Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Worst show based on a video game?

Yeah, we all know about the bad reputation of game-based movies, but what about TV shows? Sure, there were some good ones, but there was also garbage that shouldn't have been green-lighted. So what do you think is the worst of the worst?

I've seen a lot of crap in my day, and yet the choice is so easy. Two words: Sonic Underground. Did you just throw up in your mouth at the mere sight of that name? Congratulations, you're a normal human being.

47 comments:

  1. I'm not sure I can name any besides Pokemon and the Mario and Zelda cartoons. They're all pretty terrible, though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's hard to decide between the FOUR Sonic cartoons/anime, the THREE Mario cartoons and the Pokémon anime (And those are just the ones I've seen).

    Actually, I'd probably go with Pokémon mostly because while the others are unwatchable garbage, the Pokémon anime actively makes the entire Pokémon series a laughingstock among those who don't know any better.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I find Sonic X to be So Bad, It's Good. SatAM is the good one, I believe...
      In terms of bad cartoon adaptations of video games...why not mention Captain N: the Gay-er, Game Master. It did not stick to raping one series...

      Delete
    2. Don't forget Donkey Kong, either. Ugh.

      Delete
    3. I hear the F-Zero anime was pretty bad as well. You know, we could make a shorter list of genuinely good game-to-cartoon/anime adaptations...

      Delete
    4. I don't know the quality of the F-Zero anime, but I do remember the ending (as most people probably do) and it was awesome.

      I'd say worst was... oh, let's go with one of the Mario ones or the original Zelda one (WELL EXCUUUUUSE ME PRINCESS!)

      Delete
    5. I heard the ending was the only part worth watching...and the ending theme, I think, was also mentioned...

      Delete
    6. The ending... well, look up Anime Falcon Punch, you'll find it. It's AMAZING.

      Delete
    7. Oh God, I hate the Donkey Kong Country one. The animation is uncanny, the voices are off and the songs (shudder).

      Delete
  3. F-Zero, all the Mario ones, Zelda, Capitan N, Pokeymans,
    If I named good ones:Halo Legends, Sonic Satm, and Kirby

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Crap, forgot Battletoads and Megaman, those were bad as well

      Delete
    2. Damn, I hate Captain N. It gets the award for having the crummiest clip show.

      Delete
  4. I actually didn't grow up watching shows based on video games, I only know about them from Youtube Poops back when they were kinda funny... Though I did send my friend a DVD with a couple of AoStH episodes on it for last Christmas as a joke. (I'm a terrible person)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No you aren't. Please hit me up with that AoStH.

      Delete
    2. Really? I found it in the bargain bin at Target around Christmas time for about 5 bucks so I thought it was going to be bad...

      Delete
  5. Is the Pokemon anime really THAT bad? I mean, we are all older so we'd cringe at just about anything made for kids, but the anime is at least fairly well made, coherent-ish, does flesh out the world of the game it's based on (manga does better but not the point) and it's popular enough to be 16 years old and counting. It's older than the average fan, FFS. [A scary thought to think they just made episodes that make reference to the first few seasons...like the average viewer even knew Ash had a Butterfree]. Not saying it's emmy-winning material, but LOTS worse shows out there, let alone worse shows based on games.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To be honest, the quality has gone up in recent years, starting around Battle Frontier. There are a few major problems with it that stop it from being good, though.

      Delete
    2. I for one actually enjoy the pokemon anime, sure it has its problems, but I still think it's an enjoyable show, at least for me.

      Slowflake Rage reply in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

      Delete
  6. I really hate Sonic Underground (cringe). A choir of Urkels, Knuckles guarding a Chaos Emerald and the entire concept of the show screams disaster. But don't forget Sonic X.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But Sonic X is in the So Bad, It's Good category. If you do not agree, then at least you can make fun of it. Can you even say that for Sonic Underground?...

      Delete
    2. For X, it was not just the Adventure games. There were original arcs and one loosely based off of Battle for GBA (Emerl appears). Series 2 is its own, original series for better or for worse. I liked Cosmo, and not just because of my past on the Internet. The rest of the aspects of it...could have been done better, though one can make fun of them...

      Delete
    3. I was younger (maybe sixth grade) when I was exposed to Sonic X via reruns. Yeah, I am a kid compared to you. Don't rub it in...
      Never watched Underground, so I am assuming based on your words that it is worse than hilariously bad. In reply to the question you put in your comment based on that information...I'm going to go with yes...

      Delete
    4. I used to like Cosmo before I learnt to punch straight.

      Delete
    5. She could have been much better with a backstory not involving the Metarex. That series in general could have been better even if they used the Black Arms instead. If Shadow the Hedgehog was out already, at least they would be using established villains, even if they themselves were poorly written established villains...

      Delete
    6. They could also remember to give her a personality.

      Delete
    7. She had personality enough. Even if you think she was a Mary Sue, she would be nowhere near the worst example of a protagonist with no personality. Oh, not even close...

      Delete
    8. I am older than you, actually. I just do not get out much. That and I was much younger when I watched Sonic X. Even then, they only showed Series 1...
      I am familiar with Lewis from BrainScratch. I like Johnny more, though...

      Delete
    9. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  7. I don't know about the worst one, but Kirby Right Back at Ya! was easily one of the bests... until they rushed the ending that is. Such a shame too, as it was one of 4Kids's only decent works.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So true. At least I do not have to use the, "But it's hilariously bad," excuse for that one. Keep in mind that they also aired it out of order due to Kirby's Air Ride coming out...
      If they continued it, maybe it would be revealed that fan-favorite villains Dark Matter and Zero were pulling the strings all along. That or a dog named Mira...

      Delete
    2. Kirby Of The Stars was pretty awesome, and it was one of the least watered down of the products 4kids gave us.

      Airing it out of order was still an annoying decision though.

      Delete
    3. Heck, 4Kids's version was even closer to what Sakurai originally wanted. With Kirby not speaking a single real word and all...
      And Meta Knight's English voice was almost the best thing ever. XD

      Delete
    4. >implying southern Deedeedee wasn't the best thing ever.

      AH NEED A MONSTA TO CLOBBA DAT DER KIRBEH!

      (on that note, the opening song was awesome)

      Delete
    5. And what about Australian Rick too ? :P
      (And yes, the opening song was indeed way too awesome for its own good)

      Delete
  8. One word: Bubsy.

    Kirby Right Back at ya, the cartoon that infamously raped Kirby's character by turning him into a brain damaged baby was.... good? Maybe I didn't look at it hard enough while watching it, or I was too old, or made the mistake of thinking Kirby was supposed to be a smart, badass character that knows how to talk because I grew up on kirby super star... and I shouldn't feel like that one cartoon ruined the games forever because, in reality, it is supposed to be stupid, Kirby should act like a baby, Dedede and the nightmare aliens are incompetent morons, cappys never wear their caps, kirby constantly needs help from annoying bird-like kids to be able to fight at all, kirby and meta-knight are best buddies, it's not supposed to treat me like a mature, intelligent audience that can figure things out without being explained to, and all the games lied to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's supposed to be a kids show, just like Kirby is a kids game. If you take it too seriously, it's your problem. And by the way, yes, King Dedede is incompetent (See Kirby's Adventure), Meta Knight has been Kirby's ally in several games and even in Kirby Super Star Kirby has always been as naive as a baby to believe everything everybody tells him. Everything blends perfectly.

      Delete
    2. I don't know which version of Kirby Super Star you played, but in the SNES original (the only one I have experienced) Meta-Knight was a rival to Kirby and built the Halberd as an impenetrable fortress and a weapon to advance his own ends, not as a final defense against nightmare. Kirby didn't have Tiff, or Tuff, or anybody else guiding his actions. He acted independently by his own agency and took care of himself because he is an adult with sentient intelligence. He was the defender of Dream World, or Pop-Star as the names are interchangeable. He wasn't an alien to Dream World, either. He was born from a race of dreamworldians who look much like himself and in the first game he gave them back the food King Dedede stole from them. Meta-knight is another dreamworldian, which makes a fitting foil for Kirby much like Wario is the counterpart to Mario. Kirby isn't all that innocent, either. In fact, he ransacked an entire underground ruin Indiana Jones style to pilfer it's treasures. No noble mission, nobody telling him to do this, he just decided to go there and take it to get rich with shiny things. The show isn't a perfect adaptation of the games, but then when you consider Sonic X was trying to adapt the sonic adventure series more accurately than any other sonic cartoon adapted the games they're based on, maybe a perfectly accurate adaptation isn't necessarily the best thing for a game based show. And right back at ya, curiously, didn't have the giant eyeball of darkness alien (whatever his name is). Maybe they were saving it for later, but decided to end it with the fall of nightmare.

      Delete
    3. I'm sorry, but WHAT ?!? How can you believe that after playing only ONE KIRBY GAME. I played ALL OF THEM. Sakurai himself acknowledges the show by making easter eggs of it in several newer games.
      Meta Knight was a real villain only in that specific game. In all the others he was either an ally, or a mentor. And the first game is hardly cannon, as it wasn't made for the story. Heck, in the remake, he's giving back the food to people who doesn't look anything like him.
      And yeah, an adult life form would totally believe what a suspicious-looking clown who mysteriously appeared when a bad conflict started has to say about stopping said conflict and let himself be back-stabbed after all his hard work. Only an adult life-form would decide to go on a complete genocide of a clan of thief because of stolen CAKE.
      Word of god decides how Kirby should be like, not you. You're as bad and laughable as genwunners. Go play ALL the Kirby games and then come back after you grown out of your stupid delusions.

      Delete
    4. I played 6 games: Kirby's Dreamland, Kirby's Dreamland 2, Kirby's Dreamland 3, Kirby Superstar, Kirby 64, and Kirby's Adventure GBA. There's no way he could have done all the things he does if he was an unintelligent baby. He thwarted alien invaders attacking his planet. He blew up the halberd and escaped alive in a badass way by turning into a motorcycle wheel and driving off it. He's dueled in arenas, gunfights and sword fights. Of course he's not all badass, he has his gentler side, too. Like when he taught the baby dyna-blades how to fly. That was cute. And his mandatory dance at the end of every boss. There is word of god, yes, but there is also fan interpretation. One of Shigesato Itoi's game philosophies is "the player is half the game." So why should I not view Kirby as an intelligent badass if I want to? In many of the American localizations, the box art gives kirby angry eyes, which I would interpret as NOA trying to make him appear less kiddie for the market here (though eyes don't really mean much, and "kiddie" is a horrible judgement to write something off for). To me, the Kirby in the games and the Right Back At Ya Kirby are as different as Ash and Red.

      Delete
    5. Oh yeah, I played that one about the color witch, too.

      Delete
    6. He can be an intelligent baddass, but it doesn't change the fact that he is a baby life-form. You didn't play any of the more recent games, how pitiful.
      And he didn't turn into a motorcycle wheel, it's a wheelie bike who saved him. He's got a good fighting instinct, but isn't really good at anything else. He is gentle because he is still naive from his immaturity.
      In Kirby Mass Attack, which is NOT a spin-off by the way, they took his speech and mannerisms from the show and he says "Poyo" all the time in an adorable way. The show was recognized as Kirby's origin story and nothing you say can change that fact.

      Delete
    7. One more that I forgot: Kirby's dream course (the golf game).

      You mention that the remake (the one in super star ultra, I'm guessing?) has him give the stolen food to things that aren't his species. That is a retcon. Retconning is the act of rewriting past events to cater to what the author wants the canon to be.

      From the way you have described the modern games, it gives me the impression that I haven't missed out on much after the classics. Just like they forced mario to say "It's-a-me, Mario! Let's-a-go!" in the GBA mario remakes, and they made link grunt and yell in the Link to the Past remake, they are making Kirby say "Poyo" in the modern games. It's like *shiver* pokemon yellow, when they took away pikachu's cry to make him say "Pika!" Pokemon yellow is not a spin-off made by a licensed third-party company. It is an official game developed by GameFreak themselves, acknowledging the "canon" established in the anime. Does that mean all of us accept pokemon yellow at face-value? Well, in any case, we do accept that the pikachu marketing and anime help boost the sales of the pokemon games, giving game freak more opportunity to improve with each generation, but story-wise? It's okay at best for some, but canon-raping to folks like me and slowflake.

      The point is, the original was different. Kirby, the white Kirby, was in it's purest form in the Kirby's Dream Land game boy game. Heck, if you can remember that time, Kirby was the original best-seller game-boy mascot until pokemon came around and took Kirby's game boy throne.

      I find it difficult to believe that a creature "still naive from his immaturity" would know how to feed and take care of baby dynablades and teach them to fly. He would have to be a bit more sentient than he is in Right Back At Ya, where he is so mentally regressed that the only thing he really knows how to do on his own is feed himself. Like, the sentience of a seven year old. The Kirby in Right Back At Ya has the mental maturity of someone way younger than seven. He hardly even has the maturity of a two year old. Two year olds can't take care of baby birds properly.

      It's slightly disheartening that Masahiro Sakurai acknowledges the characterization presented in Right Back At Ya as the true Kirby. At least Satoshi Tajiri adamantly keeps red and the canon of the original games separate from the anime.

      Delete
    8. You are as bad as a genwunner, I'm done arguing with you. The Kirby fanbase won't miss a pig-headed prick like you. You obviously have no idea of the true essence of Kirby games.

      Delete
    9. I refrain from adding ad-hominems like "pig-headed prick" in my arguments, it would be respectable if you gave me the same courtesy. It is a two-sided argument and you do have valid points. As pokemon goes, the classic fanbase finds the first two installments to be more immersive, while the competitive fanbase (which I am a part of) is only interested in the latest installments for their superior game mechanics.

      The thing about pokemon, unlike Kirby, is it is a competitive multiplayer game and each installment is an update by it's design. Kirby isn't like that. The Kirby games are driven by single-player adventures, so they can't be judged the same way as pokemon installments. I haven't tried the newer Kirbies, but if the gameplay is still similar (and there's no Tiff and Tuff), I can consider it worth playing.

      I'm not a die-hard kirby fan, but I remember what it was like to play the games before the anime existed. The anime felt... different. In the same sense that the sonic, pokemon, and Mario cartoons are different from the respective games they're based on. Relative to me, those cartoons were already running around the same time I was introduced to the games. The characters and the settings were easier to merge in my mind back then. The Kirby anime appeared over a decade after the main series of games had been well established. Before then, there was nothing but the video games to get a sense of what Kirby was. When the show arrived this late, it was much harder to merge it with what I had established Kirby was like in my mind based on the games.

      You may cease responding to my arguments if that is what you wish. By doing so, my post here is the final statement on the matter.

      Delete
    10. Ok, fine. I admit I lost my cool. Since you're conceding me the exact points I was trying to make, I don't see any reason to continue this argument. What I thought was stupid is how you were letting characterization influence your opinion of a franchise which is made solely for its fun gameplay while controlling one of the most overpowered video game protagonist. That's why I was upset. I don't think it matters when playing the games. You have to think that these games are made in japan and they have a different concept of "baddass-cute" than we do.
      (Now I'm not trying to continue this argument, just stating the exact reasons why I was pissed off now that I was able to cool down.)

      Delete