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While they aren't commonplace anymore, video games based on established books, movies, TV shows, and other non-video game media were extremely common back in the 80's, 90's, 2000's and early to mid 2010s. Everytime a new kids movie or cartoon came out, it was bound to have video games based on it.
They were usually known for being cheaply produced and overall terrible experiences made for the sole purpose of cashing in on popular IPs of the time. Despite this, good licensed games that went on to become classics in their own right were still created, and I'm here to discuss some of my personal favourites!
Please note that some of the games I'll be discussing here had cross platform releases that differed greatly from eachother as they would have been worked on by different teams.
Also, all of these games are going to be handheld games, since I was a big Game Boy/DS kid (and I still love a good handheld game!). They'll also be slightly lesser known titles, too, since I usually prefer to discuss and bring attention to more obscure media. So no well known games like Battle for Bikini Bottom, Simpsons Hit n' Run or Ben 10 Protector of Earth.
This is a hack-and-slash fighting game adaptation of the 2007 TMNT Movie. For a relatively short game, I'm impressed with this amount of content and quality it has to offer!
There's a total of 7 Acts in this game. Some of them will let you play as any of the 4 turtles, while some will only let you play as Raph (because of his role as a lone vigilante in the og film).
The gameplay is fast-paced and the controls are very responsive! Each turtle comes with their own stats which can be leveled up over time. There's even a "Brotherhood" system where you can pick another turtle to act as your partner. They'll either drop food to fully replenish your health or take out some enemies for you, which is nice!
Between acts of the story, you can explore a small hub world where you can come out from the sewers and explore the streets. You can buy power ups, upgrades, and even play mini games that are surprisingly challenging at times! There's also a section where you can beat up some more bad guys and throw them in a dump truck or police van.
Apparently many of the same developers who worked on Scott Pilgrim vs The World also worked on this, which explains why the sprite work is so gorgeous!
The overall gameplay is great, though sometimes the boss battles vary in quality. Some earlier ones are genuinely tough, while some of the later ones are ridiculously easy in comparison.
Regardless, TMNT is an excellent video game adaptation of the film that I highly recommend.
A similar situation to TMNT in that it's another very good hack-and-slash game adaptation of its source material!
The story is simple: someone has been tampering with Grim's chest full of Mojo balls, which have the potential to corrupt anyone and grant them supernatural powers. It's up to Billy, Mandy and Grim to collect all the Mojo balls before the world is overtaken by chaos. The story mode consists of 3 separate acts/stories, one of each character in the trio. To progress, you are required to collect a certain amount of mojo balls and complete each story.
Each character has a standard moveset along with a special move them can activate once they collect enough energy, and they're all pretty fun to use! I especially like Mandy's Meteor Shower move. Looks badass and also allows for some good airtime! There's plenty of callbacks to memorable characters and moments from the show, in the form of enemies that show up, locations you visit and items you sometimes collect or use and weapons.
Aside from the story mode, there are challenge levels you can complete on the side for fun! The objectives range from killing a certain amount of enemies, to surviving an onslaught of attacks for a certain amount of time, to finding a specific object in a level before time runs out. Not gonna lie when I say that some of these levels are actually VERY challenging! I struggled with them then, and I still struggle with them now lmao.
Overall, the game is pretty fun, and has a lot of content that I'm sure fans of the show will love!
I discovered this game through a video on YT discussing some hidden gems in the GBA's library. As soon as I saw this game, I just had to give it a shot.
The plot takes inspiration from various iliterations of Astro Boy. It briefly goes over Astro's origin story, from his old life as Atom, to being reborn as a robot and learning how to use his powers for good, and then going on various missions.
The gameplay is very fun and surprisingly challenging, especially for the boss fights! I thought I was going to get through this first level easily, but was taken back by the first boss, which took me maybe 4 attempts to complete (and I was playing on normal difficulty).
There's a leveling up system where for every new character you meet, you gain a soul you can use to upgrade various abilities, such as Astro's sensors, machine guns, lasers, rocket jump, etc.
What makes this especially interesting is that said characters you meet are actually from Osamu Tezuka's other mangas, therefore making this game one big crossover and celebration of his works! I was surprised to see characters from Kimba the White Lion in here! I'll be honest that I'm not super familiar with all of Tezuka's works, so some of these references were lost on me. But this definitely didn't take away from my enjoyment! I thought it was pretty cool, and introduced me to characters I otherwise wouldn't have known about.
The graphics are BEAUTIFUL. There's a sort of soft pastel look and feel to the artwork and expressive, snappy animations. This and TMNT 2007 are some of the best looking GBA games I've ever played.
You can tell that this game was truly made from a place of passion for the stories it adapts. I definitely suggest you look into this one, regardless of whether or not you're familiar with Osamu Tezuka's works.
This game is unique in that it takes on a more "RPG" styled, "slice of life" approach in comparison to most games on here.
You get to create your own cow to play as and explore the world of the movie. You're given a variety of different tasks in the form of minigames to perform, from fixing up the barn, to joyriding with friends, to pulling pranks on unsuspecting mailmen. These are done to not only progress in the story, but also to improve your reputation among other characters. You can even unlock a basement arcade section to play a variety of other minigames, such as bowling, a frogger clone and darts.
This game has a combat system which involves shooting milk at enemies such as raccoons and wolves. There are also other tools you'll need to buy or unlock to explore further into the movie's world, such as a lantern to keep enemies at bay during the night, a bicycle to get around faster, and poison to get rid of thorny plants blocking the way.
The plot is a mostly accurate adaptation of the OG film that also takes its fair share of creative liberties. Brand new settings, plot points and characters are introduced to further build upon the original story, which I actually quite like! I especially enjoy the raccoon arc, where you have to complete a variety of puzzles to appease some raccoon gods in the forest.
This game has hours worth of content that I had an absolute blast with as a kid! While I usually prefer to go for shorter experiences now as opposed to longer ones, I can definitely still recommend this game to anyone looking for a fun RPG-like experience for the GBA.
I have the DS and Wii versions of the game, and I can definitely say that the DS version is far superior.
Unlike the Wii version, which was a collection of sometimes decent puzzles with lackluster minigames, the DS version is a platforming-fighting hybrid game, and it's very fun!
This game is an interesting adaptation of the TV special, in that it follows the main plot points but also takes a lot of creative liberties with expanding upon the OG story. New locations, minigames and characters were made to fresh out the adventure and develop new mechanics and puzzles, which makes perfect sense given they need to make content for the game. I remember the jellyfish on-rails shooter and music playing sections being pretty fun!
There are 5 playable characters to choose from: Spongebob, Patrick, Sandy, Squidward and Mr.Krabs, and they all come with their own movesets and different abilities you can use. You go through levels with two characters, and they can be switched out depending on what abilities you need to progress through the levels.
The game is divided into 3 worlds: Bikini Bottom, Mu Crepes and Atlantis. The Lost Continent of Mu Crepes has always been fascinating to me since it's completely exclusive (from what I've seen) to the DS game. It's a brand new location! It was never in the original episode! It's role in this game is important in that the crew needs to make a pit stop here to find more music to play after they run out of songs to sing (the bus is powered by music).
Aside from the main game and minigames, there's also a variety of collectable trinkets you can find hidden in various areas in the levels, and you can view them all in Spongebob's house!
This game is possibly not only the best game adaptation of the episode, but is also one of the best Spongebob games ever made. Definitely reccommend checking this one out, especially if you like Spongebob.
Anyways, that's it for this article! Hopefully you might have found a nice new hidden gem to play here!