The ZX Spectrum version of Electric Dreams‘ Big Trouble in Little China was the first released, coming out the same year as John Carpenter‘s famous film, in 1986. The Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64 versions followed later, in 1987.
Tag Archives: film tie-in
The Evil Dead, ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum version of Palace Software‘s The Evil Dead video game was never released as a stand-alone title, although it was given away as a freebie on the b-side of the cassette for the ZX Spectrum version of Cauldron. Probably because Palace realised that no person in their right mind would pay money for a game this bad.
Gremlins: The Adventure, ZX Spectrum
Gremlins: The Adventure is a text-based adventure, with graphics, based on the successful comedy horror film from 1984. It was first released in 1985 by Adventure International and was programmed by Brian Howarth with artwork by Teoman Irmak.
Alex Rider: Stormbreaker, Game Boy Advance
Alex Rider: Stormbreaker is an isometric action/stealth/fighting game, based on the 2006 film Stormbreaker, where you play as teenage spy Alex Rider who is recruited by MI6 to investigate a shady individual called Herod Sayle. The game was created by Razorback Developments and published by THQ in the same year as the release of the film.
Planet of the Apes, Game Boy Advance
The Game Boy Advance version of Planet of the Apes is somewhat different, visually, to the Game Boy Color version, although it is basically the same game underneath. Graphically, the GBA version goes for a “digitised”, more realistic look, which I don’t think is as appealing as the pure 2D drawn look of the GBC version. It makes the game look more like an early ’90s Amiga game, which I think dates it significantly.
Planet of the Apes, Game Boy Color
Planet of the Apes for the Game Boy Color was developed by Torus Games/Visiware and was first published by Ubisoft in 2001. It is based on the 1968 film of the same name, which in turn was based on the 1963 book by Pierre Boulle. Actually, to be more accurate, the game follows the plot of the 1970 sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, more closely than it does the first film, where Brent (played by James Franciscus) crash-lands on a post-apocalyptic Earth on a rescue mission to find Taylor (Charlton Heston), and eventually finds himself held prisoner in an underground city run by telepathic humans.
Planet of the Apes, PlayStation
The PlayStation version of Planet of the Apes was developed by French company Visiware and published by Ubisoft via Fox Interactive in 2002. The game was also released for Windows, and that version was released the previous year in 2001. It was actually the first video game ever to be based on the Planet of the Apes franchise. Although it is part of the same family of releases as the Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Color versions, it is a third-person 3D game and not a 2D platform game, like the handheld versions.
Alien 3: The Gun, Arcade
The funniest thing about this 1993 arcade game from Sega is that it is based on a film in which guns are decidedly absent. In fact: David Fincher‘s Alien 3 makes a point of removing guns from the story, because the characters exist on a prison planet where guns are not allowed. That said: I think many people would have preferred it if the film had had guns in it, so Alien 3: The Gun could be seen as something of a wish fulfilment for those who didn’t like the film.
World of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Megadrive/Genesis
World of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck was developed and published by Sega, exclusively for the Megadrive/Genesis in 1992. It’s a platform game where players can play single-player as either Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck, or can play cooperatively together while sharing a set pool of lives. Other Disney characters, such as Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck, Goofy, and Huey, Dewey and Louie also make appearances.
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The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, GameCube
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is a turn-based level-grinder, developed by EA Redwood Shores and published by Electronic Arts in 2004, loosely-based on the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy of films. It is NOT based on J.R.R. Tolkien‘s famous novel, because the rights for the book were held by Vivendi Universal Games at the time, although Electronic Arts did hold the rights to make video game adaptations of the New Line Cinema films. Which is a little confusing, but the plot in this game is a non-canonical story that runs parallel to the narrative of the films. Anything from the novels not specifically mentioned or depicted in the films could not be represented in this game.
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The King of Grabs 