When a certain video game franchise gets really popular, people start licensing the franchise to all sorts of crap. One popular form of licensing is to make a cartoon or anime based on it. Some go on to be remembered as great cartoons, while others are only remembered as being obscure. I remember a time when video game cartoons used to rule the Saturday morning line-up (oh 1992, how I miss you). For this week's Gaming Trends, I take a look at how many video game cartoons have fared.The 80's
Donkey Kong
This cartoon was one of the many that were part of NBC's Saturday Supercade. From 1983 to 1985, NBC ran a show with several cartoons shorts based on popular arcade games. It's never been released on VHS/DVD most likely due to licensing issues. In this show Donkey Kong escapes from the circus and is chased down by Pauline and the worst looking Mario I have ever seen in my life. Whacky hijinks ensue as Mario constantly fails to capture DK and is made to look like an idiot. But don't take my word for it, see an episode of this series for yourself: Gorilla my dreams
Pac-Man
Another early 80's cartoon that aired on Saturday mornings, this cartoon starred Pac-Man and his family as Pac-Man would get into some mishap that usually involve the ghosts. It was basically your typical children's cartoon like used the word "Pac" as a pun like the Smurfs or the Snorks. This cartoon also had it's own one hour christmas special which usually airs all the time during the holidays. You can probably still catch this on Boomerang
The 90's
The Legend of Zelda
Airing weekly as part of the Super Mario Bros. Super Show, this cartoon was your basic action series: Ganon is up to no good, Link and Zelda stop him, the end. Only 13 episodes long, this series is mostly well known for Link's annoying catchphrase "Well excuuuuuse ME, princess!" You can still catch some episodes on Yahooligans or buy the DVD box set for $30.
Battletoads
Supposed to be about three teens who turn into the Battletoads to protect the princess and all that stop the man baddie crap, this series was unfortunately (or maybe not) canceled after the pilot episode. But after hearing this theme song, you probably won't mind that it did. (Warning: I am not responsible if the song gets stuck in your head.) The terrible Battletoads theme
Earthworm Jim
Airing on the WB along with the Animaniacs and Freakazoid, Earthworm Jim was a short lived series that kept true to the obsurd humor found in the video games. The most had many notable moments of this show, including a cow falling from the sky at the end of every episode (just like in the game), Peter Puppy going psychopathic on Jim, and quite possibly had the funniest villains ever. This (along with Freakazoid for that matter) really needs to come out on DVD.
Mega Man
A cartoon series made in 1995, this one gave Mega Man and Roll a teenage look and kept mostly faithful to the video game series despite some odd changes (such as making Protoman a villian). Despite the cartoon being really popular for it's time, it was forced into cancellation by Bandai after two seasons. I really liked this cartoon, and was disappointed that they ended it shortly after the appearance of Mega Man X.
Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm
I find it real surprising that they were somehow able to make a kids cartoon based on a video game that had so much blood and carries an M rating. Like the Street Fighter cartoon it was part of the USA Extreme Team and was based on what happened in the movie (the good one, not the bad one). The series was only 13 episodes long, but I'd say it was pretty good.
Donkey Kong Country
In the late 90's to early 2000, this was a 3D cartoon based on the Donkey Kong Country series. This was your basic comedic affair as DK and his friends stopped King K. Rool from whatever he was up to (usually him trying to steal the all-powerful Crystal Coconut), with lots of singing to boot and a bunch of characters were thrown in not from the games. Many elements from this series were eventually added to Donkey Kong 64.
Monster Rancher
One of the worst video game adaptations I have ever seen in my life. This atrocious anime had some game lover named Genki get sucked into the Monster Rancher world for little to no explained reason and tries to find a powerful monster called The Phoenix to fights off a powerful evil enemy called Moo (one of the worst names ever). What really pissed me off is that key episodes were never shown in the US, and in the end, when they find the Phoenix and it fights Moo, Genki is sudddenly transported back and the series ends without any explanation as to what the hell happens! If not for Pilot Candidate, I would dub this the worst anime ever.
The 00's
F-Zero GP Legend
F-Zero had many different characters that would be perfect for an anime series. So when they finally got around to making one, this make a completely new person the main character instead of oh, say CAPTAIN F'N FALCON! Instead of the obvious choice, it starred someone called Rick Wheeler who came from 150 years in the past and joined the Elite Mobile Task Force, a team of racers that try to win F-Zero races so the villians don't get the funds needed for their schemes or something. Captain Falcon, meanwhile, only made cameo appearances for the episodes shown in America. The english dubbings were soon canceled after the first season, and wound as a mediocre anime with so many missed oppurtunities.
Kirby: Right Back at Ya!
A kiddy-crap series loosely based on the games, this show is pretty much like Pokemon in that the plot doesn't go very far over the course of many, many episodes. Kirby doesn't even get to speak in this show! Surprisingly it's still on the air for some reason.
Mega Man NT Warrior
Unlike the cartoon from the 90's, this anime based on the Battle Network series lasted much longer. Also unlike the cartoon, this anime was edited heavily due to being on a kids network. It looked really interesting at first until they kept taking it off and putting it back on time and time again, which annoyed me and so I never got around to watching the rest. I don't think I missed much anyway.
NOTABLES
Super Mario Bros. - Mario has had more cartoons then I can remember. The most infamous Mario cartoon would definitely be the one shown during the Super Mario Bros. Super Show. That cartoon was based on the first two games, then one was made based solely around SMB3 that aired with Captain N. Then after SMB3 they had one based around Super Mario World. A few japan-only movies were made, and since then Mario hasn't come back with another cartoon. I think with the huge cast that have joinned since (Wario and Waluigi) and Sonic still proving he's worth something on the air, that another incarnation of Mario would be perfect.
Sonic the Hedgehog – Sonic has had many cartoons over the years. The first was "The Adventure of Sonic", a 50 episode series that was meant to be comedic. Another series airing as the same time was "Sonic SatAM", based on the awesome Archie comics universe. Once that was unfortunately canceled, an AU cartoon called Sonic Undergound was created, and the less said about that the better. Most recently was the anime Sonic X based on the Sonic Adventure universe, which lived on to have a 78 episode series. As of now it is unknown if Sonic X will get a fourth season.
Street Fighter – Street Fighter has had many cartoons and animes based on it over the years. A cartoon based on the movie was made in America (and unlike the movie it didn't suck that bad), but the really good adaptations come from the anime movies based on it, most notably the one based on Street Fighter 2. Currently there is no Street Fighter cartoon of any kind but they did release an uncut version of the Street Fighter II movie.
VIDEO GAME RELATED CARTOONS
Captain N: The Game Master (1989-93) – This one is definitely the most unique of the bunch, as this was based on many different games for the NES, back when Nintendo and the NES pretty much ruled everything. Captain N would use the NES pad and Zapper for his abilities while teaming up with Simon Belmont of Castlevania, Mega Man, Kid Icarus, and a giant Game Boy. The main villians were Mother Brain of Metroid, King Hippo of Punch-Out, Dr.Wily, and Eggplant Wizard from Kid Icarus. While many of the characters personalities and looks were questionable (Belmont was made to look like a coward), it was still a pretty entertaining show (definitely one of my favorites), and after years of waiting, this show will FINALLY be coming out on DVD!
The Power Team (1991) – A cartoon that aired during the first format of Video Power. This cartoon starred four characters from Acclaim titles (Max Force from NARC, Kuros from Wizards and Warriors, Kwirk from Kwirk, Tyrone from Arch Rivals, and Bigfoot from Bigfoot) and tried to capitalize on the popularity of Captain N.
Game Over (2004) – It's a video game cartoon minus the video game part. GENIUS! This atrocity was an animated family sitcom where the family live in a video game world, except very few video game references and characters (if any) were actually used. With shows like this it's no wonder UPN was the worst network on television.
And of course, there were a LOT more cartoons and animes based on video games, but at this point I think you get the picture. That, and I haven't seen many of them so I can't summarize them well. So it's safe to say that there will be many cartoons based on games for years to come.
On a sidenote, Gaming Trends is going to be on another hiatus for a couple weeks or so due to some major schoolwork I need to do. See you then.
