No Problem With Licensed Games (Sugar Wiki): Difference between revisions

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It's widely known that there is [[The Problem with Licensed Games|a problem with most licensed video games]]. Due to quite a different set of reasons, quality tends to be utterly low.

** The first ''Dune'', on the other hand, was a pretty damn good blend of adventure and strategy with some very memorable music and amazing graphics for its time, while managing to stay relatively faithful to the book (though ''a lot'' [[Lighter and Softer]]), but is [[Sequel Displacement|comparatively forgotten due to the sequel's success]].

* ''[[The Thing (video game)|The Thing]]'' video game, quite a solid [[Third-Person Shooter]] that features some interesting mechanic and eerie atmosphere from the film. And also, it tells what happens after the vague ending of the film. [[The Spoony Experiment|Some disagreed with this assessment though]].

** Of course, you can throw all of this out the window when talking about the DS version. Then you may throw said version out, too.

* Konami's licensed 4-player arcade [[Beat'Em Up|beat-'em-ups]] based on the ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' were highly regarded, as were its ''TMNT: Tournament Fighters'' one-on-one [[Fighting Game]]s. Unfortunately, the same can't be said of Konami's 6th generation titles, of Ubisoft's 2007 movie tie-in (except for the GBA version, if we go by the gaming press) or of [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (video game)|the original NES platformer]], which was a primary example of [[Nintendo Hard]] and had a DOS port which was [[Unwinnable]] without cheating. ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smash Up]]'', however, is an extremely odd animal: the gameplay is well regarded but the handling of the TMNT license, to put it bluntly, [[Broken Base|will stir flame wars in the fandom]].

** The concept itself is parodied in the fifth episode when Strong Bad says "Say it with me, The Cheat: Licensed games are ''never'' good," ''in'' a licensed game. Furthermore, the entire plot of the third episode was kicked off when Strong Bad was trying to get a licensed game working.

* Among CCG players, the [[Star Wars Customizable Card Game]] published by Decipher is considered to be an excellent system, despite or perhaps because of its [[Nintendo Hard]] nuances. The fact that a number of its cards [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|broke the fourth wall]] didn't hurt. (Unfortunately, Decipher lost the license to [[Wizards of the Coast]] in 2001; the replacement, the Star Wars ''Trading'' Card Game, was much more typical and went under in three years.)

* While most ''[[Star Trek]]'' games fall into the "problem" side, some have been quite good, including:

** ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]: [[Star Trek Elite Force|Elite Force]]'' and its sequel, a pair of FPSes that received considerable praise.

** As is the ''[[The Battle For Middle Earth]]'' series.

* Several games based on the ''[[Asterix]]'' franchise fall into the "bad" camp but there are also several partial or complete exceptions.

** The Master System and Game Gear games developed by Sega are excellent, if unoriginal, platformers that also allow for some variations in levels, depending on your choice of the Gaul to play.

** Opinions are mixed about ''Asterix and Obelix'' for the SNES (whose GB/GBA version is considered better by some) but it's generally not considered a bad game.

* The [[Interactive Fiction]] ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' game was quite good (though often [[Guide Dang It|insultingly difficult]]), thanks to [[Douglas Adams]]'s involvement.

* Similarly, ''[[I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream]]'', where Harlan Ellison not only wrote the expanded story, but also provided the voice of AM for the game - and did a surprisingly good job at both!

* Most people who played ''[[Parasite Eve]]'' were unaware that it was a sequel to [[Adaptation Displacement|a novel that was also adapted into a Japanese movie]].

** It gets better. It was basically a tech demo for the cutscenes used in ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', but it wound up proving itself a very good game, making it the beta for another licensed series.

* Tecmo's ''[[Captain Tsubasa]]'' ([[Cultural Translation|Tecmo Cup Soccer Game]]) has great scores on [[GameFAQs]] and are really enjoyable for mixing soccer and RPG style gameplay together. The sequels, Captain Tsubasa 2-5, are even better as Tecmo developed orginal plots and opponent teams. Other [[Captain Tsubasa]] games created by Konami or Bandai can't match Tecmo's greatness unless they use the simillar system Tecmo used. But of course, Konami and Bandai's versions are still criticized because they tend to follow the anime and manga adaptions without coming up with original plots and characters.

** Konami's ''[[Captain Tsubasa]] J: Get to Tomorrow'' plays like a normal soccer games with an addition of super moves feature. It's decent.

* The ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' game. It's incredibly fun, it features some of the best lip-sinc seen in a licensed game, the voice acting is phenomenal, and its overall a rather good game.

* Would you believe that there's a ''[[Home Alone]]'' game that fits here? Well, there is, for the Amiga and DOS. Let's see... good graphics and music for the time (1991)? Check, especially for the PC version. Fun gameplay? Yep. Oh, and to top it all off, the PC version has a [[Good Bad Bug]] that allows Kevin to ''fly''.

* ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]: The Mis-Edventures'' is a respectable game adaptation of the series, perfectly capturing the look, feel and humor of the show, and throwing it all into an enjoyable, if short, platformer.

* ''Zillion'', a fairly good ''[[Metroid]]''-like game for the [[Sega Master System]], was loosely based on an anime. It only barely counts as a licensed game, since the anime was co-produced by Sega and was made to promote a Sega toy (which not coincidentally resembles the Light Phaser).

* There exists a [[Felix the Cat]] video game for the [[NES]] and [[Game Boy]], and both happen to be surprisingly enjoyable Mario clones, with fun gameplay and appealing graphics and music.

* The Famicom [[Platform Game]] based on ''[[The Three-Eyed One|Mitsume ga Tooru]]'', with highly colorful graphics resembling ''[[Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu]]''.

* Unlike most of the games based of the [[South Park|franchise]], ''South Park: The Stick of Truth'' got positive reviews since [[Trey Parker and Matt Stone]] took the time to work on the game.

**In 2017, a sequel, ''South Park: The Fractured but Whole'', also made with help from Parker and Stone, was released to similar praise.

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[[Category:Sweet Exists (Sugar Wiki)]]