Live Action Movie Adaptations of Video Games: Like, Love, Hate, or just Ignore?

[Segadude113]

Or anything else? Personally i'm in the like category. I get that some things do need to change when it comes to live action adaptations. Not everything though. Casting is important too. A good cast can make a movie or break it based on the script. Also it's good if the people making the movie have some knowledge about the game they are basing it off of. But it can also work if the actors are just really good at playing the part and you're sucked into the illusion. A good adaptation would be Street Fighter The Movie from the 90s even if it got some characters absolutely wrong. THe same thing might happen again with the new Street Fighter movie's new cast. Super Mario Brothers The Movie from the 90s is crazy but as a darker take on the Mario series it weirdly works. It's the Nintendo answer to Sonic SatAM in my opinion. Sure the Goombas and Koopa Troopas are completely different, as are Yoshi and Toad. Also Bowser played by Dennis Hopper is an odd pick but it works for that sort of business guy in a suit type of villain. Just seems like it could have easily been a totally different movie about humans evolving from dinosaurs. Like a big scifi blockbuster. Maybe that's why it appeals to me. Anyway like I said the casting is super important. Double Dragon is fun. it makes no sense whatsoever to have the arcade game in the movie, but it's dumb fun. Mortal Kombat was freaking amazing. That one is the most faithful even with the lack of gore. Moving onto the 2000s we see Resident Evil and Tomb Raider take shots at live action films. Tomb Raider is pretty close to the games, Angelina Jolie is a lot like Lara Croft and has the attitude down. The action is cool. Resident Evil is just Matrix with zombies. Nothing like the games at all. We did eventually get some CG Resident Evil movies that were better. Speaking of CG, Final Fantasy Spirits Within and Advent Children. We didn't get a live action FF movie until FFXV so cg movies were all we had to go on at the time. Neither one feels like FF. FFXV Kingsglave is just a precursor to the game and made around the same time as it. It ain't bad. Finally I want to talk about the Sonic movies. The Sonic movies have been solid overall. Not just saying that because i am a Sega fan. I mean it. The Sonic movies are super consistant. The only weird one is the Knuckles series on Netflix which is 6 episodes of Wade being the best bowler and it feels more like a comedy movie from the mid 2000s for better or worse. It barely has anything to do with Knuckles or the other Sonic movies. At most it explains why they needed to go to see Wade to get the emerald in the 3rd film. It didn't need to though. I hope if they do go back to Knuckles they make the next season or whatever about him and his lore with the Echidna tribe. Sonic 4 looks great. Shadow might get a spin off series too. Hope that one is good.

 

[Frickinfrik]

Depending on the franchise. If it’s one based on a game that stars humans, I’m fine with it. But if it’s based on a game that starred cartoonish looking characters and/or anthropomorphic animals, then I’m not fine with it and get mad. That’s one of my main problems with the Sonic movies. I hate how they’re live action instead of animated. It being live action makes no sense and deviates from the source material. Also I hate the designs of the Sonic characters in the movies, even after the redesign.

 

[Segadude113]

Depending on the franchise. If it’s one based on a game that stars humans, I’m fine with it. But if it’s based on a game that starred cartoonish looking characters and/or anthropomorphic animals, then I’m not fine with it and get mad. That’s one of my main problems with the Sonic movies. I hate how they’re live action instead of animated. It being live action makes no sense and deviates from the source material. Also I hate the designs of the Sonic characters in the movies, even after the redesign.

can you even say Sonic has a source when every single show and movie and anime has strayed from it? INCLUDING THE GAMES THEMSELVES? I mean if Sega doesn't want to follow their own lore, let everyone take a crack at something original.

 

[Pinballbuzzbro]

I think they should just normalize taking the 90' TMNT/Sonic movies route of adapting the story and characters faithfully but just making them more humorous and light to reach a wider audience.

Like most games are super easy to adapt into movie form, it's just they flop so often because they're either made by people who are completely out of the loop with video games, or simply don't wanna put in the full effort.

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can you even say Sonic has a source when every single show and movie and anime has strayed from it? INCLUDING THE GAMES THEMSELVES? I mean if Sega doesn't want to follow their own lore, let everyone take a crack at something original.

And the one time a sonic show stays faithful to the games it's one of the worst things to come out of the entire franchise (Sonic Prime)

 

[Segadude113]

I think they should just normalize taking the 90' TMNT/Sonic movies route of adapting the story and characters faithfully but just making them more humorous and light to reach a wider audience.

Like most games are super easy to adapt into movie form, it's just they flop so often because they're either made by people who are completely out of the loop with video games, or simply don't wanna put in the full effort.

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And the one time a sonic show stays faithful to the games it's one of the worst things to come out of the entire franchise (Sonic Prime)

i liked Prime.

 

[Miles Miles]

Depending on the franchise. If it’s one based on a game that stars humans, I’m fine with it. But if it’s based on a game that starred cartoonish looking characters and/or anthropomorphic animals, then I’m not fine with it and get mad. That’s one of my main problems with the Sonic movies. I hate how they’re live action instead of animated. It being live action makes no sense and deviates from the source material. Also I hate the designs of the Sonic characters in the movies, even after the redesign.

I fully agree with you, and I'm a Sonic fan.

 

[Turbo Kid]

Like:

Love:

Hate:

Ignore:

Everything else

I will say that if anime can be done right in live action, then so can video games

For some reason though very few people can pull of either one, which leaves us with crap like this

Some people are very good though at incorporating video game/anime concepts into original movies or shows, which gives us awesome shit like this

EDIT: Silly me, Speed Racer WAS originally an anime

 

[Dr.Kisaragi]

This is a hot take but I like live action Super Mario movie yup is my guilty pressure as a kid who played mainline and bootleg mario for me is not surprised to see Mario another weird level

 

[RETRO-VETRO RETRO-VETRO]

That’s a really solid take. I agree, casting can make or break a live-action adaptation, especially when the source material has such iconic characters. I think Street Fighter and the 90s Mario movie are great examples of how weird choices can still somehow work if the tone fits. And yeah, Mortal Kombat nailed the vibe even without the gore. I also totally get what you mean about Resident Evil feeling more like Matrix with zombies, it drifted pretty far from the games. The Sonic movies have definitely been the most consistent lately, and I’m curious to see where they take Shadow and Knuckles next. Hopefully they lean more into the lore like you said, especially with the Echidna tribe stuff. It’d be cool to see a live-action adaptation that really embraces the deeper worldbuilding of a game instead of just the surface-level action.

 

[RageBurner]

I avoid them, not all are bad, but I don't like them, as a rule (and the less said about the Monster Hunter one, the better).