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LostHero
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I\'ll post the deleted entries here, in case anyone still wants to see them. You may wanna close these if you want to get to the bottom of the page, or else the trip will take about a year:
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I\\\'ll post the deleted entries here, in case anyone still wants to see them. You may wanna close these if you want to get to the bottom of the page, as otherwise the trip will take about a year:
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** Strangely enough, \'\'Wing Commander III\'\', \'\'IV\'\' and to a lesser extent, \'\'Prophesy\'\' were all notable games in that they depended on actors in full motion video sequences to move the plot along. Many fans argue that the games have more well-known and better quality actors (MarkHamill, John Rhys-Davies, Malcolm [=McDowell=], Ginger Lynn) than those who got signed up to do the \
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** Strangely enough, \\\'\\\'Wing Commander III\\\'\\\', \\\'\\\'IV\\\'\\\' and to a lesser extent, \\\'\\\'Prophesy\\\'\\\' were all notable games in that they depended on actors in full motion video sequences to move the plot along. Many fans argue that the games have more well-known and better quality actors (MarkHamill, John Rhys-Davies, Malcolm [=McDowell=], Ginger Lynn) than those who got signed up to do the \\\"big budget\\\" movie.
*** According to at least one interview, the Kilrathi costumes were actually accurately designed, and truly \\\'\\\'menacing\\\'\\\' in appearance -- but due to the sets\\\' low ceilings, the costumes could not stand at full height.
** Even more bizarrely, the movie was co-written and directed by Chris Roberts, who was the Lead Designer of the games.A lot of the suck factor is rumored to be due to good old fashioned [[ExecutiveMeddling studio interference]], being forced to cut out several major subplots and the budget being slashed part-way through filming. The result was bad enough to make Roberts cry the first time he saw it... ExecutiveMeddling can ruin any movie, any time, anywhere.
* A lot of anime {{OVA}}s based on {{fighting game}}s tend to land on the bad end of the scale, partially because the plot to most fighting games is pretty thin to begin with, making it hard to write a decent script. (A major example: \\\'\\\'{{Tekken}}: The Motion Picture\\\'\\\', which is actually an OVA).
* Any and every video game property that UweBoll has turned his hand to, from \\\'\\\'Film/HouseOfTheDead\\\'\\\' (which shares one character name with its source, used clips from the \\\'\\\'games\\\'\\\' and featured no houses at all) onward. A running joke in the industry is that you\\\'ve made it when Uwe Boll asks to make a movie of your game. HideoKojima [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome refuses to speak to him]]. For any reason at all.
** Uwe Boll is particularly noteworthy -- and reviled -- because many gamers believe that the games he adapted could\\\'ve made good movies if they\\\'d been handled by the right people, rather than someone, who, despite his denials, seems to be out to make tax breaks for rich Germans rather than watchable films.\\\\\\\\
\\\\\\\\
That, and he has stated that he sets out to make bad game films on purpose as a [[TakeThat \\\'fuck you cunt\\\']] to video gamers, who he absolutely reviles. He says he\\\'s willing to fight any gamer who criticizes him; that\\\'s how much hatred and loathing he holds. Of course, if you\\\'re the sort whose bite is just as big as his bark -- like internet funnyman and Muay Thai practitioner {{Seanbaby}} -- then he\\\'ll immediately back down, further confirming him to be an out-and-out douche.
** One of Boll\\\'s more recent projects is \\\'\\\'{{Postal}}\\\'\\\', a DeadBabyComedy based on the darkly humorous shoot-em-up from Running With Scissors. The film takes RefugeInAudacity just so it can {{anvilicious}}ly snipe at the War on Terror and just about everything else that\\\'s wrong with 21st century America, as well as the hordes of angry video game nerds who despise Uwe Boll\\\'s existence. But since a few people seem to be entertained by the film, and not just in a [=~So Bad It\\\'s Good~=] way (it even won \\\"Best of Festival\\\" at the 2008 Hoboken Film Festival), \\\'\\\'Postal\\\'\\\' may be Boll\\\'s best video game movie yet... which isn\\\'t saying much.
** Uwe Boll is getting better at filmmaking as time goes by, and this makes his films MUCH less watchable, thanks to smoothing over everything that made his movies [[SoBadItsGood horribly hilarious]] and leaving nothing but boring mediocrity behind.
** In the \\\'\\\'DungeonSiege\\\'\\\' movie, the nameless farmer main character was actually named \\\"Farmer\\\", he had a PrecisionGuidedBoomerang, and the movie looked a little too much like \\\'\\\'Film/TheLordOfTheRings\\\'\\\'. But he said it\\\'s nothing like \\\'\\\'Film/TheLordOfTheRings\\\'\\\' because, and get this, the \\\'\\\'movie isn\\\'t about a ring\\\'\\\' so it\\\'s okay. But he gains points for having the movie just as non-interactive as the original game.
** Funnily enough, this trope is starting to work [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames backwards]] for Boll, with the movie (and game) \\\'\\\'1968 Tunnel Rats\\\'\\\'.
** Interestingly, when Boll is working from an original, non-video-game property, quality tends to shoot up to at least watchable, and sometimes even good on their own merits. See: \\\'\\\'Film/{{Rampage}}\\\'\\\' (which has been called, on this very wiki, [[SpiritualLicensee a better adaptation]] of \\\'\\\'Postal\\\'\\\' than Boll\\\'s officially licensed adaptation), \\\'\\\'Darfur\\\'\\\', or ([[YourMileageMayVary arguably]]) \\\'\\\'1968 Tunnel Rats\\\'\\\'. Of course, the fact that he\\\'s shown himself to be perfectly competent as a director when he wants to be only lends more credence to the accusations that his crappier, video-game-based output is made to take advantage of tax breaks.
** [[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=571 This SequentialArt page.]]
** [[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=637 and this one, an insult to the Old High Ones]]
* \\\'\\\'Film/DoubleDragon\\\'\\\': Moved to a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles for no apparent reason, replaced the BigBad with a CorruptCorporateExecutive, and generally kept nothing of the games\\\' plot except \\\"brothers who use martial arts and wear red and blue\\\". Alyssa Milano\\\'s ass in denim short-shorts makes a sterling effort to save this film, yet still fails. There are a few good things in the film, once one gets past the jokey tone and ridiculous plot. Robert Patrick [[LargeHam chews the scenery with gusto]] [[EvilIsHammy as the villain]] and [[EvilIsCool gets all the best lines]]. Martial artist Marc Dacascos does his best in the action scenes. And of course, the aforementioned part of Alyssa Milano\\\'s anatomy. The dead weight in the film is definitely Scott Wolf, who can\\\'t act, fight, or evoke any emotion in the audience outside of annoyance, which is why they had his character (Billy Lee) turned from just about as skilled in fighting as his brother Jimmy into a wimp who is more into the brains than brawn.
** The JeanClaudeVanDamme movie \\\'\\\'Double Impact\\\'\\\', while flawed, did a better job adapting the basic premise of the \\\'\\\'DoubleDragon\\\'\\\' games than the actual \\\'\\\'Film/DoubleDragon\\\'\\\' movie, making it practically a [[SpiritualLicensee spiritual adaptation]]. It actually takes itself seriously for one and it even features Bolo Yeung (who is coincidentally the inspiration for the enemy character Abobo) as a barrel-tossing henchman.
* Although this one was thankfully canceled, it still definitely belongs here. A few years ago, a \\\'\\\'[[SoulSeries Soul Calibur]]\\\'\\\' movie called \\\"Soulcalibur Endgame\\\" was in the works, but it had \\\'\\\'\\\'[[InNameOnly absolutely no characters or settings or plot points from the games]]\\\'\\\'\\\', and the holy spirit sword Soul Calibur was to be portrayed as [[UnholyHolySword the evil blade]] instead of the demonic Soul Edge. Perhaps the production\\\'s cancellation in 2007 was the result of someone finally looking at their horrible attempt at a game-to-movie adaptation and realizing, \\\"Wow, this really does suck\\\".
** To be particularly specific, the movie\\\'s plot went something like this: The Shaolin monks choose a handful of warriors to go to Europe and destroy the demon sword \\\"Soulcalibur\\\" before the generic villainous prince who currently wields it can use its dark powers to open the gates of Hell and take over the world.
** FunnyAneurysmMoment: In Sigfried\\\'s ending in SoulCaliburIV (2008), The Soul Calibur [[spoiler: turns the world into crystal, effectively ending it.]]
* \\\'\\\'MapleStory\\\'\\\' is another example. Take away the classes and heroes that made \\\'\\\'MapleStory\\\'\\\' the game it is and replace it with a beginner class brat who runs around with a rock to train with a lousy wooden sword. A HalfHumanHybrid magician and several furries joining them in an adventure with little relation to the mainline plot? Well we got ourselves one of the crappiest animes known to man. And to think they were going to do a parody version similar to \\\'\\\'[=~8-Bit Theater~=]\\\'\\\'.
* \\\'\\\'StreetFighterTheLegendOfChunLi\\\'\\\' makes [[Film/StreetFighter the Jean-Claude Van Damme]] movie below look like cinematic gold. The whole thing focuses around Chun-Li, who wanted to be a concert pianist. Gen is almost the same age as her. Ryu and Ken don\\\'t appear at all, Ryu only on a poster near the end, and neither do many of the StreetFighter characters, the only ones appearing being Chun-Li, Gen, Charlie, M. Bison (who is now a rich Irish gentleman), Vega, Balrog (who is the second-in-command of Shadaloo), Rose (who is M. Bison\\\'s daughter which makes more sense than [[SoulJar what she is in the games]] admittedly), and Crimson Viper (Going only by her \\\'\\\'The Ties That Bind\\\'\\\' name/alias \\\"Maya\\\" and turned into Charlie\\\'s love interest). Worse, none of them have any of their characterization or plot from the games. It\\\'s definitely [=~DarthWiki/So Bad It\\\'s Horrible~=], and [[AwardSnub it\\\'s a wonder how the crap it got shafted from]] the {{Golden Raspberry Award}}s.
** Vega really got the shaft in this movie. The character is supposed to be in essence, a Spanish Ninja, who mixes bullfighting with more traditional martial arts techniques to create his own unique blend and is generally considered as one of the deadliest fighters in the series. Moreover, he is extremely vain and wears his iconic mask to protect his impossibly handsome face. In the film, he gets his ass kicked in less than 2 minutes by Chun Li, is portrayed by Mexican actor/rapper Taboo, and apparently wears his mask not to protect his good looks...but to keep people from seeing his ugly mug.
*** This is made even more degrading to the character after watching \\\'\\\'Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie\\\'\\\', in which an experienced Chun Li is almost killed by Vega and barely manages to hold her own against him (she slips into a coma from blood loss afterwards) in a fight that lasts a considerable amount of time, whereas The Legend Of Chun Li has the title character as a rookie being able to beat Vega within roughly two minutes and without a single scratch on her.
** The movie is awful, but in it\\\'s defense, Michael Clarke Duncan [[HamAndCheese did the best he could]], and gave an alright performance as Balrog. The smile says it all.
*** Fun fact: Michael Clarke Duncan is a \\\'\\\'Street Fighter\\\'\\\' fan, and his favorite character is Balrog. This is why he didn\\\'t take his role in the film seriously--even he thought it was an insult to the franchise.
** Speaking of plot, why the HELL didn\\\'t the writers stick with Chun Li\\\'s actual story of being an undercover Interpol agent? Come on, it\\\'s not hard. Father dies, girl becomes cop, learns to kick ass from a mentor, and then kick\\\'s Bison\\\'s ass. It would have been stupid wire-fu fun for everyone.
*** Even worse, Chun-Li delivering the coup-de-grace by [[spoiler: snapping Bison\\\'s neck, RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS INNOCENT DAUGHTER!!! What the fuck kinda hero does something like that?!?!]]
* \\\'\\\'Film/MortalKombat: Annihilation\\\'\\\'. The first one was decent (or, at the very least, [=~So Bad It\\\'s Good~=]), but this is an EXTREME case of {{Sequelitis}}. Firstly, only Liu Kang and Kitana\\\'s actors reappear, the rest being recast (Raiden in particular suffers because of this). Everyone was wooden as hell. There was very little plot to speak of, consisting either of an InfoDump or mindless fighting. To the detriment of what little plot there was, they tried to cram in [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters far too many characters]] like Baraka and Nightwolf, just to please the fans. It looked extraordinarily cheap, special effects-wise. Scorpion and Sub-Zero were inexplicably resurrected. And Johnny Cage gets killed off in five minutes. Boo.
** Not to say \\\'\\\'Annihilation\\\'\\\' wasn\\\'t horrific, but Scorpion is a ghost (which are typically difficult to kill permanently) and the original Sub-Zero did actually die and stay dead - like in the games, the Sub-Zero featured in the movie was his younger brother. Of course, that\\\'s pretty much the only plot point that movie got right. And then there\\\'s the gratuitous fan-service featuring Sonya and Mileena mud-wrestling because [[RuleOfSexy why the hell not]]?
*** In its defense, it has [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIt0VY7Yg2w this 9 seconds]] of [[SoBadItsGood goodness]].
** Horrible CGI SpecialEffectsFailure in the big finale fight scene. Even at the time the movie was made, it was awful.
* One look at the movies supposedly based on \\\'\\\'{{Tekken}}\\\'\\\' and \\\'\\\'TheKingOfFighters\\\'\\\' make it incredibly obvious that no one working on them really knows or [[TheyJustDidntCare cares]] anything about the source material, and it feels almost as though they\\\'re \\\'\\\'trying\\\'\\\' to piss fans off. \\\'\\\'KOF\\\'\\\' is especially bad, as every single thing from the franchise is torn apart and put back together with elements of \\\'\\\'Film/MortalKombat\\\'s\\\'\\\' plot, [[InNameOnly none of the characters even remotely resemble their in-game counterparts]], and even the trailer looks like a bad high school film project.
** \\\'\\\'Tekken\\\'\\\', which cost $35 million to make, was released on 100+ screens in Japan on March 20 of 2010 and made less than the equivalent of $7,000 US over the course of one week. Because of this, the film is being released straight to DVD in America.
** The producer of the \\\'\\\'Tekken\\\'\\\' video game series, Katsuhiro Harada, is disgusted by the film and refuses to see it or discuss it. He has only said that he or his staff was unable to make any contribution to the making of the movie and was essentially written out of its production by the contract signed by Namco.
* Debatable, DeadSpace Aftermath. The movie slammed on its own feet right from the beginning by showing you the aftermath of the USG O\\\'Bannon and as a result, any tension and/or reason to root for the characters that they could have built up is ruined from the first 5-minute mark. Has the movie been shown chronologically (which is only a matter of editing, but apparently they just got lazy with it), the movie could have retained some tension on the escape of the USG O\\\'Bannon. The film has no characterization beyond what stock characters are supposed to behave. The gore and violence comes in late and is actually a bit tamer than Dead Space Downfall. The Cel Shading CGI is a pain to watch with stiff animation and lowres textures. They somehow made the CGI in a 2011 film looks worse than the graphic of the original game released \\\'\\\'3 years earlier\\\'\\\'! The argument that it is CelShading animation is nullified by the existence of {{Vexille}}, a film that is even older than the original game. Oh, and for a movie based on a horror franchise, Aftermath hardly pulled any scare trick.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Partial Exceptions / So Bad It\\\'s Good]]
* The \\\'\\\'Film/ResidentEvil\\\'\\\' movie was considered a success by some people(if even that many). A lot of the credit can go to the fact that it wasn\\\'t adapted from the plot of the game; the writers took the premise and wrote another, more movie-friendly story to go with it. And Milla Jovovich. And Sienna Guillory in the sequel. Oh, \\\'\\\'my\\\'\\\'.
** The first movie had its merits, the later two movies were just good examples of TheyJustDidntCare as they turned what was originally supposed to be a horror series into a generic \\\'\\\'AeonFlux\\\'\\\' Hollywood action girl movie clone. What makes matters worse is that the DVD behind the scenes bonus in the second movie, admits this. Complete with the actresses smiling while saying it.
** The first two movies at least tried to keep with the game\\\'s timeline. The third movie broke canon and turned more into a MadMax AfterTheEnd movie with zombies. The fourth one then proceeded to add \\\'\\\'ResidentEvil5\\\'\\\'-type monsters, which don\\\'t make much sense as the storyline has deviated beyond the games timeline. The overall consensus seems to be that they\\\'re goofy yet sort of watchable as popcorn action flicks, but absolutely horrible as \\\'\\\'ResidentEvil\\\'\\\' movies.
* The \\\'\\\'{{Hitman}}\\\'\\\' movie has a plot which will [[FridgeLogic make less sense the more you think about it]], but it will keep you entertained for 90 minutes.
** That, and it at least \\\'\\\'tries\\\'\\\' to maintain 47\\\'s characterization as TheChessmaster, rather than make him a generic action thug.
** The movie would be even better if not for ExecutiveMeddling. The differences between script and movie being: 47 being hunted by Spetsnaz instead of other \\\"agents\\\", the whole affair being a XanatosGambit played by the KGB agent, a couple of action scenes more and no [[StockFootage recycled footage]] from completely different TV series. And yes, 47 is even more of a [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] in the script.
* Ahem...\\\'\\\'Film/TheWizard\\\'\\\'. It\\\'s not even based on any video game (though it has \\\'\\\'very\\\'\\\' blatantly obvious ProductPlacement), but somehow manages to be watchable through almost ninety straight minutes of [[{{Narm}} cheese]].
** Though that may be due to [[NostalgiaFilter Nostalgia Filtering]].
* \\\'\\\'Film/MaxPayne\\\'\\\': The story and characters are totally stock and bares only a passing resemblance to the source material (the biggest complaint is the decision to excise the overly gritty, intentionally [=~So Bad It\\\'s Good~=] PurpleProse narration from all but the beginning), but it doesn\\\'t completely fail (it was financially successful). The film is a standard revenge shoot em up, and Max isn\\\'t exactly that likable of a lead to begin with (although he had a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' more personality in the games), but several sequences are visual stand outs. YourMileageMayVary of course.
** Basically, ignore the story and skip the first half-hour of the movie. Once the sky sets itself on fire the movie gets [[strike:a lot more]] watchable.
* \\\'\\\'NightTrap\\\'\\\': \\\'\\\'[[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlkkt_night-trap-the-movie_parties The Movie]]\\\'\\\' showcased this trope in an unexpected way, taking a cult-classic [[FullMotionVideo \\\"interactive movie\\\"]] and removing the interactivity, leaving all the delicious SoBadItsGood {{camp}} intact.
* \\\'\\\'[[TheLegendOfZelda The Hero of Time]]\\\'\\\', loosely based off of OcarinaOfTime, wasn\\\'t horrible for a completely fan-made movie. Still, there was some major {{narm}}, and Zelda purists are likely to be furious after seeing it.
* \\\'\\\'[=~Sonic The Hedgehog: The Movie~=]\\\'\\\' is an enjoyable OVA with likeable characters (Though a bit underdeveloped), and plot that perfectly capture the feel of the older Sonic the Hedgehog games, though not great. In particular, the action scenes are nothing short of cool. Also, the soundtrack was pretty cool, (although YourMileageMayVary with the English dub voices). Despite sharing neither setting nor storyline with any of the games outside of a superficial level, the film makes up for this by being [[GuiltyPleasure Flawed, yet enjoyable]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Full exceptions / genuinely good movies]]
* The \\\'\\\'[[Film/StreetFighterIITheAnimatedMovie Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie]]\\\'\\\' was very accurate, putting all the characters in the right place, and with the right personalities. The animation is well done, and the ki attacks have never looked better. The character designs were mostly accurate, and Bison\\\'s design was improved, giving him a huge muscular look that Capcom has used since the \\\'\\\'Alpha\\\'\\\' series. The storyline of the movie was brought over to \\\'\\\'Alpha\\\'\\\' simply replacing Ken with Ryu during the brainwashing scene, and replacing Guile with Charlie. The iconic grass scene is a stage in \\\'\\\'Alpha 2\\\'\\\', and several other things were taken from the movie are shown in Alpha, such as Ken having long hair when he was younger and gave his bandanna to Ryu. There\\\'s even a [[{{Fanservice}} nude Chun-Li scene]] and [[ActionGirl she kicks Vega\\\'s ass in a well-done fighting scene]]. They offered just enough familiar characterization of the cast, added a story that did not contradict the existing paradigm (much) and injected a moderate dash of [[DarkerAndEdgier darker and edgier]] to make the juvenile premise easier to swallow. Its not exactly flawless: [[CanonFodder many sub-plots are brought up and never touched upon again]] (notably Sagat disappears at the end after being ordered to eliminate Vega and Cammy), Bison\\\'s Monitor Cyborgs have the most unconvincing disguises ever and some of the scenes between fights are a bit padded out, but its still far better than those live action movies.
* The tie-in OVA for \\\'\\\'StreetFighterIV: The Ties That Bind\\\'\\\', is also in this category. This is mostly because it serves to set the stage for the plot of \\\'\\\'IV\\\'\\\', and was written entirely by Capcom staff. Even the voice actors are identical.
** Ditto with the tie-in OVA for \\\'\\\'Super Street Fighter IV\\\'\\\'. It\\\'s the exact same case as above.
* Then there was \\\'\\\'[[WingCommander Wing Commander Academy]]\\\'\\\', an animated series which was quite loyal to the games, including the ship designs and voice actors for Blair, Maniac and Tolwyn.
* While not necessarily perfect, the animated movie adaptation of \\\'\\\'AnimalCrossing\\\'\\\' ([[NoExportForYou released only in Japan]]) does a far better job maintaining the spirit of the material than one would think possible and is a pretty decent watch to boot, if a little simple in its plot.
* \\\'\\\'Film/MortalKombat\\\'\\\': Only, repeat \\\'\\\'only\\\'\\\' [[{{Sequelitis}} the first one]]. It has its own problems, though: Sonya is a FauxActionGirl, Sub-Zero and Scorpion are mindless slaves of Shang Tsung and Kitana is a DistressedDamsel. On the other hand, well-crafted fight choreography, a script with legitimate wit at times, some nice set design, [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome a kick-ass soundtrack]], an excellent Shang Tsung portrayal, and it even makes us give a crap about the characters and what\\\'s going on. The plot, while not exactly {{Shakespeare}}, was serviceable and didn\\\'t get in the way of the action. Some feel Raiden\\\'s role as TheObiWan makes more sense for a PhysicalGod than the not-quite-first-string fighter he was in the games. Sub-Zero and Scorpion are cool, mostly because they don\\\'t talk much, and Kitana is still pretty far from being pointless in the film with moves that can at least make Liu Kang blink.
** A lot of current MK characterization came from the movie. Raiden originally had brown hair which was never actually seen. He was eventually shown to have white hair in later games. There weren\\\'t any references to Kano being Australian before his depiction in the movie, among other things.
** Considering the video game was \\\"Enter the Dragon with superpowers\\\" they had more to rip off than most.
** The soundtrack was pretty awesome too.
** Gene Siskel actually gave \\\'\\\'Mortal Kombat\\\'\\\' a (marginal) thumbs up. RogerEbert nearly followed suit (\\\"right in the middle\\\"), but he said he didn\\\'t get a full experience due to his theater\\\'s crappy lighting, and thus, most of the movie was overly dark-looking and washed-out because of it.
** [[http://www.jabootu.com/vcjuneohfour.htm This site has a great review of the movie]] that praises many aspects, especially the characters of Raiden and Johnny Cage.
** However, the sequel falls squarely under the trope. The first \\\'\\\'Mortal Kombat\\\'\\\' movie may have been good, but at the cost of a universe-balancing sequel that belongs so far in the \\\"Flat-Out Bad\\\" category above that it\\\'s not even funny.
* \\\'\\\'TheLastStarfighter\\\'\\\': while not based on an actual game, the movie did capture the thing that makes playing video games fun: the wish fulfillment of actually being able to step into the shoes of the hero, to stop the bad guys and save the day. Funny how a movie based around a game that doesn\\\'t exist is one of the best examples of why video games are fun.
** [[{{Defictionalized}} Yeah]], [[http://www.roguesynapse.com/games/last_starfighter.php about that last bit...]]
* It\\\'s only out in Japan and the UK at the moment, but judging by its reviews, \\\'\\\'ProfessorLayton And The Eternal Diva\\\'\\\' most assuredly fits this category.
** It goes beyond that. It was so popular and sold so well in Japan that not only is it being translated for three different foreign markets (US, EU, and Korea) but 2 more sequels were announced as well.
*** This is probably because the movie did something no other video game movie has tried before and included the audience in the help of solving the mystery. Which is exactly what you do in the game except being viewed through the eyes of Layton\\\'s apprentice Luke.
* \\\'\\\'FanFic/MetalGearSolidPhilanthropy\\\'\\\', the film really shows the care that Italian MetalGear fans put into it. The production value is admirable, albeit non-canon, is as good as an AlternateUniverse to [[HideoKojima Kojimaverse]]. SpecialEffectFailure is few far and between, some DidNotDoTheResearch that even Kojima himself makes, but smart ContinuityNod to the canon story makes up for it.
* A stage aversion: The {{Takarazuka}} \\\'\\\'PhoenixWright\\\'\\\' musical is quite liked by the fandom. The songs and dance numbers are good and the plot actually resembles the sort of case you\\\'d get in the games.
** Speaking of \\\'\\\'Phoenix Wright\\\'\\\' musicals, there\\\'s actually another one [[FanRemake made by fans of the games that encompasses almost the entire first game]]. It was never finished (only about half the songs were ever completed, with very little dialogue ever being written), but if [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUzzuF9ZPK4 the finished songs are any indication]], it would\\\'ve probably been just as well-liked as the preceding example if it had been finished.
* JerryBruckheimer\\\'s \\\'\\\'[[Film/PrinceOfPersia Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time]]\\\'\\\', whilst by no means [[BrokenBase perfect]], definitely earns the rare honor of being a decent video game movie. It doesn\\\'t hurt the makers of the film actually did their homework on the Sands Trilogy (Jake Gyllenhaal even played the game and requested that specific moves be added to the film) -- and the film was written by Jordan Mechner, the designer and writer of the original \\\'\\\'PrinceOfPersia\\\'\\\' and \\\'\\\'The Sands of Time\\\'\\\' video games. Currently, it\\\'s the highest-grossing movie based on a video game.
** One bonus point for the funniest character in the movie: Sheik Amar - the ostrich-racing boss that constantly makes satire jokes about taxation policy.
* \\\'\\\'[[{{Darkstalkers}} The Night Warriors: Darkstalker\\\'s Revenge]]\\\'\\\' OVA was generally well received. While it took a much more serious tone than the games, the majority of the fighters were in character (glaring exceptions being misanthropic Talbain and stoic Morrigan), the action scenes were enjoyable as well as actually resembling the moves from the games, the Japanese voice acting was excellent, and the protagonists Donovan and the twins Lei-Lei and Lin-Lin were well developed.
* \\\'\\\'TalesOfVesperia: The First Strike\\\'\\\' stays incredibly true to the games and just overall is what the fans would expect. The plot even acts as a prequel, explaining things that were left unexplained in the game. Furthermore, they gave almost all of the game\\\'s party members a role in the movie.
** The thing that made The First Strike good goes further than that. First and foremost, it\\\'s a self-contained story so you can watch it without playing Tales of Vesperia, it sets up the premise, it answers the questions it raises, the villain is caught at the end for a satisfying ending. The story contains a surprising amount of drama (the element which most video game movies are seriously lacking right now) for a fantasy film, which in turn leads to some of the saddest scenes you never expected in a Tales story (e.g 2 childhood friends fighting each other in the rain). Compared to other Tales games, the film is [[DarkerAndEdgier darker, bolder]] and closer to the LowFantasy genre (in fact, one of the plot point in the film prevents the human characters from using magic, making it very light on the fantasy side). The film also has a sincere heart, evident by a strong fatherhood theme and sends a good message about making choices on what we should protect and what we should abandon. One could say The First Strike is a drama film in a fantasy disguise, and arguably, the best thing a video game movie has achieved as of now.
** The biggest flaw of The First Strike actually comes from the fact that it is a prequel, so we know the fact that the 2 main character is going to live to play their parts in the game. As a result, any sense of threat toward them is ruined right from the beginning everytime the film enters an action scene. But then again, the film can\\\'t be blamed for this fact.
** A good soundtrack also helps, among which the theme song is brought on from the game, providing a nice FanService.
** Good news, everyone! [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-04-02/funimation-adds-tales-of-vesperia-anime-film It\\\'s getting a domestic release, complete with English dub and subtitles!]]
* While struggling with a story-rich source material, the {{Air}} and {{Clannad}} movies managed to pull off a fairly decent story by focusing on the main heroine in each game. This works in benefit to the {{Air}} movie, especially (and also because the movie doesn\\\'t have a GainaxEnding like the Tv series). There is a chance you will jerk a few tears if these movies are your first entry title into these 2 series.
* YourMileageMayVary on this, but [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ptitle2xkjpouw the pokemon movies]] are one of the better attempts out there, since they\\\'re based more off the anime than off the games. Even when {{Sequelitis}} [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ptitlel8caxut9 is]] [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ptitlefikgn9lm factored]], [[Pokemon4Ever they\\\'re]] [[PokemonHeroes still]] [[PokemonJirachiWishmaker better]] [[PokemonDestinyDeoxys than]] [[PokemonLucarioAndTheMysteryOfMew most]] [[PokemonRangerAndTheTempleOfTheSea game]] [[PokemonTheRiseOfDarkrai adaptations]] [[PokemonGiratinaAndTheSkyWarrior especially]] [[PokemonArceusAndTheJewelOfLife given]] [[PokemonZoroarkMasterOfIllusions the sheer]] [[OverlyLongGag size of]] [[{{Pokemon}} the franchise]].
* Eddie Lebron\\\'s [[FanFilm fan made]] \\\'\\\'Film/MegaMan\\\'\\\' movie that manages to add a believable and enjoyable story to a game that had next to no characterization. Even if the pacing is a little slow in the beginning and a bit to fast at the end.
* Unlimited Blade Works, a film adaptation of the second route of FateStayNight. The film feels like watching [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings The Two Towers if Peter Jackson never made The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King]]: It has many things that need to be explained and leaves plenty to be answered. With that said, the film does address the major plot point of the UBW route in the game: the question about heroism ideal and Shirou\\\'s motivation to become one. The film improved on several aspects of the game: it gets to the point, it fixed the slow pace of the game, it spent more time on Archer shooting his bow and made him actually looks like a sharpshooter instead of a DualWielding swordman and it made Shirou looks like a total bad ass for the final battle. The animation is so excellent that the film actually looks more like a video game than its source material (ironic, isn\\\'t it?). Some of the event scenes from the game were recreated almost frame-by-frame in the film, to the point that you can\\\'t help but think \\\"Oh, I remember this part!\\\".
** However, the relationship between Shirou and Rin (also a major plot point of the UBW route) is a little lost somewhere among the action scenes. But that doesn\\\'t detract too much from the film.
* Though not based off a videogame, ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld manages to have many videogame tropes, and still is an awesome movie.
[[/folder]]
*** According to at least one interview, the Kilrathi costumes were actually accurately designed, and truly \\\'\\\'menacing\\\'\\\' in appearance -- but due to the sets\\\' low ceilings, the costumes could not stand at full height.
** Even more bizarrely, the movie was co-written and directed by Chris Roberts, who was the Lead Designer of the games.A lot of the suck factor is rumored to be due to good old fashioned [[ExecutiveMeddling studio interference]], being forced to cut out several major subplots and the budget being slashed part-way through filming. The result was bad enough to make Roberts cry the first time he saw it... ExecutiveMeddling can ruin any movie, any time, anywhere.
* A lot of anime {{OVA}}s based on {{fighting game}}s tend to land on the bad end of the scale, partially because the plot to most fighting games is pretty thin to begin with, making it hard to write a decent script. (A major example: \\\'\\\'{{Tekken}}: The Motion Picture\\\'\\\', which is actually an OVA).
* Any and every video game property that UweBoll has turned his hand to, from \\\'\\\'Film/HouseOfTheDead\\\'\\\' (which shares one character name with its source, used clips from the \\\'\\\'games\\\'\\\' and featured no houses at all) onward. A running joke in the industry is that you\\\'ve made it when Uwe Boll asks to make a movie of your game. HideoKojima [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome refuses to speak to him]]. For any reason at all.
** Uwe Boll is particularly noteworthy -- and reviled -- because many gamers believe that the games he adapted could\\\'ve made good movies if they\\\'d been handled by the right people, rather than someone, who, despite his denials, seems to be out to make tax breaks for rich Germans rather than watchable films.\\\\\\\\
\\\\\\\\
That, and he has stated that he sets out to make bad game films on purpose as a [[TakeThat \\\'fuck you cunt\\\']] to video gamers, who he absolutely reviles. He says he\\\'s willing to fight any gamer who criticizes him; that\\\'s how much hatred and loathing he holds. Of course, if you\\\'re the sort whose bite is just as big as his bark -- like internet funnyman and Muay Thai practitioner {{Seanbaby}} -- then he\\\'ll immediately back down, further confirming him to be an out-and-out douche.
** One of Boll\\\'s more recent projects is \\\'\\\'{{Postal}}\\\'\\\', a DeadBabyComedy based on the darkly humorous shoot-em-up from Running With Scissors. The film takes RefugeInAudacity just so it can {{anvilicious}}ly snipe at the War on Terror and just about everything else that\\\'s wrong with 21st century America, as well as the hordes of angry video game nerds who despise Uwe Boll\\\'s existence. But since a few people seem to be entertained by the film, and not just in a [=~So Bad It\\\'s Good~=] way (it even won \\\"Best of Festival\\\" at the 2008 Hoboken Film Festival), \\\'\\\'Postal\\\'\\\' may be Boll\\\'s best video game movie yet... which isn\\\'t saying much.
** Uwe Boll is getting better at filmmaking as time goes by, and this makes his films MUCH less watchable, thanks to smoothing over everything that made his movies [[SoBadItsGood horribly hilarious]] and leaving nothing but boring mediocrity behind.
** In the \\\'\\\'DungeonSiege\\\'\\\' movie, the nameless farmer main character was actually named \\\"Farmer\\\", he had a PrecisionGuidedBoomerang, and the movie looked a little too much like \\\'\\\'Film/TheLordOfTheRings\\\'\\\'. But he said it\\\'s nothing like \\\'\\\'Film/TheLordOfTheRings\\\'\\\' because, and get this, the \\\'\\\'movie isn\\\'t about a ring\\\'\\\' so it\\\'s okay. But he gains points for having the movie just as non-interactive as the original game.
** Funnily enough, this trope is starting to work [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames backwards]] for Boll, with the movie (and game) \\\'\\\'1968 Tunnel Rats\\\'\\\'.
** Interestingly, when Boll is working from an original, non-video-game property, quality tends to shoot up to at least watchable, and sometimes even good on their own merits. See: \\\'\\\'Film/{{Rampage}}\\\'\\\' (which has been called, on this very wiki, [[SpiritualLicensee a better adaptation]] of \\\'\\\'Postal\\\'\\\' than Boll\\\'s officially licensed adaptation), \\\'\\\'Darfur\\\'\\\', or ([[YourMileageMayVary arguably]]) \\\'\\\'1968 Tunnel Rats\\\'\\\'. Of course, the fact that he\\\'s shown himself to be perfectly competent as a director when he wants to be only lends more credence to the accusations that his crappier, video-game-based output is made to take advantage of tax breaks.
** [[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=571 This SequentialArt page.]]
** [[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=637 and this one, an insult to the Old High Ones]]
* \\\'\\\'Film/DoubleDragon\\\'\\\': Moved to a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles for no apparent reason, replaced the BigBad with a CorruptCorporateExecutive, and generally kept nothing of the games\\\' plot except \\\"brothers who use martial arts and wear red and blue\\\". Alyssa Milano\\\'s ass in denim short-shorts makes a sterling effort to save this film, yet still fails. There are a few good things in the film, once one gets past the jokey tone and ridiculous plot. Robert Patrick [[LargeHam chews the scenery with gusto]] [[EvilIsHammy as the villain]] and [[EvilIsCool gets all the best lines]]. Martial artist Marc Dacascos does his best in the action scenes. And of course, the aforementioned part of Alyssa Milano\\\'s anatomy. The dead weight in the film is definitely Scott Wolf, who can\\\'t act, fight, or evoke any emotion in the audience outside of annoyance, which is why they had his character (Billy Lee) turned from just about as skilled in fighting as his brother Jimmy into a wimp who is more into the brains than brawn.
** The JeanClaudeVanDamme movie \\\'\\\'Double Impact\\\'\\\', while flawed, did a better job adapting the basic premise of the \\\'\\\'DoubleDragon\\\'\\\' games than the actual \\\'\\\'Film/DoubleDragon\\\'\\\' movie, making it practically a [[SpiritualLicensee spiritual adaptation]]. It actually takes itself seriously for one and it even features Bolo Yeung (who is coincidentally the inspiration for the enemy character Abobo) as a barrel-tossing henchman.
* Although this one was thankfully canceled, it still definitely belongs here. A few years ago, a \\\'\\\'[[SoulSeries Soul Calibur]]\\\'\\\' movie called \\\"Soulcalibur Endgame\\\" was in the works, but it had \\\'\\\'\\\'[[InNameOnly absolutely no characters or settings or plot points from the games]]\\\'\\\'\\\', and the holy spirit sword Soul Calibur was to be portrayed as [[UnholyHolySword the evil blade]] instead of the demonic Soul Edge. Perhaps the production\\\'s cancellation in 2007 was the result of someone finally looking at their horrible attempt at a game-to-movie adaptation and realizing, \\\"Wow, this really does suck\\\".
** To be particularly specific, the movie\\\'s plot went something like this: The Shaolin monks choose a handful of warriors to go to Europe and destroy the demon sword \\\"Soulcalibur\\\" before the generic villainous prince who currently wields it can use its dark powers to open the gates of Hell and take over the world.
** FunnyAneurysmMoment: In Sigfried\\\'s ending in SoulCaliburIV (2008), The Soul Calibur [[spoiler: turns the world into crystal, effectively ending it.]]
* \\\'\\\'MapleStory\\\'\\\' is another example. Take away the classes and heroes that made \\\'\\\'MapleStory\\\'\\\' the game it is and replace it with a beginner class brat who runs around with a rock to train with a lousy wooden sword. A HalfHumanHybrid magician and several furries joining them in an adventure with little relation to the mainline plot? Well we got ourselves one of the crappiest animes known to man. And to think they were going to do a parody version similar to \\\'\\\'[=~8-Bit Theater~=]\\\'\\\'.
* \\\'\\\'StreetFighterTheLegendOfChunLi\\\'\\\' makes [[Film/StreetFighter the Jean-Claude Van Damme]] movie below look like cinematic gold. The whole thing focuses around Chun-Li, who wanted to be a concert pianist. Gen is almost the same age as her. Ryu and Ken don\\\'t appear at all, Ryu only on a poster near the end, and neither do many of the StreetFighter characters, the only ones appearing being Chun-Li, Gen, Charlie, M. Bison (who is now a rich Irish gentleman), Vega, Balrog (who is the second-in-command of Shadaloo), Rose (who is M. Bison\\\'s daughter which makes more sense than [[SoulJar what she is in the games]] admittedly), and Crimson Viper (Going only by her \\\'\\\'The Ties That Bind\\\'\\\' name/alias \\\"Maya\\\" and turned into Charlie\\\'s love interest). Worse, none of them have any of their characterization or plot from the games. It\\\'s definitely [=~DarthWiki/So Bad It\\\'s Horrible~=], and [[AwardSnub it\\\'s a wonder how the crap it got shafted from]] the {{Golden Raspberry Award}}s.
** Vega really got the shaft in this movie. The character is supposed to be in essence, a Spanish Ninja, who mixes bullfighting with more traditional martial arts techniques to create his own unique blend and is generally considered as one of the deadliest fighters in the series. Moreover, he is extremely vain and wears his iconic mask to protect his impossibly handsome face. In the film, he gets his ass kicked in less than 2 minutes by Chun Li, is portrayed by Mexican actor/rapper Taboo, and apparently wears his mask not to protect his good looks...but to keep people from seeing his ugly mug.
*** This is made even more degrading to the character after watching \\\'\\\'Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie\\\'\\\', in which an experienced Chun Li is almost killed by Vega and barely manages to hold her own against him (she slips into a coma from blood loss afterwards) in a fight that lasts a considerable amount of time, whereas The Legend Of Chun Li has the title character as a rookie being able to beat Vega within roughly two minutes and without a single scratch on her.
** The movie is awful, but in it\\\'s defense, Michael Clarke Duncan [[HamAndCheese did the best he could]], and gave an alright performance as Balrog. The smile says it all.
*** Fun fact: Michael Clarke Duncan is a \\\'\\\'Street Fighter\\\'\\\' fan, and his favorite character is Balrog. This is why he didn\\\'t take his role in the film seriously--even he thought it was an insult to the franchise.
** Speaking of plot, why the HELL didn\\\'t the writers stick with Chun Li\\\'s actual story of being an undercover Interpol agent? Come on, it\\\'s not hard. Father dies, girl becomes cop, learns to kick ass from a mentor, and then kick\\\'s Bison\\\'s ass. It would have been stupid wire-fu fun for everyone.
*** Even worse, Chun-Li delivering the coup-de-grace by [[spoiler: snapping Bison\\\'s neck, RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS INNOCENT DAUGHTER!!! What the fuck kinda hero does something like that?!?!]]
* \\\'\\\'Film/MortalKombat: Annihilation\\\'\\\'. The first one was decent (or, at the very least, [=~So Bad It\\\'s Good~=]), but this is an EXTREME case of {{Sequelitis}}. Firstly, only Liu Kang and Kitana\\\'s actors reappear, the rest being recast (Raiden in particular suffers because of this). Everyone was wooden as hell. There was very little plot to speak of, consisting either of an InfoDump or mindless fighting. To the detriment of what little plot there was, they tried to cram in [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters far too many characters]] like Baraka and Nightwolf, just to please the fans. It looked extraordinarily cheap, special effects-wise. Scorpion and Sub-Zero were inexplicably resurrected. And Johnny Cage gets killed off in five minutes. Boo.
** Not to say \\\'\\\'Annihilation\\\'\\\' wasn\\\'t horrific, but Scorpion is a ghost (which are typically difficult to kill permanently) and the original Sub-Zero did actually die and stay dead - like in the games, the Sub-Zero featured in the movie was his younger brother. Of course, that\\\'s pretty much the only plot point that movie got right. And then there\\\'s the gratuitous fan-service featuring Sonya and Mileena mud-wrestling because [[RuleOfSexy why the hell not]]?
*** In its defense, it has [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIt0VY7Yg2w this 9 seconds]] of [[SoBadItsGood goodness]].
** Horrible CGI SpecialEffectsFailure in the big finale fight scene. Even at the time the movie was made, it was awful.
* One look at the movies supposedly based on \\\'\\\'{{Tekken}}\\\'\\\' and \\\'\\\'TheKingOfFighters\\\'\\\' make it incredibly obvious that no one working on them really knows or [[TheyJustDidntCare cares]] anything about the source material, and it feels almost as though they\\\'re \\\'\\\'trying\\\'\\\' to piss fans off. \\\'\\\'KOF\\\'\\\' is especially bad, as every single thing from the franchise is torn apart and put back together with elements of \\\'\\\'Film/MortalKombat\\\'s\\\'\\\' plot, [[InNameOnly none of the characters even remotely resemble their in-game counterparts]], and even the trailer looks like a bad high school film project.
** \\\'\\\'Tekken\\\'\\\', which cost $35 million to make, was released on 100+ screens in Japan on March 20 of 2010 and made less than the equivalent of $7,000 US over the course of one week. Because of this, the film is being released straight to DVD in America.
** The producer of the \\\'\\\'Tekken\\\'\\\' video game series, Katsuhiro Harada, is disgusted by the film and refuses to see it or discuss it. He has only said that he or his staff was unable to make any contribution to the making of the movie and was essentially written out of its production by the contract signed by Namco.
* Debatable, DeadSpace Aftermath. The movie slammed on its own feet right from the beginning by showing you the aftermath of the USG O\\\'Bannon and as a result, any tension and/or reason to root for the characters that they could have built up is ruined from the first 5-minute mark. Has the movie been shown chronologically (which is only a matter of editing, but apparently they just got lazy with it), the movie could have retained some tension on the escape of the USG O\\\'Bannon. The film has no characterization beyond what stock characters are supposed to behave. The gore and violence comes in late and is actually a bit tamer than Dead Space Downfall. The Cel Shading CGI is a pain to watch with stiff animation and lowres textures. They somehow made the CGI in a 2011 film looks worse than the graphic of the original game released \\\'\\\'3 years earlier\\\'\\\'! The argument that it is CelShading animation is nullified by the existence of {{Vexille}}, a film that is even older than the original game. Oh, and for a movie based on a horror franchise, Aftermath hardly pulled any scare trick.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Partial Exceptions / So Bad It\\\'s Good]]
* The \\\'\\\'Film/ResidentEvil\\\'\\\' movie was considered a success by some people(if even that many). A lot of the credit can go to the fact that it wasn\\\'t adapted from the plot of the game; the writers took the premise and wrote another, more movie-friendly story to go with it. And Milla Jovovich. And Sienna Guillory in the sequel. Oh, \\\'\\\'my\\\'\\\'.
** The first movie had its merits, the later two movies were just good examples of TheyJustDidntCare as they turned what was originally supposed to be a horror series into a generic \\\'\\\'AeonFlux\\\'\\\' Hollywood action girl movie clone. What makes matters worse is that the DVD behind the scenes bonus in the second movie, admits this. Complete with the actresses smiling while saying it.
** The first two movies at least tried to keep with the game\\\'s timeline. The third movie broke canon and turned more into a MadMax AfterTheEnd movie with zombies. The fourth one then proceeded to add \\\'\\\'ResidentEvil5\\\'\\\'-type monsters, which don\\\'t make much sense as the storyline has deviated beyond the games timeline. The overall consensus seems to be that they\\\'re goofy yet sort of watchable as popcorn action flicks, but absolutely horrible as \\\'\\\'ResidentEvil\\\'\\\' movies.
* The \\\'\\\'{{Hitman}}\\\'\\\' movie has a plot which will [[FridgeLogic make less sense the more you think about it]], but it will keep you entertained for 90 minutes.
** That, and it at least \\\'\\\'tries\\\'\\\' to maintain 47\\\'s characterization as TheChessmaster, rather than make him a generic action thug.
** The movie would be even better if not for ExecutiveMeddling. The differences between script and movie being: 47 being hunted by Spetsnaz instead of other \\\"agents\\\", the whole affair being a XanatosGambit played by the KGB agent, a couple of action scenes more and no [[StockFootage recycled footage]] from completely different TV series. And yes, 47 is even more of a [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] in the script.
* Ahem...\\\'\\\'Film/TheWizard\\\'\\\'. It\\\'s not even based on any video game (though it has \\\'\\\'very\\\'\\\' blatantly obvious ProductPlacement), but somehow manages to be watchable through almost ninety straight minutes of [[{{Narm}} cheese]].
** Though that may be due to [[NostalgiaFilter Nostalgia Filtering]].
* \\\'\\\'Film/MaxPayne\\\'\\\': The story and characters are totally stock and bares only a passing resemblance to the source material (the biggest complaint is the decision to excise the overly gritty, intentionally [=~So Bad It\\\'s Good~=] PurpleProse narration from all but the beginning), but it doesn\\\'t completely fail (it was financially successful). The film is a standard revenge shoot em up, and Max isn\\\'t exactly that likable of a lead to begin with (although he had a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' more personality in the games), but several sequences are visual stand outs. YourMileageMayVary of course.
** Basically, ignore the story and skip the first half-hour of the movie. Once the sky sets itself on fire the movie gets [[strike:a lot more]] watchable.
* \\\'\\\'NightTrap\\\'\\\': \\\'\\\'[[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlkkt_night-trap-the-movie_parties The Movie]]\\\'\\\' showcased this trope in an unexpected way, taking a cult-classic [[FullMotionVideo \\\"interactive movie\\\"]] and removing the interactivity, leaving all the delicious SoBadItsGood {{camp}} intact.
* \\\'\\\'[[TheLegendOfZelda The Hero of Time]]\\\'\\\', loosely based off of OcarinaOfTime, wasn\\\'t horrible for a completely fan-made movie. Still, there was some major {{narm}}, and Zelda purists are likely to be furious after seeing it.
* \\\'\\\'[=~Sonic The Hedgehog: The Movie~=]\\\'\\\' is an enjoyable OVA with likeable characters (Though a bit underdeveloped), and plot that perfectly capture the feel of the older Sonic the Hedgehog games, though not great. In particular, the action scenes are nothing short of cool. Also, the soundtrack was pretty cool, (although YourMileageMayVary with the English dub voices). Despite sharing neither setting nor storyline with any of the games outside of a superficial level, the film makes up for this by being [[GuiltyPleasure Flawed, yet enjoyable]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Full exceptions / genuinely good movies]]
* The \\\'\\\'[[Film/StreetFighterIITheAnimatedMovie Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie]]\\\'\\\' was very accurate, putting all the characters in the right place, and with the right personalities. The animation is well done, and the ki attacks have never looked better. The character designs were mostly accurate, and Bison\\\'s design was improved, giving him a huge muscular look that Capcom has used since the \\\'\\\'Alpha\\\'\\\' series. The storyline of the movie was brought over to \\\'\\\'Alpha\\\'\\\' simply replacing Ken with Ryu during the brainwashing scene, and replacing Guile with Charlie. The iconic grass scene is a stage in \\\'\\\'Alpha 2\\\'\\\', and several other things were taken from the movie are shown in Alpha, such as Ken having long hair when he was younger and gave his bandanna to Ryu. There\\\'s even a [[{{Fanservice}} nude Chun-Li scene]] and [[ActionGirl she kicks Vega\\\'s ass in a well-done fighting scene]]. They offered just enough familiar characterization of the cast, added a story that did not contradict the existing paradigm (much) and injected a moderate dash of [[DarkerAndEdgier darker and edgier]] to make the juvenile premise easier to swallow. Its not exactly flawless: [[CanonFodder many sub-plots are brought up and never touched upon again]] (notably Sagat disappears at the end after being ordered to eliminate Vega and Cammy), Bison\\\'s Monitor Cyborgs have the most unconvincing disguises ever and some of the scenes between fights are a bit padded out, but its still far better than those live action movies.
* The tie-in OVA for \\\'\\\'StreetFighterIV: The Ties That Bind\\\'\\\', is also in this category. This is mostly because it serves to set the stage for the plot of \\\'\\\'IV\\\'\\\', and was written entirely by Capcom staff. Even the voice actors are identical.
** Ditto with the tie-in OVA for \\\'\\\'Super Street Fighter IV\\\'\\\'. It\\\'s the exact same case as above.
* Then there was \\\'\\\'[[WingCommander Wing Commander Academy]]\\\'\\\', an animated series which was quite loyal to the games, including the ship designs and voice actors for Blair, Maniac and Tolwyn.
* While not necessarily perfect, the animated movie adaptation of \\\'\\\'AnimalCrossing\\\'\\\' ([[NoExportForYou released only in Japan]]) does a far better job maintaining the spirit of the material than one would think possible and is a pretty decent watch to boot, if a little simple in its plot.
* \\\'\\\'Film/MortalKombat\\\'\\\': Only, repeat \\\'\\\'only\\\'\\\' [[{{Sequelitis}} the first one]]. It has its own problems, though: Sonya is a FauxActionGirl, Sub-Zero and Scorpion are mindless slaves of Shang Tsung and Kitana is a DistressedDamsel. On the other hand, well-crafted fight choreography, a script with legitimate wit at times, some nice set design, [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome a kick-ass soundtrack]], an excellent Shang Tsung portrayal, and it even makes us give a crap about the characters and what\\\'s going on. The plot, while not exactly {{Shakespeare}}, was serviceable and didn\\\'t get in the way of the action. Some feel Raiden\\\'s role as TheObiWan makes more sense for a PhysicalGod than the not-quite-first-string fighter he was in the games. Sub-Zero and Scorpion are cool, mostly because they don\\\'t talk much, and Kitana is still pretty far from being pointless in the film with moves that can at least make Liu Kang blink.
** A lot of current MK characterization came from the movie. Raiden originally had brown hair which was never actually seen. He was eventually shown to have white hair in later games. There weren\\\'t any references to Kano being Australian before his depiction in the movie, among other things.
** Considering the video game was \\\"Enter the Dragon with superpowers\\\" they had more to rip off than most.
** The soundtrack was pretty awesome too.
** Gene Siskel actually gave \\\'\\\'Mortal Kombat\\\'\\\' a (marginal) thumbs up. RogerEbert nearly followed suit (\\\"right in the middle\\\"), but he said he didn\\\'t get a full experience due to his theater\\\'s crappy lighting, and thus, most of the movie was overly dark-looking and washed-out because of it.
** [[http://www.jabootu.com/vcjuneohfour.htm This site has a great review of the movie]] that praises many aspects, especially the characters of Raiden and Johnny Cage.
** However, the sequel falls squarely under the trope. The first \\\'\\\'Mortal Kombat\\\'\\\' movie may have been good, but at the cost of a universe-balancing sequel that belongs so far in the \\\"Flat-Out Bad\\\" category above that it\\\'s not even funny.
* \\\'\\\'TheLastStarfighter\\\'\\\': while not based on an actual game, the movie did capture the thing that makes playing video games fun: the wish fulfillment of actually being able to step into the shoes of the hero, to stop the bad guys and save the day. Funny how a movie based around a game that doesn\\\'t exist is one of the best examples of why video games are fun.
** [[{{Defictionalized}} Yeah]], [[http://www.roguesynapse.com/games/last_starfighter.php about that last bit...]]
* It\\\'s only out in Japan and the UK at the moment, but judging by its reviews, \\\'\\\'ProfessorLayton And The Eternal Diva\\\'\\\' most assuredly fits this category.
** It goes beyond that. It was so popular and sold so well in Japan that not only is it being translated for three different foreign markets (US, EU, and Korea) but 2 more sequels were announced as well.
*** This is probably because the movie did something no other video game movie has tried before and included the audience in the help of solving the mystery. Which is exactly what you do in the game except being viewed through the eyes of Layton\\\'s apprentice Luke.
* \\\'\\\'FanFic/MetalGearSolidPhilanthropy\\\'\\\', the film really shows the care that Italian MetalGear fans put into it. The production value is admirable, albeit non-canon, is as good as an AlternateUniverse to [[HideoKojima Kojimaverse]]. SpecialEffectFailure is few far and between, some DidNotDoTheResearch that even Kojima himself makes, but smart ContinuityNod to the canon story makes up for it.
* A stage aversion: The {{Takarazuka}} \\\'\\\'PhoenixWright\\\'\\\' musical is quite liked by the fandom. The songs and dance numbers are good and the plot actually resembles the sort of case you\\\'d get in the games.
** Speaking of \\\'\\\'Phoenix Wright\\\'\\\' musicals, there\\\'s actually another one [[FanRemake made by fans of the games that encompasses almost the entire first game]]. It was never finished (only about half the songs were ever completed, with very little dialogue ever being written), but if [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUzzuF9ZPK4 the finished songs are any indication]], it would\\\'ve probably been just as well-liked as the preceding example if it had been finished.
* JerryBruckheimer\\\'s \\\'\\\'[[Film/PrinceOfPersia Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time]]\\\'\\\', whilst by no means [[BrokenBase perfect]], definitely earns the rare honor of being a decent video game movie. It doesn\\\'t hurt the makers of the film actually did their homework on the Sands Trilogy (Jake Gyllenhaal even played the game and requested that specific moves be added to the film) -- and the film was written by Jordan Mechner, the designer and writer of the original \\\'\\\'PrinceOfPersia\\\'\\\' and \\\'\\\'The Sands of Time\\\'\\\' video games. Currently, it\\\'s the highest-grossing movie based on a video game.
** One bonus point for the funniest character in the movie: Sheik Amar - the ostrich-racing boss that constantly makes satire jokes about taxation policy.
* \\\'\\\'[[{{Darkstalkers}} The Night Warriors: Darkstalker\\\'s Revenge]]\\\'\\\' OVA was generally well received. While it took a much more serious tone than the games, the majority of the fighters were in character (glaring exceptions being misanthropic Talbain and stoic Morrigan), the action scenes were enjoyable as well as actually resembling the moves from the games, the Japanese voice acting was excellent, and the protagonists Donovan and the twins Lei-Lei and Lin-Lin were well developed.
* \\\'\\\'TalesOfVesperia: The First Strike\\\'\\\' stays incredibly true to the games and just overall is what the fans would expect. The plot even acts as a prequel, explaining things that were left unexplained in the game. Furthermore, they gave almost all of the game\\\'s party members a role in the movie.
** The thing that made The First Strike good goes further than that. First and foremost, it\\\'s a self-contained story so you can watch it without playing Tales of Vesperia, it sets up the premise, it answers the questions it raises, the villain is caught at the end for a satisfying ending. The story contains a surprising amount of drama (the element which most video game movies are seriously lacking right now) for a fantasy film, which in turn leads to some of the saddest scenes you never expected in a Tales story (e.g 2 childhood friends fighting each other in the rain). Compared to other Tales games, the film is [[DarkerAndEdgier darker, bolder]] and closer to the LowFantasy genre (in fact, one of the plot point in the film prevents the human characters from using magic, making it very light on the fantasy side). The film also has a sincere heart, evident by a strong fatherhood theme and sends a good message about making choices on what we should protect and what we should abandon. One could say The First Strike is a drama film in a fantasy disguise, and arguably, the best thing a video game movie has achieved as of now.
** The biggest flaw of The First Strike actually comes from the fact that it is a prequel, so we know the fact that the 2 main character is going to live to play their parts in the game. As a result, any sense of threat toward them is ruined right from the beginning everytime the film enters an action scene. But then again, the film can\\\'t be blamed for this fact.
** A good soundtrack also helps, among which the theme song is brought on from the game, providing a nice FanService.
** Good news, everyone! [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-04-02/funimation-adds-tales-of-vesperia-anime-film It\\\'s getting a domestic release, complete with English dub and subtitles!]]
* While struggling with a story-rich source material, the {{Air}} and {{Clannad}} movies managed to pull off a fairly decent story by focusing on the main heroine in each game. This works in benefit to the {{Air}} movie, especially (and also because the movie doesn\\\'t have a GainaxEnding like the Tv series). There is a chance you will jerk a few tears if these movies are your first entry title into these 2 series.
* YourMileageMayVary on this, but [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ptitle2xkjpouw the pokemon movies]] are one of the better attempts out there, since they\\\'re based more off the anime than off the games. Even when {{Sequelitis}} [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ptitlel8caxut9 is]] [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ptitlefikgn9lm factored]], [[Pokemon4Ever they\\\'re]] [[PokemonHeroes still]] [[PokemonJirachiWishmaker better]] [[PokemonDestinyDeoxys than]] [[PokemonLucarioAndTheMysteryOfMew most]] [[PokemonRangerAndTheTempleOfTheSea game]] [[PokemonTheRiseOfDarkrai adaptations]] [[PokemonGiratinaAndTheSkyWarrior especially]] [[PokemonArceusAndTheJewelOfLife given]] [[PokemonZoroarkMasterOfIllusions the sheer]] [[OverlyLongGag size of]] [[{{Pokemon}} the franchise]].
* Eddie Lebron\\\'s [[FanFilm fan made]] \\\'\\\'Film/MegaMan\\\'\\\' movie that manages to add a believable and enjoyable story to a game that had next to no characterization. Even if the pacing is a little slow in the beginning and a bit to fast at the end.
* Unlimited Blade Works, a film adaptation of the second route of FateStayNight. The film feels like watching [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings The Two Towers if Peter Jackson never made The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King]]: It has many things that need to be explained and leaves plenty to be answered. With that said, the film does address the major plot point of the UBW route in the game: the question about heroism ideal and Shirou\\\'s motivation to become one. The film improved on several aspects of the game: it gets to the point, it fixed the slow pace of the game, it spent more time on Archer shooting his bow and made him actually looks like a sharpshooter instead of a DualWielding swordman and it made Shirou looks like a total bad ass for the final battle. The animation is so excellent that the film actually looks more like a video game than its source material (ironic, isn\\\'t it?). Some of the event scenes from the game were recreated almost frame-by-frame in the film, to the point that you can\\\'t help but think \\\"Oh, I remember this part!\\\".
** However, the relationship between Shirou and Rin (also a major plot point of the UBW route) is a little lost somewhere among the action scenes. But that doesn\\\'t detract too much from the film.
* Though not based off a videogame, ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld manages to have many videogame tropes, and still is an awesome movie.
[[/folder]]
