Why do so many video game adaptations fall short of the mark? Today, we're joined by Denise Chan and Martin Yeung as we tackle this pressing question and dissect the complex world of video game movies. From the debacle of Alone in the Dark to the more recent success of The Last of Us show, we dive into the key factors that contribute to the success or failure of these adaptations.
Together, we explore the significant differences between the storytelling of a movie and a video game, as well as the role of studio executives who may not be in tune with the games they're adapting. We also discuss the importance of staying true to the source material, as seen in iconic adaptations like Mortal Kombat. By examining our favorite video game adaptations, such as the animated series Arcane and the classic Wreck-It Ralph, we draw conclusions on the elements that make for a good adaptation, and how these stories can stand on their own while still honoring the games that inspired them.
Don't miss out on this fascinating conversation about the intricate process of adapting video games to other mediums. Join us as we uncover the secrets behind successful adaptations and discuss the challenges creators face in bringing beloved video game characters and stories to life. Share your favorite adaptations and let us know why they worked (or didn't) in your opinion!
Why do so many video game adaptations fall short of the mark? Today, we're joined by Denise Chan and Martin Yeung as we tackle this pressing question and dissect the complex world of video game movies. From the debacle of Alone in the Dark to the more recent success of The Last of Us show, we dive into the key factors that contribute to the success or failure of these adaptations.
Together, we explore the significant differences between the storytelling of a movie and a video game, as well as the role of studio executives who may not be in tune with the games they're adapting. We also discuss the importance of staying true to the source material, as seen in iconic adaptations like Mortal Kombat. By examining our favorite video game adaptations, such as the animated series Arcane and the classic Wreck-It Ralph, we draw conclusions on the elements that make for a good adaptation, and how these stories can stand on their own while still honoring the games that inspired them.
Don't miss out on this fascinating conversation about the intricate process of adapting video games to other mediums. Join us as we uncover the secrets behind successful adaptations and discuss the challenges creators face in bringing beloved video game characters and stories to life. Share your favorite adaptations and let us know why they worked (or didn't) in your opinion!
Hey everyone, welcome to the show Today's episode. I'm Michael Prishnary, joined by Denise Chen and Martin Jung, and today we're talking about video game adaptations. Wahoo, wahoo.
Speaker 2:Wahoo.
Speaker 1:Wahoo. Wahoo, i don't feel like your wahoo kind of matched our energy, Denise.
Speaker 2:That was the point.
Speaker 1:Okay, Well, much like your wahoo just then. it's very similar to video game adaptations in that they're always worse than what they should be.
Speaker 3:We were the original video games with a wahoo energy, and then the movie is just wahoo.
Speaker 1:Exactly, But every wahoo there's a wahoo Wahoo.
Speaker 3:Wahoo.
Speaker 1:And then there's just wahoo, and then you've got Uwe Bol who directs every freaking video game movie. How does that guy direct so many bad movies back to back?
Speaker 3:Get green lit for it as well.
Speaker 1:If a movie says it's directed by Uwe Bol, however you say his name Uwe Uwe, uwe, ubol Ubol.
Speaker 3:U.
Speaker 1:Udog, udog directed.
Speaker 2:I don't know what that was.
Speaker 1:U directed numerous video game movies that you should stay away from One of which we watched, we watched and you can find that video on my YouTube channel reacting to Alone in the Dark, terrible film. And I think that's a great way to kind of start this off, where we're going to talk about what made video game adaptations work, what made them not work, what are the bad, what are the good. And let's start off with the really bad, alone in the Dark, which has a 1% on Rotten Tomatoes. Why was this not a good movie and didn't work as a video game adaptation, guys?
Speaker 3:I've, like, mentally blocked out that movie. to be quite honest with you, It was just so horrible I can't say I blame you.
Speaker 1:But I mean, let's just look at the title. It was called Alone in the Dark. Was there ever a scene where there was a character alone in the dark? What?
Speaker 3:was it? Didn't Lorraine say something like crowded in the light or something? We should call it crowded in the light. It's just coming back to me now. Much more fitting.
Speaker 2:All I remember is a really nice sink filling up.
Speaker 3:It's still filling up. Yeah, it's still filling up. That was the highlight, very reminiscent, of an accident we had downstairs.
Speaker 1:That sounds really bad if you don't provide context. What Martin's talking about is downstairs. This is a true story brother, i'm not making a quip or anything My partner opened the dishwasher and it just sprayed everywhere. The water just went everywhere. There's something wrong with my dishwasher. It's like possessed or something where it just won't turn off. now It just keeps on an unending loop. It's just like a sink.
Speaker 2:I feel like I really should also add that, guys, this is not a euphemism, this is an actual dish.
Speaker 3:This is actual true story We were having dinner and the dishwasher actually broke. We're not making a joke.
Speaker 1:This isn't a What would this be A euphemism for Denise? It squirted everywhere. You guys are immature. You are so immature. Future, martin, play it back, don't say that Martin's going to do a whee-wee-wee-wee-wee-wee and rewind me and bring up the clip. But I'm wearing pants today because Martin always likes to aim the camera at my dick for some reason. What's all of that about?
Speaker 3:Anyway, let's just get back to your question.
Speaker 1:What makes a video game adaptation bad? Like we were saying Alone in the Dark, you got people with machine guns in a very crowded place where there's light. It totally goes against Alone in the Dark and what that means. Alone in the Dark was a It rebooted as a survival horror, but the point was it was meant to be a scary, suspenseful game. This movie did not even follow the normal rules of filmmaking.
Speaker 2:And we got.
Speaker 1:Alone in the Dark, which is, to this day, the worst rated video game movie of all time.
Speaker 3:So where does this contrast come from? Where the video games actually are quite good video games, but then the movie adaptations are the complete 180 of it. What's getting lost in translation?
Speaker 1:Every video game movie has to be based on a good video game, because otherwise it's like To get green lit To get green lit. It needs to be a game that people like to play.
Speaker 1:I mean there's Bloodrain. I don't know who the hell green lit that movie, because I don't remember anyone playing that game, but someone must have played it because it got a movie. But for the most part, video game movies are usually, 99% of the time, based on games that are actually very good and fun. I think what's happening is you've got studio executives that don't play video games trying to adapt and interpret and make money off something that they don't understand.
Speaker 3:Also, it's just a medium. There's a medium difference. The storytelling of a video game is different to a movie, where in a movie you're taken on a journey. A video game, you have more agency And there's more, i think in video games even more of a suspension of disbelief as well, and just basic logic just gets thrown out the window even more in video games. For example, there's no way you can hold 999 apples in your inventory and stuff. There's just Yeah, and then you can pay. You can pace through the game as fast or as slow as you want. But I think it's just gameplay mechanics, especially certain video games, where the mechanics are intricately interwoven into the storytelling. They just cannot be translated to visual and audio only.
Speaker 1:I think as well a video game can be fun and have a shit story. We know plenty of video games that have terrible stories, but they're really fun to play. A movie with a shit story completely different. It's a lot harder to make a movie that has a terrible story, but it's still fun to watch.
Speaker 3:All right. So video games, there's more to it than just a story as well. Like, if it doesn't have, if it has a bland kind of all miniscule story, it can still make up for it in the entertainment value, whereas a movie has to be about the actual storytelling of the experiential. Yeah, because you're observing it.
Speaker 1:I mean, like Mario Brothers the Mario Brothers games, a plumber that tries to save a princess from a castle that's guarded by a giant dragon thing. How the hell do you translate that into a movie or a real life movie, which is what happened in 1993?
Speaker 2:Good segue.
Speaker 3:Oh man, i still need to watch that.
Speaker 1:I don't ever need to watch that movie.
Speaker 2:It's intense. I watched the trailer for that for the first time.
Speaker 1:Did you not show you the trailer?
Speaker 2:Maybe that was here and I've just forgotten.
Speaker 3:You buried it deep down. I actually suppressed it And I was a shock.
Speaker 2:It's crazy that it's not a parody movie, that's what it feels like It does, doesn't it? Right, it feels like no way. This is real. No way. This is like a serious attempt at making something to honor the legacy of this game, one of the key things that that movie screwed up is Mario and Luigi's last names are Mario, what?
Speaker 3:Mario, mario. Yeah, is that right.
Speaker 1:There's a part where like the cop is like asking what's your last name And Luigi says Mario. And then he asks Mario and he's like Mario.
Speaker 3:Is that why they call him Mario, if you can't even nail the names of this game how the hell are you gonna nail this movie?
Speaker 1:And, truth be told, they didn't. 1993 only had one good movie about dinosaurs, and it definitely was not Mario Brothers.
Speaker 3:The other movie was like a small indie flick, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i think it was directed by Senor Spielburgo. I think so. Yeah, small Time Filmmaker.
Speaker 3:Very small time?
Speaker 1:Yes, i don't think he's doing much now, except directing musicals. Anywho, a good question would be what are your favourite video game adaptations? Denise and Martin.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's a good question. If we're talking film and TV, the recent ones that come to mind are definitely one arcane the animated series that's. Netflix like, based on all the kind of League of Legends.
Speaker 1:I knew you were gonna say a show Jinks, jinks, jinks. There's not many movies that you can pick out.
Speaker 2:I think what it speaks to is almost that at least with a TV show you have multiple facets to really have an engaging story, not just with little subplots but that payoff, different characters, arcs so you can really explore them, but like an overall main storyline that just builds and builds to eventually get to that really climactic ending.
Speaker 1:Also when I think of shows, obviously like, I think, The Last of Us and the reason The Last of Us was so good is because they stayed to the fucking story of the games. Other than like exploring the backstory of one character, the Last of Us. The show is like beat for beat the game.
Speaker 3:And more actually they actually expanded on the world building and stuff. Yeah, they actually delve more into the quarter-seps and stuff and its origin and everything. Yeah so other than like little minor changes.
Speaker 1:Most of it is the exact same And really, when you've got a game with a story as fantastic as The Last of Us, Yeah, i was gonna bring that up, yeah. That's all you gotta do. Like I don't even know why. It says written by such and such. It's like just use the story of the game.
Speaker 3:Use the blueprint that was already set up in 2013. Exactly, yeah, that story is great.
Speaker 1:Don't fuck it up, don't try and invoke some gender politics or woke shit. Just keep it what it is.
Speaker 3:It definitely helped that you all. It was already a phenomenal story, so they didn't need to do much adapting And like. The point I will say is that it wasn't until sort of video games took on more conventional Hollywood, sort of three-act structure storytelling incorporating cinematic techniques and focusing on dialogue and writing hero's journey, inciting incident. That kind of Hollywood sort of took video game stories more seriously, because we're talking about a medium that started off where the ending of a game was just a black screen with white text saying congratulations, thank you for saving me from my slumber, or something, yeah, yeah. So it wasn't until they brought on like Hollywood writers and so on, that like Hollywood started taking them seriously and also to and this is from an earlier point of maybe, i guess I'll make it now So the audience matured and so has the stories that were being told from, just like rescuing damsels in distress to well, yeah, last of us, worldwide infection and the human and the gripping character developments and the character pieces and very mature themes as well.
Speaker 1:Plus, you can't have a damsel being a damsel in distress in 2023. That's just not.
Speaker 3:And how many times can you retell that story? Not progressive.
Speaker 1:No. You got you off the next, you brought up arcane.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think.
Speaker 1:Why does arcane work?
Speaker 2:I think, like adding on to white works, and it's just something that Martin said about and you got both of you said actually, about how you know when you stick to the story, but not just that, you expand on what's already been established, and that is when you cater not just to existing fans but new fans as well, because you're really fleshing out that universe and I feel a show like arcane really works because, say, for people who aren't familiar with the law, because when you play the game, unless you really dive into reading all the back stories, and stuff.
Speaker 2:You don't need to know that You don't need to know all that to play the actual game right. And it's a funny running joke that everything about League of Legends outside of the game itself is amazing.
Speaker 2:The game is like dirty, because our game was like truly up here and, yeah, they expanded on these stories and, like you had given these histories and just all these details that you know, i wasn't aware for some of the characters, that just made it so impactful and really clarified the characters relationships with each other as well and they had really like meaningful arcs. I think that's what really just elevated it all for me, like it made these video game characters so human And, with the thematic messages that were being told, it felt like something you'd watch. I don't know if there's a reason Jinx is arc, for example, without any spoilers. It felt very much like the Joker, like on that level of depth and kind of growth of how you just see this character Go all the way down is his arc pretty much a character that has to break his own rules and is pushed too far, to the point where I'd be getting into spoiler if you try to specify.
Speaker 3:No, i'm just asking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, jinx, yeah, she's got that aspect of the Joker.
Speaker 1:It's basically the tragedy as much. Okay, that's a great way and plot twist.
Speaker 2:In contrast, because the main story follows kind of her and her older sister and they get like separated at some point. You see them have that literally different journeys, like almost opposite to each other. It really adds like a really nice.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a tragedy, the age old tragedy, yeah, you know it's like two, just two warriors who have diverged off different paths and they want to get back to the other part. just they're two different now, so they can't rekindle.
Speaker 1:Like how twin brothers, how they have completely different lives. I'm pretty sure there were twin brothers that had lived a completely different set of lives where one was like in jail from drugs and the other one was like a car or something like that. Something ridiculous, but it was. It was really riveting. I like that idea though. Yeah Of like siblings that live completely different lives, and it comes down to like these very crucial but simple choices. Yeah, that's it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because you just feel the impact of the stakes so much more and there's this so much behind it that expands on the whole thing. And it's very similar to how I felt about another TV show cyberpunk edge runners as well where it's like it has all these cool Easter eggs and contextual things from the actual game. But you know we're following characters we've never met before and, through that, exploring other things that the game might have touched on but maybe didn't fully dive into like the whole idea of, because in the game cyberpunk 2077.
Speaker 2:There's all this kind of. You can pretty much upgrade yourself with robotic parts and things which give you enhancements. Yeah, enhancements and stuff and in the, the anime, they basically explored, you know, the impacts of getting addicted to that kind of cycle.
Speaker 3:And I didn't expect it to sound of this. What's that fasting Santa Vista thing?
Speaker 2:It's like a spinal thing he implements, which I think in the story. It's like an illegal prototype part that they were trying to get and I don't know how. I can't know what happened, but he had to install it and it basically made him so overpowered that he got so addicted to like using it, but it was like killing him in the same time, it was the humanity. Yeah, it's pretty full on, but again.
Speaker 1:I wonder how far away we are from a future like what's 2077 minus 2023. We could get there sooner.
Speaker 3:Try and be a bit more optimistic, as run as there's a sequel, so it's one less year, but notice how everything we're talking about here are gripping character pieces. Exactly is irrespective of video game mechanics, and that can be applied to just conventional Hollywood tales and stuff. Now, these successful adaptations are the one that focus on characters and three act structure tragedies motives.
Speaker 1:If you want to have a horrible video game adaptation, just here we go. insert Mark Wahlberg.
Speaker 3:To like what Matt Vell is saying choices that are obviously driven by business interests. Yeah, that sort of thing.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean like Uncharted. Did you watch Uncharted?
Speaker 3:No, i don't plan to. I don't want to Uncharted yeah.
Speaker 1:I watched it in the cinemas. I reviewed it for the podcast. You, poor soul, you can listen to that full podcast. It was not a fun movie. It was very groan inducing. It felt like a big cash grab. For all the good faith that Sony had built with me from Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse, they lost all of it with that movie.
Speaker 1:The funny thing, though, is Uncharted are fun story driven games with big action set pieces. Yes, and here you had a movie that was stealing parts from each game. Yes, and then just having one coherent storyline from one of the games. All Uncharted had to be was the same story as the first Uncharted game, and it would have been fine. Then you could have made the sequel the exact same as Uncharted 2. You save a fuck ton of money from writing credits because you're just using the game as the blueprint. Instead, we got this movie where there's a plot twist about a bad guy. This person's the bad guy. No one gives a shit. It's very badly miscast Like. Mark Wahlberg should not have been cast as Sully and the other actor.
Speaker 3:No, no, no, Tom Holland isn't.
Speaker 1:Tom Holland just doesn't suit Nathan Drake.
Speaker 3:And the groanie was made with this and that in 19th century.
Speaker 1:No just that, that is not Nolan North, no just no, the movie is a perfect example of studios thinking they know what makes the game work and totally missing the point.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you brought up the point. It's like they're just like cherry picking bits and bobs, like here and there, like just the best moments of the highlight reels, and what you have is a weird mesh mash of unfitting Jenga pieces that they then, retroactively, are trying to piece together with some kind of story just to string everything together. That was, from across three games into one sitting for games for. Okay, right, yeah, four games, i just forgot the fourth one exists.
Speaker 1:And the story in the fourth game is fantastic. I, like, i love the story in the fourth game. I was telling the story. I was playing the game in front of my partner and she was like, wait a sec, this is a fucking game. I thought this was a movie that you were watching. Yeah, that's one issue.
Speaker 3:I don't know if it's an issue, but it's just like the games that taken more. It seems like the games took on more Hollywood storytelling than an actual game. Like to the point where I'd never played the last of us or any uncharted games or naughty dog games, because all I really honestly do is just watch the cut scene compilations on YouTube and treat it as if I'm going through like a movie session And like, and all the bits in between are just like me getting from point A to point B and only the most important like story bits happening, pre-rendered cut scenes or Moe captain stuff. So it was to the point where I was like the last of us could have just been a conventional TV show. And they did. Yeah, it was like he was, he was fully acted and Moe captain stuff. It was like why this could have is very much just an episodic series.
Speaker 1:Which I disagree.
Speaker 3:There's some. Really, it still is a fun game.
Speaker 1:I get that. Mechanics, i get that And you can totally watch the game. Just all the cut scenes on YouTube. The story is that great, but you do lose some kind of immersiveness by not playing through those levels. So it's in between moments You miss out on conversations, world building, that, certain things that just could only be done through a game, certain little details.
Speaker 3:How much are you missing, though? I have played like Spider-Man on PS4, for example, but I could see that well, maybe if you watch only watch the cut scene, you could still get the gist of like the character sort of relations and everything.
Speaker 1:I think the last of us is a game that you should try and play from start to finish.
Speaker 3:Those dialogues that happen in between cut scenes.
Speaker 1:they add to your character relations 100% And there are some key moments that you play the character, for example, like you play the character at the start of the game. Well, am I getting into spoiler territory? I mean, the game's been out for like 10 years, but there's a pivotal moment at the start of the last of us where you're playing as it's not a cut scene- Yeah, you experience from like a Well, not first person, but Well, you actually change characters. You play as one character and then it changes to another character.
Speaker 3:Actually, you know what The game is like 10 years old. I think you can go into spoilers.
Speaker 1:That's all I'm going to say. I'll keep it fresh and just say that it changes perspectives and it's really cool. I think you should at some point. you should play the last of us, or we can There is something to be said about when.
Speaker 3:It's something different, that when you have agency, you actually directly, you have direct input into a character, that you have even more of a connection, rather than if you are watching in a theater.
Speaker 1:Plus, it feels really satisfying to shoot people in the head in that game.
Speaker 2:And that's something special.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they need to make it. I think Hideo Kojima needs to make sure that to make a game first and not just like Because I think Hideo Kojima, for all intents and purposes, he just wants to go into Hollywood, he just wants to make movies and stuff, he wants to smell his own farts.
Speaker 1:He's making comments. Sorry, but one hour long Games are so fucking pretentious. I don't know anyone that? actually genuinely enjoys the stories in the gameplay. They either like one or the other.
Speaker 3:Yeah, somewhat relevant, there was a reviewer from an Australian publishing website on Death Stranding, one of the few reviewers that put out like a, not like a 9 out of 10 or 10 out of 10, like most people were. They gave it a 6 out of 10, knowing that it would lead to a lot of backlash, but they said something along the lines of it pains me to say it, but Konami may have been a necessary evil for him, a check and balance against his more self-indulgent ambitions Where he wanted to go off the deep end. But then Konami of all people were telling him no, that's not going to fly with people. Yeah, that's I 110% agree with that statement.
Speaker 1:Sometimes, when you give people all the power that they've been chasing, you kind of realize that they hang themselves. With that power You get Death Stranding, like they use that rope to hang themselves. I don't know, i feel like there was a clever, a more clever analogy in there, but I kind of fucked it up. But the point is Huberous.
Speaker 3:Yeah, hubris, excessive pride, whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 1:That game showed people that this guy is not as amazing and perfect as everyone made out This section is going to get us so much flame?
Speaker 3:I don't know.
Speaker 1:There's heaps of people that didn't like Death Stranding and thought it was overrated.
Speaker 3:Yeah, people just like lambasting IGN and games or whatever and stuff Or anyone that was saying the game was horrible before they even played it And then, once they got the game in their own PlayStation, then like okay, maybe those negative reviews were onto something, okay, anyways.
Speaker 1:Movies. That'll be a fun section for you to edit. Yes, so Arcane for Denise. Yes, your favorite. I haven't watched a lot.
Speaker 3:I'm sure if I got. In Australia we've got a streaming platform called Binge. That's how you watch The Last of Us, right? And in the Americas you have to use HBO Max, now called Max. Yeah, i'm sure if I watched that then, yeah, last of Us would also be up there for me, but I still haven't played the game, so that might discount the equation.
Speaker 1:Then Mario Brothers would be Yeah, Mario Brothers 2023.
Speaker 3:And then Sonic is like an okay movie but definitely is not my top favorite. Mario movies definitely You take Jim Carrey out of Sonic and it's Generic summer kids movies. Yeah, nothing, not like any groundbreaking storytelling or anything like that.
Speaker 1:For me, my favorite video game adaptation has to be Mortal Kombat. I watched it the other day. Mortal Kombat 1995, not 2021.
Speaker 3:With Cory, something. Yuuki, the one that plays Shang Tsung, Yeah, the dude that plays Shang Tsung Your soul is mine. He's facial acting. Like he pointed out, i don't need to run.
Speaker 1:I don't need to run Lou Lou. Lou Your brother's soul is mine. That dude is the best. No one could hold a candle to that Shang Tsung iteration. I watched the new one and I was like this dude's putting me to sleep.
Speaker 3:Get the other guy Is this Certain actors that has forever owns the character they played like decades ago, yeah, but Mortal Kombat 1995, even though it was rated M or wasn't rated MA or R18, whatever the latest movie was.
Speaker 1:It's just such a simple story. You're following Liu Kang, sonia and Johnny Cage to go into the tournament. You get these great introduction scenes to each character. You see that Liu Kang is fighting for revenge and he could be consumed by revenge if he's not careful. Johnny Cage is trying to prove that he's not just an actor, that he actually has real martial arts background, and Sonia Blade is trying to track down Kano, who apparently is killed a partner of hers. But she doesn't like to work with teammates, she always likes to do things by herself.
Speaker 1:Another one of those like But the point is you got three characters. They got clearly defined character arcs In the movie that they're very well cast. Lyndon Ashby is like the best Johnny Cage, robin shoe as Liu Kang. When you see this guy, this jacked dude, play Liu Kang and his majestic hair just flowing Oh you're like that is Liu Kang. Yeah, i watched the new movies and when they pulled out the actor playing Liu Kang, i was like no offense, but there's only one Liu Kang Oh.
Speaker 3:I did a quick sort of like Google research. He only started doing martial arts sort of training at the age of 19 or something. 19, yeah, that is.
Speaker 1:Liu Kang. I don't care what anyone says. Don't you dare bring down Robert shoe. He's Liu Kang. I don't care if we learn martial arts on the fucking sack.
Speaker 3:What help did that? he grew up on making a name for himself in Hong Kong cinema, so that really propelled him in his like martial arts portfolio. Yeah, fuck, so good casting there. You know, get the Hong.
Speaker 1:Kong product he uses with his hair. I need to get. He conditions, he lotions Oh hair masks between, between, takes you just like slavers, it up, yeah, coconut oil. Stunning.
Speaker 3:So I think we're getting closer to why certain Auditions work. So you brought up so good casting, good character arcs. That actually follows conventional sort of tried and tested Hollywood techniques, when the source material itself already had a good blueprints to go off of. That they just need to adapt a few things and translate the mechanics into And you said, simple story, but it's simple in a good way easy, logical progression of like act one into act two, into act three, something that complicates the process along the way. Each character has motives and stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like all the base story telling should be there. They. We shouldn't lose sight of those things just because it's a movie based on a video game. But, just like with book adaptations, people get the shits when the movie doesn't follow the book. Yeah same with the video game never change It's.
Speaker 2:It's funny because, like I've read so many YouTube comments right of people when they're unhappy about something like, say, halo, for example, the new halo TV show, and all the comments are like, oh, they just literally adapted what was in the cut scenes or the dialogue That you, you know you're playing through. All the stuff you play through. We'd be so happy because that on its own is already so great and enough. And it seems like studios are always feeling like, oh, it's not enough, we need to add this and this and this and cater to the times and the political sentiment and they also don't know source material.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they don't research source material.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's right. I mean you a bold? Clearly doesn't, but interestingly the fans are pretty much saying to them just copy and paste, and we're happy with that. You could just copy paste the story. We'll pay again to hear the same story or see the same story, but as a real-life adaptation, isn't that fascinating? this audience wants the easiest thing for Hollywood to produce and make pre-existing source, pre-existing material. Just translate it to real life.
Speaker 3:Obviously, it's not as easy as pressing a button and then you can translate. Of course you have to adapt to an actual, that, you have to adapt to the format of a movie because the audience psychology is different. I get that. But just like, yeah, they try to do too much. Oh, they don't know enough at all about the Miss Source material, and then the translation process, it gets screwed up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right if you made a Mario Brothers movie and the Mario Brothers aren't plumbers, well What the fuck? why aren't they plumbers? why wouldn't you do? it's such a simple detail. But it takes people out of like the film because then they say to themselves this is not it. If you made a Harry Potter Movie and Harry Potter's not a wizard. Well, people are gonna be kind of pissed off because they're gonna say to themselves, why, if the books are all about him being a wizard?
Speaker 3:I remember like someone telling me that any sort of long established franchise They're gonna when there's gonna be many cooks involved in the kitchen, they're gonna eventually Sort of draft up some kind of Bible, so to speak, that Contains the essential sort of like lore details of this like expansive franchise Like this. This character has to have this ideal and you cannot deviate from this, and this in this exact year this Insighting incident happens. So Every sort of long-standing franchise should have some kind of guideline, sort of Bible thing that, like anyone that jumps in on The fandom has to sort of follow through and in order to not retcon Essential sort of details, that's something that should exist, like like halos and so like. so, sergeant Johnson, he has to have died for a heroic reason. His death cannot have been in vain, or something so they should not deviate from this Bible.
Speaker 3:That's as I mentioned so that's helps with the translation process, game mechanics into Conventional episodic series and stuff. Battlefield hardline I think it's called they actually for the campaign They brought on actual CSI writers and stuff like cop drama or like those, those sorts of like.
Speaker 3:TV shows Yeah they reviewed in an interview where they actually brought on like TV show writers just to consult with them To find out what is it that makes like episodic series engaging to the viewers, what, what's a good, engaging cliffhanger thing that leads right into the next episode. So once again, just like cementing my point that video games, when they started incorporating more Hollywood techniques, that Hollywood started taking them more Seriously, and then this feedback loop then translated to the recent spate of more faithful adaptations. Do you guys agree? It's this feedback loop, this symbiotic relationship. Video games initially it's just a black screen saying congratulations, thanks for saving the princess to now adapting conventional The princess is actually in another castle, but then incorporating conventional storytelling, tried and tested screenwriting techniques.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so just bring what already works for films to a film that's based on a video game. It sounds so simple when you say it like that.
Speaker 3:Of course there is more to it than that, like we said, but I was going to ask Denise the Halo show, did you watch it?
Speaker 1:I watched The Pilot That was it.
Speaker 2:I couldn't be bothered to watch the rest.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just watched reviews. I'm curious.
Speaker 3:I didn't want to watch it when Master Chief was said to be kissing this covenant lady.
Speaker 2:It was against everything. I just feel like I'm too frustrated to keep watching it.
Speaker 1:Fascinated by this. Was there a particular moment in The Pilot where you said to yourself this is not Halo.
Speaker 3:I'm not going to watch it. This ain't it, Chief, Ah, Chief.
Speaker 2:Sounds so funny when I said it because I think a lot of fans will agree with me It was the moment Master Chief just took his helmet off So randomly, because in the games he never takes his helmet off.
Speaker 1:It's just a thing We just so used to him Remove the mystery.
Speaker 2:It's an iconic thing right And I feel like the Mandalorian proved you could have a really compelling character that just has this outfit on all the time. You never needed to see his face.
Speaker 3:There's a certain aura and mystery to the masked or helmeted character.
Speaker 2:That's right. You can feel this gravitas, the gravitas, there we go, the silent protagonist Yeah, and not being approved by my actions And that's what worked.
Speaker 1:That's one of the reasons I was so interested in Master Chief as well was who is this guy? What's his whole story? He's a super soldier. So there's a scene where Master Chief takes off his helmet.
Speaker 2:He just takes it off. And I mean, you know, kudos to the actor, you know I'm sure he's doing some fantastic work. So I feel like maybe the decision is because they wanted to really showcase him in his performance, perhaps, but it just takes you out of it because you're like, oh okay, i didn't expect to see his face first episode. Like if they left it to a key moment later on in the story and it's for a very specific reason, then it would have had such an impact. Because, to my understanding of the arc, master Chief pretty much goes on a journey of like identity, of like some artifact he touches basically causes him to remember memories that he's been forced to forget, basically, and then it's kind of like he tries to find himself and he randomly gets thrown into this love arc with this woman And it's just like so strange I'm bored.
Speaker 3:It doesn't feel like.
Speaker 2:Halo right And it's not. Halo.
Speaker 3:It's not Halo. I was trying to wrap my brain to think what you were referring to, but it's like I've played the Halo trilogy and none of that. Exactly.
Speaker 2:No, it was all about the covenant in the first game, And then you have that amazing twist of like holy crap, we have the flood now And that sets up, you know, for the second Halo game. And I remember playing that through for the first time with my dad as a kid And I was like like this is incredible, the fact that I got so scared with the flood and stuff I stopped playing the game for 10 years, i got like I knew it was coming.
Speaker 3:So I all, i all I did was play up to the silent. Is it the silent cartographer at the fourth level and the fifth level.
Speaker 2:And I knew that the flood was coming up.
Speaker 3:That's why I stopped myself from playing games. I was scared as a kid Have you gone back to it yet?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've been it.
Speaker 3:I. Then, when I eventually got back, i played through all the way one to reach to Halo 4. All the games I could get on steam If you were too scared, oh and Halo in front of you.
Speaker 1:I'll sit with you. We'll do a video.
Speaker 2:Basically, you get your older brother to play your mother.
Speaker 1:We'll just hold hands and we'll each play with one.
Speaker 3:I'll play with one side of the control keyboard and mouse Man, first person shooter. Look at these controller peasants. Oh my God, i get it Okay.
Speaker 2:Pc Master Race, but I was a Xbox person growing up, finding out the flood that plugged us into Halo 2. It's just so compelling already And from what I heard there isn't enough covenant, But you don't actually see the covenant or Master Chief fight them like a lot in the TV show, which is really strange. And then there's this whole arc with another character that's not in the games. It just kind of goes random segues.
Speaker 1:That actually brings up a good point. Why do video game adaptations add characters that were never in the fucking game?
Speaker 3:Cole Young. What's his name? Cole Young in the Mortal Kombat.
Speaker 2:Cole Young.
Speaker 3:Yes, so random. Yes, you don't feel anything from it because you have no memories attributed to this like fresh original character. There's no lore implications to them at all, but he's a stupid character anyway.
Speaker 1:His power is so generic, such a strange. You've got a game where you have characters that shoot fireballs, that freeze people, that use lightning, that use water, every element fucking possible. So why do we need a character that wears an armored suit when he turns his powers on? And he's got the power of his family. He's got a daughter and a wife. I'm like, why not just attach this backstory to an existing character of this franchise? Why not just keep Liu Kang? Liu Kang was fine as the central character in the other two movies. Why are we rewriting? And I just find it hilarious. You've got Mortal Kombat, a game franchise that has like 60 characters, and they were like you know what this franchise needs. We need to make a character up from scratch for the movie.
Speaker 3:Yeah, There's something to be said. I just don't get it Adapting beloved franchises into movies. You're now portraying characters that millions of people have grown attached to because they had the direct input. They have all the memories attributed to controlling that character. They remember the first moment they get a power star, as Mario. They remember the moments where they're sliding through collecting the rings, as Sonic, and stuff. So then now you're adapting to a movie, you're potentially sort of tainting a very pure source material And then, on top of that, out on a completely original character that no one has any of that emotional attribution to.
Speaker 1:But also no one wants to.
Speaker 3:No one wants to When you watch the film.
Speaker 1:He has a really generic backstory and it's no fault of the actor, but he's just not an interesting or compelling character. He takes up a lot of screen time that could have went to existing characters And my whole thing was watching that movie, that Johnny Cage could have been that role, just like he was in the original 1995 Mortal Kombat movie, and it would have been fine because he is an outsider, he's a human actor who could be transported into this weird world And you can introduce the audience to Mortal Kombat through him. He is your bridge to the real, the general, casual audience.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you don't have to exactly reinvent the wheel, like, if you still want an original story, you could still adapt elements like carefully adapt elements, not just grab moments from here and there, reverse engineering or incorporate that into an already existing character.
Speaker 3:There's just this endorphin release by seeing like so many people will have emotional memories attached to playing as Master Chief, the silent protagonist. When they first look up at the halo They've realized that the world is on the inside of a ring. And then maybe they do something in the halo TV series where they also have that like grand moment, but like just something, instead of introducing new characters and stuff. Just how do you recreate that magic and then have that good payoff to make the fans believe that, okay, this is a faithful adaptation by a director that knows that is one of us, he's one of us, he understands us because he is one of us, he also is like us, remembering that childhood memory And he is. Finally, we have a competent director and competent studio that has adapted that magic, that magic moment of looking up the halo rings and so on It like beloved character, you know you got to feel like you got to have that.
Speaker 1:These movies were made by a gamer who played the games and experienced all those special moments that made you fall in love with her.
Speaker 3:I guess just to jump points a bit, just to preface this, i am a firm believer that every story should stand on its own merits and every entry can be like a sort of gateway drug for newcomers. So like people jumping in there that were never a game or would be like, oh wow, this whole TV series about cordyceps and infections and stuff that's based off of video game That has piqued my interest. Every entry is a potential entry drug for newcomers and stuff. So, yes, the story should stand on its own merits and it should not be reliant on external media. Right, the story should be self-evidence, it should be self-sufficient and any sort of external media like tie-in graphic novels, mangas, should not be factored in.
Speaker 3:Yeah, i was going to say there should only be an optional lore, like you were saying with Arkane, that actually expands and enriches the world building, but they are entirely optional. The game should come first, or like if it was firstly a game, or the movie should be self-evident. And to that end, i'm so glad we brought like Halo into our conversation, because I want to bring to attention that the composer of the original Halo trilogy, marty O'Donnell, like he said in various interviews that the philosophy of the bungee he worked with back in the 2000s, not the one with what's the game they made on the PlayStation Destiny, destiny 1 and 2.
Speaker 3:So it's a different team back then, so the philosophy is different. Basically, the philosophy of the bungee back then was that all trans media should be ancillary to the games. The games come first. Yeah, movies should not be essential. Viewing to contain essential plot threads that play into the game franchise. Like, for example, when people found out that the main antagonist of Halo 4 called the Diedact and stuff. Like when they found out the Diedact was essentially killed offscreen in a graphic novel. It just rubbed so many people the wrong way. The same similar thing in Assassin's Creed 3. At the conclusion of that, they set up this whole big arc that they were going to have this villain arc. It was going to be the Thanos to the Infinity, like Saga or whatever Marvel called it. It was someone called Juno, and Juno as well was killed off in a graphic novel. It's always those tie-in mangas and graphic novels. This takes place between Halo 4 and 5 and it contains so much important details.
Speaker 2:Yeah, important canon.
Speaker 3:An important canon that is never talked about or referenced in the game itself, even though the game is the thing that comes first. As I said, the trans media should be entirely optional. What you were saying legal legends it was a legal legends arcane or something like the games down here, but the world building and all the mangas and stuff.
Speaker 2:It made it so accessible that you didn't need to play the game to enjoy the show. That's what I felt.
Speaker 3:Characters' story was set up so well that you really didn't need that background to just understand and get it So like are there, like certain fan bases that are huge fans of, like the books and the graphic novels and the TV shows, without ever having touched the keyboard and mouse of the game itself, like where people they could just stay in that lore bubble without ever having played the game? Is that that sort of thing? I think it's possible.
Speaker 2:Subforms and stuff. I mean, you'd hope one day that adaptations get that good.
Speaker 1:We didn't get there.
Speaker 3:See, i mean what Nintendo is looking to just expand beyond the fact that Mario is a video game character, and I think they've successfully already incorporated Mario into pop culture, where it's seen as more than just the jump man and stuff. I mean what Mario is in the Rio 2016 Olympics. that's how much of a cultural icon he is. They want to cement themselves into that. They have what Universal Studios and stuff.
Speaker 1:I feel like I need a glass of water. It's just like you're tiring me out. It's all good, Martin, You could slow you down. I need time to catch up to you.
Speaker 2:Love how detailed these notes are. They're amazing guys, yeah, but like.
Speaker 3:this is where you know video game movies fail. You know It's like if there is a movie adaptation, it should stand on its own merits and not be reliant on the audience's knowledge of the game that it was based on. Don't you agree?
Speaker 1:It should stand alone as well, One of the reasons I hated that Mortal Kombat movie which I hate?
Speaker 2:Which one? sorry, the second one, the one they didn't like.
Speaker 1:I didn't like the reboot because everything was building towards the sequel. It was practically a prequel to Mortal Kombat, but it just felt They don't have a tournament in it.
Speaker 3:It felt like everything they were holding back on.
Speaker 1:All the characters were the shitty knockoff characters so that they could kill them off And this and that, and you got this main character that no one gives a crap about. But by the end of it you were like, oh so, this was all building towards the sequel, But what do? I get for watching this movie, and you just didn't get that satisfaction. Interestingly, though, brings up Mortal Kombat Annihilation, the second worst video game movie that we watched 4%.
Speaker 3:Like Rotten Tomatoes, i looked at yeah, 4%, yeah, and we're going to have the full video reaction to that movie Close to the release of Mortal Kombat 1.
Speaker 1:Looking forward to that Is that coming out in September? September Fuck how do they pump them out so quick?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're going to get so much media releases between now and September? Yeah, but Annihilation, annihilation, yeah, from your favorite to a complete 180 to the worst.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's funny how the original is like my favorite video game movie in the sequel is the absolute drizzling shit.
Speaker 3:No more of your soulless mind, no iconic lines, just the memes. There's my brother.
Speaker 1:No, actually there is an iconic line From Sankh Shah Khan and stuff Mother, you're alive. Too bad you will die.
Speaker 3:What kind of badassery is that?
Speaker 1:Wow, what a moment, Ooh at some point Scene stealer In this video. Martin, you should add the clip from Mortal Kombat Annihilation, where Raiden says A door that closes can also open. What the hell does?
Speaker 3:that mean Oh, that's a good teaser right there.
Speaker 2:It was great.
Speaker 3:What were you saying about like Uncharted being just a badly connecting mishmash of just the best bits, but in a way that doesn't tie well together? on the complete opposite end of that spectrum is a complete snooze fest. That is Assassin's Creed with Michael Fassbender, where again, as I said, they just relied on the audience's knowledge of the game, but it was just the executive cash grabby sort of movie You can just tell So what's? I haven't watched it, though, unfortunately, because I know I haven't watched it.
Speaker 2:I feel like I watched it, but I forgot everything.
Speaker 3:It's like some weird animus machine.
Speaker 2:That's not good.
Speaker 3:That says it all Where you're tied to, like your spine or something. It lifts you up into the air and you're meant to imitate the actual motions of your ancestors. An animus is one where you just lie in a machine like this, not just be strapped to a moving cog or whatever.
Speaker 1:I think we got to wrap up before Martin has a heart attack.
Speaker 2:You can talk for days about this guys.
Speaker 3:We didn't even bring up Wreck-It Ralph, though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was an actual Now there's a great video game movie.
Speaker 2:Have you seen Wreck-It Ralph? Of course, of course.
Speaker 1:Oh, I think We'll talk about it and we'll see if it's Wreck-It Ralph.
Speaker 2:It's weird because I think I've actually seen Wreck-It Ralph 2, but not the first one. I don't know how that happened, but I really enjoyed the sequel Plus for me. I really enjoyed the sequel film. I think it was the sequel, i don't know. I'm so confused. I've watched so many movies.
Speaker 1:I feel my heart shrinking.
Speaker 2:Wait, okay, it was the one where he leaves his own game to go and do something.
Speaker 1:Get a medal, to get a medal A medal, yeah, that might have been it. That's the first one. Okay, okay, Okay okay, oh, thank. God.
Speaker 2:It is the first.
Speaker 1:Jesus Christ, my ears are bleeding.
Speaker 2:He meets Sarah Silverman Doody.
Speaker 3:Doody, one more, one more. What do you get? Call of duty Yeah, gosh, i want this.
Speaker 2:It was a sugar rush, that film, but it was very fun, very, very fun, so much love went into that movie.
Speaker 1:You feel so love, love as a gamer, you feel like these people love gamers. Every little Easter egg and nod and reference, like with the Mario Brothers movie, you feel like this movie was made for me as a gamer.
Speaker 3:I think in recent spate of movies I was like I've always maintained like when you remove the nostalgia bait, the callbacks, the Easter eggs, the cameos, what do you have for a story? And I think Wreck-It Ralph had the absolute Pixar sort of skeletal structure. I don't think it's like one of Pixar's best, but you could definitely see that it has the Pixar DNA. We are talking about 10 years ago and Pixar was still at their age. I can't believe it's been 10 years. Yeah, it's like it has the inciting incidents, the injustices that forces characters to do things that you sort of like against the world, that drives the division in the friendships and so on. It has those moments that make you feel something for the characters We talked about this. Michael Denise, are you familiar with something called a screenwriting technique, called the Save the Cat?
Speaker 2:Sounds familiar but runs through.
Speaker 3:Save the Cat is the moment when the character does something that makes the audience feel they are worthy of rooting for. So like Aladdin is sort of like first stealing some food and then seeing some hungry kids and then deciding oh okay, let me just break bread and give it to them and stopping them from being with Gets us on their side.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you show a character that's kind of selfish and you don't think he's very likable. He's flawed, but then he does something redeeming.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, save the Cat. Okay, so that's the term, yeah.
Speaker 1:With Ralph because he's a bad guy in a video game at the start, you don't really you kind of like, oh why should I care? Like why should I feel sympathy for him? But you see that he helps other video game characters that are like homeless and don't have a video game to go to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what's funny about that? I feel like when we talk about as well those random side characters that aren't in the games like get brought in, i feel like what's always missing is they don't have a Save the Cat moment, and that's why, even when they're newly introduced, it's hard for us to even want to care about them, because there is no Save the Cat thing where it's like, okay, they're just new and they're here and they're taking us away from the main plot, so why are they here?
Speaker 1:That's interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, the more I think about it. I'm thinking of Mortal Kombat, i'm thinking of all these other video game movies. No good, save the Cat moment for a lot of them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, i think Wreck-It Ralph is a perfect demonstration of like, the combination of like points that we raised about what makes a video game movie work is when they, you know, just have all those cat gripping character pieces. Are you gonna say cat?
Speaker 1:gripping, i think you're gonna say cat gripping character pieces.
Speaker 3:You gotta grip that cat and flying it around, I guess before we go to like the Wreck-It Ralph, immediately after me and Michael watched it. I just said to you that it cements the point that I made about the Mario Brothers movie, whereby you can have all the nostalgia and the callbacks and the cameos and references and stuff that makes you understand. the creators knows video games because they don't know what's going on And the creators knows video games because they are one of us. You can have all that but still have a gripping story and a gripping character piece. You don't? the one doesn't have to be sacrificed in the service of the other like the Mario.
Speaker 3:Brothers was. Where is the rare case where the pure abundance of faithful adaptations and callbacks to source material made it raise the tour nine? I'm now more of an eight and a half or an eight out of ten for me, maybe still veering on nine. But I could recognize now in hindsight, the more I've processed it, that even though it's as a first entry they still could have a very gripping character piece where you have those moments that makes you want to root for the character and feel for the character, like Pixar has with Wreck-It Ralph. I felt something for the characters and yet I could still appreciate all the video gamey sort of references and stuff that just makes you think this is a video game movie at its peak, you know.
Speaker 1:They love it when Martin gets passionate.
Speaker 2:That's great. So this energy come from? it's amazing.
Speaker 1:I don't even have any coffee for winging like, oh, i'm gonna. Food came on energy and then next move.
Speaker 3:So, to conclude, what makes a bad adaptation and what makes a good adaptation bad adaptation?
Speaker 1:total disrespect towards gamers obvious cash grabs obvious cash grab. Horrible miscasting, lack of understanding for the source material. Those would be the big things I say. But the good adaptations good adaptations respect the source material, have a cast that matched the characters, personas.
Speaker 1:And look at the characters Oh yeah, true, true, they have to look like it It matches the video games and totally matches the video games like, for example, mortal Kombat's fun and light. So you should make a movie that's fun and light, doesn't take itself too seriously, which the last Mortal Kombat did not do.
Speaker 3:Unless the source material itself is already serious, like the last of us, and is a mature story. Then of course, go with the dark tone.
Speaker 1:Yes, if it's Batman, then match Batman, ah, and have a gripping story with a character that has to go through a journey and and learn some life lessons, like I mean. The last of us is a great example. You got Joel. His journey is fantastic. Just the relationship between Joel and Ellie is very well done. Without going into spoilers, it's just a very dynamic relationship that grows a lot from first episode to last episode.
Speaker 3:Man, there's something to be said, like when, the, when the story is already written so well that the actors they honestly maybe don't have to do much like because that relationship that the writers have already done the mental homework about the dynamics, all they need to do is just like. so. Pedro Pascal and the one that played Ellie Yeah, he was in Grammar Throne's. They just really good They just need to know the script and they just live and breathe the character and they just, you reckon they nailed that Saga. father, daughter dynamic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's good, that's good and it helped Yeah.
Speaker 3:And it's all the more easier when the source material already has that down pat and Pedro nailed the voice that gravelly like southern accent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, jesus boy. I can't do a really good Joel.
Speaker 3:Pedro Pascal versus Troy Baker. Who is like a better Joel, would you say? Troy Baker, definitely Jesus boy.
Speaker 1:God.
Speaker 3:Pedro Pascal is he like a very close second.
Speaker 1:Is really good. He ain't no, troy Baker.
Speaker 3:But you ain't no, try baby.
Speaker 1:And that is the end of that. That's where we're going to wrap it, i think, guys.
Speaker 3:Stream of consciousness?
Speaker 1:Yes, any final words?
Speaker 2:Denise, yeah, i think you know, given all that we've talked about, especially what makes a good video game adaptation you know it really leads into, like new fallout TV show by Amazon Prime that's in production right now.
Speaker 2:Like hopefully they follow some of these things that are tried and tested, that are, you know, seemingly simple to do, and like that's all they need to do and it'll be great. The fact that we're following, i think, a new character that's a ghoul, but if it's, you know, a gripping save the cat kind of character, it should be compelling enough within an already established world.
Speaker 1:So that's something to look forward to and hope they get right The fact that it's a ghoul, who they're. they usually presented as enemies in fallout or like really scummy kind of people. It'll be really easy to subvert that and have a ghoul with the heart of a heart of gold or a ghoul that's actually more sympathetic than the humans in that world could be trying to communicate some complex themes there.
Speaker 2:So that could work really well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, nice Fuck yeah.
Speaker 3:I love it when I come up with something smart And Martin, yeah, to go off of Denise's point yet not not needing to reinvent the wheel and just follow the Bible. movie makers follow the Bible that long standing franchises should have if the law is too expansive and sort of like intricate, just like sort of grounded to a more simple and easy to follow Arcs. like you have the three main characters in easy to follow up, that it's about how they're passed into twining because of a common cause, sort of thing. And ultimately, to add on to the points is to make sure that the story stand on its own merits and it's self sufficient and yeah, i'm self evident and one that's done well. when that's done well, it can be a gateway drug for like moviegoers to then discover the breadth and wealth of the source material that it comes from and don't cast Mark Wahlberg in your video game movie.
Speaker 1:People are going to think I hate Mark Wahlberg. I actually really like Mark Wahlberg, but he just missed cast. Anyway, that's all we got time for folks. If you enjoyed this video, please like, share and subscribe for more videos like it. You can also check out our Mortal Kombat review here, or our alone in the dark reaction video there, or our Mario Brothers review.
Speaker 3:Bam and also comment below what's your favorite video game adaptations? What are your reasons for your favorite video game adaptation.
Speaker 1:Tell us all your secrets.