Welcome to the Platformer where we talk about games in an extremely amateur but fun way! This post is in regards to my 8 Bit Blog where I look at the past of video games and see how they’ve become so wonderful.

I was enjoying Detective Pikachu when a thought came crashing through my mind. It took a total of 15 long, arduous years to enjoy a movie based on a video game. That doesn’t make sense! I’ve enjoyed games based on movies my whole life, games such as Batman Begins and Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue comes to mind. So the question is, how long did video games take to get the formula right? (Godzilla for PS4 means this may be a lost cause).

Let’s do this from generation to generation, shall we…

Atari 2600

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1982)

Raiders of the Lost Ark is my favourite film of all time. This game, however, is a travesty, horribly representing the film. All I wanted, was to run away from a boulder, and it never came! So what do you do? You start by collecting equipment followed by falling down a pit, die where your new life as a pin cushion shall begin. Most of the game consists of running away from a shadowy figure but you can’t because you’re always being stung by bees! But you do look like Indy so take that if you wish.

Adventures of Tron (1982)

Firstly, this is a fun little game! (To my surprise since 90% of Atari games are trash). The game consists of basic platforming (woo represent) where you go up several levels to complete the screen… so a Donkey Kong rip-off. So it was always going to be somewhat fun, considering there wasn’t much room for variation during this generation I’ll let this one slip. So it’s a good game (for the time) but does it represent Tron? Is a cat an appropriate replacement for a dog? That would be a no. Not even the neon aesthetic, the aspect that everyone knows about Tron, was represented. You could have called it ‘man collects random flying objects’ and no one would care.

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1982)

This is not an accurate representation of the film in question, it is a perfect 8bit recreation of the opening battle on Hoth. Aesthetically, it’s instantly recognisable as Star Wars. I suppose it would be considering the AT-AT has such an iconic design, which is the advantage of doing a licensed game! Having a great set of existing designs and story beats for adaptation. The gameplay is also fun as you dive in and out of combat shooting at giant metal camels. (That is until you find out that you could just slowly approach the behemoths whilst shooting gleefully to remarkable effectiveness) Perhaps developers should focus on a single aspect of a movie, something that can be perfectly captured in a game. Let’s face it, no one wants to try to make two siblings kiss, Star Wars can be weird. 

This is so promising, I do believe games have got a handle on movie licences…

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Considering this was the catalyst for the video game crash and nearly prevented me from discovering my favourite piece of media. (sorry movies) I consider this the antichrist of gaming, I’ve never played it though…Until now. To my surprise, it’s not terrible! (It’s not good either) but it’s at least passable, especially considering its reputation. Gameplay consists of searching for gold because…it’s…shiny? (I couldn’t complete any of these games) These bits of gold are at the bottom of pits which is near impossible to escape sometimes but incredibly easy to fall in. The main obstacle in your way is a tall human in a trench coat, eerily similar to Raiders of the Lost Ark. This feels like an advanced version of Raider’s in every aspect in fact, but better in every single way. So if it’s not good or bad, what is it? It’s boring in addition to not feeling like E.T. Also, it did cause the video games industry to crash so I hope it falls in a pit and dies.     

There seemed to be a wave of movie licensed games, none of them particularly excellent, in 1982. After the catastrophe of E.T, not much of note came out after except a Gremlins game that was the love child of space invaders and burger time. Perhaps the limitation of the console did not allow for good games (Atari games were notoriously bad) so what did the NES offer.

NES (Nintendo Entertainment System)

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Friday 13th (1989)

The NES came as a savour to all game kind with a legendary library, Friday the 13th isn’t among them. It is a weird representation of the horror icon with…I want to say, zombies? Vicious wolves and the big man himself, Jason. The game is open-world(take that GTA!) where you traverse camp crystal lake, collecting weapons to aid you in battle. Unfortunately, you will fail, a lot. This quickly becomes frustrating because his movement speed is double yours with seemingly infallible defence. The colours are drab and the game quickly becomes tiresome, still better than all of the Atari offerings except Star Wars.

The Addams Family (1992)

10 years since the first wave of movie licensed games, so what advancements have the industry made in the genre. Up to bat is The Adam’s family for the NES. Gomes goes around his back garden stomping on plants, ghost and skeleton while you do some basic platforming. If that sentence was dull, imagine playing the game! There is nothing of note except the music which of course is a headbanger. (If you don’t know the Adams Family theme tune then you’re probably eight). It’s been 10 years and I’ve seen little improvement, so who was the instigator for good games based on movies?

It’s been 10 years and I’ve seen little improvement, so who was the instigator for good games based on movies?

Capcom

For me, however, Darkwing duck was their first great game! It was the first time I felt like the character in question and it was a fun experience.

This, of course, doesn’t mean that there wouldn’t still be bad licensed games (Superman 64 anyone?) but we knew it was possible.

So what do movies have to do? Well, capturing the feel of the game with the aesthetic is incredibly important but more importantly, you should hire a group of talented Japanese artists and let them keep trying till they perfect the formula.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to subscribe like this post because it helps believe it or not and feel free to tell me your favourite game based on a movie or tv show.

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