Top 10 Needed Retro-Styled Video Games (Pt. 3)

Going for a triple-header with my previous articles on retro-styled video games that I’d like to see developed from older media properties (which, again, is a lot of fun), I have brand-new ideas involving even more IPs that I think would make for some really entertaining titles. The following are my latest selection of franchises that are tailor-made for video game tie-ins – or, where applicable, might need arguably better game tie-ins than what they already have.

10. Bionic Six

Taking a similar direction to my idea for a video game based on Captain Planet featured in my first article in this subseries, this game would task players with selecting one of six members of the titular Bionic Six to find and locate the other five members after having been kidnapped by each of main villain Dr. Scarab’s five lackeys: Glove, Madam-O, Chopper, Mechanic, and Klunk. And much like my proposed concept for a hypothetical Captain Planet game, it would be effectively presented (and formatted) as an “exploration adventure” game in the same vein as Simon’s Quest or Radical Rescue.

9. The Maxx

Adapting the earlier (but already quite surreal) issues of Sam Kieth’s cult-favorite comic The Maxx, this video game would be styled as an action-platformer/beat-’em-up hybrid interspersed with more narrative-focused “visual novel” segments that delve deeper into the main characters’ fractured psyches. For extra distinction, I suggest a “mixed media” approach to emulate the purposely clashing style(s) utilized in the animated Maxx series that ran on MTV in 1995; likewise, if legally possible, it would be fun to include cameos from other Image Comics characters who showed up in The Maxx.

8. The Catillac [sic] Cats

Taking the characters originally created by Jean Chalopin and Bruno Bianchi for the 1984 animated Heathcliff series (but keeping Heathcliff separate if legally necessary), I imagine a basic platformer starring main characters Riff-Raff, Hector, Wordsworth, and Mungo. The video game is essentially built around switching between the four main cats in a similar format to The Lost Vikings and The Lost Vikings 2, with a primary focus on having to utilize and combine each of their different abilities.

7. Phantasm

As a major fan of the wildly bizarre Phantasm film series (barring the much later – and disappointing – Ravager) since catching the first three movies on cable in the 1990s, I always wondered what a potential video game tie-in would look like. In general, I see the game fashioned as a purposeful visual and mechanical throwback to older 32-bit horror games like the original Resident Evil, but in the particular style of Evil Dead: Hail to the King (albeit with a much more serious and surreal tone).

6. BraveStarr

Despite having a (very simple and underwhelming) shooter video game release for the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum, I feel like the BraveStarr franchise – while not necessarily the biggest 1980s cartoon series – deserved a more fun and exciting tie-in. To address this, I’d suggest a game directly emulating the style and design of the cartoon while also incorporating the characters and story into a co-op “shooting gallery” infusing elements from Wild Guns and Lethal Enforcers II.

5. He-Man / She-Ra: Masters of the Universe

While the original He-Man & the Masters of the Universe TV series had a few video game tie-ins for home computers back in the 1980s (and a random handheld entry for iOS and Android released in 2012/2013), a genuinely well-crafted game has yet to grace the franchise. Here, I’d recommend a co-op beat-’em-up/hack-and-slash hybrid based on the 1983 animated series and mixing key elements from Golden Axe and Gauntlet Legends, subsequently allowing up to four players to select the 1980s versions of He-Man, Teela, She-Ra, and Bow to fight the combined legions of Skeletor and Hordak.

4. Red Dwarf

Here, I’d take the fan-favorite British sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf and develop a comedic “graphic adventure” video game (again, like Maniac Mansion or The Secret of Monkey Island) based around interacting with the titular spaceship and its small but colorful crew (effectively remaking and greatly expanding on a previous text adventure game for DOS). Gameplay would primarily focus on having conversations and solving puzzles via dialogue trees and a “point-and-click” interface, with multiple events and plotlines adapted from various episodes in the first five seasons airing from 1988 to 1992.

3. Stunt Dawgs

Since I’m probably one of the very few people who remember this property (and might also be certifiably insane), I’d like to see a video game based on the short-lived 1992 animated series Stunt Dawgs [sic] just for the sake of dragging it back into the public’s view. Much like my previous idea for an adaptation of Jayce & the Wheeled Warriors, I imagine this game being presented as a vehicle combat title (again, like Rock n’ Roll Racing, Outlander, or Twisted Metal), with up to four players given the choice of 12 different characters: the six heroic Stunt Dawgs and six villainous Stunt Scabs.

2. The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!

And since I also wouldn’t miss another chance for a recursive “cross-cultural” adaptation, I propose an official 2D Super Mario Bros. video game based on the animated segments of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! from 1989. While the game would largely play like (and be directly structured after) Mario Bros. and Mario Bros. 2, the stages would now be based on episodes parodying various movies and other fiction, with each ending on boss fights with a different version of “King Koopa.”

1. Robot Carnival

I’m probably being way too ambitious here, but one of my all-time favorite movies is the 1987 Japanese anthology Robot Carnival, having fallen in love with the animated feature since seeing it frequently on the Sci-Fi Channel back in the 1990s. I’d like to take Robot Carnival and adapt all eight of its segments into a sort of “genre roulette” that provides differing gameplay structures fitting each story’s style: for example, the action-oriented short “Deprive” would play like an arcade brawler (or something like Strider), while the drama-focused “Presence” would probably work as a visual novel.