View Full Version : Bad Film or Show, Good Game
shopkins
06-14-2011, 11:57 AM
Have you ever played a licensed game and enjoyed it more than the movie or show it's based on? With the way licensed games are pooped out there's usually not much chance they'll be as good as even bad movies, but sometimes I think the game manages to rise above its source material.
The Catwoman movie, for example, is much-reviled and poorly reviewed. But I thought the Catwoman game itself was a lot of fun with its focus on acrobatics and unconventional combat. It has some quirks and its not for everyone, but I really enjoyed it.
I also was a bit disappointed with the movie Gremlins 2: The New Batch, but really enjoyed the Sunsoft NES game. It was a very fun little overhead action game.
And finally, the Fantastic Four movie just wasn't very good at all. I thought the Fantastic Four game, though no prize-winner, actually did a better job of telling the same story and keeping me interested.
Swamperon
06-14-2011, 12:06 PM
Mmm, I enjoy the first Harry Potter PC game much more than the 1st movie. The game I'd happily play through again but the movie I can take it or leave it.
Of course the book outdoes both so that may not count.
Arcade Antics
06-14-2011, 12:37 PM
Moonwalker.
Kitsune Sniper
06-14-2011, 12:56 PM
Double Dragon (Neo-Geo).
NoDanaOnlyZool
06-14-2011, 12:59 PM
I always like Goldeneye on the N64 better than the movie. I may be a bit biased though, I am not a Pierce fan.
Imstarryeyed
06-14-2011, 01:01 PM
I am going to say the Chronicles of Riddick Escape from Butcher Bay, great fun game.. its lineage Pitch Black movie.. is not so good.. in my opinion.
crazyjackcsa
06-14-2011, 01:44 PM
Pitch Black is considered to be a pretty decent sci fi flick. Chronicles of Riddick, not so much
Emperor Megas
06-14-2011, 02:18 PM
Bitch Black is awesome. Chronicles of Riddick on the other hand, terrible. The game seems to be very well received however, as already mentioned. I'm honestly at a loss on this one. I can't think of any license besides Riddick that has a superior game release.
Edmond Dantes
06-14-2011, 03:00 PM
Not necessarily movies, but:
Chip n' Dale's Rescue Rangers - So so cartoon, pretty damn memoriable game.
Animaniacs for SNES - Again, so-so cartoon, but great game.
I personally like Scooby Doo in general, but even people who don't should get a kick out of the Sega Genesis game.
MachineGex
06-14-2011, 03:08 PM
Golden Eye has to be the biggest one for me. I played Golden Eye N64 for over a year straight with friends. That game totally put the movie to shame.
kupomogli
06-14-2011, 03:50 PM
Add another for Goldeneye 64 and Gremlins 2.
Batman Returns SNES. My favorite SNES beat em up. The movie was "okay."
Also X Men Origins Wolverine. It's clearly budgeted as a movie based game, but I'd take this over the much larger budget God of Bore, because it's actually a fun game.
Gameguy
06-14-2011, 04:52 PM
Bebe's Kids for the SNES. I know people hate the game, but I like it. I don't like the movie though, even though I have it on VHS.
kafa111
06-14-2011, 05:01 PM
superman 64 was atleast 3 times better then the movie
buzz_n64
06-14-2011, 05:09 PM
Chip n' Dale's Rescue Rangers - So so cartoon, pretty damn memoriable game.
How dare you! Best cartoon of all time! Disney didn't dumb down the dialogue like you see with today's cartoons. It's a tragedy they only but about 40 episodes.
For me, good game, horrible show/movie. Maniac Mansion, horrendous series, great game.
Kitsune Sniper
06-14-2011, 05:11 PM
Bebe's Kids for the SNES. I know people hate the game, but I like it.You can never criticize my taste in games ever again.
buzz_n64
06-14-2011, 05:12 PM
edit: Double Post, sorry.
crackdealer clawx
06-14-2011, 05:18 PM
How dare you! Best cartoon of all time! Disney didn't dumb down the dialogue like you see with today's cartoons. It's a tragedy they only but about 40 episodes.
For me, good game, horrible show/movie. Maniac Mansion, horrendous series, great game.
There were like 65 episodes of Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers, dude! Most shows back then only had 65 episodes anyway!
Either way, It was a swell show but the fellas entitled not to like it!
Anyway, I liked Gilligan's Island for the NES but I didn't like that show at all.
I also liked TaleSpin for the NES and didn't like that show at all either.
That's all I can think of right now.
The digitized, Mortal Kombat-style Street Fighter arcade game was better than the movie it was based on. I'm not saying it was great, but it was at least pretty.
While neither series is bad, I'm not a fan of Hajimo No Ippo or Astroboy, but love the GBA versions.
buzz_n64
06-14-2011, 06:02 PM
There were like 65 episodes of Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers, dude! Most shows back then only had 65 episodes anyway!
Either way, It was a swell show but the fellas entitled not to like it!
Okay, forgot to look up Wikipedia, sorry.:oops: Either way, I have seen every episode, and still reserve the right to take slight insult to someone talking negatively about something that is my favorite, same if I insulted your favorite show/game/movie/band. By no means will I hold a grudge or like him any less. My best friend hates Star Trek, and I love it, and that's how it is, it still upsets me when he insults Star Trek, but I don't mind that he quietly feels that way.
Edmond Dantes
06-14-2011, 06:15 PM
Us old-time cartoon fans have to stick together, after all!
Rescue Rangers struck me as getting off to a promising start but not really living up to it. Then again, I'm more a He-Man/Bravestarr fan personally.
crackdealer clawx
06-14-2011, 06:31 PM
Okay, forgot to look up Wikipedia, sorry.:oops: Either way, I have seen every episode, and still reserve the right to take slight insult to someone talking negatively about something that is my favorite, same if I insulted your favorite show/game/movie/band. By no means will I hold a grudge or like him any less. My best friend hates Star Trek, and I love it, and that's how it is, it still upsets me when he insults Star Trek, but I don't mind that he quietly feels that way.
I suppose that's fine, but maybe I just don't care enough about what other people think of the stuff I like...
Either way, everyone knows that Duck Tales was the best.
Launchpad 4 lyfe.
Collector_Gaming
06-14-2011, 06:53 PM
i never saw the movie Hudson Hawk but i thought the game for the NES was pretty fun for what it is.
pixelsnpolygons
06-14-2011, 06:55 PM
Initially I couldn't think of any - but the replies here reminded me of Goldeneye and Batman Returns. I enjoy the game versions of those properties much more than the films they're based off.
Collector_Gaming
06-14-2011, 07:00 PM
I suppose that's fine, but maybe I just don't care enough about what other people think of the stuff I like...
Either way, everyone knows that Duck Tales was the best.
Launchpad 4 lyfe.
Duck Tales the movie was the best
Animaniacs for SNES - Again, so-so cartoon, but great game.
Animaniacs was one of the last Warner Bros. cartoons that adults could actually sit down and enjoy with their children. It stayed true to the classic Looney Tunes cartoons, where it wasn't painfully dumbed down for the sake of the kids and had a lot of suggestive moments that would fly right over their heads. The only other one after that was Freakazoid, which got canceled by the WB network because it didn't bring in the younger viewer ratings, yet did well with older audiences.
Collector_Gaming
06-14-2011, 07:48 PM
Animaniacs was one of the last Warner Bros. cartoons that adults could actually sit down and enjoy with their children. It stayed true to the classic Looney Tunes cartoons, where it wasn't painfully dumbed down for the sake of the kids and had a lot of suggestive moments that would fly right over their heads. The only other one after that was Freakazoid, which got canceled by the WB network because it didn't bring in the younger viewer ratings, yet did well with older audiences.
Whatcha talking about willis?
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Ebtg58yV3_E/TTAUYeRw4OI/AAAAAAAACUY/XBO6op-Rfmo/s400/Hello+Nurse2.JPG
oh.... nvm
j_factor
06-14-2011, 08:21 PM
I didn't really like the movie Alien 3, but I loved the game.
Also, The World is Not Enough. Not one of my favorite games, but I definitely liked it more than the movie. Speaking of James Bond, I also have to mention A View to a Kill for C64. Not a very good game, but the movie was outright terrible IMO.
3 Ninjas Kick Back was an ok game.
goatdan
06-14-2011, 11:47 PM
Chip n' Dale's Rescue Rangers - So so cartoon, pretty damn memoriable game.
Animaniacs for SNES - Again, so-so cartoon, but great game.
Wow. Both of those statements seem kind of blasphemous to me. Chip n' Dale's and Animaniacs "so-so"? No no!
CapnCrunch53
06-15-2011, 12:29 AM
I think Star Wars: Episode I Racer is a very fun racing game (I play it on N64), but I very strongly dislike the entire prequel trilogy in general and that movie in particular.
This one isn't old, and I don't have first-hand experience with the movie or the game, but I have heard that the recent Wolverine game was quite a bit better than the movie.
TonyTheTiger
06-15-2011, 12:35 AM
Dragonball Evolution for PSP?
I wouldn't exactly call the game "good" but it's better than the movie.
Leo_A
06-15-2011, 01:22 AM
I've never seen the movie, but it's my understanding that Judge Dredd from the mid 1990's was awful.
The 16 bit movie tie in game on the other hand, at least on the Super Nintendo, was decent enough and I enjoyed playing through it at the time.
Swamperon
06-15-2011, 08:13 AM
Another yes for GoldenEye. Never being a bond fan so that maybe why.
And Animaniacs was AMAZING! I loved it as a child and now an adult!
Why did we never get a Pinky & Brain game where you actually take over the world?
Tiny Toons Buster's Adventure for the Genesis, as good as the cartoon. Which I miss as well.
frogofdeath
06-15-2011, 09:59 AM
Goldeneye is one of the better Bond movies, but the N64 game is definitely better. In a sense, the game is like a book that has all those great parts that the movie just didn't have time to include. Goldeneye Wii is also better than its original source material.
goatdan
06-15-2011, 11:32 AM
I've never seen the movie, but it's my understand that Judge Dredd from the mid 1990's was awful.
The 16 bit movie tie in game on the other hand, at least on the Super Nintendo, was decent enough and I enjoyed playing through it at the time.
The movie was horrible. I recently went on a kick to watch all of the movies that I have pinball machines related to in my collection. The JD pinball machine was actually based on the comic, but I thought it would be worth seeing the movie. About 20 minutes in, I wondered why it got such a bad rap. About an hour in, I knew.
I'd agree with that one. Beyond that, I can't think of too many games that were great that were based on truly bad properties. Generally, the games that were good were based on good properties...
Kitsune Sniper
06-15-2011, 12:06 PM
The movie was horrible. I recently went on a kick to watch all of the movies that I have pinball machines related to in my collection. The JD pinball machine was actually based on the comic, but I thought it would be worth seeing the movie. About 20 minutes in, I wondered why it got such a bad rap. About an hour in, I knew.
I'd agree with that one. Beyond that, I can't think of too many games that were great that were based on truly bad properties. Generally, the games that were good were based on good properties...
Fun fact about the Judge Dredd movie. You know Rob Schneider's character? HE DIES IN THE ORIGINAL SCRIPT. That would've made everything much, muuuuuuuuuuuuuch better...
Emperor Megas
06-15-2011, 12:09 PM
Speaking of James Bond, I also have to mention A View to a Kill for C64. Not a very good game, but the movie was outright terrible IMO.I'm a huge Bond fan, and A View To A Kill is one of my favorites. :^/
Gameguy
06-15-2011, 02:17 PM
You can never criticize my taste in games ever again.
Did I do that before? I honestly can't remember. Your taste in movies though... :p
In any case the movie is really bad, I only picked up the VHS tape because it was cheap and the DVD is worth big bucks for some reason(making the VHS tape worth more than I paid for it). I don't know if you watched it, but the game really is better than the source material. And for a licensed game it tries to follow the plot of the movie pretty closely, the levels actually follow the scenes in the movie. Kind of the opposite compared to games like Wayne's World for the NES which don't follow the source material at all.
I'll make it up to you, here's an online game you'll probably like more than Bebe's Kids. It's a shooter, maybe you can get a high score.
http://tinyurl.com/3dus9lm
Fun fact about the Judge Dredd movie. You know Rob Schneider's character? HE DIES IN THE ORIGINAL SCRIPT. That would've made everything much, muuuuuuuuuuuuuch better...
Wouldn't the same be true with any movie that has Rob Schneider in it?
I'm gonna go with Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. I'm in the minority I'm sure, but I love playing that game a few times a year and beating it. The movie; went to the theatre back in the day to see that shit and was bored stiff.
Also, Maniac Mansion. I love that game just as much as RH: POT and actually enjoyed the show too. I remember it coming on The Family Channel and watching it every Sunday the short time it lived.
BetaWolf47
06-15-2011, 03:32 PM
No love for Willow? According to critics, it was a painfully average movie, but the NES and arcade games by Capcom are great. The NES game is a (logistically confusing) NES action RPG like Crystalis. Seriously, great game but horrible map system.
NeoVenom
06-15-2011, 03:45 PM
Maniac Mansion is an awesome game, I remember seeing the show and I was like, "Wth!?!?". LOL
Also, the ending for The Matrix: Path of Neo is WAYYYY better than the ending we got from The Matrix Revolutions.
Gameguy
06-15-2011, 03:57 PM
As for Maniac Mansion, the show was based on the game so it really shouldn't count. It's like saying the Super Mario Bros game is better than the movie, that doesn't count either as the game came first.
NeoVenom
06-15-2011, 04:02 PM
As for Maniac Mansion, the show was based on the game so it really shouldn't count. It's like saying the Super Mario Bros game is better than the movie, that doesn't count either as the game came first.
I see what you're saying. So it has to be movie then game. Sorry about that. :D
shopkins
06-15-2011, 04:15 PM
I'm gonna go with Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. I'm in the minority I'm sure, but I love playing that game a few times a year and beating it. The movie; went to the theatre back in the day to see that shit and was bored stiff.
That game rocked! Almost as much as the movie sucked. I need to find it and finally beat it, when I originally played it it was a rental and I didn't get to the end. I think I own it now but I'll have to drag it out.
Brianvgplayer
06-15-2011, 04:18 PM
Either way, everyone knows that Duck Tales was the best.
I love Duck Tales, but from what I read of them, the Scrooge McDuck comics they are loosely based on are better. I find it interesting that the palette of Scrooge in the NES games looks more like comics than the cartoon. The Beagle Boys look more like the comic versions, as well.
I wasn't a huge fan of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, but I love the Atari Games arcade game.
Edmond Dantes
06-17-2011, 02:42 AM
Animaniacs was one of the last Warner Bros. cartoons that adults could actually sit down and enjoy with their children. It stayed true to the classic Looney Tunes cartoons, where it wasn't painfully dumbed down for the sake of the kids and had a lot of suggestive moments that would fly right over their heads. The only other one after that was Freakazoid, which got canceled by the WB network because it didn't bring in the younger viewer ratings, yet did well with older audiences.
Uhhh... yeah.
Suffice to say, I disagree with this, a lot. Honestly, I can't understand all the love and worship Looney Tunes gets, and I don't see how bringing that style of complete pointlessness and humor that wasn't that funny in the first place into the 1990s was supposed to be a good thing. If anything, it caused cartoons to go into retrograde--whereas formerly they were starting to be used as an avenue for adult drama (see Transformers: The Movie) all the sudden they're nothing but slapstick again, thanks to how popular Animaniacs and shows like it were.
Spawned a pretty good SNES game though.
shopkins
06-17-2011, 11:13 AM
Uhhh... yeah.
Suffice to say, I disagree with this, a lot. Honestly, I can't understand all the love and worship Looney Tunes gets, and I don't see how bringing that style of complete pointlessness and humor that wasn't that funny in the first place into the 1990s was supposed to be a good thing. If anything, it caused cartoons to go into retrograde--whereas formerly they were starting to be used as an avenue for adult drama (see Transformers: The Movie) all the sudden they're nothing but slapstick again, thanks to how popular Animaniacs and shows like it were.
Spawned a pretty good SNES game though.
It's true. There really are two kinds of kid in this world.
Frankie_Says_Relax
06-17-2011, 12:05 PM
While I don't consider Krull to be a terrible film, there are some that would lump it in with other dated action/fantasy epics of the early 80s and say not very nice things about it.
My opinion of the film aside, I love the Gottlieb Arcade game (especially its bassy sound effects and music) and I've certainly spent more time playing that than I have watching the movie.
The 2600 game isn't too bad either.
Satoshi_Matrix
06-17-2011, 01:06 PM
Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever for GBA. Unolike the film, the GBA game is excellent. Seriously. Go check it out. It's probably the most advanced FPS attempted on the system, second only to Ice Nine.
hbkprm
06-17-2011, 02:09 PM
on games based on liscenced properties: i loved the tiny toons game on the snes and that show was hella funny, animinacs is still funny beyond reason just cause. pokemon red/blue was my first real rpg outing, now the show went south in terms of story. the lion king is a mostly solid movie if youre 6,7 or 8 and the game now is piss poor. darkman was a pure blast when i seen the movie, but the game is hard but addictive. robocop was one of the most badass movies i seen in my life but i hate the arcade and nes games were pure hell. waynes world was very funny not so with the games. dragonball z is one of the greats with anime and its the same with the fighting games. ghost in the shell is an another golden standard in anime, but the game on ps1 was somewhat good. star wars is one solid film franchise and churn out some good games too. never seen men in black ii but the game was the worst i ever played.
E Nice
06-18-2011, 04:29 PM
Uhhh... yeah.
Suffice to say, I disagree with this, a lot. Honestly, I can't understand all the love and worship Looney Tunes gets, and I don't see how bringing that style of complete pointlessness and humor that wasn't that funny in the first place into the 1990s was supposed to be a good thing. If anything, it caused cartoons to go into retrograde--whereas formerly they were starting to be used as an avenue for adult drama (see Transformers: The Movie) all the sudden they're nothing but slapstick again, thanks to how popular Animaniacs and shows like it were.
Spawned a pretty good SNES game though.
I thought Transformers: The Movie actually did that on it's own, as the tykes didn't take to well to having a certain faction leader being offed (which led to the alteration of the G.I.Joe movie - to avoid similar reactions). Plus season 3 wasn't as popular even though it had more serious stories, considering the era and audience it was being aimed at.
TaleSpin and Darkwing Duck used slapstick but there were some rare serious moments, some of which I doubt would ever be aired on children's tv again (the Air Pirates attack on Cape Suzette where they were blowing up skyscraper tops with debris raining down on a panicked populace or Taurus Bulba clutching Darkwing, to take him out with him, as the top of the St.Canard skyscraper exploded.) Transformers R.i.D. had an episode censored (or rather unaired) because one of the Decepticon's was shown blowing up an airport and other locations from space.