10 Lesser Known Video Game Adaptations

Stills from 5 of the 10 lesser known video game adaptations that are worth watching according to Loud And Clear Reviews

With video game adaptations becoming a mainstay in blockbuster cinema, here are 10 lesser known video game adaptations that are worth watching.


Video game adaptations are becoming a mainstay in the modern landscape for blockbuster cinema. Some of the biggest box office successes of the past couple of years are films like A Minecraft Movie, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and Five Nights at Freddy’s, while shows like The Last of Us, Arcane: League of Legends, and Fallout have dominated conversations around TV shows in the streaming space. Accordingly, studios are ramping up production on any video game franchise they can get their hands on. 

For as successful as they are, many of them still end up being pretty bad, unfortunately. But there’s more to video game adaptations in cinema than just the big blockbuster hits. So while the overwhelming impression of this subgenre might still be a negative one for many, there are quite a few hidden gems hiding out there too.

Here are 10 lesser-known video game adaptations that are worth watching, alternating between animated and live-action and in no particular order.


1. Yakuza: Like a Dragon (2007)

Takashi Miike

Yakuza: Like a Dragon (2007), one of the 10 lesser known video game adaptations that are worth watching according to Loud And Clear Reviews
10 Lesser Known Video Game Adaptations – Yakuza: Like a Dragon (2007) (Toei)

While there was a much more high-profile Prime show based on the same franchise in 2024, it only served to help people rediscover this forgotten Takashi Miike adaptation from 17 years earlier, which does a much better job of capturing the game’s essence. When former yakuza member Kazuma Kiryu (Kazuki Kitamura) is released from prison, he wants nothing to do with the criminal underworld anymore, but his past catches up to him in the form of the baseball-bat-wielding psychopath Goro Majima (Goro Kishitani), who wants to settle a personal grudge.

It’s no surprise that Takashi Miike succeeded with this material where others would fail; it fits perfectly into his wheelhouse. He’s made a name for himself with a number of notable yakuza films and has directed his fair share of video game, anime, and manga adaptations. The zany tone of the Yakuza/Like A Dragon game franchise is also not unlike the offbeat humor found in some of his other works. In other words, all he had to do to pull off a great Yakuza/Like A Dragon adaptation is make another Takashi Miike film, and he’s unsurprisingly pretty good at making those.


2. Dragon Quest: Your Story (2019)

Takashi Yamazaki & Ryuichi Yagi

10 Lesser Known Video Game Adaptations – Dragon Quest: Your Story (2019) Trailer (Gamespot Universe)

A couple of years before director Takashi Yamazaki reminded the world that Godzilla is to be taken seriously with Godzilla: Minus One, he wrote and co-directed this animated feature based on the Dragon Quest franchise. Inspired primarily by the fifth entry in the game series, it tells the story of Luka (Takeru Satoh), who needs to find the heavenly hero and give him the Zenithian sword so that he can save the world.

The classic exposition dump at the beginning of every fantasy story to lay the groundwork for the setting is made unexpectedly charming here by rendering it all in pixel art that looks exactly like the original Dragon Quest video games, before switching to 3D CG animation for the rest of the film. Similarly, the accompanying opening scroll is depicted in old-school game text boxes. The film itself is a fun little fantasy adventure for most of its runtime, until it reveals another layer towards the end that will make or break the film for you. For me, it’s what elevated the film above just another fantasy story.


3. Fatal Frame (2014)

Mari Asato

Fatal Frame (2014), one of the 10 lesser known video game adaptations that are worth watching according to Loud And Clear Reviews
10 Lesser Known Video Game Adaptations – Fatal Frame (2014) (Kadokawa)

The video game franchise Fatal Frame (or Project Zero, depending on where you live) is a horror series in which you fight ghosts by taking pictures of them with a special camera. That’s kind of the perfect setup for a movie adaptation, which makes it all the more surprising the film doesn’t really focus on that aspect of it much. Instead, Fatal Frame mixes J-horror sensibilities with a gothic story about forbidden lesbian romance at a Catholic all-girls’ school, where girls mysteriously disappear without a trace. 

The students blame a curse that supposedly befalls anyone who kisses the picture of the popular Aya (Ayami Nakajo), but Michi (Aoi Morikawa) wants to find out what’s really going on. With Mari Asato at the helm of this project, one of the only major female directors in the J-horror space, and basically no men in the cast, Fatal Frame is a horror movie that was made by women, about women, and for women (not that this should scare off any other potential audiences, though), and it’s apparent in the beautiful but equally eerie result.


4. Animal Crossing: The Movie (2006)

Joji Shimura

Animal Crossing: The Movie (2006), one of the 10 lesser known video game adaptations that are worth watching according to Loud And Clear Reviews
10 Lesser Known Video Game Adaptations – Animal Crossing: The Movie (2006) (Nintendo)

If you’re looking for something to watch with the children, Animal Crossing: The Movie is my glowing recommendation. Despite the huge surge of Animal Crossing fans who found solace in the cozy village and its cute villagers during the Covid pandemic, it seems not many of them also discovered this adorable film. Which is a shame because, like the games, this is pure feel-good, low-stakes storytelling, as Ai (Yui Horie) moves to the Animal Village and befriends all the different animal villagers. There’s not much more to say, but don’t mistake that for a lack of quality. I’ve simply decided to keep it short and sweet for this one, just like the film itself.

If they decided to revive this animation style and concept for a new show with 10-15 minute long episodes, I would be there without a doubt.


5. Ace Attorney (2012)

Takashi Miike

10 Lesser Known Video Game Adaptations – Ace Attorney (2012) Trailer (Toho / Madman Films)

This is the second time director Takashi Miike appears on this list (technically the third time, since he’s also part of the voice cast for Animal Crossing: The Movie), but Ace Attorney is a very different film from Yakuza: Like a Dragon. It’s a courtroom drama and essentially an exact beat-for-beat retelling of the story from the first game that is a bit darker in tone. After defense attorney Phoenix Wright (Hiroki Narimiya) wins a case against his childhood rival Miles Edgeworth (Takumi Saitoh), the latter suddenly finds himself accused of murder. With nobody else willing to take the case, it’s up to Phoenix Wright to prove Miles Edgeworth’s innocence and uncover a larger conspiracy that connects a bunch of his old cases.

Nevertheless, this is in no way some overly serious, boring old legal drama. In Ace Attorney, courtrooms are equipped with giant holographs to visualize every detail, spirit mediums can be possessed by dead witnesses, and the entire ordeal can sometimes feel like more of a shouting match than a battle of wits. The cast of characters is just as colorful as it is in the game (with some of the most insane wigs ever put on screen), and despite the slightly darker tone, there are still plenty of great visual gags. Ace Attorney is the kind of film where you can tell the director is having a blast making it.


5. Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017)

Takanori Tsujimoto

10 Lesser Known Video Game Adaptations – Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017) Trailer (Sony Pictures)

I wouldn’t blame you if you’ve soured on the idea of a Resident Evil film adaptation by now. Hollywood has pretty much run that into the ground with one awful adaptation after the other. The Paul W.S. Anderson movies starring Milla Jovovich have next to nothing to do with the games. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City tried to get closer to the games but failed in basically every other aspect, and the less said about the Netflix show, the better. Maybe Zach Cregger can finally crack it with his upcoming adaptation, but at this point it’s hard to have any hope.

So what if I told you that while Hollywood has squandered the potential of this genre-defining gaming franchise over and over again, Japan made their own series of underrated film adaptations with (relatively) lifelike CG animation? They feature the characters you know and love just how you remember them from the games and a much better understanding of the spirit of the games: that weird mix of big action set pieces, horrifying quieter horror moments, silly melodrama, and serious stakes.

Resident Evil: Vendetta is the best movie adaptation of the gaming franchise we’ve gotten for the simple reason that it combines all those elements the most effectively. Though ultimately, while there is effective horror and an emotional core in the midst of this positively ridiculous story about a group of characters preventing a zombie virus from spreading in New York, what makes the movie sing are the outstanding fight scenes. That’s not surprising given the action director is Kensuke Sonomura, who’s currently making a bit of a name for himself with his fantastic work in the Baby Assassin movies, but it’s still worth emphasizing that Resident Evil: Vendetta features some of the very best gun fu fighting choreography you will see in any movie, animated or live-action.


7. DOA: Dead or Alive (2006)

Corey Yuen

DOA: Dead or Alive (2006), one of the 10 lesser known video game adaptations that are worth watching according to Loud And Clear Reviews
10 Lesser Known Video Game Adaptations – DOA: Dead or Alive (2006) (Universal Pictures)

Hong Kong filmmaker Corey Yuen unfortunately didn’t get to make many Hollywood films, but at least he did get to bring this video game to life in ways few filmmakers would have dared to. There’s no attempt to make it more grounded whatsoever; it fully embraces its silliness and the artifice required to make that happen on the big screen. Vast CGI backdrops that are surprisingly gorgeous. Costumes that are exact replicas of the game, no matter how stupid that might look. There’s even a giant DOA logo that comes on screen to transition between scenes. The invitation-only martial arts tournament is brought to life here with all of its faults, and it is so much fun for exactly that reason.

All of that and more results in DOA: Dead or Alive feeling distinctly of the 2000s. With that also comes that while this is an action film with 4 strong women as the leads, they’re also objectified pretty heavily throughout the film. It’s the kind of movie where four girls in bikinis playing beach volleyball and a ninja infiltrating a high-tech lab are being intercut, and both carry more or less the same tone. DOA: Dead or Alive very much walks in the footsteps of films like Charlie’s Angels and D.E.B.S. (and is even comparable to Sucker Punch, which came a little later), where girl power and looking hot come hand in hand. If that sort of thing completely turns you off from a film, then fair enough, but if you can go along with it for the time, then this is a very silly but fun martial arts cartoon come to life.


8. Bayonetta: Bloody Fate (2013)

Fuminori Kizaki

Bayonetta: Bloody Fate (2013), one of the 10 lesser known video game adaptations that are worth watching according to Loud And Clear Reviews
10 Lesser Known Video Game Adaptations – Bayonetta: Bloody Fate (2013) (Showgate)

Sticking with the theme of girl power and looking hot going hand in hand, there’s a pretty great Bayonetta anime adaptation. The strongest aspect of the film is the characterization of the titular leading lady. Bayonetta (Atsuko Tanaka) is an ancient witch with no memory. All she knows is that she loves killing those pesky, monstrous angels. But she’s being watched by someone from her past who has bigger plans for her, and they’re about to step out of the shadows.

Bayonetta is an immensely powerful being; the games are very much power fantasies in which you obliterate your enemies; the genre is literally called spectacle fighter. Accordingly, the film is filled with massive action set pieces featuring Bayonetta destroying her enemies with ease. She’s also a seductress type of character who owns her sexuality and plays with her sensuality, lending the film an erotic element as well. Ultimately, Bayonetta: Bloody Fate is a movie about excesses of both violence and sexuality, and with that, it is a perfect adaptation of the games.


9. Detention (2019)

John Hsu

10 Lesser Known Video Game Adaptations – Detention (2019) (Mandarin Vision)

Detention started out as a small Taiwanese indie game but quickly spawned a novel, a TV show, and this movie after becoming a success. It’s a horror game set in Taiwan during the White Terror period, a time of political repression that brought execution with it for anyone opposed to the ruling KMT government. Detention uses this setting as a jumping-off point to tell a horror story about two classmates who go looking for their missing friends and teachers but find themselves in some sort of alternate reality within the abandoned school building.

Here they’re haunted by monsters, ghosts, and most of all their own guilt. They were all part of a secret illegal book club, the discovery of which could bring consequences as serious as death with it should it be discovered. With their friends missing, they blame themselves for possibly having let the secret slip and, consequently, having everyone’s blood on their hands. The creature design to represent their nightmares is outstanding, and the hellish reality-bending horror of their new surroundings that changes in front of their very eyes is executed incredibly well. It’s a kind of horror we see all the time in video games but rarely in movies.


10. Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (1994)

Gisaburō Sugii

Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (1994), one of the 10 lesser known video game adaptations that are worth watching according to Loud And Clear Reviews
10 Lesser Known Video Game Adaptations – Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (1994) (MGM)

Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie is in some ways the absolute perfect adaptation of a fighting game. There’s not a lot of story and even less talking; instead, it’s fight scene after fight scene after fight scene. All of your favorites from the Street Fighter games are here to battle each other. The plot is barely there to facilitate those fights, as an international terrorist organization called Shadowlaw watches fighters all over the world to brainwash and use for their evil plans. Many of the fights aren’t even really relevant to the plot; they’re just random street fights we’re watching, and why not? Is that not ultimately what you want from a movie called Street Fighter? With how much the new Street Fighter film is already shaping up to be a complete disaster, just watch this one instead.


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