MysteriousStranger
Since: Apr, 2019
Jun 8th 2019 at 4:05:40 AM
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I'm not sure if this page is inaccurate or just not including anime, because Resident Evil: Damnation has 70% audience score on RT with 2731 user reviews, and an average rating of 8.2 from 5 approved critics, but is not listed in the "best reviewed video game films" list. I didn't want to add it in case there was a rule against putting anime on here. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/resident_evil_damnation
brc2000
Thermonuclear Warrior
Since: Jul, 2010
Thermonuclear Warrior
Dec 18th 2018 at 3:43:16 AM
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One thing that could be mentioned as a counter to the "little or no plot" argument is that there have been successful movies based on things like theme park rides and toys, so it shouldn't, at least in theory, be impossible for even something as simplistic as Contra to be turned into a decent film.
Also, the video game tropes and mechanics being difficult to adapt is a very flimsy excuse. Most people expect an adaption of the setting and basic premise, not mana points, healthpacks and re-spawns. I haven't watched the Castlevania TV show, but I assume they don't use things like whipping sconces to get power-ups.
Edited by brc2000
Trogdor7620
Trogdor7620
Since: Aug, 2012
Trogdor7620
Jun 9th 2016 at 1:50:09 PM
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I've noticed something.
Movies based on video games are abysmally bad, but the first film that springs to mind when you think of a good video game movie? Wreck It Ralph. But from what I've heard, the game of Wreck-it Ralph seemed to be poorly received.
There are only two things in my life that I depend on: video games and TV Tropes.
Rilkar
Rilkar
Since: Oct, 2010
Rilkar
Dec 29th 2011 at 5:37:52 PM
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Do Visual Novels count? If they do then AIR is one of the few subvertions.
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gmanprime
Since: Jul, 2013
Jun 17th 2014 at 12:56:46 AM
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Visual Novels, manga, and anime are all pretty closely related. There's also far too many good anime based off of manga , and V Ns are basically Choose Your Own Adventure manga with pretty CG pictures. So I'd say no, V Ns would dilute the trope since its arguable for many of them whether they really classify as games at all.
Edited by 74.244.3.60
SamMax
Since: Sep, 2011
Sep 30th 2011 at 9:01:35 AM
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Why did the examples get removed in the first place? Is there even a page that explains it? I am new here, so I apologize if I sound dumb.
Edited by SamMax Hide / Show Replies
LostHero
Since: Mar, 2010
Oct 4th 2011 at 10:25:24 PM
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Because the admin said so. :/
And no, you don't sound dumb. You're in the same boat as about half of us.
Paireon
Since: Jan, 2001
Oct 31st 2011 at 10:54:55 AM
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Methinks it's because there was a lot of unpleasant sniping from fans, antifans and troll regarding the movies being discussed. A lot of contentious tropes have had their examples cut recently because they often degenerated into bitching-fests, or because they attracted unwanted attention from certain parties (Ryona and Lolicon, for example, were used as databases to search for related media by some users, which made many others feel skeezy by association).
And Uwe Boll was completely removed, because all anyone would do in and around it was bitching, trolling (at least I hope it was trolling instead of sincere defense of the man) and other forms of wanking.
My theory is that The Powers That Be of This Very Wiki don't want the site to become just another bitter, sarcastic pile of negativity and/or smut like so many other on the 'net. They're a bit Knight Templar-y about it at times, though, IMHO.
Edited by Paireon I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me.
DarkNemesis
Since: Aug, 2010
Mar 12th 2012 at 8:03:22 PM
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Except this was one of the few tropes to openly admit that not all examples of "this sucks" pan out, with the section on the genuinely good video game ports. If the reason was too much negativity, there was no reason to remove that section.
PhantomCobra
Since: Jan, 2010
Feb 13th 2013 at 8:22:15 PM
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Why can't we have a thing saying "Please only post notable aversions here" or something to that effect?
iwillneverusethisagain
Since: Sep, 2013
Nov 8th 2013 at 8:27:02 PM
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At least they didn't put a giant ***NO EXAMPLES PLEASE!!!*** at the bottom of the page; the article still stands on its own.
Edited by 69.204.125.53
Euan2000
Since: Nov, 2010
Nov 5th 2012 at 2:20:43 PM
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I think it's worth mentioning that there is good movies based on games but they're games made entirely for the plot of the movies. The Last Star Fighter and Wreck-it Ralph are the ones I'm talkign about (even though WIR has cameos)
OldManHoOh
It's super effective.
Since: Jul, 2010
It's super effective.
Nov 18th 2010 at 5:01:26 PM
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- That, and [Boll] has stated that he sets out to make bad game films on purpose as a 'fuck you cunt' to video gamers, who he absolutely reviles.
Can I get a source for that?
Edited by OldManHoOh Hide / Show Replies
tsstevens
Since: Oct, 2010
Mar 24th 2012 at 5:52:33 PM
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"You go for it, to please the game fans, but on the other hand if you have the hard core gamers, they live in their own world. And you cannot fulfill their ideas from a video game based movie, it's impossible. And to be honest, the real gamers are the typical download guys, right? They don't pay anything for movies, because they illegally download the movies. So why I should please these guys? I need the normal audience."
Currently reading up My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours
LostHero
Since: Mar, 2010
Aug 8th 2011 at 10:38:22 PM
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Edited by 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, as otherwise the trip will take about a year:
See also Uwe Boll, but please don't see any of his movies. For your own sake.
open/close all folders
Flat-out bad
- Wing Commander: Frankly, it's probably best you not think about this one at all. It ignored virtually everything about the popular video games except the most basic concepts, even changing the Kilrathi from feline humanoids into some sort of strange lizard creatures, with truly bad rubber masks, and added a ton of weird metaphysical junk never seen in the games to make the hero into some sort of piloting Übermensch. Also, sonar in space.
- Worse was the scene where Cobra's damaged fighter is pushed off the side of the carrier to allow other fighters to land so they can be refueled and rearmed. It's a wonder why everyone was making such a fuss - they're in space, and the fighter can be easily recovered once the flight deck is clear once more, perhaps by attaching a line of some description so the fighter can be reeled back in. No, it gets pushed off the side and drops away from the carrier, never to be seen again. Clearly, even leaving aside the shredding of the laws of physics inherent in that, the fighters carry no radios or IFF transponders of any kind...
- On the other hand, Maniac was as much an asshat in the movie as in the game. So it was true to one thing. Inevitably, one of the things everyone hates. Go figure.
- 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 (Mark Hamill, 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 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... Executive Meddling can ruin any movie, any time, anywhere.
- A lot of anime OVAs based on fighting games 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 Uwe Boll has turned his hand to, from House of the Dead (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. Hideo Kojima 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 '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 Dead Baby Comedy based on the darkly humorous shoot-em-up from Running With Scissors. The film takes Refuge in Audacity just so it can anviliciously 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 horribly hilarious and leaving nothing but boring mediocrity behind.
- In the Dungeon Siege movie, the nameless farmer main character was actually named "Farmer", he had a Precision-Guided Boomerang, and the movie looked a little too much like The Lord of the Rings. But he said it's nothing like The Lord of the Rings 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 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: Rampage (which has been called, on this very wiki, a better adaptation of Postal than Boll's officially licensed adaptation), Darfur, or (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.
- This SequentialArt page.
- and this one, an insult to the Old High Ones
- 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.
- Double Dragon: Moved to a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles for no apparent reason, replaced the Big Bad with a Corrupt Corporate Executive, 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 chews the scenery with gusto as the villain and 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 Jean Claude Van Damme movie Double Impact, while flawed, did a better job adapting the basic premise of the Double Dragon games than the actual Double Dragon movie, making it practically a 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 Soul Calibur movie called "Soulcalibur Endgame" was in the works, but it had absolutely no characters or settings or plot points from the games, and the holy spirit sword Soul Calibur was to be portrayed as 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.
- "Funny Aneurysm" Moment: In Sigfried's ending in Soul Calibur IV (2008), The Soul Calibur turns the world into crystal, effectively ending it.
- Maple Story is another example. Take away the classes and heroes that made Maple Story 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 Half-Human Hybrid 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.
- Street Fighter The Legend Of Chun Li makes 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 Street Fighter 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 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 So Bad It's Horrible, and it's a wonder how the crap it got shafted from the Golden Raspberry Awards.
- 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 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 snapping Bison's neck, RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS INNOCENT DAUGHTER!!! What the fuck kinda hero does something like that?!?!
- 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.
- Mortal Kombat: 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 Info Dump or mindless fighting. To the detriment of what little plot there was, they tried to cram in 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 why the hell not?
- In its defense, it has this 9 seconds of goodness.
- In its defense, it has this 9 seconds
- Horrible CGI Special Effects Failure in the big finale fight scene. Even at the time the movie was made, it was awful.
- 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 why the hell not?
- One look at the movies supposedly based on Tekken and The King Of Fighters make it incredibly obvious that no one working on them really knows or 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 Mortal Kombat's plot, 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, Dead Space 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 Cel Shading 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.
Partial Exceptions / So Bad It's Good
- The Resident Evil 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 They Just Didn't Care as they turned what was originally supposed to be a horror series into a generic Aeon Flux 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 Mad Max After the End movie with zombies. The fourth one then proceeded to add Resident Evil 5-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 Resident Evil movies.
- The Hitman movie has a plot which will 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 The Chessmaster, rather than make him a generic action thug.
- The movie would be even better if not for Executive Meddling. The differences between script and movie being: 47 being hunted by Spetsnaz instead of other "agents", the whole affair being a Xanatos Gambit played by the KGB agent, a couple of action scenes more and no recycled footage from completely different TV series. And yes, 47 is even more of a Chessmaster in the script.
- Ahem...The Wizard. It's not even based on any video game (though it has very blatantly obvious Product Placement), but somehow manages to be watchable through almost ninety straight minutes of cheese.
- Though that may be due to Nostalgia Filtering.
- Max Payne: 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 Purple Prose 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. Your Mileage May Vary 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 a lot more watchable.
- Night Trap: The Movie showcased this trope in an unexpected way, taking a cult-classic "interactive movie" and removing the interactivity, leaving all the delicious So Bad, It's Good camp intact.
- The Hero of Time, loosely based off of Ocarina Of Time, 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 Your Mileage May Vary 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 Flawed, yet enjoyable.
Full exceptions / genuinely good movies
- The 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 nude Chun-Li scene and 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 Darker and Edgier to make the juvenile premise easier to swallow. Its not exactly flawless: 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 Street Fighter IV: 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 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 Animal Crossing (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.
- Mortal Kombat: Only, repeat only the first one. It has its own problems, though: Sonya is a Faux Action Girl, Sub-Zero and Scorpion are mindless slaves of Shang Tsung and Kitana is a Distressed Damsel. On the other hand, well-crafted fight choreography, a script with legitimate wit at times, some nice set design, 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 The Obi-Wan makes more sense for a Physical God 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. Roger Ebert 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.
- 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.
- The Last Starfighter: 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.
- It's only out in Japan and the UK at the moment, but judging by its reviews, Professor Layton 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.
- 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.
- Metal Gear Solid Philanthropy, the film really shows the care that Italian Metal Gear fans put into it. The production value is admirable, albeit non-canon, is as good as an Alternate Universe to Kojimaverse. Special Effect Failure is few far and between, some Did Not Do The Research that even Kojima himself makes, but smart Continuity Nod to the canon story makes up for it.
- A stage aversion: The Takarazuka Phoenix Wright 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 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 the finished songs are any indication, it would've probably been just as well-liked as the preceding example if it had been finished.
- Speaking of Phoenix Wright musicals, there's actually another one 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 the finished songs are any indication
- Jerry Bruckheimer's Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time, whilst by no means 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 Prince Of Persia 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.
- 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.
- Tales Of Vesperia: 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 darker, bolder and closer to the Low Fantasy 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! 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 Gainax Ending 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.
- Your Mileage May Vary on this, but 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 is factored, they're still better than most game adaptations especially given the sheer size of the franchise.
- Eddie Lebron's fan made Mega Man 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 Fate Stay Night. The film feels like watching 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 Dual Wielding 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, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World manages to have many videogame tropes, and still is an awesome movie.
LostHero
Since: Mar, 2010
azraelfinalstar
Since: Nov, 2010
Feb 13th 2012 at 12:28:12 PM
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Why isn't Sonic the movie a genuinely good movie? I feel no guilt in liking that movie.
nuclearneo577
Since: Dec, 2009
Feb 12th 2011 at 12:53:41 PM
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This does not explain how the movies are good. Also, what was good about it?
- The two Fatal Fury TV specials, Legend of the Hungry Wolf and The New Battle, were pragmatic adaptations of their corresponding games, focusing around the game's main characters Terry, Andy, Joe, and Mai, with most of the other characters being adapted into supporting roles or cameos. They took some creative liberties, such as the addition of Terry's doomed love interest Lily McGuire and making Wolfgang Krauser younger than he is supposed to be, but nothing that completely deviated from the source material. The movie itself, appropriately titled Motion Picture, has an original storyline that's pretty decent and can be enjoyed independently without much knowledge of the games.
nuclearneo577
Since: Dec, 2009
Oct 24th 2010 at 2:14:56 PM
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Why are the Fatal Fury movies in the genially good section?
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SomeGuy
Since: Jan, 2001
Oct 24th 2010 at 7:53:15 PM
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Presumably because someone liked them. You can move it to contested if you disagree.
See you in the discussion pages.
nuclearneo577
Since: Dec, 2009
Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Should we really specify movies?
, started by Edmania on May 14th 2011 at 10:19:16 PM
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman