TV adaptations of video games are nothing new. Back in the ’80s, we had the Super Mario Bros. Super Show, The Legend of Zelda, Captain N: The Game Master, Pac-Man, and others. As we got into the ’90s, we saw even more. However, the difference between the TV shows of the ’80s and those of the decades that followed is that the quality got a whole lot better. Most recently, we’ve seen Fallout and Twisted Metal, which aren’t only great adaptations, but also amazing standalone TV series.
We’re in another golden age of television, with there being so many options and so much content, and the stuff that is good tends to be very high-quality. Because of this, we’re seeing more and more video games being adapted to the small screen as studios look for stories that people may be familiar with but could find brand-new life in a different medium, and some of these TV adaptations we’ve seen have been really good.
There have also been some really bad ones, like The Witcher: Blood Origins and others. Sometimes, creative teams just don’t have a good grasp on what makes a game great or some games just can’t be adapted to television.
Looking through the history of video-game adaptations for television–yes, even at Sonic the Hedgehog, Darkstalkers, Double Dragon, and others–we’ve found 12 TV series that not only got their inspiration from pretty great video games, but managed to take that inspiration and turn it into a great show.
For more adaptation lists, check out every video game movie currently in the works and the highest-grossing video game movies.
12. Maniac Mansion (1990)
The original Maniac Mansion was a point-and-click computer adventure by LucasArts Games released in 1987. It was a comedic game, poking fun at B-horror movies. The story followed a group of teens trying to get back their friend from a mad scientist who controls her with a sentient meteor. The game was innovative, as the term “cutscene” was coined upon its release.
The 1990 Maniac Mansion TV series may not be something you’ve ever heard of, as it primarily aired on YTV (a popular Canadian network) and on The Family Channel (now known as Freeform). It featured SCTV alumni and was written by John Hemphill (Schitt’s Creek), Paul Flaherty (Primetime Glick), and Eugene Levy (Schitt’s Creek). The story focused on a mad scientist and his family living in a mansion. While it might not follow the plot of the game, it fits the tone and the world it takes place in. Maniac Mansion feels like its own thing weaving its mythos into the world of the game. It’s a self-aware, ridiculous comedy that feels like a precursor, in tone and style, to Eerie, Indiana.
Where to watch: YouTube
11. Street Fighter II V (1995)
Street Fighter is that video-game series where two people with incredibly deep backstories fight each other in various locations. That’s the short and sweet summary of the game series. It was a revolutionary title in arcades, helping popularize the one-on-one fighting genre, which ruled over arcades–followed by gaming consoles–for decades.
There are two Street Fighter TV shows: the American one (terrible) and the Japanese anime (awesome). The anime is titled Street Fighter II V and lasts for a single season. Over the course of its 29 episodes, the show follows Ken and Ryu–following a recent defeat by Guile– as they attempt to become better fighters. Along their journey, they come across other fighters and find themselves coming up against Shadowlaw (Shadaloo). It’s a little bit of a departure from the stories in the games, as well as the feature-length anime, but Street Fighter II V is a great, character-driven story featuring characters you love. Sure, it may stray a little from the very deep SF lore, but it does so in a very loving and engaging way.
Where to watch: YouTube
10. The Witcher (2019)
In the Witcher series, you take control of a monster hunter named Geralt to hunt down various monsters, helping the good people of the fantasy realm called the Continent. At least, that’s what you’re supposed to do. In reality, you spend the majority of your time working on side quests and building your Gwent deck by playing the card game against NPCs in order to collect special cards. The Witcher is an incredibly fun and engaging game, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the handful of games GameSpot has reviewed that received a 10/10/ over the years.
Netflix adapted the story and elements from both the video games and original novels for its 2019 series. Since then, it’s run for three seasons, with a fourth and final installment on the way. The Witcher captures the spirit and tone of the video games exceptionally well, filling the series with drama, intrigue, and some great fight sequences. And of course, the series also has some exceptionally cool-looking monsters, which Geralt has to fight off, or run from.
Where to watch: Netflix
9. Pokemon (1997)
Do I have to explain what Pokemon is? Regardless, I will. You play as a Pokemon trainer, searching the world to capture the strange mostly-little pocket-monster creatures, trapping them in softball-sized containers. From there, you use your collection of creatures to fight those captured by others. No matter which way you put it, Pokemon is a great game but has a dark underbelly.
In 1997, Pokemon became an anime series–one year after the Game Boy games were released–and it’s still running today. The series primarily follows Pokemon trainer Ash Ketchum and his beloved free-range Pokemon, Pickachu, as Ash works to become the greatest Pokemon trainer in the world and attempts to catch each type of Pokemon. With the show running since 1997, the series has well over 1,200 episodes in its run, beating out One Piece by a couple hundred. Pokemon is a fun show with a good heart. At its core, it remains nostalgic comfort food that’s still fun to watch today.
Where to watch: Hulu/Apple TV+
8. Castlevania (2017)
The first game in this long-running franchise was released in 1986. Castlevania is a 2D platformer where you fight spooky supernatural beings, all on your quest to kill Dracula as you explore numerous areas and face obstacles that can be incredibly difficult.
Netflix debuted an animated series based in the Castlevania world in 2017. The show follows Trevor Belmont on his journey to kill Dracula. There are many other familiar characters along Belmont’s journey, like Dracula’s son Alucard. What makes this particular adaptation stand out as such a strong show is that it feels just as much like a horror series as it does an action-adventure one. The series even has a follow-up, Castlevania: Nocturne, also available on Netflix; however, this series takes place during the French Revolution. Both shows are great as standalone homages to the video game series and enhance the world they’re adapted from.
Where to watch: Netflix
7. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (1991)
Way back when, in the mystical ’80s, not everyone owned a home computer; however, lots of schools did. So when your teacher rolled that giant PC into the classroom, you were filled with excitement. A lot of what came out of this market was educational games, with the two most notable being Oregon Trail and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? The Carmen Sandiego franchise began in 1985, and your goal was to gather clues and use those clues to travel and find a thief hiding somewhere in the world. Eventually, you’ll have the case to take down Carmen Sandiego herself.
In the ’80s and ’90s, video-game adaptations tended to be animated series that weren’t all that interesting or were huge departures from their source material. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego was a game show. Contestants (Gumshoes) would answer questions related to geography in order to catch one of Sandiego’s cronies. The winner of the trivia contest would then go on to try and catch Sandiego herself while standing on a giant map of a continent. It has the spirit of the video game, but it’s presented in a way that’s unlike all other video-game adaptations. Also, Rockapella, an acapella group, sang the intro and outro to the show, and it’s still 100% perfect.
Where to watch: YouTube
6. Arcane (2021)
League of Legends is an online battle arena game, which debuted back in 2009. Ten people choose their champions and break off into teams of five in order to defend their area and fight the other team. The game is still wildly popular, even 25 years after initial release, and it’s become a prominent aspect of the current esports market.
Netflix has done a few animated adaptations of beloved properties, but few of them are as good as Arcane (In fact, there is only one better, which you’ll see in a moment). The show is an animated action-adventure series that expands the world of League of Legends, following sisters Vi and Jinx, as they live in an oppressed city, which has come to odds with the upper-class. It was a huge hit for Netflix when it was first revealed and was hailed by critics for expanding the world and characters within League of Legends.
Where to watch: Netflix
5. Gangs of London (2020)
You may have never heard of the video game Gangs of London. However, it’s important for this list. The open-world PSP action-adventure was released in 2006, making it the third installment in The Getaway series. It’s a mixture of a Grand Theft Auto, Driver, and Max Payne clone where you play as a gangsters and head out on missions, like every other GTA clone during that time. Critically, the game wasn’t well received, but there was something there worth adapting.
In 2020, Gareth Evans and Matt Flanner created a series based on the game in the UK on Sky Atlantic, and it aired on AMC+. There are currently two seasons, with a third one on the way. Gangs of London takes place after the assassination of the leader of London’s most powerful crime family. The series takes ideas from the original game and expands on that world, delving into the fictional gang culture of the series as characters try to figure out who ordered the assassination. Many critics consider this series a fantastic look at modern crime families, featuring exceptional performances from a strong cast.
Where to watch: AMC+
4. Cyberpunk Edgerunners (2022)
Cyberpunk 2077 thrusts you into this dystopian futuristic society where cybernetic implants are normal and outside of these living, breathing cities, is a wild, Mad Max-esque landscape. It was a large-scale project, and while there were some early bugs in the game–which have been fixed–Cyberpunk was ultimately well-received once its issues were sorted.
Cyberpunk Edgerunners exists in the world of Cyberpunk 2077–specifically Night City–and follows David Martinez, a mercenary, who is also known as an Edgerunner. It’s a layered story revolving around classism, losing your humanity, and being on the right–or wrong–side of the law. And it’s all packaged in this style reminiscent of ’80s and ’90s anime. It’s exceptionally well done. In GameSpot’s Cyberpunk Edgerunners review, I said, “Studio Trigger’s dive into the world created by CD Projekt Red works exceptionally well, and it’s one of Netflix’s best anime dealing with someone else’s IP.”
Where to watch: Netflix
3. Twisted Metal (2023)
The PlayStation 1 era of gaming offered up some incredible games, like Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, and many other memorable games. One of those games many remember is Twisted Metal. It’s a mixture of every racing game you’ve already played, Mad Max, and Death Race 2000. You pick an over-the-top personality and their cool-looking vehicle that fires missiles and shoots guns. You take on other fighters in their cars and shoot each other until there is only one vehicle left standing.
Peacock’s Twisted Metal series takes concepts, characters, and ideas from the world of the video game and implements them into a post-apocalyptic setting featuring a Milkman (a job in the future) making a delivery along with new frenemy “Quiet.” Peacock’s take on the property understands it just can’t do a straight adaptation of the games. It wouldn’t make sense. And while, yes, the show features plenty of characters from the original games, it’s a much more grounded series that sticks with a singular character. While the original idea had some humor to it, the Twisted Metal series is incredibly funny but holds true to some of the things you loved about the original game.
Where to watch: Peacock
2. Fallout (2024)
Speaking of post-apocalyptic, one of the best franchises to come out of that genre is none other than Fallout. Taking place in a world where 1950s American Exceptionalism never ended, a great nuclear war destroyed humans’ way of living in 2077. Some people stayed on the surface, while the privileged and their offspring got to live in underground vaults, safe from the radiation. Originally an isometric-perspective game, Fallout 3 became a first-person shooter, which helped propel the franchise to be one of the best in gaming.
What’s great about Fallout isn’t the characters–each game introduces a new set of heroes and antagonists. It’s about the stories that can be told in the world. The Amazon Prime series follows Lucy, a young woman leaving her vault for the first time; Maximus, an up-and-coming member of the Brotherhood of Steel; and Cooper Howard, a former TV star who became a ghoul and lived for 200 years. It’s new stories in a pre-existing, rich landscape. The stories from the games don’t really need to be retold, and the Fallout TV series understands that.
Where to watch: Prime Video
1. The Last of Us (2023)
The video game series may be about a fungal pandemic that turns people into zombie-like mutants, but the heart of the story revolves around a man whose child died taking an immune girl on an escort mission to get her to people that can create a cure. In GameSpot’s review of The Last of Us, Tom Mc Shea said, “The Last of Us is a singular adventure that looks the downfall of humanity in the eyes and doesn’t blink.”
While Fallout tells new stories in a larger world, The Last of Us goes the other way and tells the story of the first game, and why wouldn’t it? It’s a compelling, emotional journey that will have the viewer on the edge of their seat. HBO took a brilliant piece of art and delivered it to people that may not be gamers in a way that still connects to the emotional core of the story, set in a world that would pique their interest on paper. Who doesn’t want to see an HBO show that’s zombie-esque, as HBO is known for its high-quality programming? The show does veer away from the game, at times, but it’s there to tell other stories about people living in this world. Overall, it’s a masterpiece of an adaptation.
Where to watch: Max, HBO