I am okay with TV/film/etc adaptions of video games not being 1000% faithful.

[BrawlMan]

What inspired this was some of the reactions to the Resident Evil (2026) trailer, some assholes prejudging the Mass Effect TV show, and some grifters getting their underwear in a bunch over DMC Netflix Season 2 (which I did enjoy). I don't mind adaptions, be they TV or film, make necessary changes or compromises when adapting the work So long as the spirit/essence of what the IP or franchise is all about, I am more than willing to give these a chance. Even adaptions from the 90s had to make certain compromises or add backstories, because the budget didn't allow it, or there was not enough to go off of. I mainly referencing Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (it removed the tournament aspect, but worked heavily in its favor and laid the groundwork for the Alpha series), the first two Sonic cartoons & Archie comics, and MK 1995.

I am no stranger to bad, rushed, or adaptions where they clearly did not care. Thankfully, this has been reduced by a lot, and most of these film companies or directors and/or producers are trying and succeeding. They are adaptions after all, so they have to adapt and do what they can do best in their specific medium. This applies to any media adapting another, and many people forget this, or think one way or enjoying the one thing is all that matters, or that it is "impossible" to love the source material and adaptions. Which has always been a load of bullshit, and something I recognized early enough. Just because something is faithful, does not mean it will be good nor get an automatic pass. It's okay to change things within reason, or to mix it up. If everything became adapted 1000% the same, then what would be the point? You might as well stick with the originals and not even bother. Somewhat unrelated, but that is why I love the Resident Evil Remakes so much, and I am including RE3R (it's not even close to a bad game and it is a good remake of RE3). The stories for each are mostly the same, but they are all given different directions or context that still fits the spirit of the franchise. I still enjoy the originals for most of these titles (not RE4 though, and I only care about the DS version of RE1 and not the original PS1 versions)

This video from Second Wind only adds to my argument now.

Note: if you like or dislike any of these adaptations from now or back then that's fine, but let's not be obnoxious about it. Nor insult others for either option. I won't do that unlike some other people here. Keep it clean and polite. If you can't do that or don't want to do that, then don't even bother being here or ignore the thread.

 

[Fietto!]

Same. I want stuff that’s unique & exciting.
& I’m not even referring to just video games.

 

[fake-chan]

I agree. One of the reasons I love Mega Man comics, both Western and Japanese, is that I enjoy seeing writers' own unique takes on the franchise. I may not always agree with the changes (*cough cough* Ian Flynn and Hitoshi Ariga *cough cough*), but I'll take them over overly faithful adaptations.

 

[Sanomoe]

It makes sense, and I was thinking about it the other day. I like the 2003 adaptation of FMA, and although it follows an original story, it preserves the essence of the manga. It doesn't have to be 100% faithful, as long as it respect the intention behind the original work.

 

[Clippy]

I think most people aren't too bothered about a change here or there when adapting something as long as it doesn't go like this:

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Then you are a bigger person than me... I'm still raging by how much they fucked up TLoU with their made-up BS.

 

[Mileena]

To each their own but as a huge Resident Evil fan, they’ve repeatedly shit on the franchise when it comes to the movies and tv series. I do not care about some random guy running through the city. The Anderson films at least put some of the actual characters in it but they were mostly cheap overly action filled junk with no survival horror feel. Chris was TERRIBLY cast and I don’t care about made up Alice. Welcome to Raccoon City was not a great movie and Jill and Leon were badly cast (though Leon had funny moments) BUT I will give this movie credit, they nailed locations from the game and they brought us familiarity. The problem with that movie was it was rushed cuz they tried to squeeze two games in to one movie. If they had just focused on the first game alone, they may have had something better.

The Netflix show was a total joke from head to toe.

It’s normal as die hard fans of stuff to be upset it’s not proper source material and if people like what they see that’s fine but I don’t want to see random characters in a movie that has the RE name slapped on it, I want to see a great movie or show adaptation of the video game I love. If whoever is making it wants to add some of their own ideas, that’s ok with me, it’s bound to happen anyway cuz the movie isn’t gonna move like the game but making a movie about a made up guy running through the city, sorry but to me that’s just random movie slapping the RE title on it to try to get eyes.

 

[BrawlMan]

Then you are a bigger person than me... I'm still raging by how much they fucked up TLoU with their made-up BS.

TLOUS I actually don't like to begin with no matter which version. I tolerate the first game enough (it's RE4 stealth), and the second game is just bad, edge lord, fan fiction nobody asked for. the games are movie like already, so a t v adaption was pointless in my opinion. I was proven right and proven further with the second season. Adapting the second game and people who didn't play the games didn't like that story either.

Post automatically merged: May 26, 2026

The Anderson films at least put some of the actual characters in it but they were mostly cheap overly action filled junk with no survival horror feel. Chris was TERRIBLY cast and I don’t care about made up Alice. Welcome to Raccoon City was not a great movie and Jill and Leon were badly cast (though Leon had funny moments) BUT I will give this movie credit, they nailed locations from the game and they brought us familiarity. The problem with that movie was it was rushed cuz they tried to squeeze two games in to one movie. If they had just focused on the first game alone, they may have had something better.

Those adaptations that they just became bad fan fictions with characters who don't act like how they're supposed to or get sidelined by the director's wife. Fuck all of it.

I do not care about some random guy running through the city.

It's ironic you say that as that's how the series started. None of these characters were iconic yet. That takes years and decades of fandom building. Chris and jill were just some swat officers. Leon was a rookie cop on his first day and Claire, a college student, looking for her brother. At the time and at the start, they were all just normal people. As much as I don't like RE7, Ethan was just some guy who was in office worker, looking for his wife and a rundown southern gothic mansion. While having a tragic backstory, Grace is just some FBI pencil pusher who was out of her depth. Resident ebo is at its scariest, when it's just normal people trying to survive in a crazy or near impossible situation. That was the entire point of both Outbreak games. Not counting the cop or police characters, everyone else were some type of civilian with either little or no firearms training and scraping to grab whatever they can to survive. Hence, what the new guy is doing in this original story that takes place in the same universe as the games. So it is definitely carrying the spirit, like it or not.

 

[Fietto!]

It makes sense, and I was thinking about it the other day. I like the 2003 adaptation of FMA, and although it follows an original story, it preserves the essence of the manga. It doesn't have to be 100% faithful, as long as it respect the intention behind the original work.

This but Trigun.

 

[Jeff]

I love all the Mario media from the 3 TV series, the Valiant comics, Kunio Mario manga series, the 1986 film and the current Mario films (The 1993 adaptation doesn't count). I want to see my favorite characters interact with new worlds, how the power ups work and all sorts of neat and clever ideas that video games cannot do due to their limitations. Whether they're faithful or not, just give us some fun adventures.

 

[CraigJarrett]

I am okay with it. I mean you cannot fit everything from a video game (or book) into a movie and even with a show you can't really fit everything in, I get it.
Silent Hill is one of my favourite games ever and when I heard about the first movie I wasn't sure but when I watched it I liked it, I thought they did a really good job of recreating it. Now, the second one sucked and I can't be arsed watching the newest one at all (I don't watch many movies or shows set after 2009 to be honest, "the social media era" even if they are set in the past, they don't really feel like they are, Stranger Things for example).

 

[Vreeves]

The recent Sonic movies are a good example of this. They reference some things from the games but they are completely they're own thing and I don't see anyone hating on those.

 

[BrawlMan]

The recent Sonic movies are a good example of this. They reference some things from the games but they are completely they're own thing and I don't see anyone hating on those.

Bitch Ass Movie Bob.

I don't hate the first movie, but it felt very average, and barely like a Sonic film. The characters do grow on you later. The sequels made sure to correct this. All three movies and the eventual fourth film are still better than Sonic X. I don't like the Knuckles t v show though. I genuinely hate it.

 

[Diadu]

Then you are a bigger person than me... I'm still raging by how much they fucked up TLoU with their made-up BS.

I just ignore them / deny they exist and move on with my life and do whatever.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

TLOUS I actually don't like to begin with no matter which version.

That's fine, man — I bailed four episodes in and didn't bother with either the DLC nor the sequel.

That said, the comic is awesome!

 

[Xenocloudarius Xenocloudarius]

Well, yes, as long as it still respects some aspects of the original work.

 

[KenaiPhoenix]

I dont really think nobody expects some changes, like with just some few examples (MGS or Uncharted for example) many games require changes in order to fit the new format.

The problem relies on how many changes they do just like Clippy said:

I think most people aren't too bothered about a change here or there when adapting something as long as it doesn't go like this:
View attachment 189981

How many changes does it has to be made until we can see that they just hijacked and IP to secure some sales and some writer just used the names to tell a story that, by its own, he (or the studio) knew it wouldnt get any attention. A example of this is the Halo TV Show, tho there are many.

On the contrast, a good adaptation (currently ongoing) is the Uma musume series. They have not too much in common with the narrative of the game. BUT the characters are truthful to what we know and love. They didnt even bother to tell the URA Finale or the Unity CUP stories, but you can see that every story of the anime or movies fits, even if it has no relation with the game.

 

[SoThankful]

I do not care about some random guy running through the city.

 

[Pantsuhelm]

It really depends for me. If the spin off/adaptation is trying to be it's own thing entirely, I'd honestly respect it a lot more. 1995 Mortal Kombat was hilarious fun, and nothing anyone can say can really take that from me. If it's, say, trying to be canon and maliciously retconning my favorite parts of something cough Fallout TV show cough, then yeah, no, fuck off.

You'll see this happen a lot with Japanese light novels and visual novels. Something gets lost in translation as it turns in to a manga, then even more gets lost in translation as it turns in to an anime. As I see aspects of a piece of media I love get watered down or washed out to be more palatable to the general audience, I do be gettin' a little salty. Either way, it's pretty easy to simply ignore, and nothing takes away my original experience, so I can't get too mad.

 

[BrawlMan]

You'll see this happen a lot with Japanese light novels and visual novels

That's an entirely different beast and the inherent problem with light novels, especially, is that there has not been any inequality control with them since literally the late 2000s and some of the 2010s. A majority of them are just copying another copy within another copy that didn't learn a thing from the previous piece of media.

If it's, say, trying to be canon and maliciously retconning my favorite parts of something cough Fallout TV show cough, then yeah, no, fuck off.

Yet, that show is still doing gangbusters, so it did something right enough to resonate with the general audiences, and a majority of the hardcore fandom.

1995 Mortal Kombat was hilarious fun, and nothing anyone can say can really take that from me.

As fun as the film is, it remembered to have heart, and it has some genuine and original moments. I literally tear up at that part now with Liu Kang and his younger brother at the end. This is when paul w s anderson actually care about the quality of his work even with compromises made. There's even more irony in your words, because a lot of film elements did go into the games such as Kano being Australian. He was originally half Japanese and half Anglo-Saxon. Though the actor was so great that the creators of the games couldn't help beloved, thus implemented that part of his character later down the line.

 

[RageBurner]

Change needs to be tactful, and make sense in context. Most adaptations just:

A) Run with whatever the creators see as their incredible "ground breaking vision".

B) Exist to appease investors or wider audiences in spite of source accuracy.

C) Run into time crunch and/or cost overruns.

Of these, I can only respect C; I don't like cross media adaptations, never will.

 

[BrawlMan]

C) Run into time crunch and/or cost overruns.

Of these, I can only respect C; I don't like cross media adaptations, never will.

I am usually lenient to point C, but sometimes that mixes in with point B: the executives meddle too much.

A) Run with whatever the creators see as their incredible "ground breaking vision".

Even then this can be handled with restraint or done right. We've seen this adaptions like The Shining, and Godfather.

 

[RageBurner]

I am usually lenient to point C, but sometimes that mixes, in with point B: the executives meddle too much.

Even then this can be handled with restraint or done right. We've seen this adaptions like The Shining, and Godfather.

Very good points, I agree!

 

[Mileena]

TLOUS I actually don't like to begin with no matter which version. I tolerate the first game enough (it's RE4 stealth), and the second game is just bad, edge lord, fan fiction nobody asked for. the games are movie like already, so a t v adaption was pointless in my opinion. I was proven right and proven further with the second season. Adapting the second game and people who didn't play the games didn't like that story either.

Post automatically merged: May 26, 2026

Those adaptations that they just became bad fan fictions with characters who don't act like how they're supposed to or get sidelined by the director's wife. Fuck all of it.


It's ironic you say that as that's how the series started. None of these characters were iconic yet. That takes years and decades of fandom building. Chris and jill were just some swat officers. Leon was a rookie cop on his first day and Claire, a college student, looking for her brother. At the time and at the start, they were all just normal people. As much as I don't like RE7, Ethan was just some guy who was in office worker, looking for his wife and a rundown southern gothic mansion. While having a tragic backstory, Grace is just some FBI pencil pusher who was out of her depth. Resident ebo is at its scariest, when it's just normal people trying to survive in a crazy or near impossible situation. That was the entire point of both Outbreak games. Not counting the cop or police characters, everyone else were some type of civilian with either little or no firearms training and scraping to grab whatever they can to survive. Hence, what the new guy is doing in this original story that takes place in the same universe as the games. So it is definitely carrying the spirit, like it or not.

They may have been unknown to us at first but we learned who they were, got invested in their stories, etc. Most fans want to see the established characters brought to life on screen and following at least the basic story of the game mixed with partial made up stuff to fill in a proper running movie. If this new movie was being made and the games didn’t exist, that would be a different story, people wouldn’t judge it a certain way because we aren’t expecting anything in particular.

If you enjoy original stories with the name on it then that’s fine, you’re perfectly free to do so and I certainly won’t look down on you for it.

Also, someone brought up Sonic, you can’t really make a proper Sonic movie if you’re going to follow the games lol he’d just be speeding through levels all movie until he gets to Eggman at the end. In a case like that, it’s cool to make an original story around it because you kinda need to in order to make a movie. At the end of the day, they still used the characters from the games and had them going on adventures and such, like the cartoons.

In a case like RE, I’m not saying that have to be exactly like the games but people like to see the existing characters on the big screen and a story at least somewhat close to the games. Even if they veered off but kept the characters and enemies, that’s cool, I’ll watch it and see what this person’s vision of the outbreak looks like and how he or she imagines Jill/Chris/etc. tackle it. It’s like the SD Perry novels, they weren’t exactly like the games and things were added to it (like Trent for example) and I was absolutely fine with it, I still got the characters I wanted in it and still got the basic premise of the games.

Again, to each their own, I just prefer to see what I want to see.

 

[DinoRexMax DinoRexMax]

The adaptation process across mediums is difficult, but the problem of course comes from the fact that many of the people adapting these things don't care in the slightest. So the knee jerk reaction from fans is to just say "Make it like the games" when that's not what will create a better movie/animated series. We need creators who have the gumption to withhold their own biases and respect both the adaptation process and the original source material they are adapting from.

I always thought the problem with Castlevania and Devil May Cry animations was Adi Shankar (due to some antagonistic remarks he made against fans) but he was the guy that made Dredd. You know, one of the only comic book movies where the actors keep the fucking mask on the entire movie? You know, like the comics, where he never takes it off? And it was fucking awesome.

So really, the problem lies with writer Warren Ellis, who wrote dreck like NeXtwave and The Authority, which are works that respect nothing. He's the kind of guy who looks at a character like Grant Danasty and goes "Ew" and just ignores them outright instead of trying to actually accomplish something witht the world he is given. He's also the kind of hack who's given a gypsy pirate, and instead re-writes Sypha from being an orphan raised by the church and a practitioner of WHITE magic, to being a spunky gypsy who threatens to pee on people like a spoiled child. He's the kind of hack who looks at a series like CASTLEVANIA, where the heroes contantly invoke God and literally pelt monsters with a FUCKING CRUCIFIX, and thinks "Hmm, this sounds like a perfect oppurtunity to express my GOD BAD rhetoric, that's perfectly appropriate for story where my heroes fight vampires! Where's my twinkies, I'm fat! Blegh!"

There's also the problem with having an adaptation being TOO close to the source material, without addressing the different mediums. I don't like the David's Production JOJO series. I understand it's been a meme in JOJO fancircles for over 20 years to include the Onomatopoeias (especially considering Koichi's stand) regardless of medium (which is why they're also a thing in all of the Capcom games) but that doesn't make any sense WHEN WE CAN ALREADY HEAR THE SOUND BEING PLAYED. TV is SHOW not TELL. I don't need to be TOLD what the sound is, when it's already being played in my earholes. The old A.P.P.P. OVAs (both form 1994, and the 2000s) were actually god-like in their ambient sound design, and even after skipping over a lot of the events in the story, it still managed to capture the look and feel of the series without overdoing it.