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Thread: Wasted opportunities or: Why wasn't this a video game??

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    ServBot (Level 11) Rob2600's Avatar
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    Default Wasted opportunities or: Why wasn't this a video game??

    I grew up in the 1980s and was heavily into the NES from 1988 to 1991. I always wondered back then why extremely popular things were never turned into video games, at least here in North America. What a wasted opportunity for publishers to cash in! A couple examples:

    The Transformers
    Voltron
    The New Kids on the Block

    Not that I wanted an NKOTB video game, but it always confused me why something as huge as NKOTB was never turned into a video game, but things like 7 Up's Spot and Where's Waldo were.

    What other bits of pop culture should've been turned into video games, but never were? (Keep in mind, I'm not saying the games would've been good or even made sense. I'm talking publishers cashing-in.)
    Last edited by Rob2600; 05-31-2012 at 11:07 AM.

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    Ronin Warriors deserved a game... or two... or three...
    Be Attitude For Gains...

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    There were two Transformers games made for the C64, by Activision and Ocean, although neither are spectacular.

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    There is a Transformers game on NES, but it's Japan-only. It was published by Takara, and I'm guessing they didn't have a US presence at that point. Maybe they wouldn't allow another publisher to do a localization, or maybe nobody wanted it because it's supposedly an awful game.
    Last edited by Aussie2B; 05-31-2012 at 11:05 AM.

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    ServBot (Level 11) Rob2600's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aussie2B View Post
    There is a Transformers game on NES, but it's Japan-only. It was published by Takara, and I'm guessing they didn't have a US presence at that point. Maybe they wouldn't allow another publisher to do a localization, or maybe nobody wanted it because it's supposedly an awful game.
    Judging from this video, North Americans didn't miss out:

    http://www.youtube.com/embed/dKwA066rNn0

    I don't understand why a decent Transformers game wasn't made for the NES. We got two G.I. Joe games and two Golgo 13 games (nobody had even heard of that back then!), but no Transformers.

    We got Predator and Total Recall NES games, but no Running Man or Conan
    Last edited by Rob2600; 05-31-2012 at 11:26 AM.

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    I think we would've been better off without Predator and Total Recall, haha. We did get a Conan game, by the way, which also sucks.

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    A little more recent than the 80s and 90s, but I think a 2D Samurai Jack platformer would have been awesome.

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    /////
    Last edited by RulerStabInTheEye27; 11-20-2017 at 03:18 PM.
    Opinions are illegal on the internet!

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    Hmmm, 80's pop culture that could have been cashed in for video games..

    Max Headroom
    Milli Vanilli
    Big (movie with Tom Hanks)
    A-Team

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    Quote Originally Posted by sloan View Post
    Hmmm, 80's pop culture that could have been cashed in for video games..

    Max Headroom
    Milli Vanilli
    Big (movie with Tom Hanks)
    A-Team
    It doesn't have to be 1980s, just anything that was so popular, it made you ask "Why isn't there a video game of this?"

    The A-Team was definitely a wasted opportunity. It could've had Double Dragon/P.O.W. style levels and driving/shooting levels.

    In the mid-late 1990s, I'm surprised nobody made a Beanie Babies game.

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    New Kids on the Block was indeed planned for the NES


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    Quote Originally Posted by o.pwuaioc View Post
    A little more recent than the 80s and 90s, but I think a 2D Samurai Jack platformer would have been awesome.
    They did make one for the GBA:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbzrI--H0Pg

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    I always thought the Fantastic Four could've used a game in the 90s.
    Ready to print game covers and cart labels: http://www.mediafire.com/?5gm45wyxr3xvv

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    Quote Originally Posted by djshok View Post
    I always thought the Fantastic Four could've used a game in the 90s.
    One did come out for the Playstation in '97. I remember it being pretty bad.



    What the hell was up with that music?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Scissors View Post
    They did make one for the GBA:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbzrI--H0Pg
    I like that it's in the vain of Metroidvania, but man, the programming on that looks terrible. Those controls look sloppy as hell. It needs to be done properly.

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    Care Bears
    M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand)
    Robotech (in the 80s and 90s anyway) I know about the Macross games in Japan, but that's not Robotech, and they still didn't make it here.
    She-Ra: Princess of Power

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    Strawberry (Level 2) SEGA_Queen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Emperor Megas View Post
    Care Bears
    Oh man, you don't know how much I wished there was decent Care Bears game when I was I kid. Sure, there was that mini-game collection (Care Bears: Care Quest, I think?), but it sucked.

    What I really want is a puzzle/platformer. Imagine this: You have one button to attack with the Care Bear Stare. Another would activate a bear's special ability. For example, Cheer Bear could create rainbow bridges to cross large gaps. For bosses, you could use all the villains from the various TV series.

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    Quote Originally Posted by o.pwuaioc View Post
    A little more recent than the 80s and 90s, but I think a 2D Samurai Jack platformer would have been awesome.
    There's The Amulet of Time for the GBA.

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    There was a Max Headroom game for the C64 as well.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mayhem View Post
    There was a Max Headroom game for the C64 as well.
    So were A-Team and MASK. In fact, I think MASK also came out for the MSX and several other European computers. Quite honestly, the vast majority of really big movies and cartoons had a computer game in Europe where companies like Ocean perfected the whole big license, poor quality game trend that continues to this day.

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