Please, Film These Games!

[Jorias]

Although for the most part i have to agree with you. Mass Effect would (in my opinion of course) be Jules Verne territory of Sci-Fi greatness. The game gets it right in terms of space travel and the characters are already developed enough to write screen plays on. The first game was beautiful and i loved it. I love Sci-fi games, movies, but not books (a little hard for me to read i admit) so this game in my opinion would be a perfect idea for a movie.

 

[Sudowoodo]

Ridley Scott's Legend is probably the closest we'll ever get to a Legend of Zelda game. Not that that's a particularly bad thing.

Also I think many, if not most games would benefit more from being made into a television show rather than a movie. I could easily see Psychonauts turned into a cartoon series. The same goes for Phoenix Wright, err, Ace Attorney series as an anime. Other games I love are ones I can't see standing up as a full film. One of my favorites, a claymation game called "The Neverhood", could probably work well as a short film.

Oddworld Inhabitans was planning on making a full length Oddworld film I heard, not sure what happened to that.

 

[Redd the Sock]

I think you put a lot more faith in hollywood to flesh out a nearly nonexistant story than I do. Take Dragon Warrior: it sounds like a porperty they can't screw up, until you look back and realize we had our blank slate fantasy property film: Dungeons and Dragons, and it stank. I look at Transformers 2 and worry The Legend Zelda will have bad racial sterotype elf sidekicks for Link. I worry they'l make Simon Belmont needlessly emo, or worse, like his Captan N persona. Face it, give them a blank property and they'll wrap either some rejected script around it, or focus group it to death.

The other side is the excessive material in most of the rest of your list. There's a lot that could be cut out of Kingdom Hearts or Earthbound to make a movie, but a lot of heart (so to speak) would be lost from them in the process. I'm not sure there's much of Chrono Trigger that could be removed save the end game quests. I've always felt there were better suited to TV shows, preferable anime.

As for Mario, the only gracepoint I gie the first moive is I can't think of a way to make a good one.

The only item I have no quams about would be Ninja Gaiden. The characters and story are established, but are short enough to adapt to film with some room for creative inturputation. Though I'd take anything they'd give me for Castlevania, if only to try and get back to "vampires should be killed" again.

 

[LightspeedJack]

In response to the Legend of Zelda idea, do any of you remember IGN's April Fools Day movie trailer from a while back?


I was pissed when I found out it was a joke.

Really? That trailer looked horrible.

 

[Squaseghost]

Red dead would be awsome if they have cameo of Clint Eastwood.

He can be Landon Ricketts!

Awesome idea!

I just finished Red Dead's story... HOLY. CRAP. It is AWESOME, the first videogame narrative I've encountered where the gameplay enriches the story, and vice-versa.

 

[KP Shadow]

There was a good SMB movie [http://www.mariowiki.com/The_Great_Mission_to_Save_Princess_Peach]. It was Japan-exclusive though... but I am making an abridged version.

 

[k-ossuburb]

One word: Oddworld.

I think I said this before but basically I think the technology has reached the point where it's not only feasable but downright perfect to make right now.

On the back of Avatar the Oddworld movie could do very well, interesting characters, a unique alien world, brilliant slapstick comedy and a great "tree hugging" undertone. You don't have to use Abe in the movie, any creature will do as long as the recognizable creatures are there (Scrabs, Paramites, Sligs, Slogs, Gluckons, etc.). With the success of Dieselpunk and Steampunk now becoming more and more popular the visuals will be a great hit and there's more scope in this franchise than any other to make a decent movie out of.

Basically, it'll be Avatar but funny.

 

[gjendemsjo]

Red dead would be awsome if they have cameo of Clint Eastwood.

He can be Landon Ricketts!

No, Sam Elliott should be Landon Ricketts.

 

[littlerudi08107]

I would totally up for a Castlevania movie, but if only if they went with the traditional scary motif of the first three games instead of the weird anime feel of the newer games. I imagine it would look a lot like Van Helsing.

Plus, I must be the only person on the face of the planet that liked the Bob Hoskins/ John Leguizamo Super Mario movie. Yes, I know it's not the same as the games but I really don't care! Even Moviebob said this earlier, sometimes to make a good movie out of a franchise you have to make something that the fanboys will hate. Plus some of the moments in the movie were actually pretty funny, and the setting was cool too (An alternate dimension where dinosaurs never became extinct and evolved into the dominant race of the planet) come on, that's very creative!

I'll concede that it wasn't oscar-worthy but it was ok for what it was. Bob and the Mario fans are just whining because it wasn't what they were expecting. LOL, typical fanboys XD

 

[Darmani]

Castlevania:
It was called Van Helsing, no one liked it and its going to be the next Castlevania video game anyway.

Gears of War
*flinch* Look I hate FPSs more than you and I'd prefer Halo. How could you say no to RingWorld crossed with Rambo versus The Thing but want yet another post-apocalyptic desert shooter with weird power armor they'll refuse to film

Kingdom Hearts:
Would Disney let anyone BUT themselves animate their characters let alone show up with gayba...nevermind they wouldn't be adverse to the FF androgen near their properties. But a full on movie release with Ninja Mickey and "I looked *sob* EVERYWHERE *sob* for you."

Ninja Gaiden
Why not like Ninja Assasin then? That seemed a perfect update of the Ninja movie Gaiden was being/playing off of from the start. They're inherently lame narratives built on weird premises and including the gamisms would detract or not do well with a movie which needs to keep a level of grounding. Ninja Assasin was brave enough to just have a dude have superspeed, healing, and I think at one point controls fire just cause he's a ninja. And it was still, 'eh'

Metroid: Oh the one hand, it's basically Aliens but with powered armor, space-jellyfish and morph-balls.

On the other hand ... it's basically "Aliens" but with powered armor, space-jellyfish and morph-balls!

No it will be Worse. Lets make Aliens only there isn't anyone else for Ripley to interact with, no Newt, android, or gay black female trucker and fill it with like TONS of aliens and Ripley is in a power suit and is constantly backtracking scouring for her ammmunition that is inescplicably NOT on her spaceship. Note the recent Other M annoucement. Metroids biggest theme. Its largest sell is isolation in monstrous locations. This can work but do people want to see the creature feature version of cast away with someone with less defined personality traits than master chief, she doesn't talk and most her rep is people telling us she's awesome. Say nothing of the meeting to justify this as to giving Jolie another crack at insanely hot Indiana Jones pastiche. "Lets hire this insanely hot french lingerie model and like only show bits of her face for like two hours but at the end she's in leather thong and bra and firing a macross barrage." Even More critically Aliens without the essential conceit of Aliens franchise that the crew can't leave the haunted house/escape Death in Space.

Gears of War is more filmable. If it was done in the view of Band of Brothers miniseries.

Mega Man:

See Astro-Boy. They need to get that right first. More there overall and without having to fit in and justify the videogamisms. Everything you need and want is there and more as Astroboy has alot of meat beneath the fluff with timeless identity and world politics. Its just a matter of focus and bravery for specific tale of which there are so many to use and choose from the movie's fumble is epic.

Super Mario Bros

First be fair, SMB barely contacted Plot when this was tried and evolved Dinosaur nonsense and an attempt to make it real seemed the problem otherwise I'll take Bob over Charles Martinet's portrayal even though for many fans he is the definitive and he's been at the role LONGER. Animation seems to have been VERY successful. Maybe CG or as you said something Alice-y. But essentially the core of what makes Mario Mario is the videogaminess the feel and playing out of it as a game by people. This is like proposing a movie based on Chess. No not whathisname versus Deep Blue or even Searching For Bobby Fisher. I mean the game of black versus white romantic armies on the field of ritualized battle and etc etc. Sure its awesome to visualize and imagine as you play it. It would make some PBS skit or short or surreal piece. And Hell KNOWS its made some kickass army recruiting commercials and themes or centerpieces for larger stories. But you just couldn't make movie that's really about chess into an adventure. I mean how would you fit in all those crazy classic moves and maneuvers, drawn it out for an hour plus justify why a queen moves better than a knight and there are no controllers or timers and etc.

 

[Elesar]

I disagree entirely on the Mario bit, and it's not just because unlike...well most gamers I have no default affection for the Mario series. Simply put, here is the problem in a nutshell:

Pick up any 1 Mario game. Your favorite, according to the overthinker is Super Mario World 3, so let's use that. Pick up this game and then, using evidence only presented in THAT GAME ALONE, tell me: Who is Mario. Where does he come from, how did he get to the Mushroom kingdom, why is he always rescuing Peach? What is his connection to the royals, what is bowsers? What is everyone's characterizations and motivations?

If you can't do that, it has NO business being a film. You have a limited amount of time to introduce and characterize these people and if they can't do it in one game what makes you think anyone can do it in one movie? This is above and beyond all the conceptual problems, which are gonna take some heavy work because what works in animated films and video games does not always work in live action. And then there's the narrative problems, which boil down to "There is no real narrative." But all of that can be worked around with a good filmmaker, but before it can, you have to be able to pick up any ONE game from the series and tell me all about those people from that game. Do that and I'll rescind this statement.

Not that anyone cares what I think anywho.

 

[MovieBob]

Pick up any 1 Mario game. Your favorite, according to the overthinker is Super Mario World 3, so let's use that. Pick up this game and then, using evidence only presented in THAT GAME ALONE, tell me: Who is Mario. Where does he come from, how did he get to the Mushroom kingdom, why is he always rescuing Peach? What is his connection to the royals, what is bowsers? What is everyone's characterizations and motivations?

If the idea is to work strictly from SMB3, there's more than enough basic plot to work from other than the initial problem of "who is this guy?" and, to be fair, the game is odd enough that maybe you DON'T need to explain him beyond "hero with magic powers." In the game-proper, you've got a bunch of kingdoms whose Kings have all been transformed into... "stuff" by Bowser and his kids. There you go, that's a movie: bad guy conquers kingdoms, installs kids as leaders, (motivation? war-for-territory) apparent "leader" of kingdoms (Peach) sends hero-guy to fix the problem. In SMB3 Mario is pretty much James Bond - he goes out and kicks ass under orders of the crown.

 

[Darmani]

True that. But will he do it seven times? How do we include his brother? Moreover how do you visualize the Mushroom Kingdom for a movie. Live action cartoon seems expensive and troublesome to pull off. Also these surreal ventures usually have a theme. Not necessarily a point or a moral but a theme (alice is about, as always, the absurdity of human interaction and sense and dignity when these are at best conceits and worse rote insanities)

 

[JayDub147]

I'm still behind Bioshock for a film adaptation, but I'd also actually love to see a Fallout adaptation. The Master was such a great villian.

 

[BlindChance]

"Brutal Legand" SHOULD have really been a movie. Jack black as a rodie that goes into a metal universe populated by metal legends doing battle is just too good. Pitty the game was a stealth console RTS. Bleh!

I'm glad at least someone else thought of Brutal Legend. A Brutal Legend film, ideally done as a 2D animated flick (think, duh, Heavy Metal but with presumably better quality animation) would be unbelievably cool. (This is said as someone who liked the game.)

 

[Jezzascmezza]

Hell, a freaking Just Cause 2 movie.
That would be teh sick.

 

[fleischwolke]

Fallout should be filmed; and Bioshock as well.

 

[Chrinik]

Hm...

(Goes back and plays Halo again)

I guess he does. Somehow I managed to forget that.

Either way, It's tough to build a character for a movie who you never actually get to see outside of a helmet that obscures his entire face. In a video game, this can be an advantage (The player can easily insert himself into the armor), but in a movie it robs the character of a great deal of personality. Facial expression is a powerful enough dramatic tool that some characters rely on that, without words, to convey what they're feeling.

It's kind of like most superhero movies now. Most of the drama takes place while the mask is off, to let the audience get a feel for who the character is and what his problems are, and allowing him to deal with them so he can go out and beat the hell out of the bad guy.

I'm not saying it's impossible, and I do get what you're getting at (But honestly, they don't even need a big guy for the role, just CGI the damn armor and get the original voice actor =P)
but the ease of casting pales in comparison to the amount of skill required on the writers and director to make the character work in a movie.

You could however ask Bungie what that dude should look like...and then roll with that...
Yeah, CGI, I forgot that, but I wanted to see Rourke in Powerarmor XD
Sure, I get what you say, faceless protagonists don´t work in movies, because you can´t see their facial expresions.
Thats why in Animalmovies, they CGI human facial expressions on them...sometimes.
Well, I don´t think it cannot be done (good), and John´s past would make an awesome movie about cruel Warmachine grinding up a small boy into a powerful, emotionless weapon.

 

[DanDeFool]

You know, they could just do a movie adaptation of the Super Mario World comics that ran in Nintendo Power around the time the SNES was released in America and be all set story-wise. Although that part where Princess Toadstool threatens to suicide-bomb the Koopas might have to be revised for the sake of tact.

And this is yet another reminder that I need to take a serious look at the Dragon Quest series; an RPG franchise I've totally ignored up to this point.

 

[epuchphail]

They already have a movie with Clint Eastwood that follows a similar storyline -it's called 'Unforgiven'