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For almost as long as there have been video games, there have been film tie-ins. As a
rumoured landfill filled with Atari ET games can attest, the games don’t always live
up to the source material, but on the flip side of that, some games actually manage to
eclipse the films they’re based on. While that may not be the case with every game on
this list, we think all of these games did a pretty admirable job of capturing the essence
of the films that inspired them. Here are 10 Amazing Video Games That Were
Inspired By Movies Spiderman 2
While the Spider-Man franchise has had its struggles over the years, the closest the
films ever came to getting it exactly right was 2004’s Spider Man 2. Fortunately the
game followed suit, and New York became a gamer’s ultimate playground as Peter Parker
dealt with struggles big and small. The web slinging achieved what so many games before
had attempted, and while the side missions are fun, it’s also nice to just go for a
leisurely swing around manhattan’s skyscrapers. Ghostbusters
If you’re a movie geek but you don’t really follow gaming, it may shock you to find out
that gamers were basically treated Ghostbusters 3 back in 2009 when all four of the original
Ghosbusters voiced their characters for the multi platform game. Set two years after Ghostbuster
2, the player gets to be a fifth Ghostbuster in training, basically fulfilling every 80s
kid’s fantasy. Dan Aykroyd and the late Harold Ramis, who wrote the original films,
even contributed heavily to the game’s story and dialogue to add to the game’s slimy
authenticity. Fast and Furious
Before Dom and his family became international spies, the Fast and the Furious franchise
was all about one thing: street racing. So of course the arcade game based on the first
film was a straight-up racing game, and one worth getting to the theatre a little early
for. The Fast and Furious arcade game was an unofficial successor to the Cruis’n USA
series, a fact the makers can make no bones about since they changed the name to Cruis’n
when they ported the game over to Wii after their licensing for the film had run out.
Aladdin What could have just been a generic side scrolling
adaptation of the latest animated Disney hit actually ended up being one of the biggest
and best games of 1993. Aladdin’s game designers were able to incorporate cell animation from
the actual Disney animators who worked on the film for a much more vibrant look than
gamers were used to in those days. Kids who thought they were too old or cool for a
Disney game probably missed out on this diamond in the rough.
Goldeneye It’s almost not fair to include Goldeneye
on this list, as its legacy and impact as a game has surpassed that of the film it’s
based on. This game predicted the demand for multiplayer shooter games before it was possible
to play them online. Along with Mario Kart, Goldenye best represents that small window
in video games’ history when it was truly a group activity. The single player gameplay
was decent and somewhat faithful to the film, but Goldeneye will aways be remembered for
it’s fun multiplayer features like “slappers only” and the advantages of being Odd Job.
Dune II Dune II makes the list not for it’s faithfulness
to the source material, of which there’s little, but for pioneering Real Time Strategy
games. Only loosely connected to the plot of the films and books, Dune II had players
building and commanding armies to control the desert world of Arakis. The team behind
this game would later apply this kind of gameplay to the hugely successful Command and Conquer
series. Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker
The 80s were a strange time and few personified it better than the king of pop, Michael Jackson.
The man was a brand with almost as many merchandising tie-ins as Star Wars. It’s kind of faded
into obscurity now, but some of us still remember his film Moonwalker, a collection of Jackson-centric
vignettes that were basically extended music videos released as a feature film. Of course
there was a video game with Jackson dancing his way through various levels while saving
children. It sounds silly, but this side-scroller was oddly addictive.
Tron Was there ever a more appropriate movie to
base a video game on than Disney’s 1982 gamer fantasy Tron? Following a computer programmer
who gets sucked into his own program, the 3D look of the film and early use of CGI predicted
the future of video games and movies. Aimed squarely at the burgeoning gamer demographic,
it’s no surprise that the arcade tie-in was hugely successful. Kids voted with their
quarters and Electronic Games magazine declared Tron the Coin-Operated Game of the Year. Tron
remains one of the few recorded examples of the game making more money than the movie
it was based on. Jurassic Park
While the Sega Genesis Jurassic Park game may not have a legacy quite as impressive
as the film, it was certainly a worthy tie-in and one of the better home console games in
the early 90s. One unique feature was the option to play as either Dr. Alan Grant or
a velociraptor. While the levels were the same, the gameplay was quite different depending
on if you chose to be the hero or one of his ferocious antagonists. In a time when saving
your game wasn’t an option, the game utilized passwords for every level so that players
didn’t always have to start at the beginning. That might not sound like a big deal, but
today’s gamers definitely take always being able to pick up where they left off for granted.
Star Wars While Mel Brooks may have made fun of him
for it in Spaceballs, you gotta hand it to George Lucas for inventing multiple revenue
streams by merchandising the heck out of Star Wars. Not only did he cram in ample characters
to maximize toy sales, he also got in on the ground floor of gaming by crafting sequences
which leant themselves perfectly to the new technology’s limits. Released in 1983, the
first Star Wars game contributed to the Golden Age of Arcade games and is still considered
one of the most popular games of all time. Those are just some of our favorite videos
games that were inspired by hits from the big screen. What are some of your favorites?
Were there any we missed? Sound off in the comments and don’t forget to subscribe to
our channel for more awesome videos like this one.