Tracing its roots from Japan and the USA, arcade gaming influenced several parts of the world, especially in the ’80s and ’90s, offering cult favorites like Donkey Kong, Sonic, and Pac-Man. However, the direct and indirect film adaptations of arcade games have unfortunately had a mixed track record.
Films like Street Fighter and Super Mario Bros disappointed fans of the original games while others like Mortal Kombat just turned out to be guilty pleasures. Last year’s Sonic The Hedgehog did offer some redemption, opening to favorable responses amongst audiences and critics alike. Apart from the aforementioned feature films, a few notable documentaries have also come out in the last few years touching upon the influence of such games.
10 House Of The Dead (2003) – 2.0
Uwe Boll is the undisputed maestro of bad video game films, with House of The Dead falling under ‘so bad that it’s good’ territory. Inspired from the Sega arcade game of the same name, Boll’s film turned out to be a campy take on an otherwise hauntingly gruesome zombie game.
The shoot-em-up game’s legacy might have been overshadowed by the PlayStation release of Resident Evil but it still remains an arcade classic. The film, on the other hand, can still incite some unintentional laughs if watched without much thought.
9 Super Mario Bros. (1993) – 4.1
Imagine a Mario movie in which Mario is afraid of jumping over high objects! This is how the disastrous Super Mario Bros film adaptation can be summed up. Starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as the duo of Mario and Luigi, the film takes its over-the-top premise a little too seriously resulting in a wasted opportunity.
However, over the years, it has still found better reception than other bad video game films. Some credits need to go to the filmmakers for their attempt to set the characters against a suburban setting (with some nods to The Wizard of Oz) rather than blatantly aping the arcade gameplay.
8 Tekken (2009) – 4.8
Even though Namco Bandai’s Tekken revolutionized several consoles in the PlayStation range, the first-ever Tekken was introduced for arcades in 1994. It’s hand-to-hand combat and diverse mythos drew praise among fans of other fighting games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat.
A film of the same name attempted to tell protagonist Jin Kazama’s story against the backdrop of a fighting tournament. The plot had potential but Tekken ended up being another substandard fighting-game film, partly because the formula had already been tested (with unsatisfactory results) by Mortal Kombat and DOA: Dead or Alive before.
7 Doom (2005) – 5.2
Before Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike, and Dwayne Johnson turned into bankable Hollywood stars, they acted in a forgotten remake of the Doom series (although the film mainly borrowed elements from Doom 3).
Like the first-person shooter it is based on, Doom pitted a group of heavily-armed marines against genetically-engineered monstrosities. The film did pay homage to some of the game’s best elements (with Johnson eventually wielding the BFG aka Big F****** Gun). But the end-product still fell prey to its own clichés. The one redeeming part might be the first-person sequence that did provide an interactive feel in an otherwise bland narrative.
6 Pixels (2015) – 5.5
Pixels isn’t that iconic a film but the Adam Sandler-starred picture is still arguably more watchable than some of his recent cinematic disappointments (barring Uncut Gems). While not directly based on a game, the film serves as a love letter to arcade gaming champions of the past, while heavily referencing Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and many other classics.
The plot revolves around a planetary invasion by an alien force that misreads video feeds of arcade games as a declaration of war. So, to combat the extraterrestrial thread, seasoned arcade veterans are relied on as Earth’s only hope.
5 Mortal Kombat (1995) – 5.8
It’s probably Mortal Kombat’s theme music that’s more memorable than the film itself. Even though it fares better than a movie like Tekken, a major drawback of Mortal Kombat lay in the lack of fatalities. Hyperviolent fatalities finishing each one-on-one match has been a unique selling point for most of the franchise’s installments since the very start.
Paul W.S. Anderson’s film failed to capture that visceral nature of the game’s combat eventually helming a PG-13 battle royale flick. Over two decades later, the trailer of an upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot finally offers a glimmer of hope.
4 Rampage (2018) – 6.1
A massive improvement from Doom, Dwayne Johnson returned to the world of arcade games with the monster film Rampage. Boasting big-budget visual effects and a ‘hit-em-up’ style of action, the film somewhat does justice to the Midway arcade series. There’s a dash of science too that need not be taken that seriously because after all, the Rampage games themselves have always had a high dose of mindless fun.
Maybe, that’s what makes this a fun watch. It’s aware of its ludicrous premise of a giant albino gorilla taking on two other giant creatures in a ravaged Chicago, and just focuses on the ‘rampage’ more than anything else.
3 Sonic The Hedgehog (2020) – 6.5
When the first look of Sonic The Hedgehog was released, the vast majority on the internet seemed to be disappointed with the character’s CGI design, with some deeming it to be too grotesque. However, once the hedgehog’s visual design was entirely remodeled for a more video game-accurate look, Sonic The Hedgehog turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
Relying on self-aware humor and a terrific turn by Jim Carrey as the villainous Dr. Robotnik, the film offered some hope for future video-game adaptations. Ben Schwartz’s voice acting as the eponymous character, the visual effects, and the faithfulness to the source material, were other redeeming elements in the film.
2 Wreck-It Ralph (2012) – 7.7
Disney’s Wreck-It-Ralph is easily one of the best video-game movies even though it is not directly based on one specific game. Like the aforementioned Pixels, the animated Oscar-nominee is set in a world that thrives inside the machines of a gaming arcade. The titular character (voiced by John C. Reilly) is a typical arcade ‘bad-guy’ who wishes to be a hero for a change.
Not only is the premise highly original, but it also features memorable cameos by other gaming characters like Mario‘s Browser, Ryu and Bison from Street Fighter, and so on. Then, an added cherry on the top is Sarah Silverman’s take as Vanellope, a racer in a go-karting game.
1 The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters (2007) – 8.1
This documentary tends to focus on competitive arcade gaming through the lens of gamer Steve Wiebe as he attempts to garner the highest score on 1981’s Donkey Kong, breaking all previous records.
Balancing hilarity with seriousness, The King Of Kong introduces its viewers to all aspects of arcade championships, from delving into the players’ psyche to covering the work of organizations like Twin Galaxies that are dedicated to professionally track high scores for classic arcade games.
