I seem to remember seeing Super Mario Bros back on VHS or cable at some point. It's been a long time, but I do remember thinking just how odd and wacky it turned out. I've been reading up on it at Wikipedia and am impressed by how far they departed from the movie. Still, you'd think at some point somebody would have had enough sense to pull the plug on this project. A movie about an NES game that isn't appropriate for children? I'm really shocked that Nintendo allowed anything like this to fly.
On the other hand, I honestly can't imagine anyone, no matter how talented, being able to do much with Super Mario. The only option seems to go trippy, zany, and/or camp. I just don't see any real narrative potential in a game like SMB.
I also had the misfortune of seeing parts of Double Dragon the movie, and shiver now just thinking about it. Yikes.
The only videogame movie I've actually somewhat, grudgingly admitted were decent was Mortal Kombat, and that's only because they had enough sense to stick to what made the game somewhat entertaining to watch.
The best of the lot by far is Tron, though of course that's really based more on computers and videogames in general rather than any particular game. I also like The Last Starfighter, which is very loosely based on shooter games like Galaga.
Has anyone seen Doom, Tomb Raider, or the Resident Evil movies? I've missed all of them.
I seem to remember seeing Super Mario Bros back on VHS or cable at some point. It's been a long time, but I do remember thinking just how odd and wacky it turned out. I've been reading up on it at Wikipedia and am impressed by how far they departed from the movie. Still, you'd think at some point somebody would have had enough sense to pull the plug on this project. A movie about an NES game that isn't appropriate for children? I'm really shocked that Nintendo allowed anything like this to fly.
On the other hand, I honestly can't imagine anyone, no matter how talented, being able to do much with Super Mario. The only option seems to go trippy, zany, and/or camp. I just don't see any real narrative potential in a game like SMB.
I also had the misfortune of seeing parts of Double Dragon the movie, and shiver now just thinking about it. Yikes.
The only videogame movie I've actually somewhat, grudgingly admitted were decent was Mortal Kombat, and that's only because they had enough sense to stick to what made the game somewhat entertaining to watch.
The best of the lot by far is Tron, though of course that's really based more on computers and videogames in general rather than any particular game. I also like The Last Starfighter, which is very loosely based on shooter games like Galaga.
Has anyone seen Doom, Tomb Raider, or the Resident Evil movies? I've missed all of them.
Matt Barton, Managing Editor
Location: St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA
Email: matt@armchairarcade.com