Hey, have you heard the news? Gaming giants Bethesda, famous for The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series, have picked up the licence to make a Game Of Thrones game! Isn't that great? Well, it would be if it was true, but sadly it's another elaborate hoax to get clickbait traffic. Thanks, Buzzfeed. Anyway, TV shows and movies are no strangers to being turned into games. 90% of the time they're god awful, but sometimes they can be real gems. But in the current Renaissance of TV, there are some candidates that are equally as good as Game Of Thrones that would lend themselves well to the world of gaming. Here are five of the best examples I could come up with today.
The Simpsons
Image Credit: ign.com
Proposed Genre: Turn based RPG
Yes, The Simpsons have been the subject of many, MANY video games, from platformers to wrestling to skateboarding to driving, the list goes on. However, it's been years since we've had a truly good Simpsons game (The last one I can recall is The Simpsons: Hit and Run). Our good friend Darren reckons the best use of the licence is with a LEGO game, and I don't entirely disagree; the popularity of the physical toys is definitely a check in that mark. However, that idea has been snapped up by LEGO Dimensions. In it's stead, I propose that we take a leaf out of South Park's book and produce an in-house animated 2D RPG (Simpsons characters have always looked weird in 3D, we have to finally admit this as a species). Taking cues from the fantastical story of The Simpsons Movie, there's room to have a sprawling RPG covering multiple characters and locations in the Simpsons mythos. Maybe you can have the people of Springfield engage in civil war with Shelbyville? Whatever you do, it has to be suitably stupid and knowing that it is indeed a video game. That is, if The Simpsons can rediscover what made it funny in the first place.
Yes, The Simpsons have been the subject of many, MANY video games, from platformers to wrestling to skateboarding to driving, the list goes on. However, it's been years since we've had a truly good Simpsons game (The last one I can recall is The Simpsons: Hit and Run). Our good friend Darren reckons the best use of the licence is with a LEGO game, and I don't entirely disagree; the popularity of the physical toys is definitely a check in that mark. However, that idea has been snapped up by LEGO Dimensions. In it's stead, I propose that we take a leaf out of South Park's book and produce an in-house animated 2D RPG (Simpsons characters have always looked weird in 3D, we have to finally admit this as a species). Taking cues from the fantastical story of The Simpsons Movie, there's room to have a sprawling RPG covering multiple characters and locations in the Simpsons mythos. Maybe you can have the people of Springfield engage in civil war with Shelbyville? Whatever you do, it has to be suitably stupid and knowing that it is indeed a video game. That is, if The Simpsons can rediscover what made it funny in the first place.
Doctor Who
Image Credit: teacherluke.co.uk
Proposed Genre: Open world third-person action/adventure
Again, Doctor Who is no stranger to video games (And funnily enough, also no stranger to being in LEGO Dimensions), but they have by-and-large been wholly awful. Every game bearing the branding of this BBC classic have been hack jobs at best and asset flips at worse. In my head, Doctor Who is fertile ground to build a Jak 2/Jak 3 style open world game where The Doctor has to save the universe. Maybe you can trap him on a sprawling alien world where you have to run around dodging death and sneaking in Dalek or Cybermen compounds. Even better, there's room for some fun messing about with time and world mechanics, maybe featuring puzzles and mystery solving where you have to cut back and forth between locations using the TARDIS. Of course, you still kind of have to work around the fact that your lives system basically changes your entire character model every time you die. Some people could get upset about that, y'know.
Again, Doctor Who is no stranger to video games (And funnily enough, also no stranger to being in LEGO Dimensions), but they have by-and-large been wholly awful. Every game bearing the branding of this BBC classic have been hack jobs at best and asset flips at worse. In my head, Doctor Who is fertile ground to build a Jak 2/Jak 3 style open world game where The Doctor has to save the universe. Maybe you can trap him on a sprawling alien world where you have to run around dodging death and sneaking in Dalek or Cybermen compounds. Even better, there's room for some fun messing about with time and world mechanics, maybe featuring puzzles and mystery solving where you have to cut back and forth between locations using the TARDIS. Of course, you still kind of have to work around the fact that your lives system basically changes your entire character model every time you die. Some people could get upset about that, y'know.
Twin Peaks
Image Credit: welcometotwinpeaks.com
Proposed Genre: Episodic interactive story
Twin Peaks is weird. I know that's a vast understatement of the series, but it is just that. It's surreal and foreboding and hard to grasp in its complexity. What it does have, however, is multiple mysteries to explore. You only have to look at a TellTale game to know that the kind of pace and attention to detail and characters that their games are able to handle are perfect tools to create a Twin Peaks game from. You can start it out as simple as another murder within the sleepy town of Twin Peaks and from there, spiral into the weird and the occult, as you gather clues and interrogate the strange townsfolk. Maybe try to make it more The Wolf Among Us and less Deadly Premonition, though.
Twin Peaks is weird. I know that's a vast understatement of the series, but it is just that. It's surreal and foreboding and hard to grasp in its complexity. What it does have, however, is multiple mysteries to explore. You only have to look at a TellTale game to know that the kind of pace and attention to detail and characters that their games are able to handle are perfect tools to create a Twin Peaks game from. You can start it out as simple as another murder within the sleepy town of Twin Peaks and from there, spiral into the weird and the occult, as you gather clues and interrogate the strange townsfolk. Maybe try to make it more The Wolf Among Us and less Deadly Premonition, though.
My Hero Academia
Image Credit: knowyourmeme.com
Proposed Genre: Story-based open arena fighting
And the token anime nod of the list goes to this ongoing shonen series. Listen, HeroAca is goddamn incredible and it's genuinely baffling to me that in the current age of superhero mania, that the west has yet to get a proper fighting game with the characters from this anime. Sure, there is a 3DS brawler out there, but it's only in Japan. Given that the series has a great cast of unique characters with different powers, or 'quirks', this gives you a great variety of fighting styles and strategies. The best use of the title here would be a mix between the over-the-shoulder open area brawling we got in games like in the DragonBall Z Budokai Tenkaichi series, mixed with the over-world navigation and linear narrative of Enslaved or Nier: Automata. You could even stretch to make the story mode co-operative, giving up to 4 players the opportunity to control Deku, Bakugo, Ochacco and Iida. Of course, you have to also have a dedicated versus mode, with unlockable characters, ladder matches, challenges and online matchmaking for 1 on 1 fighting, because it's a fighting game and the fighting is the best bit. I'd obviously main All-Might, 'cause I'm cheap as shit.
And the token anime nod of the list goes to this ongoing shonen series. Listen, HeroAca is goddamn incredible and it's genuinely baffling to me that in the current age of superhero mania, that the west has yet to get a proper fighting game with the characters from this anime. Sure, there is a 3DS brawler out there, but it's only in Japan. Given that the series has a great cast of unique characters with different powers, or 'quirks', this gives you a great variety of fighting styles and strategies. The best use of the title here would be a mix between the over-the-shoulder open area brawling we got in games like in the DragonBall Z Budokai Tenkaichi series, mixed with the over-world navigation and linear narrative of Enslaved or Nier: Automata. You could even stretch to make the story mode co-operative, giving up to 4 players the opportunity to control Deku, Bakugo, Ochacco and Iida. Of course, you have to also have a dedicated versus mode, with unlockable characters, ladder matches, challenges and online matchmaking for 1 on 1 fighting, because it's a fighting game and the fighting is the best bit. I'd obviously main All-Might, 'cause I'm cheap as shit.
The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross
Image Credit: engadget.com
Proposed Genre: Educational drawing game
No Seriously. Like, how has this not been done yet? Given that games like Art Academy, it's Pokemon spin-off and the ever-present popularity of Microsoft Paint, how have we not had anything even vaguely related to this classic 80's TV show. You don't even really have to make anything, per se. Get a Bob Ross sound-alike in to do a voice-over, maybe get him to paint like 100 different paintings and you paint along with them, learning how to 'paint' as you play. Give the people a free paint option and the ability to share pictures online with friends and on social media. Fuck it, make it VR. Get a digital recreation of Bob Ross teach you how to properly use sprays and brushes in the calming embrace of the dark void he used to paint in on the show. This thing basically makes itself people! It wouldn't be expensive to make, people would either love it or play it ironically and you can guarantee it's gimmicky enough to make it onto a Nintendo console. It sounds like the best happy little accident the gaming world could have!
You've probably thought "Hey you missed out X show!" or "I would totally play a game of Y show, not this shit!" whilst reading this. Sound off in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter with your ideas. Maybe pitch the Game of Thrones game you actually want? I dunno, go crazy, surprise me!
No Seriously. Like, how has this not been done yet? Given that games like Art Academy, it's Pokemon spin-off and the ever-present popularity of Microsoft Paint, how have we not had anything even vaguely related to this classic 80's TV show. You don't even really have to make anything, per se. Get a Bob Ross sound-alike in to do a voice-over, maybe get him to paint like 100 different paintings and you paint along with them, learning how to 'paint' as you play. Give the people a free paint option and the ability to share pictures online with friends and on social media. Fuck it, make it VR. Get a digital recreation of Bob Ross teach you how to properly use sprays and brushes in the calming embrace of the dark void he used to paint in on the show. This thing basically makes itself people! It wouldn't be expensive to make, people would either love it or play it ironically and you can guarantee it's gimmicky enough to make it onto a Nintendo console. It sounds like the best happy little accident the gaming world could have!
You've probably thought "Hey you missed out X show!" or "I would totally play a game of Y show, not this shit!" whilst reading this. Sound off in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter with your ideas. Maybe pitch the Game of Thrones game you actually want? I dunno, go crazy, surprise me!
By Mike Owen
@ThatMikeOwen
The Editor in Chief of Foul Entertainment, Mike edits most of what you see on the site. He runs the production of our podcasts, and currently pens Pop Culture Club and The Death of Video Games
@ThatMikeOwen
The Editor in Chief of Foul Entertainment, Mike edits most of what you see on the site. He runs the production of our podcasts, and currently pens Pop Culture Club and The Death of Video Games