Video Games on the BIG SCREEN!

Children of the 80's, children of the 90's, and children of today always believe that the best thing ever is video games. We love to play them, and we are in love with the characters, storylines, music, etc. But have you ever wondered what it's like to watch them on the big screen? There have been plenty of popular video game series' that got adapted into live-action movies. Most of them, however, flopped. Here are some (but not all) video-game-based movies:


Super Mario Bros.
One of the very first video-game-based movies I recall ever being made. When Mario fans heard about this movie, they all got so excited that they couldn't wait to go see it, but it turned out to be a major disappointment. This movie doesn't follow the story of the Mario brothers at all. There's all this gross and weird stuff going on, the characters don't look a thing like the Mario characters from the games or cartoons. Mario comes the closest, but what about Luigi (where's his moustache?), the goombas, Yoshi and King Koopa? And who the hell are these two guys named Iggy and Spike? Moreover, the movie's loaded with all these unfamiliar, uninspired actors; well, Dennis Hopper plays King Koopa, but that's about it. Why did this movie have to suck so bad? Well, it did come out in 1993, the same year "Ninja Turtles 3" did, so that may have something to do with it. Fans of the Angry Video Game Nerd have been begging him to review this movie, and I'm sure he'll do it in due time.


Double Dragon
Evil has just met its match. Okay, the Double Dragon movie is not quite as horrible as "Super Mario Bros.", but it got different responses. The plot outline seems to be similar to plot outlines of the games. At least this movie isn't like "Double Dragon 3", which had a bad storyline, spelling errors, pointless events and way too high of a difficulty.


Street Fighter
The Street Fighter movie is not one of my favorites. I'm sure a lot of Street Fighter fans will be very disappointed with this movie. The main thing that disappoints me about this movie is the lack of memorable characters. Ryu, Guile, Ken, Chun-Li, Zangief and M. Bison are the only familiar characters that I caught. Most of the other characters are from the Street Fighter Alpha series like T. Hawk and Dhalism. There are too many scientists, news anchors and soldiers, and not enough Street Fighter characters. This movie also proves how much of an idiot Zangief is.


Mortal Kombat
The Mortal Kombat movie I consider to be an improvement over the Street Fighter movie. A lot of people think the Mortal Kombat movie was horrible and the sequel, "Mortal Kombat: Anihilation", was even worse. I beg to differ on the fact. I think the Mortal Kombat movie has a great storyline and a lot of memorable characters from the games. Sure there are some characters who didn't show in this movie, but this just opens a door for a sequel! Of course, when it comes to Mortal Kombat, the highlights are always the fight scenes. "Anihilation" has a plot that's a little harder to follow, but the good thing is, it introduced a lot more memorable characters from the games. Sure, there were some favorites of ours that got killed off, but it's still an okay movie. Now, for a long time, I've been hearing about a third movie coming out, "Mortal Kombat: Devistation". When I first checked, it was supposed to come out in 2005, but then it got moved to 2007, and all this time, I've been hearing no word about it. According to what IMDb says, it's now scheduled to come out in 2010. I don't know why they've been putting it off so much, but it seems the writers keep rewriting the script, actors are being removed, and all this other stuff has been happening. Why don't they just finish it already so that we can see it?


Final Fantasy
"Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" was released just as the "Final Fantasy" series was at peak popularity. Unfortunately, all I gotta say is that this movie sucks. It's nothing like any of the games, and with the plot and setting and all, I don't think this movie is even worthy of the name, "Final Fantasy". Aliens should not be a part of this franchise! I thought this was supposed to be "Final Fantasy", not "Stargate SG-1"! Is there anything good about this movie? Well, Ming-Na plays the lead character, so if you're a big fan of Mulan, then I guess this would give you something to look forward to.


Tomb Raider
Laura Croft is one of the coolest video game characters of all time. As far as the "Tomb Raider" movie goes, I don't really have much to say. I've been hearing a lot of talk about it when it was coming out. As far as feedback goes, I didn't really hear much except for negative bashing from fans of the franchise. And like most vg-based movies, it's loaded with uninspired actors.


Resident Evil
The Resident Evil movies are dark with lots of violence and horrifying scenes. However, these movies all got a lot of negative bashing, and since I'm not a fan of the "Resident Evil" games, I don't really feel inspired to watch any of them.


Doom
I've been waiting for a "Doom" movie since like...1997. I don't see how we can go wrong with this movie since The Rock is playing the lead character! Even though I knew it was probably going to suck, I still wanted to see it. As a result, "Doom" really did suck. At least we still got memories.

Those are just all the video-game based movies I recall being made. I checked online, and there are currently some upcoming movies that are still in the works. For one thing, there's going to be a "Castlevania" movie next year. I wonder how that'll turn out. Also, believe it or not, there is currently a "Halo" movie in the works. It will also be released next year, and Peter Jackson (of "Lord of the Rings" fame) will be producing it, so expect it to be really long.

Now, here is something I felt like doing for fun. This is a top 10 list I made of game franchises that I think should be made into movies:


#10 - Duke Nukem
Screwattack.com rated this guy as the coolest video game character of all time. I wouldn't mind seeing Duke Nukem in action on a movie and saying all his memorable catchphrases. So, if this were to happen, who would play the part? Well, let me think of popular action movie stars. Sylvester Stalone maybe...but then again, he may be too old. Arnold Schwarzenegger has quit acting and moved on to polotics, so it won't be him; besides, Duke wouldn't be the same if he had an Austrian accent. Peter Weller...nah, he doesn't have the good looks. The only guy I can think of right now who'd be good for the part is Vin Diesel. Yeah, Diesel could do well for the part.


#9 - Contra
If they're adapting Castlevania into a movie, I don't see why not Contra. It's one of the most popular games to ever be released on the NES, so I'm sure that kids who played the game would be psyched to go see this. I'm not sure how casting should go for this one, but I guess Steven Spielberg would be the best director for this one.


#8 - Kid Icarus
A lot of Nintendo fans recognize Pit, but some don't. But hey, if he's on "Super Smash Bros. Brawl", then I'm sure he's becoming a big sensation! If this were to get made into a movie, the only con I see is that the role of Pit would probably be played by Elijah Wood or Hayden Christensen, you know, some whiny kid actor that all the women hate.


#7 - Metroid
Oh, yeah! Metroid is such an awesome franchise, this has definately got to be made into a movie! Even though it'll probably suck, it'll still be awesome to see Samus Aran kick some alien butt on the big screen! The only actress I see playing the role of Samus is Bridgette Wilson. I know Peter Jackson is already making Halo, but he should make this one too.


#6 - Star Fox
If they're gonna make a Star Fox movie, it's gonna have to be based off of "Star Fox 64", and if possible, they should get the original voice actors to be the characters. Compared to the other Star Fox games, "64" is God. I know it wouldn't make much sense to have this be made into live action, so this is a movie that's gonna have to be CG.


#5 - Medievil
Now, this one is probably what makes this list different from everybody else's, because it's not a popular video game. In my opinion, "Medievil" is one of the best video games I've ever played. I think it'll be totally awesome if they made this into a movie, and if this were to happen, then I say that Tim Burton should direct it, and Danny Elfman should compose the music! If they can throw in Johnny Depp, the only character I can hear him doing the voice of is Canny Tim. And if possible, if they could somehow sneak in John Cleese, Michael Palin and Eric Idle as voice actors, that'd be pretty tight too.


#4 - Sonic the Hedgehog
I know what you're thinking. I know that there already was a "Sonic the Hedgehog" movie, but you see, that movie has been seen by very few people, mostly due to the fact that it was a direct-to-video release. Also, right now, we have a legion of young adults who grew up on Sonic, and I think they would really like to see him in action on the big screen! If this movie were to be made, it should be CG, and I think it should have a feel to it as if it were "Sonic Adventure". I know that "Sonic Adventure" isn't quite as awesome as the 2D side-scrolling Sonic games, but it's still pretty awesome, and I think that cast is the right cast for a movie like this!


#3 - Kirby
It may turn out to be a kiddy movie, but I'm sure plenty of fans of the Kirby games would like to see something like this! But if this movie were to be made, it should be based more off of the Kirby video games, and not that poorly-executed (yet forgivable) cartoon series! This one's probably going to end up being computer-animated as well, and I'd be cool with that...just as long as it's not made by the creators of "Veggie Tales".


#2 - Legend of Zelda
I'm sure the whole world will want to see this movie if it were to be made! There is surely no doubt that a live-action "Legend of Zelda" movie will kick ass for sure! Let's just hope it doesn't turn out like that short-lived cartoon series where Link keeps saying, "Well, excuuuuuuuuse me, princess!" or even worse, those games on the Phillips CD-i! Ah, forget what I said in the last sentence. If you think the Zelda games are really fun, then there's surely no doubt that you will be looking forward to a Zelda movie!


#1 - Mega Man
The number 1 video game character who I think should get his own movie is none other than the blue bomber himself, Mega Man! As far as acting or directing goes, I don't really know how it should go, but I don't really care, because either way, it's gonna be great! What I think would be even more awesome is if they made this a series of movies, and each one followed the plots of each game! It would really be something to see Mega Man in live-action. That's why Mega Man is #1 on my list!

Man, I must have way too much time on my hands! Well, I just provided you some vg-based movies from the past, of the future, and possible future releases. If you think this article sucks, I apologize, and I'll try to come up with something better next time. However, if you enjoyed it, I look forward to hearing what you have to say. Well, good night, everybody!