10 Video Games That Must Be Turned Into Movies


From your home TV to the silver screen, video game intellectual properties are no stranger to the movie theatres. Although more often than not, movies based on popular video game franchises never seem to work out very well. Regardless, I am a firm believer that movies based on video games can be a real thing. These are the top 10 video games that I believe deserve a fair shot on the silver screen. For this article, we will not feature video games that have adapted into a movie.

BioShock

bioshock_rapture

When I first saw a glimpse of the original BioShock. Originally released in 2006, the franchise has spawned into three games (four if you want to count the video game compilation, BioShock: The Collection.)

Bioshock 2
Image via Steam Store

The first game, set in 1960 follows a man named Jack, who is a passenger and sole survivor on an airplane that crashes into the Atlantic Ocean. Eventually stumbles upon the underwater city, Rapture. While I won’t spoil the story in its entirety it is certainly worth your time to play! The game also spawned two sequels, BioShock 2 and BioShock Infinite. Even if we cannot get the three-part saga, I would still love to see a movie adaption it will certainly give horror films by James Wan a run for their money, no doubt.

Jak and Daxter

Jak and Daxter

Naughty Dog’s dynamic duo, Jak and Daxter while the series hasn’t had a main entry release in a few years, the installments that are released certainly can provide a compelling story in my opinion. Originally released in 2002 for the PlayStation 2, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is about two friends, who seek out a mysterious sage, hoping he will turn Daxter back into a human after an accident leaves turns Daxter into an anthropomorphic otter/weasel hybrid, an Ottsel.

Jak and Daxter

The first game was a kid-friendly, Banjo-Kazooie styled platformer, while Jak II and Jak 3 have more of a darker tone than the first game. Nevertheless, the Jak and Daxter trilogy has an interesting, storyline that crosses over into each game, with the right casting and CGI effects of course!

Kingdom Hearts

kingdom hearts
source: khinsider.com

There’s nothing negative I can say about Kingdom Hearts the series is fantastic. It’s the perfect blend of Disney and Final Fantasy it’s hard to explain how it works, it just does. Originally released in 2002, the game that started the series is about a 14-year-old boy named Sora, who ends up in the middle of an epic war against the darkness.

With a strong story, interesting characters, a film adaption of the movie is a gold mine! I mean I can’t be the only one who wouldn’t want to see the Keyblade master wielding his signature weapon at the heartless while roaming Halloween Town with Jack Skellington right?

God of War

image via youtube
image via youtube

Oh God of War 15 years later, and you still manage to win my heart, but it makes me question why has no one dare challenge this and make a film adaption for you? Released in 2005 as a PlayStation 2 exclusive, God of War follows the story of the Spartan warrior, Kratos who is on a mission to eliminate the Greek Gods.

image via youtube
image via youtube

Hands down one of the best PlayStation-exclusive action games yet, this game has been in development hell for years, with no cast or director currently confirmed. Hopefully someone will kick it into high gear and this game will get the theatrical release it rightfully deserves.

The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker

Image: The Legend of Zelda
Image: The Legend of Zelda

While I was tempted between, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time it was ultimately The Windwaker that took the #6 spot on this list. Although the game is often considered the “black sheep” of the Zelda series, The Windwaker is hands down one of my top five favorite games in the series. The cell-shaded graphics, the appearance of the incarnation of Link, and the numerous hacks that accompany the game to make it more hilarious, The Windwaker provides plenty of substance to make silver screen worthy.

Unlike most games in the series, where the player has to save Princess Zelda and stop Ganondorf from taking over the world by using the TriForce, in Windwaker players must save Link’s sister, Aryll, who has been kidnapped, then once you save your sibling you kick Ganondor’s butt then you save the princess last.

It is kind of like a Pixar movie the more that I think about it. While the chances of Disney and Nintendo partnering up to make this happen is very unlikely, Nintendo could, you know fund the project themselves and make it happen, or find someone else to execute the idea.

Mass Effect

Mass Effect Andromeda

This epic space adventure is the first BioWare game I ever played and let me tell you, it was well worth my time and money. Released as a multiplatform title in 2007, Mass Effect spawned into a trilogy, although many would argue the last game in the trilogy had a falsely advertised ending (although I think it did considering all the choices you had to make across all three games) regardless, the gameplay, story, and characters really immersed me into the game, it’s very hard to find a game that can suck you in so deep that you almost forget you’re playing in a fictional universe.

Image: YouTube/Mass Effect
Image: YouTube/Mass Effect

I can tell this movie adaption will be as popular as the Star War films were. With a story like this you can make millions off the franchise, with a strong cast and director of course (c’mon, JJ Abrams I would love to see you do this I know you can do amazing things with this intellectual property).

The Witcher

witcher3

The Witcher is the video game equivalent to Game of Thrones, the amount of fans that love this series, and the level of deep story telling it makes me very surprised how this franchise does not have a movie let alone a TV show. Released in 2007 as a PC exclusive game, The Witcher series follows the story of Geralt, one of the world’s last few Witchers. The game has been known for its moral choices, and well executed gameplay.

witcher 3

Unfortunately, there may never be another Witcher game, however, this would be the perfect time for the fans to get a movie adaption. Especially since the last game came out within the last year, let’s get this movie rolling!

Chrono Trigger

chrono trigger

Chrono Trigger, the best RPG I’ve ever played. Released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995, this RPG focuses on Crono and his companions, who embark on a complex time-travelling adventure. Lavos, who serves as the game’s antagonist causes the in-game world’s destruction of the world, which results in the gang trying to figure out how to make a better future by modifying the past.

chrono trigger
source: youtube.com

Many video game enthusiasts, and RPG lovers will tell you, Chrono Trigger is the greatest video games ever made. This can be totally justified though, the game is one of the small handful of titles, that have received perfect scores, but with interesting characters, perfect execution of time travel, and multiple endings it was a shoo-in as being regarded as one of the best.

Here’s what has me worried though, time traveling movies can be messed up very easily. Anyone who tackles this challenge will have to be an effective writer in order to ensure the potential box office success this game has.

Overwatch

Overwatch

If I had to compose a top five games of 2016, I will definitely put Overwatch on that list. Released in May of this year, this Blizzard team-based shooter has a huge roster full of diverse, and interesting characters. Although the game does not have a single-player campaign, Blizzard has been so generous to provide us with short films to provide some backstory on the Overwatch Universe.

overwatch
Source: politics–news.com

For those who aren’t aware of what the backstory is, the game is set sixty years into the future during this time period, humans and robots were unable to live peacefully together. To combat the issue, the United Nations formed Overwatch, which served as an international task force to combat the adversaries and to maintain order.

The animations for the shorts are impeccable, seriously the animators who makes these shorts need a raise. If all the voice actors were on board and they have a story writing team, I don’t see why a movie for Overwatch couldn’t be a realistic thing.

Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow of the Colossus

Last, but certainly not least, Shadow of the Colossus needs to have a film adaption! For those of you that are unaware of this great game, Shadow of the Colossus was the released in 2005 Shadow of the Colossus is an action-adventure puzzle game for the PlayStation 2. The game revolves around a boy named Wander, who travels to a forbidden land to resurrect a girl that he loves, the entity that is said to live in this land tells Wander that he can do just that, however, he will have to defeat the sixteen colossi.

Shadow of the Colossus

If I had to live in an afterlife and I had to choose one game to play forever, I will always say Shadow of the Colossus this game is the prime example that video games can and are more often than not a form of interactive art. The music is some of the best I have ever heard in video games, the story was fantastic and beautiful tragedy about a boy who went too far to do something for the one he loves.

I would love to see this become a live action movie with CGI effects for the Colossi, the scenery in the game, if implemented properly onto the big screen, would make this movie a box office hit. There simply is nothing quite like this game.