Strange moments in the history of licensed games
- Thread starter Phediuk
- Start date
And Bugs Bunny!
And Roger Rabbit!
And Woody Woodpecker!
Yeah, the Crazy Castle series is quite odd.
I still remember the existence of Black rock Shooter The Game for the PSP. Let's start with the idea of a licensed game based on, i shit you not, five OCs who rose to fame thanks to a song sang by Hatsune Miku bucause the composer was friend with the artist. That's a bottom of the barrel of anime licensings. Couldn't be based on the OVA cause i imagine that would be a bigger investement in a license.
And the result was the blandest NISAjank you could ever imagine. A game that existed but in a extreme "This game makes me feel nothing". It was made by Imageepoch a company known for delivering incredibly underperforming anime games that only the smellies of the smelliest otakus would like, like Arc Rise Fantasia that was so mediocre reviewed in USA that they didn't care to bring to Europe, and Sands of Destruction, an RPG only known because it weighted a frigging lot when you tried to pirate it. Also, the studio head Ryohei Mikage went missing after some creative accountability.
All the background, just describing how insamne the idea of adapting the license is more entertaining than the game itself.
And the result was the blandest NISAjank you could ever imagine. A game that existed but in a extreme "This game makes me feel nothing". It was made by Imageepoch a company known for delivering incredibly underperforming anime games that only the smellies of the smelliest otakus would like, like Arc Rise Fantasia that was so mediocre reviewed in USA that they didn't care to bring to Europe, and Sands of Destruction, an RPG only known because it weighted a frigging lot when you tried to pirate it. Also, the studio head Ryohei Mikage went missing after some creative accountability.
All the background, just describing how insamne the idea of adapting the license is more entertaining than the game itself.
Even way back then I found the existence of a Little Nemo video game to be a little strange.
I think there was an animated movie or series or something coming out at a time, but it either got canceled before release or it bombed so hard that people only remember the Capcom game.
it was kinda weird that peter jackson king kong was a first person shooter and the best xbox 360 launch game
Anybody remember the Mega Drive/SNES/Gameboy Universal Soldier game?
Turns out they couldn't bother to create something that was true to its source material, so they just took Turrican, changed a few sprites (for the worse) and called it a day.
I know Jean Claude Van Damme is short compared to Dolph Lundgren, but...
Turns out they couldn't bother to create something that was true to its source material, so they just took Turrican, changed a few sprites (for the worse) and called it a day.
I know Jean Claude Van Damme is short compared to Dolph Lundgren, but...
my understanding is it was supposed to be a studio ghibli film then another production company took over and the whole thing was kind of a mess. i believe the game is based on the movie that got released, game just released before the movie in the US and the movie bomba'd in the US two or three years later
but yeah the game was the project's ultimate "legacy" to 80s/90s kids
That's what i said. It's clearly not based on the OVA or impending anime. Just on six pictures and a Hatsune Miku songs, surely because it wouldn't be a stupid license nightmare.
Ah, sorry, I thought you are speaking hypotheticaly ("probably wasn't based on the anime because...").
I kinda like that game but it's a very bizarre thing to exist (and both writing and challenge curve are barely existing nonsense).
You mean the Namco Star Wars for Famicom. It's not just Darth Vader himself but there are multiple different "Vaders" who also turn into monsters wich makes it even weirder.
Does Smash Bros count? Solid snake fighting Mario while Pac-Man throws items nearby is something I don't think anyone would conceive of 20 years ago.
Who could forget X-Men: The Ravages of Apocalypse, the 1997 Quake engine X-Men FPS, which was sold at retail and officially licensed by Marvel, where you shoot hordes of X-Men clones in extremely gory fashion.
post more.
ok I gotta play this somehow XD
This blew my mind as someone who grew up thinking I was the only one who remembered the Little Nemo movie. Then later I discovered the comics it was based on and was floored that it was made into an animated movie some odd 100 years later. In hindsight, I'm assuming there was somewhat of a marketing push behind the movie, considering the videogame. Maybe not, but even then, what was the inspiration to pick up Little Nemo after laying dormant for so long?Even way back then I found the existence of a Little Nemo video game to be a little strange.
I guess you're right, the more I think about it the more questions I have.
Wait, it was originally supposed to be Ghibli? Holy shit that would've been amazing. I did happen to take note of the (mostly?) Japanese names in the credits during a recent rewatch.
edit2: Ah! Yes, you're right. It was in development hell, and Isao Takahata was involved at some point or another. Along with the likes of George Lucas, Chuck Jones and Ray Bradbury. Wow.
Last edited:
Oh shit, I had the Bugs Bunny one. I had no idea there were others.
Is that a mech dodgeball series/game?
This is maybe the opposite of 'licensed' but what about all the bosses in Shinobi that they had to swap out later? I always thought that was kinda wild that they'd be there in the first place...
Terminator
Rambo
Spiderman
Batman
Godzilla
Images pulled from this article which attempts to shed some light on why they ended up in there. Apparently the game went through a lot of changes due to these infringements throughout the games various ports, which changed the art on all of these (But with spiderman, since Sega did have a license to use him, they changed him to look more like Spidey.) The title screen even used promo art from a Sonny Chiba movie, so they had to change that too!
Terminator
Rambo
Spiderman
Batman
Godzilla
Images pulled from this article which attempts to shed some light on why they ended up in there. Apparently the game went through a lot of changes due to these infringements throughout the games various ports, which changed the art on all of these (But with spiderman, since Sega did have a license to use him, they changed him to look more like Spidey.) The title screen even used promo art from a Sonny Chiba movie, so they had to change that too!
Last edited:
There's a Seven Samurai game set in the future.
that game really didn't know what it want to be, it was soooooo weird.
This is maybe the opposite of 'licensed' but what about all the bosses in Shinobi that they had to swap out later? I always thought that was kinda wild that they'd be there in the first place...
Terminator
Rambo
Spiderman
Batman
Godzilla
Images pulled from this article which attempts to shed some light on why they ended up in there. Apparently the game went through a lot of changes due to these infringements throughout the games various ports, which changed the art on all of these (But with spiderman, since Sega did have a license to use him, they changed him to look more like Spidey.) The title screen even used promo art from a Sonny Chiba movie, so they had to change that too!
Hah! I remember when I got to Spider-man thinking what the fuck was going on there lol
Terminator was sort of still in with the green Arnie dude and Zombiezilla was Godzilla even after the changes, come on. The only real change was Batman but well, you can say it's Manbat and call it a day
This is maybe the opposite of 'licensed' but what about all the bosses in Shinobi that they had to swap out later? I always thought that was kinda wild that they'd be there in the first place...
Terminator
Rambo
Spiderman
Batman
Godzilla
Images pulled from this article which attempts to shed some light on why they ended up in there. Apparently the game went through a lot of changes due to these infringements throughout the games various ports, which changed the art on all of these (But with spiderman, since Sega did have a license to use him, they changed him to look more like Spidey.) The title screen even used promo art from a Sonny Chiba movie, so they had to change that too!
The Sonny Chiba one is especially funny since they ended up changing that fairly recently for the modern digital releases. Imagine a 1989 game still getting official revisions nearly 30 years later.
Beverly Hills Cop, the movie!
Beverly Hills Cop, the game!
Something seems to be missing, but I can't quite put my finger on it...
It even has a knockoff Axel F inspired theme song because no way in hell were they going to spend money on licensing the actual track for a shovelware game.
Knockoff? That's a world famous Axel B composition for christ sake!
The animators for that movie was Tokyo Movie Shinsha, the same animators who were responsible for Akira. This movie bombed so hard that the studio refused to make international feature film releases afterwards. They ironically went on to be acquired by Sega and the animation studio was eventually rebranded to TMS Entertainment.
Here's another weird one. In the mid-nineties, the good people at Kaneko decided it was time to create a janky fighting game starring not one, not two, but three different versions of Jackie Chan.
Of course, a game about Jackie Chan, famous for his wholesome, family-friendly image, wouldn't be complete without gory fatalities.
Of course, a game about Jackie Chan, famous for his wholesome, family-friendly image, wouldn't be complete without gory fatalities.
Spider-man Game Gear, very forgettable game which I replayed like 50 times.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade... the action game. Point&Click game was the better one, but I played this one to death.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade... the action game. Point&Click game was the better one, but I played this one to death.
I love weird movie tie in games, I don't know why. whenever I see one (usually on PS2) in a shop somewhere cheap I always have to pick it up.
Pretty sure it made Axel Foley a bald white guy too.
I see Sopranos road to respect and the Reservoir Dogs game have already been mentioned so a few weird/surprising ones from my shelf
Strangest one from me is NYR: New York Race
It's a racing game based on The Fifth Element. Which itself had a proper PS1 licensed game. Maybe that's why this one didn't seem to be allowed to use Fifth Element in the title? The cover and title screen just says "Inspired by The Fifth Element" which makes it sound like an unofficial knock off. It's official though. The racers are all characters from the film (although just avatar pictures. I don't think it even names them, just their cars).
Pretty sure it made Axel Foley a bald white guy too.
I see Sopranos road to respect and the Reservoir Dogs game have already been mentioned so a few weird/surprising ones from my shelf
Strangest one from me is NYR: New York Race
It's a racing game based on The Fifth Element. Which itself had a proper PS1 licensed game. Maybe that's why this one didn't seem to be allowed to use Fifth Element in the title? The cover and title screen just says "Inspired by The Fifth Element" which makes it sound like an unofficial knock off. It's official though. The racers are all characters from the film (although just avatar pictures. I don't think it even names them, just their cars).
