Question on toons based on video games

F

full of hot steam

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Why is it that when they make cartoons based on video games, they always change them up from the original game?

I remember The Super Mario Bros. cartoons and Saturday Morning Supercade and the Pac-Man cartoons- they weren't anything like the games they wqere based on save a few elements and similarities.
 
That and the fact that a complete translation would be pointless. Like with Spider-Man for instance, what's the point in watch a 100% adaptation of Amazing Fantasy #15 when you can just read the actual comic or a reprint of it?
 
The Zelda cartoon had a lot of potential, the problem was that it was not taken seriously. Instead of a good adventure show we got, "Well! Excuuuuuse me, Princess!".
 
Because most games didn't have anything resembling a story, or any useable elements when the media changed. Taking Pac-Man as an example, the video game ... you have no idea why the ghosts are chasing Pac-Man, why he's eating the dots, why he's trapped in this maze, why the ghosts freak out when he eats the big power pellets, nothing. You're playing the game for the sake of playing the game.
 
Pac-Man was a pretty faithful cartoon, considering that the video game's plot was primarily just being chased by ghosts through a maze. I think the shows on Saturday Supercade were the shows that were stretching things premsie wise.
 
Pac_ManTV.jpg
 
SuperPac was the best character on Pac-Man.

In the Q-bert cartoons, Q-bert lived in Qubeworld, a world set up like 1950's-style America.

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show wasn't really faithful to SMB 1 and 2. It featured elements from both games, but they changed one basic thing. Whenever Mario or Luigi touched a Starman or a Fire Flower they became Super Mario or Super Luigi, instead of Invincible Mario/Luigi or Fire Mario/Luigi, respectively, and when they touched either they still remained the same size and could fire fireballs in both forms.

Mario and Luigi also became Super through other means, other than power-ups.

Also, Toad could become Super Toad.
 
I thought The Legend Of Zelda was a pretty good cartoon. I enjoyed it more than the Super Mario Bros episodes. You knew it was Friday cause a Legend Of Zelda episode was on instead of a Super Mario Bros episode.
 
Well, they had ramp it up somehow; the plots couldn't have just been "Q-Bert jumps down a stack of cubes" every week.

Come on, man. You're just splitting hairs now.
 
In the case of Mutant League, the original videogame was based upon American football. Even though the game included a lot more character backgrounds than other sports games, the television show had to expand in a lot of ways to make interesting stories. Electronic Arts was planning on an entire Mutant League series of games, too, but only made football and hockey. For the show, they included several of the sports that were planned for the videogames, though, like basketball and road racing. I don't know if they really planned a volleyball videogame but it's actually quite good in the show since severed heads can be hit over the net as well as the ball to score points! :evil:

Also, one of the characters in the videogame, Bones Jackson, was changed to Bones Justice for the television show. I'm not sure why the name was changed but Electronic Arts may have been worried about a potential lawsuit from the real athlete (Bo Jackson). Electronic Arts was getting sued around the same time by ESPN because of their fictional EASN network in their videogames.
 
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