Continuing from my previous article on retro-styled video games that I’d like to see developed from older media properties (which I had a lot of fun writing), I have more ideas involving additional IPs that I think would make for some really entertaining titles. What follows is my new selection of pop-cultural franchises that are practically begging for video game tie-ins – or, where applicable, might need arguably better game tie-ins than what they already have.
10. Clerks
Image from Clerks courtesy of Miramax Films
Here, I’d like to take Kevin Smith’s 1994 indie movie Clerks and make a hilariously irreverent “point-and-click” adventure video game with aesthetic and tonal similarities to Manic Mansion (as well as its sequel, Day of the Tentacle). The game – presented completely in black-and-white like the original movie – sees players taking on the roles of main characters Dante and Randall as they perform their everyday workplace duties (via minigames), have conversations between themselves and other characters (via dialogue trees), and sometimes leave the store for various reasons (via “side-quests”).
9. Jayce & the Wheeled Warriors
Based on the comparatively lesser-known 1980s animated series Jayce & the Wheeled Warriors (itself serving as tie-in media for Mattel’s obscure Wheeled Warriors toy line), I see this video game working as a vehicular combat title like Rock n’ Roll Racing, Outlander, or Twisted Metal. Players will be given the option to select the heroes Jayce, Flora, Gillian, Herc, and Oon, driving their signature vehicles (with Oon riding on the fish-like creature Brock) as they take on the villainous plant-machine hybrid “Monster Minds” – but also head-to-head in a separate “versus” game mode.
8. The Twilight Zone
Taking an adjacent direction from my previous article’s idea for a narrative-focused title designed as a tie-in for Are You Afraid of the Dark?, I similarly propose an FMV/3D-based exploration video game (like The 7th Guest and Myst) featuring The Twilight Zone. Primarily taking after the original 1959 series (but maybe incorporating bits from its other iterations), the game would see players trapped in – and having to search for an exit to – a large “museum” of various artifacts referencing key stories throughout the series’ history…though with some exhibits being very, very dangerous.
7. Twin Peaks
Image from Twin Peaks courtesy of ABC
In an admittedly strange-but-assuredly loving tribute to the recently departed David Lynch, I’d like to suggest a “multimedia package” video game similar to The Simpsons: Virtual Springfield but using the late filmmaker’s famous Twin Peaks franchise as its basis. Players will take on the role of Special Agent Dale Cooper as he explores and interacts with characters within a virtual recreation of the titular town, which, of course, will feature in-game events and other (sometimes randomized) occurrences frequently bouncing back and forth between the highly absurd and horrifically morbid.
6. Dinosaucers
Once again taking an obscure animated series focusing on yet another team of anthropomorphic superheroes and working it into a tie-in video game it never had, I think it’d be fun to reintroduce the Dinosaucers franchise via (of all things) a tournament fighter in the style of the Ninja Turtles‘ own trilogy of fighters for the Genesis, SNES, and NES. Players will be able to select and do battle with 16 fighters: evenly split between the show’s eight heroic Dinosaucers and eight villainous Tyrannos.
5. Kolchak: The Night Stalker
As a direct compendium to my previous article’s idea for making C.O.P.S. into a visual novel-type title with an investigative focus like Déjà Vu or Snatcher, I’d love to see the 1970s sci-fi-horror TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker given a similar video game treatment. Again, like with my hypothetical game concept for C.O.P.S., players will take on the role of wire service reporter Carl Kolchak – searching crime scenes and interacting with various NPCs – to solve bizarre cases involving supernatural occurrences (and possibly gain evidence through shooter-like photography sequences).
4. ThunderCats
Image from Thundercats courtesy of Warner Bros.
Despite the 1985 iteration of the ThunderCats animated series only ever receiving a fairly primitive side-scroller for multiple (and now completely outdated) home computers, including the Amiga, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum, I always felt that the franchise deserved a higher-quality game to carry its branding. What I propose is a retro-styled, turn-based RPG with similar formatting to Phantasy Star or Shining in the Darkness, where players trek through Third Earth while battling various monsters and key villains from the series, all to reach and take on Mumm-Ra himself!
3. Sonic the Hedgehog ’93 (a.k.a. Sonic Mars Redux)
Here, I’d essentially go for another recursive, cross-cultural adaptation like with my Mega Man ’94 concept – but this time, taking the 1993 Sonic the Hedgehog “SatAM” animated series and making a full-fledged video game out of it (as was almost attempted by the scrapped Sonic Mars). I imagine the game looking and functioning very similarly to the Genesis version of Sonic 3D Blast, but with light RPG mechanics (including rudimentary but serviceable party, leveling, and travel systems) and even minor stealth/sabotage sections while venturing through the heavily guarded Robotropolis.
2. ALF
Despite the character’s then-notable – and, to some extent, continuing – popularity from the 1980s, ALF (“Alien Life Form,” a.k.a. Gordon Shumway) only had a low-effort video game for the Sega Master System, as well as a handful of forgettable titles released for home computers. To try and remedy this lack of gaming tie-ins befitting ALF’s crass-yet-lovable persona, I propose a “point-and-click” game (again, like Maniac Mansion and Day of the Tentacle), but with a markedly more cartoony and irreverent visual/narrative style like the Monkey Island interactive adventure series.
1. Batman ’66
Image from Batman courtesy of ABC
Taking the legendarily fun, campy, and ultra-colorful Batman TV series from the late 1960’s and developing it into a co-op arcade brawler like Streets of Rage and Final Fight, up to four players are tasked with clearing out multiple stages as Batman, Robin, Batgirl, and the Julie Newmar version of Catwoman (with the in-game plot having her usurped by two “imposter Catwomen”). Each stage will be capped off with over-the-top boss encounters with the show’s main (and even recurring) villains, with the core beat-’em-up gameplay interspersed with wild vehicle-based driving/flying sequences.
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