge that from my memory), it just needed to be a faithful reproduction of the video games, which it did a good enough job at. But the sequel is gonna have to shake things up lest the plot be an exact copy of the first one (as the games tend to be)

Super Mario Bros Super Show was the shit back in the day. It probably wouldn't hold up as an adult, but as a kid, I loved it.

I have to re-watch the Illumination Mario Movie, but I remember Peach's characterization being something like "Lisa Simpson in a bad mood." I always thought Peach was mellow to a fault, but that doesn't explain why she's so focused and violent in Smash Bros.

Either way, it was mostly a safe attempt at making a Mario movie that leaves you feeling hollow. It's funny thinking I wanted more from a Mario movie, but I suppose decades of hype will do that, which brings me full circle back to The Simpsons.


Now, the Super Show. That was a trip. I watched it as a kid, and I thought one or two of the Zelda episodes were cool. Jonathan Potts gets respect for his Link, even if the script had infamous stuff like "well, excuuuuse me, Princess." The Mario episodes had good executions sparsely peppered around generic plotlines. We're talking generic generic. I'm sure there was a Romeo and Juliet episode in there.

Lou Albano and Danny Wells did great interpretations. Walker Boone gets a shoutout for his gravely Mario voice in the Super Mario World cartoon. I just looked it up, and everyone was recast for the Mario 3/World cartoon with the exception of Harvey Atkin (King of the Koopers).

As 90's kids, we put up with some seriously questionable quality, from Garfield and Friends to The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (Did you really have to incorporate classical music into the intro song of a Sonic cartoon?).

I could go all day on this.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I have to re-watch the Illumination Mario Movie, but I remember Peach's characterization being something like "Lisa Simpson in a bad mood." I always thought Peach was mellow to a fault, but that doesn't explain why she's so focused and violent in Smash Bros.

Either way, it was mostly a safe attempt at making a Mario movie that leaves you feeling hollow. It's funny thinking I wanted more from a Mario movie, but I suppose decades of hype will do that, which brings me full circle back to The Simpsons.


Now, the Super Show. That was a trip. I watched it as a kid, and I thought one or two of the Zelda episodes were cool. Jonathan Potts gets respect for his Link, even if the script had infamous stuff like "well, excuuuuse me, Princess." The Mario episodes had good executions sparsely peppered around generic plotlines. We're talking generic generic. I'm sure there was a Romeo and Juliet episode in there.

Lou Albano and Danny Wells did great interpretations. Walker Boone gets a shoutout for his gravely Mario voice in the Super Mario World cartoon. I just looked it up, and everyone was recast for the Mario 3/World cartoon with the exception of Harvey Atkin (King of the Koopers).

As 90's kids, we put up with some seriously questionable quality, from Garfield and Friends to The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (Did you really have to incorporate classical music into the intro song of a Sonic cartoon?).

I could go all day on this.

There's not much to go off, since Peach hardly talks in the games. The only game I can think of where we actually saw her talking for more than a few seconds was in Paper Mario TTYD, but she was kidnapped by aliens at the time, so it was extraordinary circumstances.
You would expect her to act all princess-like, but I don't mind the subverting of expectations. The movie made her kind of a badass, which I guess is in line with some of the games, like Super Princess Peach.

Shame I never got to see the Zelda cartoon as a kid, it looks fun, they just never showed it on TV here.

 

[BakerMan]

I have to re-watch the Illumination Mario Movie, but I remember Peach's characterization being something like "Lisa Simpson in a bad mood." I always thought Peach was mellow to a fault, but that doesn't explain why she's so focused and violent in Smash Bros.

Either way, it was mostly a safe attempt at making a Mario movie that leaves you feeling hollow. It's funny thinking I wanted more from a Mario movie, but I suppose decades of hype will do that, which brings me full circle back to The Simpsons.


Now, the Super Show. That was a trip. I watched it as a kid, and I thought one or two of the Zelda episodes were cool. Jonathan Potts gets respect for his Link, even if the script had infamous stuff like "well, excuuuuse me, Princess." The Mario episodes had good executions sparsely peppered around generic plotlines. We're talking generic generic. I'm sure there was a Romeo and Juliet episode in there.

Lou Albano and Danny Wells did great interpretations. Walker Boone gets a shoutout for his gravely Mario voice in the Super Mario World cartoon. I just looked it up, and everyone was recast for the Mario 3/World cartoon with the exception of Harvey Atkin (King of the Koopers).

As 90's kids, we put up with some seriously questionable quality, from Garfield and Friends to The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (Did you really have to incorporate classical music into the intro song of a Sonic cartoon?).

I could go all day on this.

the best part of super show is easily the live action segments imo

 

[Robert Newbie]

There's not much to go off, since Peach hardly talks in the games. The only game I can think of where we actually saw her talking for more than a few seconds was in Paper Mario TTYD, but she was kidnapped by aliens at the time, so it was extraordinary circumstances.
You would expect her to act all princess-like, but I don't mind the subverting of expectations. The movie made her kind of a badass, which I guess is in line with some of the games, like Super Princess Peach.

Shame I never got to see the Zelda cartoon as a kid, it looks fun, they just never showed it on TV here.

To be honest, there were only about a dozen of them made (plus a Captain N episode). It was intriguing to see the Zelda universe more realized, but I'm not sure there's much to be amazed by so many games later. (I had to look it up, DiC would have had only Zelda I and II to go off of.) Now, the show is a curiosity, but I appreciated the callback in the Mario Movie to the Super Show opening. People acknowledge its existence, for better or for worse.

I haven't actually played through a Paper Mario game, but I do know from experience that everyone has a lot to say in an Intelligent Systems game. The localization of IS games must be quite the expensive undertaking.

the best part of super show is easily the live action segments imo

As SMB-themed skits from another dimension, yeah, who doesn't want Mario and Sgt. Slaughter together in one room? (List of Live Action Guest Stars. If you're 24 or under, you probably won't recognize anyone on the list.)

 

[AdenTheThird]

It does seem that most film companies learned from the mid 2000's disastrous videogame-film adaptions and made the best of it (Mario movie, FNAF, Defective Pikachu, Sonic movies all being excellent examples). Faith in said adaptions has largely been restored and I think there's a legitimate market for it going forward.
That being said, there's still plenty of room for error and a bad egg in the mix of good movies isn't improbable.
On a related note, there are rumors floating around of a potential Kingdom Hearts movie that uses both CGI and live-action. As a diehard KH fan, I'm nervous for this as I feel like the characters and atmosphere of Kingdom Hearts are so nuanced that there isn't any one way to tell a story with them that makes all KH fans happy.

 

[Robert Newbie]

Defective Pikachu

Go get Nurse Joy, STAT!

On a related note, there are rumors floating around of a potential Kingdom Hearts movie that uses both CGI and live-action. As a diehard KH fan, I'm nervous for this as I feel like the characters and atmosphere of Kingdom Hearts are so nuanced that there isn't any one way to tell a story with them that makes all KH fans happy.

I have a soft spot for Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. I'd be interested to see a Square-Enix movie in theaters again. I know we had Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, but that was direct-to-DVD, if I remember correctly.

Plus, after Birth by Sleep, I moved on from Kingdom Hearts. Say what you will about the complexity of Metal Gear Solid's lore, at least there's no time travelling. I say bring on the movie adaptation.

 

[AdenTheThird]

Go get Nurse Joy, STAT!


I have a soft spot for Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. I'd be interested to see a Square-Enix movie in theaters again. I know we had Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, but that was direct-to-DVD, if I remember correctly.

Plus, after Birth by Sleep, I moved on from Kingdom Hearts. Say what you will about the complexity of Metal Gear Solid's lore, at least there's no time travelling. I say bring on the movie adaptation.

Goddammit. Defective Pikachu made me laugh way harder than it should've once I realized my mistake.

Idk. Kingdom Hearts lore isn't that bad imo. There's a few weird plot points but nothing that's hard to understand. MGS has great lore too, and much more digestible.

 

[hippy dave]

So idk what the overarching themes are of the various Fallout games, but I feel like the series was mostly about getting ahead.

 

[The Catboy]

Controversial opinion, the Super Mario Movie was just barely above mid and generic.
As for my contribution, Cyberpunk Edgerunners

 

[Robert Newbie]

Controversial opinion, the Super Mario Movie was just barely above mid and generic.

Nah, I agree. There were/are plenty of safe-but-inspiring character journeys that they could have been chosen, but the writers decided to prioritize style over substance. Separating Mario and Luigi was an absolutely lazy choice, in my opinion.

I think it was good considering what it could have been. I'm sure the Mario Movie dodged Bullet Bills during its development, and all it really needed to do was surpass the infamy of the 1993 movie. (I admit, I do have to re-watch that one with fresh eyes.) In the end, the Mario Movie is shallow, but I don't think it's unfair to say it did "just enough" right.

 

[Marc_LFD]

The good...

I can't wait for TLoU Season 2 and seeing Pedro Pascal play Joel again.

The bad...

The Knuckles show was disappointing. Elba made Knuckles voice sound too deep and the show focused on the human character what's his name... Wade.

I also watched the pilot episode of Fallout, but didn't really like it (mainly because of Lucy's character it just bored the hell out of me). Wasn't gonna watch the rest of that junk just for Walton Goggins.

 

[BakerMan]

If you think you had a strange relationship, just remember this guy had feelings for a plant

 

[BakerMan]

Guys, it's national coconut cream pie day today, so I gotta do it.

(E X P A N D D O N G)

 

[Robert Newbie]

Guys, it's national coconut cream pie day today, so I gotta do it.

(E X P A N D D O N G)

You place that Donkey Kong back in its DK Barrel this instant.

 

[slaphappygamer]

The Legend of Zelda cartoons were great. I loved them. I remember there was a card set. I think they came in a cereal box. I had a couple. I believe they were sticker cards.

 

[BakerMan]

The Legend of Zelda cartoons were great. I loved them. I remember there was a card set. I think they came in a cereal box. I had a couple. I believe they were sticker cards.

Well excuuuuuuuuse me princess.