Remember when every movie ever was turned into a game for the NES/SNES/Genisis/PS1/PS2? Well I don't because prior to this decade the only games I owned where Lemmings, Worms ans Space Cadet Pinball. But I watch a lot of AVGN.
Yeah, many of the movies in question had no business being turned into games (Home Alone 2, Platoon, Bram Stoker's Dracula) and even the ones that could have worked didn't (Tron 2.0 is pretty awesome after a broken first few levels though).

Now let's see how silly we can make this. What movies have no business ever being turned into games. Suggest anything!
The only rule I'd suggest is no documentaries.


I might as well get this started with two suggestions.

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter.... Spring
An extremely slow but beautiful film from South Korea about an old Zen monk teaching a child over the course of decades how to be let go of earthly vices. There is almost no dialog, drama or steaks. It's about growing into a good person. And it shows it by making you the viewer feel like zen monk bound to silence and contemplation. It's very fufilling but it's not the stuff of great action platformers.
"Congraturation! You has achieved enlightenment. You feel strongeth nothingness in your soul. This story is happy ending thanks to you"

Blue
A film with only one visual. A single, unchanging blue screen for 75 minutes. Over this screen director Derek Jarman recites poetry he wrote and talks about his own oncoming death, his lost sight and friends. Indisperced with beautiful music. It's very moving if rather abstract. It's very human film on talking about human subjects. But I imagine it would put a lot of less patient viewers to sleep. It's also the only movie to have been broadcast on radio.
I can't wait for Blue the cover based shooter. The game where you literally cannot see anything you're doing! ('Cus it's all blue!")


Those are my picks but what are yours? What movie should never be turned into a video game? Bring it on!

Actually, some documentaries could be turned into video games. Winged Migration, for example, could be turned into a flying simulator where you are controlling a bird that's trying to migrate. March of the Penguins could be done similarly. On toe other hand, something like Hidden Figures might not work so well. The Imitation Game could be made into a video game in a more abstract way, as a puzzle game of sorts.

Anyway, my nomination for a movie that wouldn't work as a game:

Moonlight
A film that chronicles the life of a gay black man, who is bullied as a kid, becomes a drug dealer as an adult, and eventually meets up with an old friend. Much of the movie is very slow paced, without much happening, and there isn't really enough to suggest a gameplay mechanic. Actually, I could see this working as a game, perhaps as a pure adventure game. It might be very different from most games you are used to, but it could work.

Ultima 4's main theme involves becoming an avatar, which requires that you master the 8 virtues. While the game does have combat (which is required because Valor is one of the virtues; you need to win at least 49 battles in the course of the game to master this virtue), it's not as much of a focus as in most RPGs; you have to master virtues and figure out how to attain avatarhood with the help of shrines you can meditate on.

I could also mention Celeste, which is about climbing a mountain, but is also about confronting your inner demons.

Edit: Ultima 4 and Celeste are games, not movies. Celeste would work as a movie; Ultima 4 not so much.

My Dinner with Andre

Tender Loving Care
Beyond Two Souls
Gone Home

Oh, right, not games that should have been movies instead of games.

Wing Commander
Mortal Kombat

Oh, not movies that should not have been made out of games, but games made out of movies that should not have been made into games.

Terminator (they all sucked as games)
Michael Jackson
Shaquille O'Neil
X-Files
Stranger Things
Godzilla
Adam's Family
Wayne's World
Kung Fury
Star Trek
笑ゥせぇるすまん
Jurassic Park
Power Rangers

Oh, we weren't supposed to mention games that already existed but shouldn't have?

The Last Stand of the 300
The Twilight Zone
The Passion
The Ten Commandments
A Christmas Carol

I could see that working as some kind of SingStar karaoke game.

My suggestion, Ponterosa. I am unsure what genre the game could even be, RTS or FPS or a racing game? Definitely not a RPG because the characters in the movie don't develop at all during the course of the movie. They just stay the same, never leveling up or acquiring new skills.

There are no such movies per se. Any movie can be an basis for some game.

Well, maybe except Andy Warhol's Empire which is just a shot of Empire State Building. Though again there was som game (I don't remember the name) about managinc skyscraper (like business strategy), so you can probably make a similar game where you manage Empire State Building and say it's based on Empire.

So it's all about imagination.

By the way, I see that movie has received a very poor score, so generally people don't like the movie. Maybe deservedly so.

However, I find it interesting that the IMDB page still says at the bottom: "People who liked this also liked...". That is interesting in two levels: it suggests some people actually liked that panned movie, AND it is interesting to see what are the other suggested movies for people who supposedly like that turkey.

Ok so there is:

Glitter
Going Overboard
Dream.net
Pledge This!
The Hottie & The Nottie
Daniel The Wizard
etc.

No. no.

no...

well, what about Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Shazaam?

This is stupid.

Next thing I know one of you nuts is going to suggest making Tetris into a big screen trilogy! :P



Oh, wait...

TinyE: The Movie

So you're basically saying "I'm brilliant but most people just don't have the stomach for me!" xD

No, he just sees creepy babies around him.

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"Leaving Las Vegas"