We’re on tenterhooks for Sonic The Hedgehog, the long-awaited live-action rendition of Sega’s blue high-speed mascot. Whether it’ll be a box office success seems to be a question that nobody is suited to answer, even after they redid all the CGI to make Sonic look less terrifying. But in a perfect world, Sonic will make gazillions and inspire a feeding frenzy towards the rest of Sega’s extremely cool intellectual property. If that comes to pass, here are our pitches for 11 other Sega franchises that should be movies.
Yakuza
Over in Japan, we’ve already seen a movie based on Sega’s quirky street-fighting, errand-running series. No less a director than the maverick Takashi Miike helmed 2007’s Like A Dragon, which followed series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu as he investigated the disappearance of ten million yen from the Tojo Clan and clashed with friend turned rival Akira Nishikiyama. It was perfectly decent late-period Miike but kind of a tough sell to anybody not already familiar with the franchise. We’d love to see a bigger-budget dive into Kamurocho that captures the game’s odd energy, something that felt like Wes Anderson meets John Wick.
Ecco The Dolphin
One of the most unique and groundbreaking games for the Genesis, Ecco cast players as a bottlenose dolphin who is separated from his pod by a giant waterspout after a massive storm throws the ocean into chaos. It was a very different experience than players were used to, featuring echolocation-based exploration and a sprawling story that saw our cetacean friend journey to the sunken city of Atlantis and learn about an alien species that uses massive vortexes to drain the oceans of life every 500 years. It’d be a challenge to do a movie with no humans at all, but it’s worth a try.
Crazy Taxi
One of the best of the first-generation Dreamcast titles as well as an arcade smash, Crazy Taxi threw players into a fictional San Francisco-esque city with big hills and lots of destinations and tasked them with delivering fares as quickly as possible while pulling wild stunts. In the waning days of the Fast & Furious franchise, we need a new series that will bring the big vehicle stunts that we salivate over, and Crazy Taxi might be just what the doctor ordered. This is another Sega property that had heard talk of a film adaptation before, with no less a luminary than Richard Donner attached to direct, but it never came to pass.
Shinobi
One of the company’s longest-running franchises, the original Shinobi dazzled in arcades in 1987 with its large sprites and intense ninja action. Numerous sequels followed, most of which starred protagonist Joe Musashi as he faced off against the terrorist organization Zeed. Although the games are light on story, they overflow with stylish combat and traversal. We’d love to see the 2002 PS2 entry get more love, as it was an absolute blast with its dynamic tate system that let you strike cinematic killing blows on multiple enemies in the same smooth motion. In 2016, there was talk about a Shinobi movie produced by La La Land‘s Marc Platt, but we haven’t heard anything in a few years so it might be D.O.A.
Space Harrier
Yu Suzuki’s 1985 arcade classic started life as a jet fighter game until he decided to scrap the vehicle entirely and make the protagonist a solitary dude holding a rocket under his arm and using it to blast brightly-colored foes out of his path before he crashes into them. The sheer sense of speed in a simulated 3D space made this one a huge hit, and there’s pretty much zero backstory in the Space Harrier universe, so a filmmaker with guts could turn it into whatever they wanted. Think about the racing scenes in the Wachowski’s Speed Racer, only with lasers and dragons thrown into the mix. We’re sold.
Virtual On
We still haven’t seen the pinnacle of giant mech action movies, although Pacific Rim made a pretty good grab at the brass ring. One franchise that might be able to pull it off is Virtual On, which debuted in arcades in 1996. Sega’s games are intense one-on-one battles, where extremely mobile mechs jet around arenas for optimum positioning while unloading both ranged and melee attacks. The series actually has some pretty extensive lore that has been delineated in light novels and audio dramas, with a scientific discovery called “Reverse Conversion” launching the human race into a new age of both progress and warfare.
Rent-A-Hero
Released for the Genesis in 1991 but never brought to the West, this quirky action-RPG has a plot that’s tailor-made for a family action film. Taro Yamada lives with his family in a small town and is looking for a job. When he misdials a pizza delivery place and is sent a suit of super-powerful armor instead, he uses it to become a superhero. But the suit isn’t free, and Taro is on the hook to pay rental fees if he wants to keep using it, so he also has to take on a number of odd jobs throughout the game. With a zany sense of humor and some fun supporting characters, including a struggling salaryman who becomes a competing hero, this one is a dark horse that could work.
Space Channel 5
Dreamcast owners were lucky to have access to a library of unique games that were available nowhere else, and one that got a lot of attention was Space Channel 5. Starring intergalactic news reporter Ulala, the rhythm game saw you dance and dodge your way through an absurdist scenario where she broadcast live from an alien invasion while fending off rivals and uncovering the dastardly plot behind the whole thing. With a VR version of the game in development now, the time is right for a new generation to enjoy this candy-colored kitschfest, and the right actress could really sell this as a movie.
Gain Ground
This relative obscurity has gained new fans in recent years after its 1988 arcade release. In Gain Ground, you lead a motley crew of warriors through vertically-scrolling stages set in numerous different eras of history. Unlike most games that gave you finite lives, in Gain Ground each character is unique, and when they die you no longer have access to them. To replenish your ranks, you need to rescue captive soldiers, each of which has their own unique abilities. It’s a little unimaginative, but an action-packed jaunt through time with today’s best action stars could be a solid summer popcorn hit.
Jet Set Radio
One of the most famous cult hits of the Dreamcast era, the cel-shaded Jet Set Radio cast the player as a hyper-stylish rollerblader / graffiti artist in Tokyo, battling against both other art crews and the police as you try to paint the city in your own image. The heroic GGs soon realize that their conflicts with other gangs are just a distraction, because a villainous corporation named Rokkaku is looking to swoop in and use a sorcerous vinyl record to summon a demon and make a deal with it to take over the city. Fast action, cool art and big stunts could make this a hit.
Seaman
One of the most bizarre video games ever released on any platform, Seaman used a microphone peripheral for the Dreamcast to present a seriously strange take on the virtual pet trend, a human-faced fish that you interacted with verbally. As it grew from an egg to a mature form, the digital life form became more intelligent and cunning, often asking you questions that could feel very uncomfortable. It’s a perfect setup for a horror film, with the game’s unsettling premise and odd visuals not needing too much tweaking. There still hasn’t been anything quite like it in the 21 years since it was originally released.
from Geek.com https://ift.tt/2V2U6CD
via IFTTT
0 comments:
Post a Comment