In the same vein as The Film of the Book, this is when a game is adapted into a series, usually an Anime. It's extremely common in the case of Visual Novels.
A Sub-Trope to Animated Adaptation; video games, by their very nature, are already animated (though cases that adapt them into live-action series also count as examples). RPGs in particular tend to have sprawling plotlines narrowed or cut entirely.
If you're looking for the reverse of this trope — that is, the game derived from the anime — see Licensed Game. For examples of games adapted to films, see Video Game Movies.
Examples (by type of series adapted to):
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Anime
- .hack//SIGN is an aversion. It's not an adaptation as much as a side story for the game, and a cross-promotional thing. However, others in the .hack franchise exist. .hack//G.U. Trilogy The Movie is a CGI Alternate Universe of the G.U. games.
- SIGN acts more as a prequel but .hack//Liminality is a full blown side story.
- 11eyes
- Ace Attorney
- Adventure Island was very loosely adapted into the show Bugtte Honey, which in turn had its own game adaptation.
- AIR
- Akiba's Trip
- Amagami
- The Otome Game Amnesia: Memories
- Ange Vierge
- Angelique has four OVAs (two of which make absolutely no sense if you don't play the games or read the standalone manga associated with them) and two separate TV series.
- Animal Crossing: The Movie
- Ao Oni: The Animation
- Ape Escape got one in the form of Saru Getchu -On Air-
- Arcana Famiglia
- Arc the Lad
- Art of Fighting (the Battle Spirits TV special)
- Aselia the Eternal - The Spirit of Eternity Sword got a two-part OVA.
- Azure Striker Gunvolt
- Azur Lane has two anime adaptations, but only the first one is directly based on the game (the other is based on its manga spinoff Azur Lane: Slow Ahead!, which itself is based on the game)
- Battle Arena Toshinden had a 2-part OVA.
- Bayonetta: Bloody Fate
- BlazBlue got an anime adaptation, entitled BlazBlue: Alter Memory.
- Blessing of the Campanella
- Blue Archive
- Blue Dragon
- Bomberman:
- Bomberman Jetters, which was adapted back into a game.
- And prior to that, Bomberman B-Daman Bakugaiden, in both manga and anime forms.
- B-Daman, for non-Bomberman spinoffs of Bakugaiden:
- A Bridge to the Starry Skies
- Bungo to Alchemist
- Canvas 2
- Castle Fantasia: Seima Taisen
- Chaos Dragon is a 2015 anime with an All-Star Cast, adapted from a six-day Tabletop RPG session of Red Dragon
.
- Chaos;Head, although most fans prefer to think it never got one.
- Chrono Trigger has a Nuumamonja OVA which focused on a Poyozo and a Nu who make up the band Nuumamonja at the Millennial Fair. None of the playable characters are in it except a few shots of the back of Crono and Lucca's heads, but it does include NPCs like Johnny and Gato and plenty of references to the game.
- CLANNAD
- Cosmic Fantasy
- Comic Party
- Corpse Party: Missing Footage and Tortured Souls OVAs
- Cosmo Warrior Zero: Based on a First-Person Shooter in the Leijiverse.
- Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is a spin-off/prequel set in the universe of Cyberpunk 2077.
- Da Capo and its sequels.
- Danganronpa: The Animation
- Dante's Inferno. No, not the "piece of classic literature" one. The game. They made an OVA based on it, and then Dante spun in his grave so fast that he went back in time.
- Darkstalkers (Night Warriors: Darkstalker's Revenge OVA), separate from the Western series.
- Deemo Memorial Keys
- Demonbane
- Devil May Cry: The Animated Series occurs after Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening and the first Devil May Cry, but before Devil May Cry 2 and Devil May Cry 4, according to Word of God and some Continuity Nods. note
- Devil Survivor 2: The Animation
- Diabolik Lovers
- Makai Senki Disgaea, based on Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
- Dinosaur King, which then got adapted into another game.
- Dōkyūsei had several OVAs, the first of which was dubbed into English as End of Summer.
- Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker.
- Dragon Knight
- Dragon Quest:
- Dragon Quest: Legend of the Hero Abel, based on the third game.
- Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai
- Dragon Quest: Your Story, a CGI anime adaptation of the fifth game.
- Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes (two-part OVA based on the first game)
- Duel Masters
- ef - a fairy tale of the two.: was adapted to ef ~ a tale of memories and then ef ~ a tale of melodies.
- Ensemble Stars!
- Fatal Fury (the two Battle Fighters TV specials and The Motion Picture)
- Fate/stay night has a 2006 anime series by Studio DEEN based on the Fate route, followed by a 2010 movie adapting the Unlimited Blade Works route.
- ufotable produced an 26 episode series based on Unlimited Blade Works in the style of their Fate/Zero adaptation in 2014. uotable then produced a trilogy of movies based on the Heaven's Feel route.
- Studio Shaft produced the 10-episode Fate/Extra Last Encore, an alternate take of the events of the game Fate/EXTRA
- The Fate/Grand Order mobile game has a few anime adapting and expanding the game's story. In particular, there is a 21-episode 2019 anime from Cloverworks adapting the "Bablyonia" chapter, and a 2020 movie duology from Production I.G adapting the "Camelot" chapter.
- Fight League: Gear Gadget Generators, adapted from the now-defunct mobile game.
- Final Fantasy:
- Final Fantasy: Unlimited
- And the OAV Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals, although it was more of a sequel.
- There's also Advent Children and Last Order: Final Fantasy VII, but the former is sequel and the latter only adapts a small segment of the original game, rather than both being spin-offs.
- Fire Emblem had a two-part OVA based on Mystery of the Emblem (which in turn was a partial remake of the original game). Was actually released in English (albeit rather quietly), predating Marth's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee by a few years.
- F-Zero: GP Legend, best known for
spawningascending the FALCON PUNCH meme.
- Gakuen Heaven
- Galaxy Angel, which turned Pragmatic Adaptation (the game was delayed but the anime wasn't) into an art form to create a downright hilarious Gag Series.
- Galaxy Fraulein Yuna (Most non-Japanese fans probably don't even know the games exist. Granted, they're kinda old .. but they did come first.)
- Galerians: Rion, an OVA produced in 2002
- Ganbare Goemon
- Ganbare Goemon: Jigen-jō no Akumu: An OVA which parodied other Konami games (namely Castlevania, Gradius, and TwinBee).
- Anime Ganbare Goemon (aka Legend of the Mystical Ninja): A TV series which lasted 23 episodes, the only one to ever see an English release.
- Ganbare Goemon: Chikyū Kyūshutsu Sakusen (The second OVA)
- Gate Keepers
- Girls' Frontline
- God Eater
- Granblue Fantasy
- Green Green
- Gungrave
- Hakuouki
- Halo Legends. Unique in that it is not an adaptation of any Halo game, but rather an Expanded Universe anime anthology of a Western series, tailored exclusively for a Western audience.
- Hammerin' Harry has several online webisodes.
- Happiness
- Hero Bank
- Hiiro no Kakera
- Hourglass of Summer had a Japan-only two-episode OVA, which had the problems you'd expect from trying to fit a 10-hour character route into a 45-minute anime.
- Hyperdimension Neptunia the Animation
- Idolish 7
- The iDOLM@STER
- Idolmaster: Xenoglossia
- The iDOLM@STER - a more faithful adaptation of the original game.
- THE iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls
- THE iDOLM@STER: SideM
- Idol Project (based on a PC-98 game series)
- Inazuma Eleven
- Ingress: The Animation
- Juuzaengi has an OVA.
- Kanon
- KanColle
- Kid Icarus: Uprising has three shorts that premiered on the discontinued Nintendo 3DS app Nintendo Video: Thanatos Rising (by Production I.G), Medusa's Revenge (by Studio 4°C), and Palutena's Revolting Dinner (by Studio Shaft). Additionally, Palutena's introduction trailer for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U was also animated by Studio Shaft.
- The King of Fighters: Another Day (web series produced as a tie-in to KOF Maximum Impact and King of Fighters 2003)
- Kirby: Right Back at Ya! is an adaptation of the Kirby games. It's very unique because it's a standalone show set in an Alternate Universe loosely inspired by the whole series, rather than being created to promote a particular game; Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land and Kirby Air Ride were actually released to promote the anime, not the other way around. Most Kirby fans are also fans of the anime, in large part because the creator of the games, Masahiro Sakurai, was heavily involved in its development.
- Koihime†Musou
- La Corda d'Oro
- Layton Mystery Detective Agency
- LBX: Little Battlers eXperience
- Legend of Mana: The Teardrop Crystal
- Little Busters!
- Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club, based on Love Live! School Idol Festival ALL STARS
- Majikoi! Love Me Seriously!
- MapleStory
- Mashiro-iro Symphony
- Mass Effect: Paragon Lost
- Mega Man:
- Mega Man: Upon a Star - A three episode educational anime based on the original series that was produced to teach western children about Japanese culture. The blue bomber is even addressed by his overseas name "Mega Man" in the original Japanese dub (one scene even has a Japanese kid inserting an NES Mega Man 5 cartridge on an A/V Famicom).
- MegaMan NT Warrior (2002) - A more conventional anime adaptation of Mega Man Battle Network that lasted 209 TV episodes and The Movie.
- Mega Man Star Force - A follow-up to NT Warrior based on the Star Force games that lasted 76 episodes.
- The Day of Sigma - A prologue OAV that was included with Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X, the Updated Re-release of Mega Man X.
- Momotaro Densetsu
- Monster Hunter Stories: Ride On
- Monster Rancher
- Musou Kakyou: A Summer Day's Dream, a fan-made Touhou Project anime. Which somehow managed to nab professional actors.
- Namu Amida Butsu! -UTENA-
- Nanatsuiro★Drops
- NieR: Automata
- Nightwalker is based on a PC-98 game released about 5 years prior to the show, and holds the distinction of being the first eroge adapted for television.
- Night Wizard! is a Japanese pen & paper RPG that got a 2007 anime based on a campaign replay, which was included on the DVD as an alternate audio track.
- Ninja Gaiden - 1991 Japan-only OVA set after the events of the NES trilogy.
- Onimusha
- Otoboku - Maidens Are Falling For Me
- Panzer Dragoon OVA
- PaRappa the Rapper and PJ Berri No Mogu Mogu Munya Munya
- Persona:
- Persona 3: The Movie is a four-film adaptation of (obviously) the popular game Persona 3.
- Persona -trinity soul- is a loose (and officially non-canon) sequel to Persona 3.
- Persona 4: The Animation, a straight adaptation of, well, Persona 4. Easily also one of the most visually impressive anime from a game as well.
- Persona 4: The Golden Animation, a second adaptation by a different studio, A-1 Pictures (which was part of the team that animated the original game's cutscenes). It focuses on the new material added in the Updated Re-release of Persona 4, Persona 4: Golden.
- Persona 5: The Day Breakers is a one-episode Adaptation Expansion of one of Persona 5's side-missions.
- Persona 5: The Animation, a 24-episode anime adaptation of Persona 5 that aired in 2018.
- Petite Princess Yucie, for Princess Maker.
- Phantasy Star Online 2 has two.
- Phantasy Star Online 2: The Animation is rather unusual in that it adapts the game... as an in-universe game. It's also a Stealth Prequel to in-game content.
- Phantasy Star Online 2: Episode Oracle is a more standard anime adaptation, adapting the first three Episodes of the game (which comprise the first major story arc).
- Phantom ~Requiem For The Phantom~ an adaptation of the visual novel Phantom of Inferno. It also got a short OVA that is mostly forgotten these days.
- Pokémon:
- Pokémon: The Series: Easily the most successful series based on a game. They only loosely reference each other though.
- Pokémon: The Original Series
- Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire
- Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl
- Pokémon the Series: Black & White
- Pokémon the Series: XY
- Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon
- Pokémon Journeys: The Series
- Pokémon Horizons: The Series
- Pokémon Chronicles: This is a spinoff series to the main anime series that puts Ash's friends in the spotlight, while Ash doesn't appear in most episodes barring a few flashbacks.
- Pokémon Origins: Red and Blue compressed into four episodes. Truer to the Text than the main anime.
- Pokémon Generations: Various points of the Pokemon video games adapted into anime. Like the above, it's much more faithful to the games than the main anime.
- Pokémon: Twilight Wings: A series of shorts that take place in the Galar region.
- Pokétoon: A series of shorts that tell original stories set in the world of Pokemon, rather than adapt any of the games.
- Pokémon Evolutions: Various points of the Pokemon video games adapted into anime. Like the above, it's much more faithful to the games than the main anime.
- Pokémon: The Series: Easily the most successful series based on a game. They only loosely reference each other though.
- Power Stone is based on the game series of the same name.
- Pretty Series
- Princess Connect! Re:Dive
- Princess Lover!
- Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva
- Psychic Force had a 2-episode OVA.
- Puyo Puyo (had 9 shorts based on the series and Madou Monogatari released through Compile's Discstation magazine, alongside shorts of the company's other series.)
- Quiz Magic Academy was adapted into two OVAs, the first being released in 2008 and the second in 2010.
- Rage of Bahamut: Genesis and its second season Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul are prequels to the game Rage of Bahamut.
- Ragnarok the Animation
- Record of Lodoss War was based on several D&D campaigns and could have become an official TSR product, if they weren't turned down. Instead they made their own super generic rules & setting combo that led to two more series (Legend Of Crystania and Rune Soldier Louie).
- Rewrite
- Robotics;Notes
- The Sakura Wars franchise has had various anime adaptations.
- The first OVA, The Gorgeous Blooming Cherry Blossoms, takes place before and during the events of Sakura Wars (1996).
- The second OVA, The Radiant Gorgeous Blooming Cherry Blossoms, takes place during the events of both Sakura Wars and Sakura Wars 2: Thou Shalt Not Die.
- The TV series is an Alternate Continuity set within the original 1996 game.
- The Ècole de Paris and Le Nouveau Paris OVAs respectively serve as a prequel and sequel to Sakura Wars 3: Is Paris Burning?.
- Sakura Wars: The Movie takes place between Is Paris Burning? and Sakura Wars 4: Fall in Love, Maidens.
- The New York, New York OVA is set after the events of Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love.
- The Sakura Wars the Animation TV series is set one year after the events of Sakura Wars (2019).
- Salamander which were OAVs based off the Gradius universe.
- Samurai Shodown had the Motion Picture (actually a made-for-TV special), which completely deviated from the game's plot and characterizations, and in the case of Amakusa, gender.
- There are also two other OAVs that were never released outside of Japan. The first was a preface to Samurai Shodown: Warrior's Rage, while the second was based on a Japan-only visual novel game starring Nakoruru.
- Sands of Destruction received both an anime and manga adaptation. The manga is Truer to the Text, whereas the anime is better thought of as an exercise in Alternative Character Interpretation.
- Scarlet Nexus
- School Days
- Sengoku Basara
- Shadowverse - It's not centered around the characters from the actual game's story mode, but around kids that play the game.
- SHUFFLE!
- SiN: The Movie
- Shenmue: The Animation
- Show by Rock!!
- Soul Link
- Sonic the Hedgehog:
- Sonic The Hedgehog: An OVA co-produced and supervised by Sega, with co-creators Yuji Naka and Naoto Oshima of Sonic Team being production directors.
- Sonic X, which totally redid most of the plot and setting of the two Adventure games, with some references to a couple other games including Battle in there as well.
- Star Fox Zero got a CG anime adaption from Production I.G and Wit Studio of the first mission in the game.
- Star Ocean EX
- Star Soldier is a very unique (not to mention odd) case, not only because the movie was released alongside the game to promote it (probably the first to do this), but because it is actually about how the game was made!
- Steins;Gate
- Street Fighter
- Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie - Theatrical film.
- Street Fighter II V - TV series depicting the adventures of a younger Ryu and Ken.
- Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation - A 2-episode OVA based on the Street Fighter Alpha series.
- Street Fighter Alpha: Generations - A single-episode OVA made specifically for the American market.
- Street Fighter IV: The Ties That Bind - An tie-in OVA set in the game's canon that was released as a bonus with the console version of Street Fighter IV.
- Super Street Fighter IV - A follow-up tie-in OVA centered around then-new character, Juri Han.
- Super Mario Bros.
- Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Save Princess Peach! - a Japan-only theatrical film released around the same time as Super Mario Bros. 2 (The Lost Levels). It was notorious for pairing Peach with a Canon Foreigner named Prince Haru (needless to say Mario/Peach shippers were not happy).
- There were also a trilogy of OVA tie-ins to Super Mario Bros. 3 that adapted the Japanese folktales of Momotaro and Issunboshi, as well as an adaptation of "Snow White" (with Bowser in a drag as the evil queen).
- "Video Game/Super Mario World" Mario & Yoshi's Adventure Land: An 28-minute interactive video published by Bandai.
- Super Robot Wars: Original Generation (Which is strangely recursive if you think about it too hard.)
- Super Robot Wars Original Generation: The Animation - A 3-episode OVA semi-sequel to the second game.
- Super Robot Wars Original Generation: Divine Wars - TV series re-telling of the first game from one protagonist's perspective.
- Super Robot Wars Original Generation: The Inspectors - A 2010 TV series based on the second game..
- The Tales Series has a Tales of Symphonia OVA series, a Tales of Phantasia OVA series and a 12-Episode Anime of Tales of Eternia. Tales of the Abyss got a 26-episode series which aired in the fall of 2008. Tales of Vesperia got a prequel movie. Tales of Zestiria got both a 45 minute OVA to promote the game and a full anime series in April 2016.
- Tayutama
- Tears to Tiara
- Tekken: The Motion Picture
- To Heart and To Heart 2 and the three To Heart 2 OVA series.
- The Tokimeki Memorial series has three anime adaptations - a two-episode OVA based on the first game, a 25-episode TV series (plus one DVD-exclusive episode) based on the now-defunct Tokimeki Memorial Online, and another OVA that serves as a prologue to Tokimeki Memorial 4.
- Tokyo Majin
- Tōka Gettan
- Touken Ranbu
- The Tower of Druaga: The Aegis of Uruk and The Tower of Druaga: The Sword of Uruk are based on The Tower of Druaga series of dungeon crawlers and set sixty years after the first one. One episode even focuses on references to the game and old style gaming arcades.
- Trails Series
- Triangle Heart 3: Sweet Songs Forever
- And while we're at it, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, adapted from a Spin-Off of the above that most fans don't even know exists.
- Shingetsutan Tsukihime
- Twinbee Paradise (OVA) is kind of a weird case, as it may have been based off of the Radio Dramas that were based on the video games.
- Uta No Prince-sama
- Utawarerumono
- Valkyria Chronicles
- Variable Geo a 3-part OVA by KSS that's loosely based on the Advanced V.G. fighting game series (which was a reboot of the original H-game continuity), so there's no hentai content.
- Variable Geo: Neo is unrelated to the first OVA, as it's based on one of the other games and is a hentai series.
- Viewtiful Joe
- Virtua Fighter
- Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer (three part OVA titled Gowcaizer: The Voltage Fighters)
- We Without Wings
- When They Cry:
- Wild ARMs: Twilight Venom is not an adaptation of one of the games, but a story separate from the game, but set in the same universe.
- Wizardry
- The World Ends With You: The Animation, based off of the game The World Ends with You.
- Xenosaga, but it was only based on the first game...
- Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito
- Ys, an anime adapted from the first two games of the franchise.
- Yosuga no Sora
- Yo-kai Watch
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: Capsule Monsters is based on the real-life Capsule Monsters card game, not the Capsule Monsters game from the manga.
- YU-NO had two adaptations; an R-18 four episode OVA based on the original game, and an anime based on the remake.
- Yumeria
- Zone of the Enders: Dolores, i is not an adaptation, but a side-story that takes place both before and after the first game.
- Specifically, the Idolo OVA takes place before the first game, and the actual Dolores, i series takes place between the original and Second Runner.
Asian Animation
- The King of Fighters: Destiny
- Roco Kingdom, an MMORPG from China, has a webtoon and a television cartoon based off of it.
Web Animation
- The popular Arfenhouse Flash movies were loosely based on a series of freeware spoof RPGs using the OHRRPGCE engine.
- Before Bandai Namco Entertainment shut ShiftyLook down, it created three animated web-series based on its Bravoman and Wonder Momo comics, as well as Mappy, which had no corresponding comic. The Bravoman series was perhaps the most notable of the three, as it had high production values and featured prolific voice actors such as Rob Paulsen, Dee Bradley Baker, and Jennifer Hale; Wonder Momo was a web anime with a Japanese voice cast, as part of a largely failed attempt to make the series a multimedia project; Mappy featured a low budget, extremely limited animation, and only two voice actors for most of the series, something which it regularly lampoons.
- ShiftyLook aside, Namco also adapted and recycled the story assets from the cancelled Real-Time Strategy game New Space Order for its 10-episode web-anime tie-in Link of Life. Though the game was long cancelled, the anime can be watched and downloaded.
- Sonic Mania Plus and Team Sonic Racing both received a series of promotional web animated shorts, Sonic Mania Adventures and Team Sonic Racing Overdrive, all directed under the art style of Tyson Hesse.
- Subway Surfers: The Animated Series is an animated web-series based off of the mobile game Subway Surfers.
Web Videos
- Mortal Kombat: Legacy is a live-action web series directed by NetherRealm Studios that is a more realistic take on the Mortal Kombat series, inspired by the pitch video Mortal Kombat: Rebirth.
- Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist, an adaptation of Street Fighter produced by Capcom that was originally uploaded on Machinima.
Western Animation
- Ape Escape had a Nicktoons flash-animated cartoon.
- Arcane, a Netflix original series showing the shared backstory of a number of League of Legends champions in the layered cities of Piltover and Zaun, centering on Vi and Jinx.
- Backyard Sports had a TV special, NFL Backyard Basics: Football Tips from the Pros.
- BattleTech
- Battletoads had a pilot episode aired as a try-out for a potential series. It was never made into a full series.
- A Bubsy pilot was made and broadcast.
- Captain N: The Game Master is a borderline case, since it is a Massive Multiplayer Crossover in an original setting.
- Castlevania (2017) is an animesque Netflix Original Series by Frederator Studios based on the long-running Castlevania series, mainly Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse with elements from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Castlevania: Curse of Darkness.
- Castlevania: Nocturne is a Sequel Series to the 2017 series, based off Castlevania: Rondo of Blood.
- The Cuphead Show!
- Darkstalkers had a short one-season series.
- Donkey Kong Country, a French/Canadian adaptation of a British-developed installment of a Japanese franchise.
- DOTA: Dragon's Blood, an animesque Netflix Original Series based loosely on the world and heroes of Dota 2. It specifically stars Dragon Knight, Mirana, Luna, Invoker, and Terrorblade.
- Double Dragon (1993) - 26-episodes in 1994 and 1995. It barely had anything to do with the original games as Billy and Jimmy were turned into twins separate from birth and were given beam-shooting swords and dragon masks. It had a tie-in fighting game for the SNES, Genesis, and Jaguar.
- Dragon's Lair
- Dungeons & Dragons (1983)
- Earthworm Jim, which was also one of the few early Western Animation examples that was well-received.
- An Eternal Champions series was planned, but the franchise as a whole was stopped dead in its tracks early on in its life to pump Sega of Japan's Virtua Fighter.
- Heavy Gear: The CGI series suffered from Adaptation Decay to the point where the tabletop RPG retconned it as in-universe Southern Republic propaganda.
- Super fighting robot... Mega Man! This one is an interesting example, as it was a joint effort between Ruby-Spears and a Japanese animation studio, and has a somewhat Animesque artstyle.
- Mega Man: Fully Charged, a High School AU and produced by Man of Action Studios, began airing in Fall of 2018.
- Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, which also marked the debut of antagonist Quan Chi, who would go on to later appear in future games, starting with Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat 4.
- Mutant League had a cartoon that ran for two seasons, which is pretty lengthy considering most video game cartoons don't last past one season.
- Pac-Man
- Pole Position, In Name Only
- The Power Team (aka Acclaim Masters), a cartoon co-produced by DIC Entertainment, Bohbot Entertainment and Acclaim, which took the basic premise of Captain N and inverted it by having five characters from different Acclaim-published console games (NARC, Wizards & Warriors, Arch Rivals, Kwirk, and Bigfootnote ) transported to the "real world" in order to protect it from either Mr. Big and his gang (from NARC) or the evil wizard Malkil (from Wizards and Warriors) depending on the episode. The cartoon originated as a series of shorts that aired within the first season of Video Power (i.e., when it was a game reviewing show). When Video Power became a game show in its second season, the Power Team segments were then re-edited into half-hour episodes.
- Rayman had a 3D series that only lasted four episodes. A full season was planned, but it's rumored that the company didn't have a large enough budget for the rest of the episodes.
- Sam & Max: Freelance Police is another borderline case, based on a game based on a comic.
- Saturday Supercade had several: Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Junior, Frogger, Pitfall! and Q*bert. In the second season, Kangaroo and Space Ace replaced Frogger and Pitfall.
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Street Fighter, although this one was actually written as a semi-sequel to the movie.
- The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! is a part live-action series with animated segments based on Super Mario Bros. 2 (with Bowser/King Koopa substituting for Wart) and The Legend of Zelda (1989). It was retooled for the second season as a purely animated show based on Super Mario Bros. 3 and for its third and final season, it was reduced to 15-minute segments based on Super Mario World alongside Captain N.
- Tak and the Power of Juju: An interesting example of Adaptation Displacement, as the animated series was meant to come out alongside of the original game; the show ended up being delayed so much that the entire trilogy came out before the cartoon premiered, resulting in the games being more well-known and the series differing from those titles in several ways.
- Tomb Raider had an online series on Gametap.
- Viva Piñata
- Wakfu: The animated series was always intended as part of a cross-media franchise, but the game's universe was the first to be established, it being a continuation of its predecessor Dofus.
- Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?
- Wing Commander Academy, done by the same guys that made Exo Squad. Unusual for, despite being a Pragmatic Adaptation on what was then a low-budget cable channel, being incredibly detailed and accurate to the games (down to the instrument panels), even having the motion-capture actors (including Thomas F. Wilson, Malcolm McDowell and even Mark Hamill) reprise their roles from the games!
