What does it take to make a successful video game adaptation? Games Editor Jude-Emmanuel Nwosu explores the question
As video games prove to be an increasingly prolific and mainstream medium of entertainment, there have been several attempts to replicate the worlds of our beloved games in more traditional storytelling mediums. There have been countless movies, TV shows, comics and novels created to capitalise on the gaming crowd, with movies and TV shows being the most popular adaptations. Novels and comics based on video games tend to be treated more like supplementary content to the source material rather than its replacement.
These adaptations tend to use these storytelling mediums to explore perspectives of characters the player wouldn’t be privy to in the video game or to expand on pre established lore and worldbuilding. The Arkham series of Batman games had multiple comics written for each game - the first comic gives the reader more context behind the arrest of The Joker and other villains that appear in the game like Scarecrow and Victor Zsasz. The Assassin’s Creed franchise has several novelisations of their games and while some keep the adaptation faithful to the games, others leave out story events or combine events from multiple games into the narrative.
However, these adaptations target a more niche audience even among gamers. It’s unlikely that people who aren’t dedicated fans of the source material would even know about these tie-in novels and comics.
Movie and TV show adaptations are much more ambitious with their audience expectations and treat themselves as entertainment that can be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of their knowledge of video games. Unfortunately, these attempts to integrate themselves with traditional media can prevent them from capturing the tone and atmosphere of the games. The most famous example of this disconnect can be seen in Super Mario Bros., a 1993 live-action movie based on the world of Nintendo’s mascot character Mario. The movie bears only the slightest resemblance to the games, being a sci-fi-comedy set in a futuristic world and lacked the vibrant colours and cheerful atmosphere associated with the Mario franchise.
The movie was a commercial and critical failure and is treated as a quirky relic of Nintendo’s history. Nintendo seems to have learned their lesson from this failure as their 2023 attempt at adapting their star franchise, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, was more positively received. This movie makes a stronger effort in reproducing the tone of the games with colourful animation, a plot that could have been ripped out of the games and accurate characterisation. The Super Mario Bros. Movie was made to be a video game movie.
However, that’s not to say these types of adaptations can only appeal to gamers. There have been multiple video game franchises that have been adapted to successful TV shows, like Fallout, The Last of Us, League of Legends and more. The TV adaptation for each franchise depicts the narrative of their respective games, with varying faithfulness, like the novel and comic adaptations, but are marketed towards a general audience.
TV shows like Arcane and Castlevania don’t follow a pre-established plot from their games – and if they do, it is with some creative liberties – but instead flesh out the overshadowed elements of the lore or less popular characters in the franchise. As a result, even people familiar with the franchises can enjoy the shows with everyone else. Their success doesn’t just come from people familiar with the source material, but people who enjoy good television.