Top 5 Licensed Rare Games (Better Than The Films They Were Based On)
Tie-in titles and licensed games have something of a bad reputation across the gaming industry, what with a development team forced to shoe-in as many canonical scenes into their game as quickly possible so that it catches on the wave of interested fans in lieu of quality or quantity is rightly so. But while titles like Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game and E.T. The Extra-terrible Atari 2600 Monstrosity have to be buried in the desert, Rare has hardly had to trench off into the sands with a shovel – except to bury employees, of course. In fact, sometimes the games are more enjoyable than the films they’re based on thanks in part to some intriguing mechanics and home-spun Twycross charm.
This week we’re covering the Top 5 Licensed Rare Games (Better Than The Films They Were Based On)!
#5. “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET” (1984) – V.S. – A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (NES)
Whilst A Nightmare on Elm Street thrilled 80’s audiences with a slightly melted Robert Englund, Rare‘s NES title of the same name took several liberties that made it into a bona-fide slasher survival experience. Coerce three friends to join in using A Nightmare on Elm Street‘s four-player option and you’d find the inexperienced players picked off one by one in true slasher fashion, with the headstrong facing off against Freddy himself. Like the film, the insomnia-ridden teens were apt to slip in and out of consciousness, and if you heard Freddy‘s unnerving nursery rhyme it would only be a matter of time before you would come face to face. You’d sit frozen, with a vice-grip on the controller, the unbearable tune looping until… FREDDY’S™ COMING!
The screen flashes, you’d have a brief anxiety attack and a taste of true horror!
#4. “THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN” (2012) – V.S. – THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (GAME BOY)
While The Amazing Spider-Man film was a few decades late thanks in part to an angst-fueled Peter Parker rebooting the franchise after Spider-Man 3, the basis of the film and the Game Boy title both take their plots from the same sources, and so both titles can be viewed as an interpretation of sorts, which makes this entry count. Hush up. The main crux of this argument should be which medium had the better Spider-Man story, and while the former film spent its budget on gripping narrative, convoluted origin story and web slinging dispersed with action, the latter game boy title tasked Spidey with hounding down his rivals and beating them until they couldn’t form coherent sentences. In the film, Parker faced down Lizard. In the game he took on Venom, Rhino, Mysterio, Hob-Goblin, Dr. Octopus and Scorpion. Need we say more?
#3. “WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?” (1988) – V.S. – WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? (NES)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? stars Eddie Valient as a private detective turned embittered alcoholic after his brother’s murder case went cold. Now facing financial trouble, the mourning private eye must reluctantly investigate an eerily-similar case while a jeering, sadistic and mentally disturbed cartoon rabbit spends much of the film trying to unhinge Valient’s last thread of sanity – the same rabbit Eddie must prove innocent. Doesn’t seem so zany and carefree now, does it? So what does Who Framed Roger Rabbit? on the NES offer that the film sorely missed? As we’ve discussed, you’re free to slug Roger Rabbit remorselessly as often as you’d like. Sync it up with the film to act on Valient’s suppressed actions instead! What’s that Roger? We weren’t trapped in the handcuffs together after all? See you on the next block! POW!
#2. TIM BURTON’S “BEETLEJUICE”(1988) – V.S. – BEETLEJUICE (NES)
Before Tim Burton was juxtaposing orderly suburbia and dispirited goth subculture with Johnny Depp, Tim Burton was juxtaposing orderly suburbia and dispirited goth subculture with Michael Keaton, as seen in Beetlejuice. While his presence largely served as an antagonist, it was hard not to be charmed by the grotesque, gravely-voiced, smarmy, fast-talking bio-exorcist. What we wanted was less meandering with the Maitlands, less doddering with the Deetzes, we wanted more Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice! By and large that’s all the NES title involves; you’re touring around the Maitland residence as the ghost with the most while you terrify the new tenants out of house and home. Choice Beetlejuice commentary awaits if you can survive the Sewers, Graveyard and the Afterlife, just watch out for the Sand Worm!
#1. JAMES BOND IN “GOLDENEYE” (1995) – V.S. – GOLDENEYE: 007 (NINTENDO 64)
When it was released, GoldenEye had set a new precedence for Bond films; then-newcomer Pierce Brosnan fit the tone perfectly as MI6’s suave agent, in an incredibly well-written and action-packed James Bond relaunch since the 1980’s. In turn, Rare‘s classic N64 stand-by has its competition cut out for it, and it managed it in spades! GoldenEye: 007 doesn’t just stand as their greatest licensed game released, it’s arguably the greatest licensed game of all time. Its unforgettable multiplayer added to its enduring legacy, but with a high degree of polish found throughout with nods going back further through Bond‘s history, it’s incredibly clear that a golden eye for detail wasn’t missed. We’ve tried to sit down and watch the film to compare just how seamless it is, but once Bond had reached Arkhangelsk, we were itching to play on Facility.
Categories: Top 5 Lists
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