We seem to be in the midst of an upswing in movie adaptations of video games, with several recent releases not only being financially successful but also scoring high with critics-- the latter of which has never really happened, even among the video game movies that are fan favorites. Even up to fairly recently, things had been so historically bad for video game movie reviews that Dwayne Johnson celebrated Rampage passing the 50% mark on Rotten Tomatoes. Now, we have multiple "Certified Fresh" video game adaptations.
In particular, this year's Sonic the Hedgehog is now the highest-grossing video game movie of all time in the United States, edging out Detective Pikachu for that distinction and earning critical praise and fan love. Given that success, it stands to reason that Sega-- creators of the Sonic video game series-- might be looking to make more movies based on their properties.
15 We Need: Rise From Your Grave!
While Sega had been plugging away for years by the time they released Altered Beast, the transforming-based action game was what first got them noticed by a lot of gamers-- and it definitely sold a lot of Genesis consoles in the time before Sonic existed. It could definitely make for a fun, cheesy (in a good way) action/horror flick.
14 We Need: Mob Hits And Disco Dancing
While Sega was struggling to rebuild after the collapse of the Dreamcast and trying to make a name for itself as a third-party publisher, one of its most surprising hits was Yakuza, which is now a huge series that might be the company's most popular outside of Sonic. It only makes sense that Sega consider turning it into a movie.
13 We Hope They Never Make: Dragons And Dungeons
The original Golden Axe trilogy is an excellent series of hack-n-slash games, but we've seen enough of dragons, swords, and magic in movies and on television in the last decade or so, and a Golden Axe movie would just get lost in the shuffle. Also, the dreadful Golden Axe: Beast Rider proved that maybe the series doesn't lend itself to a modern reinterpretation.
12 We Need: Introducing The SCU (Sega Cinematic Universe)
A movie about a man who gets transported into a comic book seems like a no-brainer for a movie adaptation during a time when comic book movies are all the rage. If nothing else, we want to see a Comix Zone movie and have it do well just to prove to Sega that there'd be an audience for a new game.
11 We Need: Left, Right, Left, Right, Chu, Chu, Chu
Just in time to coincide with the return of Space Channel 5 via the recent PlayStation VR installment, Sega should bring dancing space reporter Ulala and her crew of funky dancers to the big screen in a fun throwback to the technicolor musical romps of the 1960s. At least we don't have to worry about "Space Michael" making an appearance...
10 We Hope They Never Make: Virtua Insanity
Street Fighter. Mortal Kombat. Dead or Alive. Tekken. For some reason, Hollywood loves to turn fighting games into movies, even though they've been almost universally terrible (save for the original MK movie, which was a blast). So the temptation might be there to give Sega's fighting game series Virtua Fighter the big screen treatment, hoping to buck that trend. Spoiler: It wouldn't.
9 We Need: Pay 'N Spray
Sega was firing on all cylinders creatively during the Dreamcast era, producing some of the coolest and most unique video games ever made. One of those games, the stylish, rollerblading, graffiti-spraying party known as Jet Set Radio (aka Jet Grind Radio) could make for a really fun animated movie. Just please don't make it live-action.
8 We Need: Insert Boy George Reference Here
Recent successful video game movies have proven that there's something to be said for aiming them at the younger crowd. With that in mind, the Sega cult classic Kid Chameleon would make for a really cool movie for young'uns about a kid who can transform into different types of heroes by putting on special masks.
7 We Hope They Never Make (Again): Let The House Stay Dead
It's easy to mistakenly think that Sonic the Hedgehog is the first movie ever made based on a Sega game, since those of us who remember the disaster that was Uwe Boll's House of the Dead movie have tried our best to block it from our minds. It's unfair that such a great game series got such an awful movie, but what's done is done.
6 We Need: Can You Dig It?
The entire beat-em-up genre of video games basically wouldn't exist if it weren't for the classic film The Warriors, so it stands to reason that a beat-em-up game could translate well into a film. Okay, so Double Dragon tried that and failed, but we've learned a lot since then...and Streets of Rage is just the series to do a Warriors-style movie right.
