Best Video Game Cartoon

[Batman's Biggest Fan]

What in your opinion is the single greatest video game show ever?


IMO, Sonic SatAM?

Why because it had an element that most other video game shows lack. Drama. Most other video game cartoons only have action and humor, but Sonic SatAM added drama to the formula and it turned out great. Sonic X could've surpassed it, but the lack of story and Sonic not being the main character ruined it. (After episode 38 the show went downhill) American VG shows did a better job at keeping the respective heroes (ex. Mario and Luigi, Sonic) as the stars of the show while the Japanese VG shows always add some kid to the cast and he/she ends up taking the spotlight away from the titled character. (EX. Tiff in Kirby. Chris in Sonic X.)

[Nimbleness]

I would say SatAM, but I like the characters from Earthworm Jim so much more. And it was awesomely quoteable. Yes, I just started a sentence with "and". WHOS GOING TO STOP ME WHAGAGAGAA

"Narrator: On the distant planet of Heck, Evil the Cat is plotting to destroy the universe. Oh, my mistake. He's just watching TV."

[Xfox]

I'll have to agree on Sonic Sat AM. They included what a lot of video game shows lacked- good stories.

I don't think any others come close, but some other ones that are OK- Street Fighter II V (really slow, but has a nice story) and Power Stone (bad animation, but again, nice story).

[Tobias]

It's a tie between Sonic and Earthworm Jim for me.

[Juu-kuchi]

Earthworm Jim, I haven't seen much of SatAM to give it an opinion.

[AdamYJ]

I can't remember much of Earthworm Jim. I agree that Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the best. I wish I could rent the DVD of those cartoons. I don't want to buy it, but I do want to see it again. StH (or SatAM, as others call it) was cool in that it took the main concepts of the cartoon and expanded them into this really cool world with all sorts of new characters. I think Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm was also pretty good.

Personally. I'm also a sucker for the Nintendo cartoons Dic made in the late '80s. Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda and even Captain N. For the most part they're pretty silly, but they're also fun. It kind of works for SMB, because the Mario Bros. always seemed almost as much like a comedy duo as a pair of video game heroes. Legend of Zelda is probably the best of the bunch. Though, those more familiar with the modern Link and Zelda may be a little put off by the characterization in the toon. They seemed to be going for the pro-typical "the princess and the scoundrel" love/hate relationship and played it kind of over-the-top at times.

One thing I tend to like about video game based cartoons, especially American ones, is that they seem to put the female characters to better use than the games often do. Zelda in Dic's Legend of Zelda was actually pretty handy with a magic bow. Princess Toadstool in Super Mario Bros went along with the Bros on pretty much all of their adventures. Roll in Mega Man. Marion in Double Dragon. They even added some characters in StH in the form of Princess Sally Acorn and Bunnie Rabbot. Female characters that were normally damsels in distress or side characters only mentioned in the manual got to play bigger parts and even kick some butt. It's pretty cool if you ask me.

[Nin-Nin69]

Sam and Max: Freelance Police.

[Dr. Daedalus]

Street Fighter (USA), Super Mario Bros. Super Show, & Super Mario Bros. 3 are all camp classics. Sure, they may have had bad animation and lots of flubs, but they had unintentionally (or intentionally?) hilarious lines, and the recurring music in all three was catchy. I had only seen Earthworm Jim a handful of times, but I do remember enjoying it.

The worst is, without a doubt, Battletoads. Cancelled after a single episode aired. Bad, bad, a thousand times bad.

P.S.: Did anybody see the Bubsy special that aired in 1992 or 1993? I've seen pictures of it but I never remember seeing it.

[Animelee]

Say Pokémon, or I'll let the Satoshi in my avatar loose on you. :evil:

[Batman's Biggest Fan]

Pokemon sucks. *easily bats Ash (Or Satoshi) away*

[SuperStantzio]

I also think that Sonic Satam was pretty awesome,too. But I liked the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and I'm a sucker for Dic's Super Mario Bros.3 and Super Mario Bros. Super Show those were my favorites. :) :D

[Frank Castle]

Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat are my favorites. It would be awesome if they did a crossover cartoon.:)

[Xfox]

P.S.: Did anybody see the Bubsy special that aired in 1992 or 1993? I've seen pictures of it but I never remember seeing it.
I vaguely remember that. I was a fan of the games, so I probably did see it at some point, but can't for the life of me remember anything about it.

[ElBarto]

Simpsons hit & run!

[lostrune]

Fatal Fury.

Or are we not counting "strictly anime" because there would just be too many?

[Pic1360]

I would say Crash Badicoot, only he doesn't have a TV series.

[the Amanda]

Earthworm Jim! Through soil he did crawl! Earthworm Jim! A super suit did fall! Jim was just a dirt-eating, chewy length of worm flesh, now all that came to a crashing end, hahaha!

So that's my vote... how can you not love a show with characters named Princess What's-Her-Face, Professor Monkey-for-a-Head, and Queen Bloated, Pulsating, Festering, Malformed Slug-for-a-Butt?

[Conan-san]

A tie between Rockman.exe Axess and Earthworm Jim

[shogunthethird]

as a cartoon, I find Pokemon boring, repetitive and just plain weak in terms of story and character; HOWEVER that doesn't mean the games aren't enjoyable, I thoroughly enjoyed the strategy involved in battle (if you haven't got the levels to beat something exploit its weakness type and double-element pokemon kick all kinds of arse)

as for videogame cartoons I do like, I enjoyed earthworm Jim, captain N had it's moments and who didn't love seeing our favorite plumbers animated? (I'm still laughing over that one episode where Wendy O. Koopa or whatever her name was in the series turned milli vanilli into accountants and every time they did a song it was the same damn background track from every episode) there was the megaman cartoon ( I got a thing for the blue bomber and it was dubbed by the ocean group, Protoman was freaking RATTRAP!)
and of course there was the Darkstalkers ANIME (Morrigan Felicia and Hsien Ko..yum yum yum)

[Bartman3010]

Oh yeah, Pokemon is up there, so is Sonic SatAM, Earthworm Jim, Sam and Max (Even though it wasnt based off of a game, it was a comic)

Though theres some cartoons based off of games I want to see that havent gotten much recognition. One being the Rayman cartoon that ran for a very short time. Ironically, Billy West, I think, played as Rayman, though in Rayman 3, he played as Murfy.

[rmarti3926]

Earthworm Jim. That's was the most funniest cartoon I seen on the earlier years of KidsWB! I miss Peter Puppy. :sad:

[Duke]

Pokémon's my #1, followed by Earthworm Jim, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, MegaMan, and Sonic SatAM.

Donkey Kong Country would have been good if it, you know, was actually relevant to the games.

[WolfieKiwi]

Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat are my favorites. It would be awesome if they did a crossover cartoon.:)
I'm a big fan of Mortal Kombat so I'll go with it. Street Fighter... is their a show on it? I only remember the game..

[Duke]

Street Fighter... is their a show on it? I only remember the game..
It was one of, if not the first, USA Channel's originals when it had a cartoon block. In the beginning it was a fun cartoon, then it went all anime and became sucky.

[Andrew T. Hingson]

Super Mario Bros., Earthworm Jim, and Sonic SatAM.

[HellCat]

Earthworm Jim *Demon* "My name is Rosebud" *Jim and Peter* "Rrroooosssseebbbbuuudddd...." *Demon* "I know! But what do you want, my parents were hippies"

[Pepperidge]

The problem with Sonic SatAM is that it doesn't even remotely resemble the source material.

I'll say Earthworm Jim. Even when I was younger I couldn't believe how funny it managed to be.

[AdamYJ]

The problem with Sonic SatAM is that it doesn't even remotely resemble the source material.
Why do you say that? Basic idea of both: Speedy blue hedgehog with attitude races around fighting egg-shaped mad scientist who turns animals into robots"

SatAm used that and built the whole world of Mobius around it. It seems more true to the original games than later stuff like Sonic X. I find it a whole lot easier to believe that all those checkered hillsides, strange ancient ruins and tricked out death factories exist on Mobius than on Earth.

[HellCat]

Why do you say that? Basic idea of both: Speedy blue hedgehog with attitude races around fighting egg-shaped mad scientist who turns animals into robots"

SatAm used that and built the whole world of Mobius around it. It seems more true to the original games than later stuff like Sonic X. I find it a whole lot easier to believe that all those checkered hillsides, strange ancient ruins and tricked out death factories exist on Mobius than on Earth.
The core idea was there, but SatAM changed alot. Robotnik was no longer trying to conquer the world, he had succeeded. He also wasn't a mad scientist with an ego problem but a traitorous politician. Sonic wasn't the only one fighting back, he was part of a much larger organisation and was given an unnecessary love interest. He also had a family member. Tails, who was Sonic's partner in the games, was reduced to a daydreaming kid...

Sonic X does stick truer to the games. Sonic is an adventure seeking loner, Tails is his partner/mechanic/pilot, Amy is a crazy fangirl instead of a serious love interest, Eggman is constantly pulling out wacky robots in his attempts to defeat his blue nemesis, the Chaos Emeralds have an important role, etc.

[Roman Legion]

The problem with Sonic SatAM is that it doesn't even remotely resemble the source material.

I'll say Earthworm Jim. Even when I was younger I couldn't believe how funny it managed to be.

Personally, I never found the EWJ cartoon to even remotely resemble the games (EWJ 1 & 2, not the knock-offs that followed)... so... yeah. Not that I didn't like the cartoon, but it was lacking in areas. Sure, it had most of the same characters and a sense for the strange, but that was all. The art direction didn't have the games' sense of "darkness", and the show as a whole followed with a mood of light-hearted craziness instead of the darkly bizzare. Pete was just... different, as was the princess. The character designs were inferior, and the voices were off, especially with Jim's lack of a Texan accent.

Again, I like the show, but it would have been more interesting had it stuck closer to TenNapel's original work... which even pre-dates the games.

The Sonic games at the time of Sonic SatAM didn't have nearly as much to work with as EWJ did. Though it could have perhaps stuck slightly closer to the source material, it really had to make a lot of stuff up to create a workable show.

Sonic X may be more true toward the more recent games, but I don't find the recent games to be true to the older ones, either.

--Romey

[g_UnIt_GaNsTa]

Sonic SatAM. Enough said.

[Batman's Biggest Fan]

Sonic X does stick truer to the games. Sonic is an adventure seeking loner, Tails is his partner/mechanic/pilot, Amy is a crazy fangirl instead of a serious love interest, Eggman is constantly pulling out wacky robots in his attempts to defeat his blue nemesis, the Chaos Emeralds have an important role, etc.
There's just one thing wrong: Chris is the star of the show, not Sonic that's what pretty much brought the show down

[AdamYJ]

The core idea was there, but SatAM changed alot. Robotnik was no longer trying to conquer the world, he had succeeded. He also wasn't a mad scientist with an ego problem but a traitorous politician. Sonic wasn't the only one fighting back, he was part of a much larger organisation and was given an unnecessary love interest. He also had a family member. Tails, who was Sonic's partner in the games, was reduced to a daydreaming kid...

Sonic X does stick truer to the games. Sonic is an adventure seeking loner, Tails is his partner/mechanic/pilot, Amy is a crazy fangirl instead of a serious love interest, Eggman is constantly pulling out wacky robots in his attempts to defeat his blue nemesis, the Chaos Emeralds have an important role, etc.
I will give you some of those. I never liked that Tails wasn't allowed to do anything. Also, Robotnik could have been more of a mad scientist. Most of the other stuff you listed is stuff that really didn't change anything that was evident in the games. Just because the Freedom Fighters weren't actually in the games doesn't mean they shouldn't have been added for the cartoon (besides, with Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big, Cream, Cheese, the Chaotix and a couple others who appeared from game to game, it seems like the group is there if not exactly in the same form).

If Sonic X is true to the source material, then that's proof that "true to the source material" is not necessarily the same as "interesting". Marvel at Sonic as he . . . um . . . takes a nap. Watch Sonic's brave freinds as they . . . hide from Chris's parents. Let's not forget that he was also stuck in the rather mundane human world. Mobius at least seemed to capture the crazy environments a bit better. I liked the show most right at the beginning of the first episode when Sonic and his friends attacked Robotnik/Eggman's stronghold. After they got transferred to Earth, it wasn't as interesting. (Is it just me, but from the few peeks of it we got, didn't the world Sonic and friends came from seem kind of like Mobius from the old cartoon and comics?)

[HellCat]

That is the major factor working against Sonic X, no doubt about that. Why someone thought a formula that had worked for over a decade needed to be change...

[EinBebop]

Where's all the early-to-mid 80's love?

Pac-man? Dragon's Lair? Saturday Supercade? Even Pole Position was a surprisingly solid cartoon.

[AdamYJ]

Where's all the early-to-mid 80's love?

Pac-man? Dragon's Lair? Saturday Supercade? Even Pole Position was a surprisingly solid cartoon.
I read about those in The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons (my school has such a great library) but I've never seen them with the exception of Pac-Man and maybe one Space Ace cartoon. Pac-Man was okay. Nothing spectacular. That Saturday Supercade thing seemed interesting, in that they had to build shows out of the threadbare concepts of arcade games. If I recall what I read correctly, they made Frogger a reporter for a newspaper (what that has to do with getting across a busy road is beyond me). Also, the idea behind Donkey Kong was that DK escaped from a circus of which Mario was the ringmaster. There was also a Donkey Kong Jr. cartoon in which DK Jr. is searching for his dad, I'm guessing it's while he's still on the run from Mario. Now, the fact that there was a Pole Position cartoon is reall something. It must take some creativity to make a cartoon out of a sports or racing game.

[EinBebop]

It must take some creativity to make a cartoon out of a sports or racing game.They basically ripped off Knight Rider with two cars instead of one, and the mandatory cute animal sidekick, so it wasn't really creative from that aspect. Of course, Knight Rider was huge then, and the storylines were pretty well-written; it probably was the best of this particular genre and time.

Dragon's Lair was kind of interesting, as the commercials would end on a "Choose your own adventure" kind of cliffhanger. When they came back from commercial, they would show you what happened if you made the wrong choice, and watching Dirk meet his demise was always fun. What kind of spoiled the show for me was a couple of times where the correct choice was none of the options given before the commercial, which totally ruined the fun of trying to guess the correct answer.

And I loved Pac-man as a kid. SCREW THE SMURFS! I had Pac-Man! :p 'Nuff said!

[Mek]

Naturally, I'd have to say 'F-Zero: GP Legend', but that's only if it's taken in the context of it's own universe, seperate from the games. Otherwise, ehhh.


I also like 'Bomberman Jetters', 'Sonic X' and 'Super Mario Bros. Super Show'. It's interesting to note that, while SMBSS is older than the series that followed it, it's the better of the 3.

[Duke]

Only episode of Pac-Man I ever saw was the Christmas episode that CN reruns every December.

[tucsoncoyote]

Where's all the early-to-mid 80's love?

Pac-man? Dragon's Lair? Saturday Supercade? Even Pole Position was a surprisingly solid cartoon.Agreed there Einbebop, after all I always Loved the Space Ace Segement of the Saturday Supercade show on CBS, after all you had Dexter and Kimberly and Borf, much like the Laser disc game. and the plots while fun and in some ways were very much like the game itself..

Dragon's lair, Same thing, and in fact they show the outcome of both the Right and Wrong Move here...(Had Dirk done this... (Horrible shocking Scene of Doom!) but No! Dirk was smart, he did this (and you know how that turned out!)

and Pac-man was always Campy Fun, after all seeing Pac-man (and Ms. Pac Man and even Baby Pac) gnawing on the baddies was always fun..

Pole Position was yet another Game show that definitely was more like Speed Racer then the actual game, but at least they variated it..

and I have to say Captain N the Gamemaster was cool too, but when you mixed 4 video games into one show.. that's when that one got rather confusing..

So I'll stick with just the first three. After all they did at least make you want to go out and spend those quarters!:D (WOKKA WOKKA WOKKA!)

:coyote:

[tucsoncoyote]

I read about those in The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons (my school has such a great library) but I've never seen them with the exception of Pac-Man and maybe one Space Ace cartoon. Pac-Man was okay. Nothing spectacular. That Saturday Supercade thing seemed interesting, in that they had to build shows out of the threadbare concepts of arcade games. If I recall what I read correctly, they made Frogger a reporter for a newspaper (what that has to do with getting across a busy road is beyond me). Also, the idea behind Donkey Kong was that DK escaped from a circus of which Mario was the ringmaster. There was also a Donkey Kong Jr. cartoon in which DK Jr. is searching for his dad, I'm guessing it's while he's still on the run from Mario. Now, the fact that there was a Pole Position cartoon is reall something. It must take some creativity to make a cartoon out of a sports or racing game.AdamY, you really must have missed Space Ace because believe me the show was more fun then you can imagine, and besides it's still popular after 20 years.. why do I say this? well in fact they took the video game Space Ace and turned it not only into a Popular TV Show, but later into a hit CD Game for the PC (and other platforms) and then of all things, a comic book (http://www.mvcreations.com/html/comic/spaceace/gallery_files/pages/index.asp)!

so does this game have appeal? I think it does.. and I have heard that Bluth is seriously thinking of a Second Installment of the Space Ace Saga (after all they have made Dragon's Lair III, so why not Space Ace 2?)

after all the funniest Line comes from the Heroine..

Dexter: Kimberly are you alright?
Kimberly: Oh sure, if you've been captured by aliens, Dexter!
Dexter: I'll Save you Kimmy!
Kimberly: GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!

Now if I can only find an Old Space Ace Stand up console.. and 20 bucks worth of Quarters.. :D

:coyote:

[EinBebop]

Now if I can only find an Old Space Ace Stand up console.. and 20 bucks worth of Quarters.. :D They also have Space Ace and Dragon's Lair 1 & 2 available as DVD's that you can play on your DVD player or X-Box. I think all three are available as a set on Amazon for $40.

[PaQ]

Earthworm Jim, MegaMan, Pokemon, Sonic SatAM.


Hmm, I still have to check out that F-Zero cartoon..

[AdamYJ]

AdamY, you really must have missed Space Ace because believe me the show was more fun then you can imagine, and besides it's still popular after 20 years.. why do I say this? well in fact they took the video game Space Ace and turned it not only into a Popular TV Show, but later into a hit CD Game for the PC (and other platforms) and then of all things, a comic book (http://www.mvcreations.com/html/comic/spaceace/gallery_files/pages/index.asp)!

so does this game have appeal? I think it does.. and I have heard that Bluth is seriously thinking of a Second Installment of the Space Ace Saga (after all they have made Dragon's Lair III, so why not Space Ace 2?)

I've read the comic book, that's how I recognized it. I just have a vague memory of a short cartoon with Dexter and Kimberly that was aired with a bunch of other short action cartoons on Cartoon Network. Dexter changed into Ace and back again in it, right? It was a long time ago, and it was only one cartoon. The original airing of the cartoon was probably before my time. Being born in 1982, I was probably only a couple of years old when it first aired.

Now, the Dic Nintendo cartoons from the late '80s and early '90s are when I came in. I remember watching Captain N: The Game Master on Saturday Mornings. The way they portrayed some of the characters was just weird sometimes. Mega Man was 1 1/2 feet tall and said "Mega" at the beginning of every sentence. Kid Icarus (called Pit in the games) said "icus" at the end of everything, making it sound almost like some form of ancient Greek Pig Latin. And of course, I knew Simon Belmont was annoying even then. I always wondered how Simon managed to be such a big video game hero when he seemed to run away screaming from everything. I also didn't have a clue where Kid Icarus came from until years later (it is now one of my favorite NES games). Interesting enough, three major game companies were depicted through the characters. Kid Icarus from Nintendo, Mega Man from Capcom and Castlevania from Konami. It could be a weird show, but I liked the idea of Nintendo Land as a place made up of different video game worlds that were connected by warp zones. Kevin and the others even teamed up with Link from Legend of Zelda sometimes.

[jasonhill]

Just like everyone stated, Sonic Satam is the best Video Gaming cartoon ever! Although i am also another sucker for DiC entertainment's animation cartoons like Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Brothers Super Show, Adventure of Super Mario Brothers 3, and Captain N: The Gamemaster.

[Dogbert]

My list of greats include:

Sonic The Hedgehog
Super Mario Bros Super Show
Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3
Super Mario World
Megaman
Captain N
Pokemon (Kanto & Orange Islands only!)

I'd have to say Sonic is the best, with SMBSS and its sequals right behind. As for SatAM Sonic's story, it was great. The reason it wasn't close to the video game's story is that it didn't have one. The games were very simple; a hedgehog with a bad attitude tries to defeat an evil human trying to turn all animals into robots. That was all there was to the story at the time the cartoon was made. - And don't anyone reference an instruction manuel, they're not written by Sonic Team (R.I.P.). - That was the charm of Sonic right up until they killed the storyline with Sonic Adventure. Anyway, they had to make a story for the series, and I think they did a wonderful job. Besides, what would be better, Sonic X and The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog? I think not.

[Behonkiss]

Though theres some cartoons based off of games I want to see that havent gotten much recognition. One being the Rayman cartoon that ran for a very short time. Ironically, Billy West, I think, played as Rayman, though in Rayman 3, he played as Murfy.It didn't air on TV. Ubi Soft ran out of money after making only 4 episodes, so they just put it on a VHS. (I found it good, but if you ever view it, be prepared for a VERY different experience from the games.)

Anyway, I pick Earthworm Jim, Sonic X, Sam and Max, and Mario 3.

[Neo Yi]

I insanely enjoy the Super Mario cartoon. Nothing can top Mama Luigi, which is classic.
There were many Sonic cartoons that I enjoy, but I did love the Sonic anime movie mainly because it had a good mix of action and non-action scenes.

The worst in terms of game cartoons is Donkey Kong Country. The overall quality was cheesy and plaqued with bad lines and each epsiode had terrible songs that the characters sang. It doesn't work. And Pokemon in the Johto seris, it got truely repetive there.
~Neo

[Conekiller]

I would have to say the Legend of Zelda for it's faithfulness and expanding of the original games. (i still can't fathom that Gannon was the guy who does Pappy in Rolly Pollie Ollie)

As much as I love Sonic SatAm, I have to agree that it was very loosley based on the games. Sonic X almost got there, but like most pointed out, Chris and silly plots got in the way.

Supermario was good, but too cheesy, and they changed the koopaling's names. MAJOR points off! (why did they do that anyway!?)

I also remember Captian N, it was good, but didn't focus on one single game, so It gets lowered a bit.

I can still remember the theme song to Pac-Man......

I also saw the Bubsy toon once it was "eh" (one of those labor Day-ish days off school where the local chanel decided to show a bunch of pilots. Battletoads ared as well as something that had a red round dude, a basketball player and Bigfoot:the truck as characters fighting agains "bigboss")

I havn' seen enough megaman EXE to comment, some of what I've seen I've like, others......not so much. ACCESS looks intersting tho..... The original US show had promise but squandered it making the plots useless and Rush a Scooby-Doo ripoff. Roll was cool tho, and she stands as my favorite iteration of the character.


Pokemon: initially this would have been my first choice, but the plot has been worn into the ground so far a Dugtrio wouldn't be able to find it. Countless episodes in which nothing really happens ruin what could have been a great show (go back and watch the St. Anne and Sabrina trilogies, THAT'S what I'm talkin about)

Earthworm Jim was funny, in a wierd kind of way, but deviated form the overall "feel" of the games. the comedy felt too forced "ok...lets put a COW joke in there, there are funny cow jokes in the games..." I still loved the "better tha pro-wrestling" line Peter had.

[Tash]

I insanely enjoy the Super Mario cartoon. Nothing can top Mama Luigi, which is classic.
There were many Sonic cartoons that I enjoy, but I did love the Sonic anime movie mainly because it had a good mix of action and non-action scenes.That was the one where Luigi got flat during the musical number, so Mario picked him up, and then he poped a P-baloon with him to re-inflate him, right? That was unintentionally hallarious... for some reason...

[Mighty_Bojingo]

Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat are my favorites. It would be awesome if they did a crossover cartoon.:)
They did have a crossover episode of Streetfighter and that Dragon Cartoon show.. Cant remember what the real name is. Basically Chun Li teams up with Dragon, and Guile, Ryu and Ken were outside the walls trying to bust in. Ya, i ALWAYS loved it when Ryu was there. Why didnt they have more episodes with Ryu? It seems to me that they favored Chun Li over everyone else.

[Batman's Biggest Fan]

The usual team was Guile, Chun Li and Blanka for some reason.

[ThePeterNetwork]

Everybody's talking about Sonic this and Earthworm Jim that and Super Mario Bros. the other thing. The only video game cartoon that ever hit home for me, and I'm glad that I rediscovered this through a free tape distribution from a mutual friend, was Pac-Man.

Pac-Man OWNED 1982 Saturday mornings in my book, even if the Atari 2600 version was the only one we could play (it was the only one we had). Even in its original video game format, Pac-Man could hold its own as a cartoon. The hero being constantly pursued to death by his ghastly enemies with special powerups to defeat his enemies. If you look at the promotional art for Pac-Man, you can see that he was destined for cartoon greatness.

If anyone has played the Pac-Man World and Pac-Man Fever games, you can see the potential for a CGI Pac-Man cartoon. I would like to see The Great Yellow Wonder in new CGI animated adventures. This would be a great way to reintroduce the character to a new generation who don't quite grasp the wholesome goodness of this amusing character, like my niece who thinks Pac-Man is lame. I don't care. Pac-Man is the only video game that I'm able to play, even though I haven't gone farther than the first apple on average.

http://members.aol.com/pfay08/pacman.gif

Splendid Good Pac-Man Is Be!

[Prism]

These are the ones I liked best and yes I have a preference for silly or cheesy toons and like it that way. Here goes........................

Dragons's Lair/Space Ace

Sonic X

Super Mario Brothers

Saturday Supercade

Earthworm Jim

Pac-Man

[Behonkiss]

There were many Sonic cartoons that I enjoy, but I did love the Sonic anime movie mainly because it had a good mix of action and non-action scenes.

The worst in terms of game cartoons is Donkey Kong Country. The overall quality was cheesy and plaqued with bad lines and each epsiode had terrible songs that the characters sang. It doesn't work. And Pokemon in the Johto seris, it got truely repetive there.
~NeoNot only that, but it had nothing- NOTHING - to do with the games. "Crystal Coconut"? And who the hell was Bluster Kong?

The Sonic OVA was decent, but lordy, ADV did an awful job. Martin Burke's Sonic and Lainie Frasier's Tails may be the worst dub actors ever.

[Terrence Briggs]

Been there, smoked that...

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&c2coff=1&selm=b13f41a5.0404300451.6829b6a%40posting.google.com

[Viceroy]

The only video game cartoon that ever hit home for me, and I'm glad that I rediscovered this through a free tape distribution from a mutual friend, was Pac-Man.One thing about Pac-Man always puzzled me. The networks are always mega-paranoid about showing risky behavior that kids can emulate. That's why punching, kicking, use of knives or clubs, crashing through windows (in Batman's case), etc., are not permitted.

And yet they showed Pac-Man, who defeats his enemies BY BITING THEM!!! How many young viewers, when bothered by a sibling, emulated their spherical yellow idol and tore a chunk out of the poor sib's arm with thier teeth? How many people are out there right now who are permanently disfigured thanks to an impressionable little brother and a cartoon character's oral fixation?

[Peter Paltridge]

I also saw the Bubsy toon once it was "eh" (one of those labor Day-ish days off school where the local chanel decided to show a bunch of pilots. Battletoads ared as well as something that had a red round dude, a basketball player and Bigfoot:the truck as characters fighting agains "bigboss")
The "red round dude" was a talking tomato. The show was called "Power Team" and there were several of the specials made. I really wish I'd seen more than two minutes of that. I mean, the "???"-ness of it was only outdone recently with "Da Boom Crew."

[Andrew T. Hingson]

Top 5

1) Sonic SatAM (the only good Sonic toon)
2) Earthworm Jim (man I miss this show)
3) Sam and Max: Freelance Police (ditto)
4) Super Mario Bros. 3
5) Super Mario Bros. Super Show

Honorable mention goes to SMW and Captain N: The Game Master.

[RAINMAN]

SMB3 was the best ever. The recoon,frug suites, koopas kids,slede bro, it had everything from the game. It was awesome and fun. There were time which luigi out shine mario too.

[RAINMAN]

It was one of, if not the first, USA Channel's originals when it had a cartoon block. In the beginning it was a fun cartoon, then it went all anime and became sucky.

I thougth the second season was the saving grace. It was more closer to the VG series, it had guest starts from the alpha series and gulie was not in every ep`s. But he did use a line that his alter ego from V used.

[Dudley]

Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World (Captain N was part of it, but I barely remember it).

And um,... Pokemon (non-dubbed).

[Johnlindsey289]

I say Sonic SatAM all the way, it's the greatest video game based cartoon ever made with " Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie" being second.

[zorinlynx]

You can say that again. The image of Link fighting bad guys in his underwear gives me nightmares to this day!

-Z


Legend of Zelda is probably the best of the bunch. Though, those more familiar with the modern Link and Zelda may be a little put off by the characterization in the toon.

[AdamYJ]

You can say that again. The image of Link fighting bad guys in his underwear gives me nightmares to this day!

-Z
Well, excuuuuse me, Princess!

Sorry, I just had to say it. I was talking more about the way that Link was portrayed as being kind of cocky and obnoxious. My brother, who's a big Zelda fan hated that. Since the time the cartoon was put out the Legend of Zelda games have become something of a sacred cow among gamers, I think. At this point, it's probably better that Zelda never get adapted into other forms of media so the fans don't go crazy over the fact that it doesn't follow the games exactly and that it doesn't quite match up with their own personal interpretation of said games. (though, I'd still like to see them try for a Legend of Zelda movie).

[Neo Yi]

That was the one where Luigi got flat during the musical number, so Mario picked him up, and then he poped a P-baloon with him to re-inflate him, right? That was unintentionally hallarious... for some reason...

That's the one. It's hilarious that like every Mario epsiode had music playing, but dang it, it was the 80's and it worked well during that time.

The Sonic OVA was decent, but lordy, ADV did an awful job. Martin Burke's Sonic and Lainie Frasier's Tails may be the worst dub actors ever.

You might be surprised that I perfer the dubbed voices over the original japanese. Now, yes, the dubbing in terms of Sonic and Tails' voice as well as Knuckles wasn't too good, but they succeeded with emotions. Their emotions were EXCELLENT. I was so convinced. The original japanese version didn't feel as emotion or well excited in feeligns as the dub. Heck, I perfer Sara's dubbed voice because she's more annoying which suits her, compare to the japanese where she seems more passive. I didn't feel that like I did her dub.

Sorry, I just had to say it. I was talking more about the way that Link was portrayed as being kind of cocky and obnoxious.

Gosh, I hated how Link was portrayed there. So annoying. I wanted to smack him! I guess I'm so used to me portraying Link (although, I used that N64 version which is different from that cartoon) as a nice guy.
~Neo

[MJC]

Anybody remember that Mortal Kombat cartoon? Yeah. :D

*shot*
*shot again*
*firebombed*
*nuked*

[Eddie G.]

I'll say Pokemon because the show has had some pretty fun episodes. But honestly (and this may be because I'm not a gamer) I've never really seen a great video game based cartoon.

[mammy2shoesfan]

I had to say SMB3 out shined SMBSS in every way SMB3 was that good. SMW could have been better too bad they just looked they stop trying by the end. Pac Man love it to death. Pole Postion great show, I have to give to Pokemon for holding it down for so long even I still catch it from time to time. Cap N was good.

[Kurtman]

I really love both The Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog and Sonic SatAM. I always watched The Adventues Of Sonic The Hedgehog around 7:00 in the morning when I was little.

[Mighty_Bojingo]

They should make a Super Smash Brothers cartoon. That would so rock. So much potential. All those video games merged into 1 battle game.. that would so own all cartoons. With so many different Video game characters in the game, it would be like a present day version of Captain N, but with a way better storyline. They would occasionally have battles too. (I would so vote for Link.) Im sure that would bring quite a huge audience. If they DO make that cartoon, it would most likely appear on KidsWB.

[RAINMAN]

A new Capt.N show would be great. But they would not be abile to use mega man or simon. A zelda show would work too. Just have link acting like the serious char he is in the game.

[Terrence Briggs]

I'll say Pokemon because the show has had some pretty fun episodes. But honestly (and this may be because I'm not a gamer) I've never really seen a great video game based cartoon.

The games have (and should have) nothing to do with making a good animated series. Games are interactive. Animated series are passive. Good games need not feature appealing characters or effective visual narratives, if they are sufficiently effective in their interactive elements (see Tetris). Good animated series MUST, since they can't fall back on their interactive elements to sustain our interest.

Great cartoon are great cartoons, regardless of how faithful they are to any source material from electronic gaming.

[Kati]

You've just brought me some really old memories! :)

When I was 5, my cousin introduced me to the world of videogames via Super Mario Bros. So, when I went to a videoclub some weeks later and found a "movie" about that game, I asked my mom to rent it for me.

The "movie" was actually a bunch of episodes of a show that featured a "live-action" version of Mario and Luigi, followed by some short toons. I'm not sure if this show was ever on TV in México, but I remember that I rented that "movie" many times, because I enjoyed the Mario Bros. cartoon a lot.

The only thing I never liked was "that cartoon about a pretty princess and her annoying kid friend that looked a lot like Peter Pan" :D.

Go figure, many years have passed since then and now The Legend of Zelda games are my favorites!.

But back on topic, I'm going to vote for Super Mario Bros. and Pacman (I loved it! but always freaked out with that werewolf episode).

[Serena S.]

I have two favorites! :) Mario and Luigi / DBZ Budokai 2 All Day Everyday! :cool: :) :p ;) Thats all I got to say! :D

[ThePeterNetwork]

One thing about Pac-Man always puzzled me. The networks are always mega-paranoid about showing risky behavior that kids can emulate. That's why punching, kicking, use of knives or clubs, crashing through windows (in Batman's case), etc., are not permitted.

And yet they showed Pac-Man, who defeats his enemies BY BITING THEM!!! How many young viewers, when bothered by a sibling, emulated their spherical yellow idol and tore a chunk out of the poor sib's arm with thier teeth? How many people are out there right now who are permanently disfigured thanks to an impressionable little brother and a cartoon character's oral fixation?
Maybe because Pac-Man was biting only ghosts, and as we all know ghosts don't really exist.

I actually committed a story to electronic media outlining what kind of effect a young Pac-Man fan would have upon weekly viewings of the Pac-toon and thus emulating the character. It is a story in three parts, and if anyone is interested, let me know.

[Conekiller]

Something I've always wondered: Why did they change the designsand names of the Koopalings for the SMB3 show?

I can understand Koopa since he was based off the sprite of SMB1 (and there wasn't alot of official artwork of him at the time) but the Koopalings all had pics and fleshed out designs and ...names. they even went in during the SMB3 show and called Koopa "Bowser" a couple of times.

[Lighthammer]

Just to clearify; as many of you probably know there were a total of three Sonic Saturday Morning cartoons. Four if you count the really bad one that was Weekday exclusive (I hope).

The NBC Variety from the mid 90s
The 'between' version that eventually found itself on a Syndicated Block on Sci-Fi for a while
The current Fox version

Of the above ones, my favorite is easily the first one. The fox version comes off too 'kiddy' (for lack of a better term) for my tastes.

I think my favorite was easily Captain N followed closely by Super Mario World (had a catchy tune :) ).

I noticed someone mentioned Pole Position. That series was very cool too.

At present, F-Zero seems to be heading towards taking the spot as my favorite saturday morning cartoon. Kinda funny when you consider 2 years ago I was scream "Heretic" at Fox. for their changes and addition of FoxBox.