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Cyberpunk: Edge Runners has the once maligned Cyberpunk 2077 revived thanks to its huge success on Netflix. It shows how effective a great tweak can be for a game’s reputation. Even more impressive is that it’s almost completely disconnected from the game, although it helps that the cyberpunk TTRPG already has an established universe.
Every year, the curse of bad video game adaptations slowly but surely melts away. These adaptations proved to even hardcore gamer fans that gaming universes have a ton of great stories to tell when given the chance to shine.
10 Cyberpunk: Edge Runners
Cyberpunk: Edge Runners had been a long time coming, announced while it was a tie-in game Cyberpunk 2077 was still under development. Two years after the game’s release, it’s finally out, and wary fans quickly turned into happy fans as Studio Trigger does what they do best: tough action.
Cyberpunk: Edge Runners is a high-octane action-adventure with plenty of over-the-top action sequences, a gripping soundtrack and, of course, Trigger’s usual over-the-top style. It also has a strong cast of characters, realistically flawed but incredibly likeable. It is a must for any fan of the world of cyberpunk.
9 Wakfu
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Wakfu is a story set in the world of the Wakfu MMORPG, only 1000 years ago. While it started out as quite kid-friendly, the story matures quickly and has an amazingly dynamic animation style for its time. The action scenes are similar to those of Japanese shonen anime at the time, which is impressive considering that it’s almost entirely animated in France.
WakfuThe relationship with the game is so casual that most people outside of France probably didn’t even know it was based on a video game. Wakfu uses the universe as a starting point to tell its own story, unlimited by canon, and all the better for it.
8 Sonic Boom
Sonic Boom may look like the average modern kids show, and to some extent that’s a correct assumption. Unlike many children’s programs that only occasionally refer to the roots of video games, Sonic Boom is full of comedy that only longtime fans of the franchise would get.
Many fans even go so far as to find the show more memorable than the game it is based on. Jokes like the color of Sonic’s arms, the numerous reboots, and various non-sequiturs set the franchise apart from the rest of the adaptations, and the voice actors amuse themselves in the process.
7 The Cuphead Show
The Cuphead Show is a strange beast. It’s a video game inspired by 1930s cartoons and presented itself as such, before finally getting an actual cartoon inspired by that aesthetic. Of course, the show uses more modern animation techniques, but retains the beautifully detailed backgrounds and designs.
The show is, shockingly, more lighthearted than its source, and is in its continuity. First, there is much less implied murder and soul theft. It’s a wacky show that harks back to the slapstick hijinks of older cartoons, and many fans loved it.
6 earthworm Jim
The 90s had a lot of adaptations to video games. Unfortunately 90% of them were terrible. Earthworm Jim’s brand of parody stands out from the crowd by being a perfect snapshot of the unhinged madness of the source material. Something that fans of the franchise greatly appreciated. It has a decidedly postmodern style that constantly fooled itself.
In a time when cliché was marketable and cool, earthworm Jim spat on the idea and relentlessly plunged into his fellow video game adaptations. It helps that it had an incredible voice cast, especially Dan Castaleneta who gave the title character his dumb but justice-seeking candor.
5 Castlevania
Castlevania was the first adult-oriented video game adaptation that became a critical and financial success. It was gritty, gory and had a cynical story that made all the characters feel filthy and flawed. Still, fans loved the show’s goth vibes, and it was massively acclaimed.
It certainly helped that the creators were given free rein to tell the story they wanted. Even newcomers who hadn’t played a single yet Castlevania game was able to watch the show and understand its story. Still, fans are not left out as many of the characters present were already present in the games, albeit with significant differences.
4 Carmen Sandiego
This may shock younger viewers, but Carmen Sandiego was indeed based on an old series of mysterious edutainment video games. It follows a master thief named Carmen Sandiego who was able to steal everything from jewelry to the Grand Canyon. Yes, ’90s Carmen Sandiego was a casual reality warper.
Of course, the series is not that over-the-top, but it does give a lot of meaning to the master thief. A hero in this series, Carmen works against her former employers by sabotaging their attempts to steal precious artifacts. The show has a beautiful lineless art style that makes the characters pop. The casting is also spot on, and Gina Rodriguez is said to be making a live-action series in which she will reprise her role as the title character.
3 The Pokemon Franchise
pokemon has a long, long series history and most of it focuses on the adventures of the anime original Ash Ketchum. So original, in fact, that he (and rival Gary Oak) has never appeared in the games. Their counterparts, Red and Blue, are distinctly different characters.
Thanks to this distinction, the show is free to create its own stories with Ash. Although several characters from the games appear in the show, it’s a bizarre thought to know that Ash can’t do the opposite. Still, it does mean that all shows can stand on their own. The show’s fanbase is just as if not arguably bigger than the games right now.
2 DOTA: Dragon’s Blood
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DOTA: Dragon’s Blood is based on the popular MOBA DOTA 2, and includes several heroes (and villains) from the roster. Being a MOBA, the lore for DOTA was only told through bios or short comics. Of dragon’s bloodit may finally expand on some of that knowledge, albeit in a surprisingly darker way.
While DOTA lore wasn’t a walk in the park, it certainly didn’t get as bloody or gritty as here. It also takes a lot of liberties for the heroes of the game, and many of them have different characterizations. It is a dark fantasy story through and through and is similar in tone to edge runners because it is not afraid to kill beloved characters for drama.
1 Arcane
Overall the most successful adaptation of a video game lore in a long time, Arcane is based on the hit MOBA League of Legends. The lore has always been teased with music videos, comics and bios (like DOTA 2), but Arcane is the magnum opus of the franchise as far as knowledge lovers are concerned.
It follows the protagonists in the conflict between Zaun and Piltover. Characters like Vi, Jinx, Jayce and Viktor get the most development they’ve ever had. This was a passion project six years in the making and it is present in its beautifully detailed animation. There’s a level of brilliance here that’s unprecedented for a video game adaptation, and it’s all thanks to the artists, writers, and boatloads of money from K/DA skins.
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