I’ve always felt that Fighting Game stories would be better adapted into a TV show. More screentime to flesh out the cast’s relationships and to characterize every combatant. Plus you can do cool flashback episodes for backstories! Movies just aren’t enough time to flesh out the nuances of fighting game stories, especially w/ all of the worldbuilding necessary
with all these goddamn streaming services now a days, im literally still so shocked when we get fighting game or video adaptations in a movie because literally who is making all these decisions when you can just film a show for it and possibly for less money so if it fails, you don’t have much to lose. i dont even study business or film but this is common sense
@@harry410 Weird to be surprised about that when video gaming is still somewhat niche, unless you count those mindless mobile clicking phone games, and when fighting games are still one of the most niche genres of video games. I say this as someone who likes fighting games, but it only becomes more evident like none of the relatively few successful video game adaptations have been remotely fighting game-related. Doesn't mean one can't work, but fighting games are less likely to adapted than most other types of games unfortunately, something that upcoming _Secret Level_ show only reinforces. There would also unfortunately be no guarantee of quality even if a big studio picked up a fighting game to adapt as seen with, among other things, that _Halo_ show and the final season of _Game of Thrones_ as well as the middlingness of _House of Dragons_ apparently. Even dumping literal billions into one might not necessarily make it good as that _Rings of Power_ show so readily proves.
@@edd4131 Mainly because in the west, especially in Hollywood, TV Shows and especially Animated ones are mostly looked down upon as literally for only children. So whenever a big franchise like a game or manga, comic or even an older tv show/movie gets adapted, they usually go for the route to make them a big budget movie. Not even caring if the property even fits well with a 1-2 hour, hollywood film format
To be fair, at least there's a reason for Stryker to lose almost every fight he's in when everyone else has martial arts training or special powers. That reason is he's just a fuckin guy with a gun.
@@GooberInternet I find it funny that the most characterization that Stryker's boring and arguably unlikeable self--regardless of how one feels about police--is in _Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm_ of all things. I guess it also helps that there he's voiced by the great actor that is Ron Perlman, but that just makes it doubly surreal.
It's shocking that only MK character to be done well in all live-action adaptations is Kano. Whether it was 1995 movie, Legacy or 2021 movie - he's always amazing. Also, even though his portrayal in the movie was inaccurate, Zangief was second best character in 1994 SF movie (second only to M. Bison, OF COURSE!). He was likeable, funny, technically didn't job to anyone and even had a nice little arc. I honestly wish that they put this story of former bad guy redeeming himself into the games.
Kano has the advantage, I think, of being one of the only Mortal Kombat characters that is easy to play as comic relief (Next to Johnny, of course). He's the only one who is allowed to be a jackass that doesn't take *any* of this seriously, and people tend to latch on to that when he's stacked against a cast of stoic badasses.
In defense of the ‘95 MK movie, I thought Reptile was handled well in the context of it being loosely based off the first game. This is because Reptile was a secret character to fight in the original Mortal Kombat, and in the movie he just kind of showed up before the final fight between Liu Kang and Shang Tsung. Not getting any characterization matches with Reptile having no lore in said first game.
That’s why some people turn to fanfic. Fans of fighting game characters and stories will never get what they want from a mainstream show or movie. Plus the roster in modern fighting games is so large, that even if the adaptation is good, chances are their favorite characters will only get a cameo or a mention.
For some clarification, Demitri being depicted as villainous is actually decently accurate to how he’s characterized in-game and his statues as a protagonist was only really in the first game before Night Warriors came out and replaced his role with Donavan. Then Morrigan somewhat became the protagonist in Vampire Savior and the rest is history.
Yeah, Demitri is/was very much a villain protagonist before Morrigan took over the entire franchise. The whole thing with him defeating/absorbing Pyron and saving the Earth was very much a case of "Evil vs. Evil".
Honestly, one of the things I did like about this franchise a lot was that it's protagonists were members of the Main Makai Clans - meaning they could be like Dimitri, and just want to be the Top Dog in the Food Chain, or just Heroes by circumstance like with Morrigan, who according to her ending, just saved the world when she was out for a night of fun - and the ones who you could characterize as a good guy where actually neutral players to the conflict who had their own ambitions or goal - Rikuo and Sasquatch looking for their respective tribes, Felicia just being an entertainer/hero of her community, John Talbain probably the closest we get to an actual hero archetype, mainly struggling with his beast form and looking for a way to change back, etc. Kind of wish there were more games like this where you don't exactly control a good guy or your "hero" is just a random guy who factors little into the main conflict, yet becomes the one to keep the balance when the main clans cannot keep the order, or in Jedah's place, are the ones trying to bring the end of the world.
The thing about Demitri from Darkstalkers, is that while he's a protagonist, he's not someone you're suppossed to root for. He's not dumb evil like in the cartoon, but he is a power hungry sadist that wants to rule over the demon world. Morrigan meanwhile is chaotic neutral. She's self interested but friendly and approachable. To an extent, as being a succubus it's not medically advised to get too close to her. Even if her fandom insists. That's the thing about Darkstalkers- it's not about being the strongest champion, saving the universe or whatever. The main antagonistic force is only a vehicle, through which the individual motivations and tragedies of the cast develops. I feel Darkstalkers, compared to other fighting games, would work best adapted as an anthology series.
@@alex_-yz9to I thought she was essentially the Succubus that always gets around, going travelling, getting into Multiversal Crossover Shenanigans, and doing everything BUT be the heir to the Aensland House in Makai because she has more more fun travelling. But that's just me only knowing Morrigan through Crossovers that she keeps appearing in.
@@mitchellalexander9162You have it basically right. Morrigan by time the third (and unfortunately still final) Darkstalkers game of _Vampire Savior_ rolls around is basically ruler of the demon world but wants to do anything *but* that since she finds it so damn boring. She's basically less violent but infinitely more sexual female Dante honestly, right down to be weirdly friendly and approachable for how ridiculously powerful she actually is.
Honestly, something I did like about this game series a lot: one of it's main protagonists so to speak is basically an "M.Bison" - type character who just wants to be the top dog in the food chain, while the other reluctant hero is one who doesn't want the burden of her clan be put upon her, even though a lot of her development and history relies upon her clan being one of the more powerful ones; the other cast members, meanwhile, being more neutral pieces in the grand scheme who have their own goals and just become heroes or villains of their own stories, who end up even dethroning the main families in power, if not protecting both the Makai and Human Realms when the main Clans failed to do so. (It's how you can get someone like Anakharis - an Ancient King from a bygone era - to become a relevant figure in the power struggle, even though he is mainly a mummy trying to restore his humanity/immortality and Lost Kingdom)
Probably the only that comes close to that level of weirdness on the good side of adaptations is Stryker getting the most characterization he has in general--even compared to the games--from the utterly kid-friendly _Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm_ cartoon. Doubly amusing is that the Stryker in that cartoon *isn't* that much like the one from the games, but it's still more characterization than Stryker has ever had given the guy is just a generic supercop otherwise, even post-NRS Kabal friendship.
“You can enjoy aspects of a thing you overall dislike and vice versa, despite what the internet would have you believe.” You’re right, I can enjoy aspects of a show I despise. Like, I didn’t like the first season of the Halo series because of how boring it was. But I like the costumes and the CG. And I don’t think the 2nd Sonic Movie’s good, but I like Agent Stone.
I can feel that, though ironically, I really enjoyed the 2nd Sonic film for actually embracing a better sense of that something that really makes it charming compared to the more (intentionally, yes I know.) muted first film (Who I think Robotnik was the best aspect of and still continues to be just because they are not at all afraid to make him egotistical, silly or, even in the first film, having some sense of design that you could look at and say "Yes, that's clearly Robotnik."
I've always wanted a Soul Calibur movie/series, and a large portion of the cast amounts to nothing. Mitsurugi, who many people love, a badass samurai who, by SC2, is cutting bullets in half, has a story that consists of "Bumbles around Japan looking for the Soul Edge (Which isn't in Japan.)" and eventually "Maybe killed Setsuna's master. He does not remember." The most Mitsurugi should probably get in a story about the actual plot is maybe as a cameo in Taki's introduction, and a flashback when Setsuna finally becomes relevant in SC5.
That's a problem with movie character handling: Someone will get the short end of the stick by good reasons like time and budget and stupid like Kung Lao just because, it's kinda difficult managing fighting game rosters when the secondary Fighters will be the punching bag
@@Eric6761well, Kung Lao was literally the second main character in the franchise, mostly thanks to Shaolin Monks. And Netherealm just made him so poorly in both the animation and the games. That sucks...
As a Reptile fan I'd love it if he was portrayed as a threat like he was in MK 1995, just with more personality, I'm a Kazuya Mishima fan but I actually had an idea that King should just get a short film based on his Tekken 4 story & as a Ryu fan I'd love him to just continue geeting portrayed like he did in SF Assassin's Fist!
this is why i always adore more "tv show" adaptations rather than the movie lengths because of the character development and plot. especially when it comes to the fighting games like MK, Tekken, SF, etc.
This is why i believe fighting games work better if they were adapted into a series rather than a movie because going the tv route gives the developers more time to explain and expand, unlike the films. But if anyone asks which direction to go into either live action or animation, then I would choose animation because there are just too many limitations when it comes to live action, especially if you are adapting from a video game or comic book.
Yeah, if Netflix or Amazon can make a live action or even an animated tv series for MK, I think it would be awesome! Just a random side note: I love that now a days we don’t have to get weekly episodes (not looking at you Disney) but I do miss when T.V would have a yearly season compared to waiting 2-3 years for a new season
4:37 - He’s a villainous protagonist for the first two games, since the second is a remake, and is killed off at the start of the direct sequel, so *morally grey* deuteragonist Morrigan can become a *virtuous queen,* like her father, the *just king* Belial. 6:20 - I have never heard that he was the most ruthless. I thought that his rank was either inherited, or the result of ass kissing. He never really stood out from the fodder Tarkata until 11 & was genuinely just the most loyal follower of Shao Kahn, then Mileena, with no character until 11.
I get why this happens fighting game stories are huge since every character needs to have something too do compared to the short run time of a movie it just sucks when it does especially when its your favorites.
09:19 The hell? There was a _Mortal Kombat Annihilation_ version of Noob Saibot (and Ermac)? I know characters drop like flies in that movie, but I legitimately don't remember either of them being in it.
4:26 you seem to be under the misconception that “protagonist = good” which is not the case. The protagonist is the primary character of a story, their alignment is not taken into consideration for this. While there’s not a lot of on-screen lore that denotes Demitri’s alignment, his ending in the first two games infer a tyrannical rule, stating “even the day dwellers shall bear their throats to me”, and his third ending has him defeating Morrigan, poised to bite her throat in order to force her under his thrall, only for her to turn herself to stone to avoid the fate, and he laughs mockingly, claiming he can wait for as long as it takes. Extra sources for official lore has Demitri considering humans nothing more than low class chattel. So yeah, Demitri is not heroic, but he is the protagonist, at least of the first game, since the story is of him challenging all Darkstalkers to fight to see who is the strongest. Morrigan’s alignment, on the other hand, is up for debate. Her alignments are never given indisputable lore within her series, and while they modified her succubus nature to derive sustenance from any form of pleasure, not necessarily sexual (which is likely due to the series’ T-Rating), that doesn’t necessarily mean she isn’t evil, but neither has anything in game or in official lore has defined her either way. Given her status as more a mascot who has appeared in more crossovers than official games, it’s not surprising most consider her silly nature in Vs Games to be indicative of her real nature. Personally, a lack of defined alignment makes her a perfect character to be a protagonist or antagonist depending on the story. I don’t begrudge anyone who doesn’t like an interpretation in an adaptation, that’s a perfectly ok opinion (though personal experience has shown you can be harassed by unhinged people for not agreeing with them). If anything, the anime depicting Demitri and Morrigan coming together as allies and potential lovers is more lore-breaking than depicting Morrigan as evil.
Sorry to hear about ur back man. I know this kinda pain all too well. I was born with a bone problem in my spine that causes the rivits between the disks to continue to grow after birth and only found out about it cuz of my chiropractor 31 yrs later.(I don’t no the name of the condition nor the proper terminology) Nice to see you got sponsored aswell!!! Wishing u well
SOUL CALIBUR is a series I feel could never work as a movie,but more so a multi-pov team plot series as the best design choice adaptation,since everyone has a unique story that shows the effects of soul edge in the world it would be impossible to adapt everyone's good traits and story in a movie. Plus I feel the famous girls despite being sexy, wouldn't be too interesting of choices to use movie wise compared to the interesting lore of Cassandra,Hilde,Amy,and even Seong Mi-na since all four have stories that could be relatable,great,or inspire people well to cheer for them to achieve their goals. I also know team K' wouldn't do well in charm in a KOF movie,due to screen time and be subjected to quick cameo fight.
Tremor in Snow Blind was done just justice imo , sure he got killed by Kenshi but it was poetic and his design is peak , still better design than his MK1 kameo
*When,* not if, they decide to reboot the MK movies again, the first “movie” should be devoted to building up the characters, like adapting Deception until the parts that tie into the original MK, Mythologies & Special Forces, with the next movie being about the actual tournament. The first one doesn’t actually have to be a movie. It could be a tv show that builds up till the actual movie is set to release. It’s purpose is to make us care about the characters before the plot starts happening and shows us the B-plot, Deception, happening in the movies, culminating in a movie adaptation of Deadly Alliance and the end of Deception. My suggestion: MK0 (not necessarily a movie) - adapts the first parts of Deception, Mythologies and SF. Features a depressed and nihilistic Raiden that has given up hope and resembles his Mortal Kombat 1 personality. Explains why Bo’Rai Cho can’t fight for Earthrealm, but Shang Tsung can fight for Outworld. Builds up Shinnok as the guy manipulating Shao Kahn from the shadows. Shows Quan-Chi as stupid but can follow Shinnok’s plan, including reviving Scorpion to kill Sub zero, so Shinnok can have the stronger ninja as his servant. MK1 - adapts the first 3 games & parts of Deception set around the time. Raiden slowly begins to care about the main cast during the first tournament despite just itching for Outworlders to challenge him, so he can brutally mame, torture or generally vent his frustration on his situation out onto them. Reveals that Quan-chi lied about the barrier under Shinnok’s orders and was the one that killed Sindel, also under Shinnok’s orders. Reducing Quan-chi from a Revolver Asalon to the dumb henchman of the actual Revolver Asalon. MK2 - adapts 4 and part of Deception. Johnny Cage as the hero. Reveals that Shao Kahn & Quan-chi were supposed to split the 6 *main* realms between them, serving as co-2nd in commands for Shinnok, but Shinnok knew that both were plotting against him, thus got rid of the competent Shao Kahn, but left the incompetent Quan-chi around. Shinnok was kicked out of the Elder Gods once they learned of his plot, which originally had someone else that Raiden killed being replaced by Quan-chi after Shinnok’s imprisonment. Scorpion & other dead characters are revived. Mk3 - adapts deadly alliance and the final part of deception. It is revealed that Shinnok helped kill Onaga, because he wouldn’t cooperate with his plan. Mk4 - adapts Armageddon and the beginning of 9. There’s no unified armies of Light and Darkness. The power of Blaze only made everyone stronger. Shinnok, Onaga and Shao Kahn form a Triumvirate and ends with Shinnok absorbing them to fight Taven. It ends with more people alive and working to rebuild the realms. Mk5 - *loosely* adapts 11. More focused on Kronika’s limitations and her & Centurion’s revenge. Reveals the 1 being as Kronika’s husband.
For context Demitri Maximoff is a villain in the Darkstalkers video games as well as the main character for the first game. Also it’s funny because the writer of the Darkstalkers comics was like now Hollywood should make characters more video game accurate and I am left thinking sure this from the guy who made Morrigan and Lilith villains for no reason In the comics and never explored Lilith backstory and her feelings on her own existence.
That's why I think an adaptation that specifically focuses on the Tournament would be the best option. Something like Kengan Ashura, Record of Ragnarok, or the Tenkaichi manga. At least for the next adaption I'd like that. Helps stretch out the source material and let it grow organically. It's also easy to understand and new audiences could slowly warm up to the strangeness of the world if you introduce it gradually. The problem I've felt with a lot of adaptations (And NRS's storytelling as well) is they sorta lecture you on the lore to justify why they do things. But if I don't know whose these people are then I just don't really care as much. Edit: Reptile would be the referee.
Demitri is evil though he wants to enslave humanity to feed on them because he sees them as inferior and is only the main protagonist of the first game donovan is the protag of the second and morrigan is for the third
That spine bit caught me off-guard, genius move there xD Very nice video and many agreeable points, Snake! As noted, what a shame that there aren't more TV/show adaptations for these mediums since (like literature, I'd say) they work far better there. When the source material is so lengthy and filled with such a large cast, a longer media form works better (as is often the case with comic book adaptations that are at their best either on TV or in novel form).
Robin Shou was a great Liu Kang and Jean-Claude is the best Guile. Not sure where this is going, but yeah, the characters will be done justice if you change your mindset
Oh. I was always looking at Fighting games from the players perspective. The idea being that the protagonist can be any of them so that the player can pick whoever they want to play the protag role. Now that I think about it some more after watching your video, my original perspective comes across as slightly delusional. Of course Lui Kang is the protag of MK, it's bloody obvious that Ryu is the Street Fighter protag, a Mishima has to be the protag of Tekken since the box art always features at least one of them. What was I thinking? lol
Movies are their canon timeline so doubt Rain is gonna be anything special, lets hope in the sequel we at least see his betrayal of Edenia when Shao invades
I'm betting 80% of the Guilty Gear cast will have near nothing to do in the upcoming show. Probably just focusing on Sin, Sol and Ky and the new character. everyone else will be relegated cameos, maybe fighting off whatever Unika uses to take over the world or whatever
The best way to usually adapt fighting games is through a TV series, like how both Virtua Fighter and Street Fighter II V did. Movies on the other hand are only good for stand-alone plots such as Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist.
Being that person (and maybe it was just for filming) but you'll want that desk higher when standing. Basically youll want it elbow high when standing straight up. Take care of that back!
The guys that did Assassin’s Fist planned on doing a movie. But where gonna just focus on Ryu, Ken, Guile, Chun Li, and Cammy. Most of the other characters were going to get knocked out.
I think the character Micro was done well in Punisher: Warzone and The Punisher Netflix series, it shows you don’t always need more time just competence. Put people like Christopher Nolan or Ari Aster behind a fighting game film and I’ll have some faith but until then I agree with you 100%
I feel like we should make our lists of character that are never getting their time in the sun at this point (with each franchises). Call it a collective grieving exercise...
If mk keeps getting movies, like transformers. It should be a cinematic universe with characters getting smaller films, instead of trying to cram everything in. Like a wreckers or lost light movie for transformers. OR a special forces or Mythologies movies.
I'd love to direct an MK Tv show that follows the original trilogy and but takes into account of a lot of the additional context from the 3D era like Da, Deception and Armageddon, But no money, and no followers.
"His status as the most vicious of all Tarkatans and the leader of Shao Khan's army is consistently ignored" To be fair not that much different from his current game appereance, doesn't help he keeps on jobbing hard "If your favorite Tekken character is anyone but the Mishima's then they're probably not gonna get much to do in a movie adaptation" Again, TO BE FAIR, it's not much different from the current games xDDD
My favourite Darkstalkers character is the zombie rockstar Lord Raptor (Zabel Zarock in Japanese) and I was pretty lucky that he had nice scenes in the first OVA and it's pretty natural that he isn't part of the main characters, so I'm fine with it. Although, I think it's a bit of a shame they didn't use the fact he has a crush on Hsien-Ko who hunts darkstalkers, it would have make some nice interactions and all, especially considering it contrasts his ambitious, power-hungry side (which isn't really in the OVA either). But it's fine, especially considering that Lord Raptor got more than other characters like Rikuo, Victor, Anakaris and Sasquatch who were sacrificed to show how powerful the main antagonist Pyron was.
My girl Nina not only loses to both Christie and Xiaoyu in two different adaptations. It's even worse since she loses her fights in T6, T7 and T8 yet she's the only female to be in every game. 😒
Adaptation movies will be tricky and difficult to make because cuts and changes will be made regardless however changes should make sense to the overall story however i agree a series would be a better option but it's honestly weird how movie writers feel the need to put as much characters from the media you're adapting because they think we're gonna be like: "Oh my god it's X character, it's so amazing"
comic adaptations of fighting games tend to be better i recall one of the udon runs for street fighter featuring Alex as a key player in the story due to his role as protagonist in SFIII and not so coincidentally, Alex has been my all-time favourite fighting game character for 4 years now i respect when media with large rosters gives attention to its characters stuck with B Tier or lower popularity since it's a chance to tell a story that's different
most of the fighting series i'm into have pretty good adaptations like street fighter(absolutely love the street fighter anime like the animated movie being my favorite video game adaptation period same with 2v with how they helped inspired the alpha games/4 was as boring as 4 itself & the alpha ones were duds with bad oc's taking the spotlight or wasting akuma/sakura in both with 3rd strike missing out outside the manga ryu final but assassins fist was a good follow up of its ideals though poor zangief either getting the short end of the stick,mindless brute in the alpha ova or evil outside inspiring ralph's journey in wreck it ralph.:3), snk(like how the fatal fury ova's went along the time the games came out/would love a continuation going into kof.) & darkstalkers(cartoon was the worst outside the ending theme/lord raptor but love the ova's tbh making me care for donovan and demitri more than the games where let's be honest morrigan was always the star handling them well enough though think at least victor could've been added/vampire savior got an ova with how it had a promotional trailer in the original release.)/capcom in general outside the cartoons(even then the megaman one was alright for having the tone the games would have/best voice of dr. wily/having classic meet x with the most badass version of vile though it should've kept the pilot designs from wish upon a star.). it's mk(which tbh compared to capcom/definitely snk/tekken/soul calibur even with it's issues in presentation/especially arc system works mortal kombat really doesn't even with the reboot have a good narrative at all with how the games reboot itself that characters outside sub-zero and scorpion aren't developed past basics and forced stakes/is only there for the gore as outside the theme the movie isn't good as it's more live action is where adaptations quickly go wrong.), blazblue(that kept the convoluted elements without context/didn't use characters well compared to how promising the guilty gear one looks not giving a good reason to play the games or show the characters story properly as the "play the game to find out" angle only works if you give enough reason to love it's world which it didn't do or gave a bad example of for an adaptation that either should've told the entire series story,prequel,be a comedic anthology with characters/comedy being the best part of blazblue or self-contained.) and tekken(the ova handled characters outside heihachi and showing kazuya's nonexistent in the games humanity badly especially lee,anna and alex/showed tekken 3 characters yet never used them or the other 1-2 characters,blood vengeance outside anna getting her deserved win/lee/the 3-way fight 8 better lead into is the problems with modern tekken forgetting it's characters to the unsympathetic/boring in kazuya's case mishima's not handling drama well being too goofy like the weird use of mokujin following a fight between the devils or ridiculous to take seriously showing xiayou really not working as a lead and wasting characters that could've been in a iron fist tournament plot for a bland oc that dies not tying to the games at all and bloodlines being closest but should've been a longer tv series using more characters going through the series to 8/weirdly replaced eddy gordo with leroy and odd design issues,lili in queen's gate where she's way better written than the games not ruining asuka's potential as a shallow karin rip-off/the tekken 6 comic is the closest to a good adaptation.) that are really bad with adaptations either being too different,wasting/flanderizing characters or doing a very bad job showing the world to newcomers.
I've always said that an adaptation doesn't always have to be faithful in order to be good or enjoyable as long as the changes at least make for a worthwhile experience. I also don't think and an adaptation being faithful automatically makes it a good product. Street Fighter is a good example, even though the 1994 movie isn't really faithful to the story and characters from the games, I still find it to be more enjoyable and memorable than Assassin's Fist even though I know it's objectively a better adaptation.
WB could start small; give the team behind the animated MK movies the budget for an 8 or so episode MK series based on MK1. Make sure to deliver a good story with great animation. If it suceeds then work towards MK2 with a bigger budget and so on. With the advent of streaming services, the fact that it hasn't happened yet is a travesty.
It would be interesting if each fighting game series got a TV series adaptation, where each season was covering the storyline for each corresponding game, which would be considered more consistent, and possibly which would feel like they veered into ridiculous territory rather quickly. Also, in this hypothetical, some series would just have less ground to cover. Poor Virtua Fighter in this scenario, for instance (so few games, no plot to speak of). An easier road would be looking at Street Fighter 1 and the Art of Fighting series, since there are clear protagonists, so we can expect characters to be there just to lose (and in Street Fighter's case, there are a good amount of throwaway characters in that first game, so nobody really would bat an eye if, say, Mike had no development). I'm letting this fantasy kind of overtake me, it seems. Now I'm trying to think who would have the most presence, the most seasons. Also, which games have better plots but worse gameplay, versus a terrible mess for an adaptation but a great game. I mean, how do you stitch together Mortal Kombat Deception into something worthwhile and also include every narrative? I mean, you can't just follow Konquest mode, because that would basically eliminate the meat of the Ermac, Sub-Zero, Nightwolf, and Scorpion plots, to name a few. On the other hand, you kind of need to cut out a lot from Armageddon to make it work, so sticking to Konquest mode is basically the only way to make something coherent. Why did I even do this speculation, though? Who cares beyond myself? Maybe I just like to ramble.
This reminds me, I actually remember vividly going to the theater to see the KOF movie out of pure morbid curiosity. The poster looked bad, the actors didn't look like the characters yet the only thing that stayed with me when I came out of the room was the death of Chizuru played by Francoise Yip Literally the only thing I remember is that but is mostly because of how much of a punching bag Chizuru is in the series In mangas she is nothing but useless, the Ash Saga that was around his second game back when this movie came out would end up turning her into a joke of a character and now her only appearence in the big screen had her die like a chump In a way I'm glad there's only like 9 actual characters from KOF in this mess. Though I admit the morbid curiosity of what would Hollywood's version of Athena be like is a question I have. SNK literally only has this garbage movie and a cheesy 90s Athena show based on her spin-off game as their only attempts at a live action stuff.. The funny thing is that compared to MK or SF. KOF shouldn't be that hard to adapt
i liked snowblind a lot but as someone whose favorite characters are ashrah and reptile, i honestly really really dont like what they did with ashrah or the demon sisters in cagematch lol. the movie just felt like a fanfiction where the writers were using ashrah and the demon sisters as self inserts since 3 out of the 4 of them either kiss or try and seduce johnny LOL
I can hardly disagree with this video, I am a defender of the '21 movie but boy, for the film to have five characters less than annihilation and be 15 mins longer than it and still have the same number of jobbers is fucked. I don't like Snow Blind as much as ppl do but it ain't bad, cage match for example did pretty well cause it had to juggle way less characters. What fucks it up is the writer (of 2021) saying that the movie is just straight one "avengers mode" no time for build up. I do have high hopes that the sequel does a better job even though I can't help but to not ignore the fact that they might mess it up
Reptiles basically a born jobber in these films and never really bother to make him a character, he’s just a stupid lizard that wants to kill the main cast and that’s it which is very disappointing.🐱
2021's Mileena was such a waste of a character. She's part-Edenian/part-Tarkartan but that means nothing since we've yet to meet an Edenian or a Tarkartan. They introduced the sum of the parts before the parts, it's ass-backwards. Then they killed her off before she's even had one scene with her sister... Though it is funny just how selectively race mattered with the casting of those movies.
I’ve always felt that Fighting Game stories would be better adapted into a TV show.
More screentime to flesh out the cast’s relationships and to characterize every combatant. Plus you can do cool flashback episodes for backstories!
Movies just aren’t enough time to flesh out the nuances of fighting game stories, especially w/ all of the worldbuilding necessary
with all these goddamn streaming services now a days, im literally still so shocked when we get fighting game or video adaptations in a movie because literally who is making all these decisions when you can just film a show for it and possibly for less money so if it fails, you don’t have much to lose. i dont even study business or film but this is common sense
Surprised when GoT was popular no one turned MK into a series.
Animated movies aren’t half bad but damn why can’t we just get a fn show fr
@@harry410 Weird to be surprised about that when video gaming is still somewhat niche, unless you count those mindless mobile clicking phone games, and when fighting games are still one of the most niche genres of video games. I say this as someone who likes fighting games, but it only becomes more evident like none of the relatively few successful video game adaptations have been remotely fighting game-related. Doesn't mean one can't work, but fighting games are less likely to adapted than most other types of games unfortunately, something that upcoming _Secret Level_ show only reinforces.
There would also unfortunately be no guarantee of quality even if a big studio picked up a fighting game to adapt as seen with, among other things, that _Halo_ show and the final season of _Game of Thrones_ as well as the middlingness of _House of Dragons_ apparently. Even dumping literal billions into one might not necessarily make it good as that _Rings of Power_ show so readily proves.
@@edd4131 Mainly because in the west, especially in Hollywood, TV Shows and especially Animated ones are mostly looked down upon as literally for only children. So whenever a big franchise like a game or manga, comic or even an older tv show/movie gets adapted, they usually go for the route to make them a big budget movie. Not even caring if the property even fits well with a 1-2 hour, hollywood film format
Poor Stryker, Baraka, Kung Lao, Reptile, Kabal, Cyrax, Erron Black, Bryan Fury, Eddie Gordo amd Hworang. Someday, you'll all get your time to shine.
If you want to hear an amazing Erron Black story look up Cynical Warlock. He wrote a banger on his channel and presented it. 😅
To be fair, at least there's a reason for Stryker to lose almost every fight he's in when everyone else has martial arts training or special powers. That reason is he's just a fuckin guy with a gun.
@@GooberInternet I find it funny that the most characterization that Stryker's boring and arguably unlikeable self--regardless of how one feels about police--is in _Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm_ of all things. I guess it also helps that there he's voiced by the great actor that is Ron Perlman, but that just makes it doubly surreal.
Erron’s animated outing was at least pretty cool.
Based video. And BASED THUMBNAIL XD
when it's coming out the next ep from "MK1 doesn't suck"?
Had a feeling SonicHaXD would react to the thumbnail lol
I KNEW you would comment, here.
It's shocking that only MK character to be done well in all live-action adaptations is Kano. Whether it was 1995 movie, Legacy or 2021 movie - he's always amazing.
Also, even though his portrayal in the movie was inaccurate, Zangief was second best character in 1994 SF movie (second only to M. Bison, OF COURSE!). He was likeable, funny, technically didn't job to anyone and even had a nice little arc. I honestly wish that they put this story of former bad guy redeeming himself into the games.
Kano has the advantage, I think, of being one of the only Mortal Kombat characters that is easy to play as comic relief (Next to Johnny, of course). He's the only one who is allowed to be a jackass that doesn't take *any* of this seriously, and people tend to latch on to that when he's stacked against a cast of stoic badasses.
In defense of the ‘95 MK movie, I thought Reptile was handled well in the context of it being loosely based off the first game. This is because Reptile was a secret character to fight in the original Mortal Kombat, and in the movie he just kind of showed up before the final fight between Liu Kang and Shang Tsung. Not getting any characterization matches with Reptile having no lore in said first game.
That’s why some people turn to fanfic. Fans of fighting game characters and stories will never get what they want from a mainstream show or movie. Plus the roster in modern fighting games is so large, that even if the adaptation is good, chances are their favorite characters will only get a cameo or a mention.
For some clarification, Demitri being depicted as villainous is actually decently accurate to how he’s characterized in-game and his statues as a protagonist was only really in the first game before Night Warriors came out and replaced his role with Donavan. Then Morrigan somewhat became the protagonist in Vampire Savior and the rest is history.
Yeah, Demitri is/was very much a villain protagonist before Morrigan took over the entire franchise. The whole thing with him defeating/absorbing Pyron and saving the Earth was very much a case of "Evil vs. Evil".
Honestly, one of the things I did like about this franchise a lot was that it's protagonists were members of the Main Makai Clans - meaning they could be like Dimitri, and just want to be the Top Dog in the Food Chain, or just Heroes by circumstance like with Morrigan, who according to her ending, just saved the world when she was out for a night of fun - and the ones who you could characterize as a good guy where actually neutral players to the conflict who had their own ambitions or goal - Rikuo and Sasquatch looking for their respective tribes, Felicia just being an entertainer/hero of her community, John Talbain probably the closest we get to an actual hero archetype, mainly struggling with his beast form and looking for a way to change back, etc.
Kind of wish there were more games like this where you don't exactly control a good guy or your "hero" is just a random guy who factors little into the main conflict, yet becomes the one to keep the balance when the main clans cannot keep the order, or in Jedah's place, are the ones trying to bring the end of the world.
The thing about Demitri from Darkstalkers, is that while he's a protagonist, he's not someone you're suppossed to root for. He's not dumb evil like in the cartoon, but he is a power hungry sadist that wants to rule over the demon world.
Morrigan meanwhile is chaotic neutral. She's self interested but friendly and approachable. To an extent, as being a succubus it's not medically advised to get too close to her. Even if her fandom insists.
That's the thing about Darkstalkers- it's not about being the strongest champion, saving the universe or whatever. The main antagonistic force is only a vehicle, through which the individual motivations and tragedies of the cast develops. I feel Darkstalkers, compared to other fighting games, would work best adapted as an anthology series.
yeah morrigan literally is the personification of "we do a bit of trolling"
@@alex_-yz9to I thought she was essentially the Succubus that always gets around, going travelling, getting into Multiversal Crossover Shenanigans, and doing everything BUT be the heir to the Aensland House in Makai because she has more more fun travelling. But that's just me only knowing Morrigan through Crossovers that she keeps appearing in.
@@mitchellalexander9162You have it basically right. Morrigan by time the third (and unfortunately still final) Darkstalkers game of _Vampire Savior_ rolls around is basically ruler of the demon world but wants to do anything *but* that since she finds it so damn boring. She's basically less violent but infinitely more sexual female Dante honestly, right down to be weirdly friendly and approachable for how ridiculously powerful she actually is.
Honestly, something I did like about this game series a lot: one of it's main protagonists so to speak is basically an "M.Bison" - type character who just wants to be the top dog in the food chain, while the other reluctant hero is one who doesn't want the burden of her clan be put upon her, even though a lot of her development and history relies upon her clan being one of the more powerful ones; the other cast members, meanwhile, being more neutral pieces in the grand scheme who have their own goals and just become heroes or villains of their own stories, who end up even dethroning the main families in power, if not protecting both the Makai and Human Realms when the main Clans failed to do so. (It's how you can get someone like Anakharis - an Ancient King from a bygone era - to become a relevant figure in the power struggle, even though he is mainly a mummy trying to restore his humanity/immortality and Lost Kingdom)
@@mitchellalexander9162 It is a bit of a crossover excuse that's in-character tbh
It’s funny the movie that gave Zangief the most characterization was Wreck-It-Ralph. A fucking Disney movie 😂.
Probably the only that comes close to that level of weirdness on the good side of adaptations is Stryker getting the most characterization he has in general--even compared to the games--from the utterly kid-friendly _Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm_ cartoon. Doubly amusing is that the Stryker in that cartoon *isn't* that much like the one from the games, but it's still more characterization than Stryker has ever had given the guy is just a generic supercop otherwise, even post-NRS Kabal friendship.
“You can enjoy aspects of a thing you overall dislike and vice versa, despite what the internet would have you believe.”
You’re right, I can enjoy aspects of a show I despise. Like, I didn’t like the first season of the Halo series because of how boring it was. But I like the costumes and the CG. And I don’t think the 2nd Sonic Movie’s good, but I like Agent Stone.
I can feel that, though ironically, I really enjoyed the 2nd Sonic film for actually embracing a better sense of that something that really makes it charming compared to the more (intentionally, yes I know.) muted first film (Who I think Robotnik was the best aspect of and still continues to be just because they are not at all afraid to make him egotistical, silly or, even in the first film, having some sense of design that you could look at and say "Yes, that's clearly Robotnik."
I've always wanted a Soul Calibur movie/series, and a large portion of the cast amounts to nothing.
Mitsurugi, who many people love, a badass samurai who, by SC2, is cutting bullets in half, has a story that consists of "Bumbles around Japan looking for the Soul Edge (Which isn't in Japan.)" and eventually "Maybe killed Setsuna's master. He does not remember."
The most Mitsurugi should probably get in a story about the actual plot is maybe as a cameo in Taki's introduction, and a flashback when Setsuna finally becomes relevant in SC5.
I absolutely love the Adaptive Difficulty series it might be my favourite of yours ^__^
As a Kung Lao fan... I'm still pissed with Battle of the Realms. I mean, he did not needed to be the main character, but common!
That's a problem with movie character handling: Someone will get the short end of the stick by good reasons like time and budget and stupid like Kung Lao just because, it's kinda difficult managing fighting game rosters when the secondary Fighters will be the punching bag
@@Eric6761well, Kung Lao was literally the second main character in the franchise, mostly thanks to Shaolin Monks. And Netherealm just made him so poorly in both the animation and the games. That sucks...
Even as a protagonist, Demitri was never the good guy
Long live reptile.
As a Reptile fan I'd love it if he was portrayed as a threat like he was in MK 1995, just with more personality, I'm a Kazuya Mishima fan but I actually had an idea that King should just get a short film based on his Tekken 4 story & as a Ryu fan I'd love him to just continue geeting portrayed like he did in SF Assassin's Fist!
this is why i always adore more "tv show" adaptations rather than the movie lengths because of the character development and plot. especially when it comes to the fighting games like MK, Tekken, SF, etc.
This is why i believe fighting games work better if they were adapted into a series rather than a movie because going the tv route gives the developers more time to explain and expand, unlike the films. But if anyone asks which direction to go into either live action or animation, then I would choose animation because there are just too many limitations when it comes to live action, especially if you are adapting from a video game or comic book.
Yeah, if Netflix or Amazon can make a live action or even an animated tv series for MK, I think it would be awesome!
Just a random side note: I love that now a days we don’t have to get weekly episodes (not looking at you Disney) but I do miss when T.V would have a yearly season compared to waiting 2-3 years for a new season
4:37 - He’s a villainous protagonist for the first two games, since the second is a remake, and is killed off at the start of the direct sequel, so *morally grey* deuteragonist Morrigan can become a *virtuous queen,* like her father, the *just king* Belial.
6:20 - I have never heard that he was the most ruthless. I thought that his rank was either inherited, or the result of ass kissing. He never really stood out from the fodder Tarkata until 11 & was genuinely just the most loyal follower of Shao Kahn, then Mileena, with no character until 11.
What if my favourite fighter was Warner brother’s favourite Cole Young?
The fuck?
I get why this happens fighting game stories are huge since every character needs to have something too do compared to the short run time of a movie it just sucks when it does especially when its your favorites.
09:19 The hell? There was a _Mortal Kombat Annihilation_ version of Noob Saibot (and Ermac)? I know characters drop like flies in that movie, but I legitimately don't remember either of them being in it.
For a while i really thought Charlie was blanka bcuz of that movie smh
4:26 you seem to be under the misconception that “protagonist = good” which is not the case. The protagonist is the primary character of a story, their alignment is not taken into consideration for this. While there’s not a lot of on-screen lore that denotes Demitri’s alignment, his ending in the first two games infer a tyrannical rule, stating “even the day dwellers shall bear their throats to me”, and his third ending has him defeating Morrigan, poised to bite her throat in order to force her under his thrall, only for her to turn herself to stone to avoid the fate, and he laughs mockingly, claiming he can wait for as long as it takes. Extra sources for official lore has Demitri considering humans nothing more than low class chattel. So yeah, Demitri is not heroic, but he is the protagonist, at least of the first game, since the story is of him challenging all Darkstalkers to fight to see who is the strongest.
Morrigan’s alignment, on the other hand, is up for debate. Her alignments are never given indisputable lore within her series, and while they modified her succubus nature to derive sustenance from any form of pleasure, not necessarily sexual (which is likely due to the series’ T-Rating), that doesn’t necessarily mean she isn’t evil, but neither has anything in game or in official lore has defined her either way. Given her status as more a mascot who has appeared in more crossovers than official games, it’s not surprising most consider her silly nature in Vs Games to be indicative of her real nature. Personally, a lack of defined alignment makes her a perfect character to be a protagonist or antagonist depending on the story. I don’t begrudge anyone who doesn’t like an interpretation in an adaptation, that’s a perfectly ok opinion (though personal experience has shown you can be harassed by unhinged people for not agreeing with them). If anything, the anime depicting Demitri and Morrigan coming together as allies and potential lovers is more lore-breaking than depicting Morrigan as evil.
Sorry to hear about ur back man. I know this kinda pain all too well. I was born with a bone problem in my spine that causes the rivits between the disks to continue to grow after birth and only found out about it cuz of my chiropractor 31 yrs later.(I don’t no the name of the condition nor the proper terminology)
Nice to see you got sponsored aswell!!! Wishing u well
Holy shit!
Best wishes, pal. Truly, best wishes.
SOUL CALIBUR is a series I feel could never work as a movie,but more so a multi-pov team plot series as the best design choice adaptation,since everyone has a unique story that shows the effects of soul edge in the world it would be impossible to adapt everyone's good traits and story in a movie. Plus I feel the famous girls despite being sexy, wouldn't be too interesting of choices to use movie wise compared to the interesting lore of Cassandra,Hilde,Amy,and even Seong Mi-na since all four have stories that could be relatable,great,or inspire people well to cheer for them to achieve their goals. I also know team K' wouldn't do well in charm in a KOF movie,due to screen time and be subjected to quick cameo fight.
Ad placement so cool you'd swear Sub-Zero performed a fatality.
Tremor in Snow Blind was done just justice imo , sure he got killed by Kenshi but it was poetic and his design is peak , still better design than his MK1 kameo
Actually I’m pretty sure Dimitri’s portrayal is accurate, he might be the protagonist but in lore he’s the villain
*When,* not if, they decide to reboot the MK movies again, the first “movie” should be devoted to building up the characters, like adapting Deception until the parts that tie into the original MK, Mythologies & Special Forces, with the next movie being about the actual tournament. The first one doesn’t actually have to be a movie. It could be a tv show that builds up till the actual movie is set to release. It’s purpose is to make us care about the characters before the plot starts happening and shows us the B-plot, Deception, happening in the movies, culminating in a movie adaptation of Deadly Alliance and the end of Deception.
My suggestion:
MK0 (not necessarily a movie) - adapts the first parts of Deception, Mythologies and SF. Features a depressed and nihilistic Raiden that has given up hope and resembles his Mortal Kombat 1 personality. Explains why Bo’Rai Cho can’t fight for Earthrealm, but Shang Tsung can fight for Outworld. Builds up Shinnok as the guy manipulating Shao Kahn from the shadows. Shows Quan-Chi as stupid but can follow Shinnok’s plan, including reviving Scorpion to kill Sub zero, so Shinnok can have the stronger ninja as his servant.
MK1 - adapts the first 3 games & parts of Deception set around the time. Raiden slowly begins to care about the main cast during the first tournament despite just itching for Outworlders to challenge him, so he can brutally mame, torture or generally vent his frustration on his situation out onto them. Reveals that Quan-chi lied about the barrier under Shinnok’s orders and was the one that killed Sindel, also under Shinnok’s orders. Reducing Quan-chi from a Revolver Asalon to the dumb henchman of the actual Revolver Asalon.
MK2 - adapts 4 and part of Deception. Johnny Cage as the hero. Reveals that Shao Kahn & Quan-chi were supposed to split the 6 *main* realms between them, serving as co-2nd in commands for Shinnok, but Shinnok knew that both were plotting against him, thus got rid of the competent Shao Kahn, but left the incompetent Quan-chi around. Shinnok was kicked out of the Elder Gods once they learned of his plot, which originally had someone else that Raiden killed being replaced by Quan-chi after Shinnok’s imprisonment. Scorpion & other dead characters are revived.
Mk3 - adapts deadly alliance and the final part of deception. It is revealed that Shinnok helped kill Onaga, because he wouldn’t cooperate with his plan.
Mk4 - adapts Armageddon and the beginning of 9. There’s no unified armies of Light and Darkness. The power of Blaze only made everyone stronger. Shinnok, Onaga and Shao Kahn form a Triumvirate and ends with Shinnok absorbing them to fight Taven. It ends with more people alive and working to rebuild the realms.
Mk5 - *loosely* adapts 11. More focused on Kronika’s limitations and her & Centurion’s revenge. Reveals the 1 being as Kronika’s husband.
I literally just thought it felt like a while since I had seen one of your videos then you upload
awesome video too I like videos with topics like this.
It really does suck our favorites don't get the respect they deserve. My personal favorites were Mileena and Kitana.
The 1994 Street Fighter anime film is still the best fighting game adaptation ever
3:04 KEVIN NASH WAS IN A DOA MOVIE NOW IVE SEEN IT ALL
For context Demitri Maximoff is a villain in the Darkstalkers video games as well as the main character for the first game. Also it’s funny because the writer of the Darkstalkers comics was like now Hollywood should make characters more video game accurate and I am left thinking sure this from the guy who made Morrigan and Lilith villains for no reason In the comics and never explored Lilith backstory and her feelings on her own existence.
Unless that character's name is Kano.
Then you're fine, for the most part.
That's why I think an adaptation that specifically focuses on the Tournament would be the best option. Something like Kengan Ashura, Record of Ragnarok, or the Tenkaichi manga. At least for the next adaption I'd like that. Helps stretch out the source material and let it grow organically. It's also easy to understand and new audiences could slowly warm up to the strangeness of the world if you introduce it gradually.
The problem I've felt with a lot of adaptations (And NRS's storytelling as well) is they sorta lecture you on the lore to justify why they do things. But if I don't know whose these people are then I just don't really care as much.
Edit: Reptile would be the referee.
Demitri is evil though he wants to enslave humanity to feed on them because he sees them as inferior and is only the main protagonist of the first game donovan is the protag of the second and morrigan is for the third
That spine bit caught me off-guard, genius move there xD
Very nice video and many agreeable points, Snake! As noted, what a shame that there aren't more TV/show adaptations for these mediums since (like literature, I'd say) they work far better there. When the source material is so lengthy and filled with such a large cast, a longer media form works better (as is often the case with comic book adaptations that are at their best either on TV or in novel form).
Same with comic book villains. They'll never get the same shine or accuracy as the hero. (I'm looking at you TASKMASTER!!!😡)
They haven't don reptile justice since 95.
Reiko is my favorite and I was so excited then instantly disappointed in 2021. Man, that's not Reiko.
Robin Shou was a great Liu Kang and Jean-Claude is the best Guile. Not sure where this is going, but yeah, the characters will be done justice if you change your mindset
They could make Jann Lee way more important if they made DOA a musical and let him serenade the enemy with how he'd mess them up
Oh. I was always looking at Fighting games from the players perspective. The idea being that the protagonist can be any of them so that the player can pick whoever they want to play the protag role.
Now that I think about it some more after watching your video, my original perspective comes across as slightly delusional. Of course Lui Kang is the protag of MK, it's bloody obvious that Ryu is the Street Fighter protag, a Mishima has to be the protag of Tekken since the box art always features at least one of them. What was I thinking? lol
9:35 did they just forget rain is supposed to be a Demi god/high mage depending on the timeline? The downplay is crazy
Movies are their canon timeline so doubt Rain is gonna be anything special, lets hope in the sequel we at least see his betrayal of Edenia when Shao invades
So is this where you help us kung lao mains get through his portayals. Thanks for the therapy.
I'm betting 80% of the Guilty Gear cast will have near nothing to do in the upcoming show. Probably just focusing on Sin, Sol and Ky and the new character. everyone else will be relegated cameos, maybe fighting off whatever Unika uses to take over the world or whatever
That's pretty been confirmed Sin is gonna be the main one taking the lead
If noob isn't moving like a menace in the second mk movie im pulling up to Warner bros and putting things in check
1:04 you can hold two BoRaiChos on that desk 😂
Problem with fight game adaptations is they cram everyone all at once
The best way to usually adapt fighting games is through a TV series, like how both Virtua Fighter and Street Fighter II V did.
Movies on the other hand are only good for stand-alone plots such as Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist.
Hey Snake, I'm just curious, what's your favorite MK character since I don't think I've seen any video with you discussing who it is
Being that person (and maybe it was just for filming) but you'll want that desk higher when standing. Basically youll want it elbow high when standing straight up. Take care of that back!
The guys that did Assassin’s Fist planned on doing a movie. But where gonna just focus on Ryu, Ken, Guile, Chun Li, and Cammy. Most of the other characters were going to get knocked out.
I think the character Micro was done well in Punisher: Warzone and The Punisher Netflix series, it shows you don’t always need more time just competence. Put people like Christopher Nolan or Ari Aster behind a fighting game film and I’ll have some faith but until then I agree with you 100%
I feel like we should make our lists of character that are never getting their time in the sun at this point (with each franchises). Call it a collective grieving exercise...
If mk keeps getting movies, like transformers. It should be a cinematic universe with characters getting smaller films, instead of trying to cram everything in. Like a wreckers or lost light movie for transformers. OR a special forces or Mythologies movies.
Good idea.
Love the comparison with TF.
I'd love to direct an MK Tv show that follows the original trilogy and but takes into account of a lot of the additional context from the 3D era like Da, Deception and Armageddon, But no money, and no followers.
I didn’t know they almost had Rain in 2021 also please next reboot better do reptile justice
"His status as the most vicious of all Tarkatans and the leader of Shao Khan's army is consistently ignored"
To be fair not that much different from his current game appereance, doesn't help he keeps on jobbing hard
"If your favorite Tekken character is anyone but the Mishima's then they're probably not gonna get much to do in a movie adaptation"
Again, TO BE FAIR, it's not much different from the current games xDDD
Sorry to hear that your back got blown out 😢. Get well soon 🙏
MK is soecial. known for fatalities. So you need a body count. You create OCs but that's tricky. Or you have MK characters just there to die.
My favourite Darkstalkers character is the zombie rockstar Lord Raptor (Zabel Zarock in Japanese) and I was pretty lucky that he had nice scenes in the first OVA and it's pretty natural that he isn't part of the main characters, so I'm fine with it. Although, I think it's a bit of a shame they didn't use the fact he has a crush on Hsien-Ko who hunts darkstalkers, it would have make some nice interactions and all, especially considering it contrasts his ambitious, power-hungry side (which isn't really in the OVA either).
But it's fine, especially considering that Lord Raptor got more than other characters like Rikuo, Victor, Anakaris and Sasquatch who were sacrificed to show how powerful the main antagonist Pyron was.
My girl Nina not only loses to both Christie and Xiaoyu in two different adaptations. It's even worse since she loses her fights in T6, T7 and T8 yet she's the only female to be in every game. 😒
11:13 or an animated show adapting the Mortal Kombat World.
Adaptation movies will be tricky and difficult to make because cuts and changes will be made regardless however changes should make sense to the overall story however i agree a series would be a better option but it's honestly weird how movie writers feel the need to put as much characters from the media you're adapting because they think we're gonna be like: "Oh my god it's X character, it's so amazing"
4thsnake is doing sponsors now?
I THOUGHT I KNEW YOU!!! Q~Q
This is like the fifth one.
@@The4thSnake The Atlus VPN one from the things I like about M1K video is easily the best and funniest
2:05 to skip ad
comic adaptations of fighting games tend to be better
i recall one of the udon runs for street fighter featuring Alex as a key player in the story due to his role as protagonist in SFIII and not so coincidentally, Alex has been my all-time favourite fighting game character for 4 years now
i respect when media with large rosters gives attention to its characters stuck with B Tier or lower popularity since it's a chance to tell a story that's different
Maybe they just need better writers.
Do the Evo shorts about Vega and Rog count? Because those were pure kino
most of the fighting series i'm into have pretty good adaptations like street fighter(absolutely love the street fighter anime like the animated movie being my favorite video game adaptation period same with 2v with how they helped inspired the alpha games/4 was as boring as 4 itself & the alpha ones were duds with bad oc's taking the spotlight or wasting akuma/sakura in both with 3rd strike missing out outside the manga ryu final but assassins fist was a good follow up of its ideals though poor zangief either getting the short end of the stick,mindless brute in the alpha ova or evil outside inspiring ralph's journey in wreck it ralph.:3),
snk(like how the fatal fury ova's went along the time the games came out/would love a continuation going into kof.)
& darkstalkers(cartoon was the worst outside the ending theme/lord raptor but love the ova's tbh making me care for donovan and demitri more than the games where let's be honest morrigan was always the star handling them well enough though think at least victor could've been added/vampire savior got an ova with how it had a promotional trailer in the original release.)/capcom in general outside the cartoons(even then the megaman one was alright for having the tone the games would have/best voice of dr. wily/having classic meet x with the most badass version of vile though it should've kept the pilot designs from wish upon a star.).
it's mk(which tbh compared to capcom/definitely snk/tekken/soul calibur even with it's issues in presentation/especially arc system works mortal kombat really doesn't even with the reboot have a good narrative at all with how the games reboot itself that characters outside sub-zero and scorpion aren't developed past basics and forced stakes/is only there for the gore as outside the theme the movie isn't good as it's more live action is where adaptations quickly go wrong.),
blazblue(that kept the convoluted elements without context/didn't use characters well compared to how promising the guilty gear one looks not giving a good reason to play the games or show the characters story properly as the "play the game to find out" angle only works if you give enough reason to love it's world which it didn't do or gave a bad example of for an adaptation that either should've told the entire series story,prequel,be a comedic anthology with characters/comedy being the best part of blazblue or self-contained.)
and tekken(the ova handled characters outside heihachi and showing kazuya's nonexistent in the games humanity badly especially lee,anna and alex/showed tekken 3 characters yet never used them or the other 1-2 characters,blood vengeance outside anna getting her deserved win/lee/the 3-way fight 8 better lead into is the problems with modern tekken forgetting it's characters to the unsympathetic/boring in kazuya's case mishima's not handling drama well being too goofy like the weird use of mokujin following a fight between the devils or ridiculous to take seriously showing xiayou really not working as a lead and wasting characters that could've been in a iron fist tournament plot for a bland oc that dies not tying to the games at all and bloodlines being closest but should've been a longer tv series using more characters going through the series to 8/weirdly replaced eddy gordo with leroy and odd design issues,lili in queen's gate where she's way better written than the games not ruining asuka's potential as a shallow karin rip-off/the tekken 6 comic is the closest to a good adaptation.) that are really bad with adaptations either being too different,wasting/flanderizing characters or doing a very bad job showing the world to newcomers.
I dunno, I think Shaq Fu got a pretty good movie all things considered
I've always said that an adaptation doesn't always have to be faithful in order to be good or enjoyable as long as the changes at least make for a worthwhile experience.
I also don't think and an adaptation being faithful automatically makes it a good product.
Street Fighter is a good example, even though the 1994 movie isn't really faithful to the story and characters from the games, I still find it to be more enjoyable and memorable than Assassin's Fist even though I know it's objectively a better adaptation.
kind of weird how videogames about platformers dont have that problem
Hm.
Makes you think.
Hsu hao is goated 😊
WB could start small; give the team behind the animated MK movies the budget for an 8 or so episode MK series based on MK1. Make sure to deliver a good story with great animation. If it suceeds then work towards MK2 with a bigger budget and so on.
With the advent of streaming services, the fact that it hasn't happened yet is a travesty.
It would be interesting if each fighting game series got a TV series adaptation, where each season was covering the storyline for each corresponding game, which would be considered more consistent, and possibly which would feel like they veered into ridiculous territory rather quickly. Also, in this hypothetical, some series would just have less ground to cover. Poor Virtua Fighter in this scenario, for instance (so few games, no plot to speak of). An easier road would be looking at Street Fighter 1 and the Art of Fighting series, since there are clear protagonists, so we can expect characters to be there just to lose (and in Street Fighter's case, there are a good amount of throwaway characters in that first game, so nobody really would bat an eye if, say, Mike had no development).
I'm letting this fantasy kind of overtake me, it seems. Now I'm trying to think who would have the most presence, the most seasons. Also, which games have better plots but worse gameplay, versus a terrible mess for an adaptation but a great game. I mean, how do you stitch together Mortal Kombat Deception into something worthwhile and also include every narrative? I mean, you can't just follow Konquest mode, because that would basically eliminate the meat of the Ermac, Sub-Zero, Nightwolf, and Scorpion plots, to name a few. On the other hand, you kind of need to cut out a lot from Armageddon to make it work, so sticking to Konquest mode is basically the only way to make something coherent.
Why did I even do this speculation, though? Who cares beyond myself? Maybe I just like to ramble.
lets just have patience and wait for when our fav neglected characters will get their time to shine
In mk1 reptile and baraka were amazing
@@aydenbaldwin3041 Ye , but im refering about movies. Still , there are still characters in the games that have yet to get the spotlight
@@emanuelandrei7250 especially the 3d era characters
Kintaro was never playable in the main mk game i love him and mk armageddon doesn't count
Is Baraka the leader of Khan’s army? I have always thought it was insinuated that he was more of a commander to his unit
Johnny was already done justice lol so i’m good
I just realised how Tekken bl didnt include eddie and bryan but feng,Steven Foxiniverse marduk and leroy?
Is your back gonna be alr?
This reminds me, I actually remember vividly going to the theater to see the KOF movie out of pure morbid curiosity.
The poster looked bad, the actors didn't look like the characters yet the only thing that stayed with me when I came out of the room was the death of Chizuru played by Francoise Yip
Literally the only thing I remember is that but is mostly because of how much of a punching bag Chizuru is in the series
In mangas she is nothing but useless, the Ash Saga that was around his second game back when this movie came out would end up turning her into a joke of a character and now her only appearence in the big screen had her die like a chump
In a way I'm glad there's only like 9 actual characters from KOF in this mess. Though I admit the morbid curiosity of what would Hollywood's version of Athena be like is a question I have.
SNK literally only has this garbage movie and a cheesy 90s Athena show based on her spin-off game as their only attempts at a live action stuff.. The funny thing is that compared to MK or SF. KOF shouldn't be that hard to adapt
Zack needs to be charged for his haircut
At least Reptile put up a decent fight against Liu Kang in the 1995 movie unlike the games where he’s basically a jobber until MK 1 ( 2023 ).
I am genuinely curious whats your thoughts on whose ghostface
i liked snowblind a lot but as someone whose favorite characters are ashrah and reptile, i honestly really really dont like what they did with ashrah or the demon sisters in cagematch lol. the movie just felt like a fanfiction where the writers were using ashrah and the demon sisters as self inserts since 3 out of the 4 of them either kiss or try and seduce johnny LOL
I can hardly disagree with this video, I am a defender of the '21 movie but boy, for the film to have five characters less than annihilation and be 15 mins longer than it and still have the same number of jobbers is fucked. I don't like Snow Blind as much as ppl do but it ain't bad, cage match for example did pretty well cause it had to juggle way less characters.
What fucks it up is the writer (of 2021) saying that the movie is just straight one "avengers mode" no time for build up. I do have high hopes that the sequel does a better job even though I can't help but to not ignore the fact that they might mess it up
reptile n jade were always done dirty even in games mk1 at least tried with reptile
0:42 you are getting old
🗣️They're not beating Goku!
And? Who asked?
@@vaggos2003 okay sorry
@gamerdog1919 No problem.
@@vaggos2003 okay 👍
@gamerdog1919 👍
Also yoshimitsu was better in soulcalibur than in tekken better moveset better backstory and the best fighting style in general
Reptiles basically a born jobber in these films and never really bother to make him a character, he’s just a stupid lizard that wants to kill the main cast and that’s it which is very disappointing.🐱
Nowdays chatacters get change a lot.. mostly race/sexuallity and their whole character
2021's Mileena was such a waste of a character. She's part-Edenian/part-Tarkartan but that means nothing since we've yet to meet an Edenian or a Tarkartan. They introduced the sum of the parts before the parts, it's ass-backwards. Then they killed her off before she's even had one scene with her sister...
Though it is funny just how selectively race mattered with the casting of those movies.
Pretty sure that morrigan is supposed to be evil and murderous. She is a succubus after all.