[Mixed Trope] Movies or TV Shows based on Video Games that are Themselves Adapting Literary or Movie Genres, which in turn become Examples of that Genre.
I find this fascinating. There are games that are based on “movies like…” or “books like…”
1 - FALLOUT - Fallout on Amazon Prime is based on a video game series, itself based on post-apocalyptic films and literature from the 50s to the 70s. Notably: Mad Max, A Boy and His Dog, Them!, Planet of the Apes, A Canticle for Liebowitz, even not apocalyptic like the Lottery, Dr. Strangelove, and Forbidden Planet.
The show itself is a very popular piece of post-apocalyptic fiction. Of course, this also applies to shows that came out around the same time (more on this later) - The Last of Us, and Twisted Metal.
2 - CLUE - This is actually my top classic example of this trope. A board game based on Agatha Christie-style “Parlor” detective stories, which itself becomes a comedy based on an Agatha Christie-style “Parlor” detective story. As an adaptation and eventual television and home video release allowed for Clue-style “alternate endings” to wrap it up. The original idea was that people would talk about the movie and then realize they saw different endings. This actually did not serve them, so the eventual TV and VHS releases included all of the endings in a sort of “Here’s what happened, here’s what also could have happened, how it really happened” new ending. Which also has an entire generation that grew up with that on TV or as one of their five VHS tapes they have at home. However, while it was a send up of the genre it also became a sort of classic of the “mystery comedy” genre. Not unlike another adaptation on this list - WEREWOLVES WITHIN.
3 - GAME NIGHT - an action/thriller/comedy about a board game night gone wrong starring the most competitive game night “that” couple. Its story is original, but hidden within it - and the brilliance of the movie - includes setpieces based on classic parlor games. A running gag about Denzel Washington resembles Guess Who?, escaping a locked room using Jenga-fied furniture, Charades for hand signals in the middle of a tense sequence, an allusion to winning or losing the Game of Life, a removal of a bullet resembling Operation, and my personal favorite - a high stakes game of hot potato involving a faberge egg. It’s a fun, modern classic for thriller-comedies.
4 - MORTAL KOMBAT - a game in the fighting game genre that sold itself as a Street Fighter clone with one major gimmick - digitized actors. The story and aesthetic is therefore based on b-movies about exotic martial arts tournaments. From ENTER THE DRAGON to THE GOLDEN CHILD to of course, BLOODSPORT. This is to the point that they have Johnny Cage, a parody of Jean-Claude Van Damme himself. It’s a fun action-comedy, based on cheesy martial arts films with a bit of Big Trouble in Little China thrown in for good measure. Not a classic, but people do have nostalgia for it.
5 - THE MATRIX - The cyberpunk sci-fi classic isn’t based on any one game, nor is it fully original. Films like DARK CITY, TRON, VIDEODROME, and EXISTENZ also play with the tropes of virtual worlds. It takes some inspiration from Snow Crash and Neuromancer as well. However, a huge part of the Matrix is about how virtual worlds sway to a main character, particularly one with all of the cheat codes.
6 - SUPER MARIO BROS: THE MOVIE - here’s the main mixed part of the trope. This flopped, of course, but should be looked at. The game Super Mario Bros itself is a sequel to Mario Bros, which is itself a sequel to Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong also began as an adaptation of Popeye. Super Mario Brothers - the game - puts the construction worker / plumber “Jump Man” / Mario in a fantasy world of mushrooms, dinos, turtles, and pipes. So the film adaptation? Mario and his brother end up travelling from Brooklyn to a parallel world of dinos, fungi, turtles, pipes, jetpacks, fireball guns. A weird mix of sci-fi multiverse and fantasy adventure that - well - itself is at home with kid-focused 80s adventure series. It flopped because it was formulaic - but also because the “story” of super mario was a few paragraphs in an instruction manual. In the same vein -
7 - DOUBLE DRAGON - An action arcade game notable for being one of the first two player games and inventor of the beat-em-up. It also took a lot of cues from films The Warriors and 70 and 80s style street gangs. To an extent this might even include Grease! The game story follows the Lee Brothers Billy and Jimmy as they try to rescue their friend/love interest Marian, who was kidnapped by a crime lord Willy Mackey, leader of the Shadow Warriors. The movie? Let’s do that, but in a weird post-apocalyptic LA with a bunch of added comedy bits. You know, not unlike that other video game adaptation, SUPER MARIO BROS. This movie flopped.
8 - TETRIS - there’s a particularly good Cracked video with a fake trailer for the Tetris movie, making it sort of Tetris meets Tron meets Super Mario Bros, making fun of the trend of video game adaptations to have dark, grim settings. For a long time this was a joke among fans. However, Apple made TETRIS, a (mostly) based on a true story hyperdramatization of the complications of importing and licensing the video game itself. It follows the same beats of the contemporary business biopics like AIR, WEWORK, and JOBS with some added international intrigue. It fits pretty well into that genre. Wasn’t too successful, but the performances are solid, and it was criticized for being inaccurate - much like the book it adapts.
9 -- WEREWOLVES WITHIN - One can watch this movie and not know that it’s a video game adaptation, because all it really adapts is the mechanic. Werewolves Within was a social deduction game with mechanics dating back to MAFIA and WEREWOLF and now found with games like AMONG US and BLOOD ON THE CLOCKTOWER. It’s a video game where people would play online, as avatars, attempting to suss out who the werewolf is. The video game is set in a small medieval fantasy village. The film updates to a modern village named Beaverton, Vermont during a snowstorm. It plays out as a small murder mystery in an isolated location while - at the same time - being a bit of a creature feature. It’s perfectly serviceable as a mystery comedy, but released at a time with a lot of mystery-comedies (one of which was a TV show also starring Sam Richardson, another of which is now a critically-acclaimed franchise).
10 - STREET FIGHTER - Okay. Here is a high-profile flop that is very interesting in whatever it is it was trying to do. Street Fighter - like most of the fighting games that clone it - is based on martial arts tournament films like ENTER THE DRAGON. Specifically an island ruled by a crime lord that holds a tournament. Street fighter II brought with it an international tournament (made up of colorful stereotypes), also sponsored by a criminal organization. This expanded the roster and had faster action, and became a world-wide hit. So why does the film become a weird spy/crime/war picture with the production values of a B-movie? Possibly? Jean-Claude Van Damme. One is an action star that headlines it, so the french actor becomes the blonde high-haired american hero leading a GI-Joe-esaue cast of characters, all based on national stereotypes. But it’s not a tournament. It became a classic bad movie that also includes one of Raul Julia’s best lines (while also being his last movie).
Added some extras for good measure.