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Everyone knows that great TV or movie adaptations of games are very few and far between. The "Resident Evil" movies have burned us, the "DOOM" movie, both the "Hitman" movies, and many others. I could spend an hour listing them down. On the other end of the spectrum are some great TV or film adaptations that come from video games — HBO’s The Last of Us, Netflix’s "Castlevania," and Amazon’s "Fallout."
However, not a lot of thought is given to great games that actually started with a TV show or movie. When it comes to video game adaptations, the mind might not immediately go to those that started with a TV show or movie, but there are actually some fantastic and unforgettable games that began life on film and eventually made their way to our controllers.
5 Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3
Kamehameha-ing the disc into the ground
The entire Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi series, adapted for gaming consoles from the global phenomenon Dragon Ball Z, is one that has rightfully garnered praise over its two decades of existence. For me, however, it simply does not get better than Budokai Tenkaichi 3, released for the PlayStation 2 in 2007. At age 10, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 was the absolute peak of gaming for me and my friends. Rushing home from school, not changing out of uniforms, and playing 1v1 battles until the sun set before we realized we had homework to do and tests to study for is a memory I hold dear.
Add to that the fact that we played the game so much that the disc itself died on us, and we then got the local games dealer to jailbreak the console, just to continue playing the darn game. Budokai Tenkaichi 3 is one game that truly shines when it comes to being adapted for gaming consoles from an anime — the battles felt realistic, and so did the destruction. The free third-person camera, the power-ups and combos, all felt insanely realistic for their time, and even today, running the game on a PlayStation 2 emulator feels more fun than playing Dragon Ball Z: Sparking! Zero, the 2024 sequel that we all enjoyed for about a week before moving on to other games.
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4 The Simpsons: Hit & Run
It made me believe Apu was a superhero
Another PS2 masterpiece that graced my PlayStation after I took it to the local games dealership to “load games onto it,” The Simpsons: Hit & Run is one of the greatest games I’d never heard of. Sure, I’d seen a couple of seasons of the show whenever the local network aired it, but it was the game that truly introduced me to these legendary characters. Kicking all the residents of Springfield just for kicks (pun intended), or snooping through Ned Flanders’ backyard to spot a wasp with a camera for the first time — those memories are never going anywhere.
The bright, colorful world of Hit & Run always looks like it has aged fantastically, thanks to the source material having almost the same amount of polygons, with my rose-tinted nostalgia glasses doing the rest. It was an open-world game that didn’t try to be Grand Theft Auto, which was rare at a time when every other game did. I might not recall much of the story, but I do remember the sixth mission taking me days to beat. Before Dark Souls, there was this mission. Hit & Run had everything a kid could want — fast cars, kicking people, secret vehicles, and heck, even playing as Apu.
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3 WWE 2K series
A soap opera I’ll willingly play for 100 hours
Okay, hear me out. This one’s a bit of a technicality, but I’m sneaking it onto this list because these games mean way too much to me. The WWE 2K series (and really, wrestling games in general) didn’t just evolve from a TV show — they evolved from a weekly soap opera in spandex, and if that doesn’t qualify as source material, I don’t know what does. My first foray into this madness was WWF SmackDown: Know Your Role — one of the first video games I ever touched. I didn’t know much about finishers or storylines, but I did know how to spam the People’s Elbow, and that was enough.
Sure, the series has had its low points — we don’t talk about 2K20 — but ever since 2K22, it’s been nothing but smooth sailing, with the series going from strength to strength. Between 2K22, 2K24, and 2K25, I'd reckon we have a fantastic trilogy of games on our hands. From revamped controls and a shockingly good career mode, to the kind of presentation that makes you feel like you’re watching Monday Night Raw live, 2K’s turned this into the definitive wrestling game. EA may have dabbled in wrestling way back when, but 2K perfected it. The bell rings. Let’s go.
WWE 2K25
Released March 14, 2025
ESRB Teen // Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence
Developer(s) Visual Concepts
Publisher(s) 2K Sports
Multiplayer Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op, Local Multiplayer, Local Co-Op
Prequel(s) WWE 2K24
Franchise WWE 2K
Number of Players 1-8
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2 X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Couldn’t the movie have been more like this?
This game right here is the stuff of legends. It’s pretty rare to see a good movie tie-in game, and while legendary exceptions like 2004’s Spider-Man 2 do exist, they are very few and far between. Another excellent tie-in game for a not-so-excellent movie, however, was X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I played the game in 2010 on my Windows PC, and boy, did it feel like the ultimate power fantasy. This game was far more violent than what I’d seen on the theater screen, and the graphics had me blown away.
The feeling of leaping onto a helicopter, claws out, vest bloodied, as I took the huge machine down in a matter of seconds, was unparalleled. Plus, we got a sentinel boss fight in this game, which was never there in the original movie, and I can only imagine the hoops developers Raven Software had to jump through to get the game its M17 rating. All of it delivered, however, as X-Men Origins: Wolverine remains one of the very few good superhero games, and even fewer great movie tie-in titles.
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1 South Park: The Fractured but Whole
Saving the world — one fart at a time
If you told me a South Park game would end up being one of the best turn-based RPGs I’ve ever played, I would’ve laughed in your face — in Cartman’s voice. But The Fractured but Whole (yes, that title is still genius) somehow managed to take the sheer chaos of the TV show and turn it into a surprisingly deep and polished gaming experience. It was crude, rude, and completely obsessed with toilet humor — and yet I found myself glued to my screen, genuinely strategizing mid-battle while dressed as a ten-year-old superhero with farts as my main power.
What makes this game so special is how perfectly it captures the spirit of the show — it feels like you’re playing through an entire season of South Park. The writing is razor sharp, the combat system is tight, and the customization had me tweaking outfits like I was building a DnD character on caffeine. It’s not just a good South Park game — it’s a genuinely great game, period. Plus, any game that lets you weaponize flatulence deserves a spot on this list.
South Park: The Fractured But Whole
Released October 17, 2017
ESRB M For Mature 17+ due to Blood and Gore, Mature Humor, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs, Violence
Developer(s) Ubisoft San Francisco
Publisher(s) Ubisoft
Engine Snowdrop
Franchise South Park
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Some tie-ins break the mold
Game adaptations of TV shows and movies often get a bad rap, and after looking at most of them, it’s not entirely undeserved. Regardless, there’s always more to the story, and some games do end up breaking the mold and proving that they don’t have to be just playable versions of familiar stories.
Instead, great video game adaptations of TV shows and movies can be fresh and exciting and even better than the source material sometimes, as long as they deliver fantastic gameplay and stay true and respectful to the source material.
English (US) ·