Pass the Remote: The Guest Columnist
Today I pass the remote to adrian tango from videogamesforus.com, a blog about all the goings on in the gaming world. So obviously today he writes about gaming and tv, and some of the highs and lows of the marriage between the two. So without further adieu, I present to you....
Saturday Morning Gaming
by adriantango
I remember waking up Saturday mornings, excited about what new adventures the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or the X Men were going to get into. It was truly a magical moment when the week before there was a cliffhanger and now - finally - there was a conclusion to it. What made things extra special were the premieres of new cartoons, especially when they were characters and stories we already knew, cartoons that were adapted from video games.
There are three games that come to mind, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mega Man and the Super Mario Bros.
Sonic actually had two Saturday morning cartoons. The first show, Sonic the Hedgehog had a dark, serious feel to it. It really emphasized the villan and the hero as complete opposites with a strong hatred for each other. This was different than the other cartoons because the villains and hero just wanted to stop each others plans. Here, they wanted to kill each other outright. The second series, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog went for the regular Saturday cartoon feel, with more characters from the game and really had a lot of colour. This clearly was designed for the younger set. Both shows began at the same time however this colourful version lasted longer with Sonic the Hedgehog getting canceled after two seasons and continuing in a comic book version. Adventures still runs in syndication to this day.
Mega Man, to me, was an abomination of a cartoon. All the ingredients for a great cartoon wer there. Plenty of villains including one main villain. This way story lines would never really repeat as he would have a new villian to face each week. Instead, they decided to make the show very campy and very nauseating for fans of the game. Amazingly enough the show was animated and produced by Capcom themselves. Even the introduction of Megaman X could not save that show. Apparently the robots of the future are even more campy.
The only good video game to TV show example I can think of is The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! It had everything, Captain Lou Albino, funny Italian accents and entertaining cartoon stories. The show never went to silly, or to serious. Plus, the series had a special surprise for everyone on Fridays, Zelda baby.
So, in retrospect, some video games do not make good cartoons, or even movies for that matter. When producers decide to make a cartoon out of a video game, they better have a damn good idea.
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