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[bwahhhhh]

You're on two different aspects that don't fit with your argument. First you start off saying that it's kids today who don't know the property thus it's a dead license, but then go on with Capcom bringing the game back in a remake because of the popularity of the game.

Well if kids today don't know the Duck Tales license, then they clearly aren't the ones who knew the NES game. If they are rereleasing it because of the popularity of the original game, then it's aimed at those who knew the property beforehand and not these new kids. With the lack of marketing that Duck Tales received, and all the hype around the nostalgia, I think it's clear that it's unlikely many new kids who didn't know the license before likely bought it now.

Your theory that it's widely more known as a game than it is the cartoon only works if the number of people who bought the game now, and didn't know the Duck Tales license before outweighs the number of people who are familiar with the cartoon and who did play the original NES game. I think that's highly unlikely and thus you cannot say that Duck Tales is now more well known for the game than it is for the original cartoon.

I don't even think one can claim more kids under 10 have played the remastered game than have seen Ducktales via a parent's dvd or Amazon instant streaming.

And if we're talking about random all-ages, I bet more people could hum the TV theme right now than played the game. That was one of the songs kids on my bus sang during field trips. Disney Afternoon was just everywhere. Lunchboxes, coloring and sticker books, merchandise and plushies, etc. People who had never watched the cartoon knew there was a cartoon that spawned all of this merchandise.

 

[Brakke]

Some of you need to get out of the house more. Duck Tales? TMNT? Those were explicitly made as marketing tools to support already wildly successful properties.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

Addams Family was in syndication in the 80s. I grew up in the 80s and was definitely familiar with the TV show despite the original airing being before I was born. Not to mention they were also shown on Scooby Doo reruns which also originally aired before I was born. There were a lot of ways to know about the Addams Family before learning about them through Fester's Quest. I would really find it hard to believe that most people at the time learned about the Addams Family through the game. If anything, more people knew about the show than the existance of the game.

Not to mention Fester's Quest and the movies likely only got made BECAUSE of the popularity of the Addam's Family reruns in the first place.

 

[Eusis]

It has already been proven that from just US ticket sales, the movie was seen by more people then the game ever could hope to touch. This is discounting every vhs, dvd, and blue ray release and rerelease, and any TV showings.

Face it, the movie is massively more well known then the game.

Being actively talked about =/= well known, you dont have to constantly talk about the subject in order to know what it is, and I can guarantee you more people will know/remember the movie over the game.

People need to realized they are in a gaming culture bubble.

I do think Goldeneye's interesting because while the game is not more popular than the movie, the game is grossly more popular than the rest of the Bond games, in a way that's similar to perhaps Goldfinger or From Russia With Love relative to the other movies but more extreme by far (although similar to, say, US presidents I'm sure whichever's newest is the current most popular.) If they're two mostly parallel lines on a graph for popularity then the Goldeneye game was when the game line came closest to the movie line before dipping back down and eventually vanishing altogether.

Question: are you European? I would say that the DuckTakes game is easily more popular than Uncle Scrooge comics in the USA. They are virtually unknown except amongst comic/Disney nerds here.

Regardless, I was not talking about anything other than the DuckTales TV show.

How did I come to the conclusion that the game is bigger than the show? Actually, it was Capcom PR admitting that their research showed kids today knew virtually nothing about the show. It hasn't been on TV in their lifetime.

DuckTales is a dead license. And yet, the remake exists sheerly by virtue of nostalgia for the NES game. It is not cashing in on any license, because it's an irrelevant license nowadays as far as Disney is concerned. It was brought back because the game's memory has persisted beyond the death of the TV franchise. Whether or not that makes it "bigger" than the TV show is debateable. But if we're talking in 2014? Yeah I think it's fair to say its bigger as a game.

It's analogous to the GoldenEye situation. Was anyone actually saying that the movie or TV shows in question were unknown? No. But I think some of us were implying that the games' legacies have outlasted the original properties.

Almost literally any point made about the DuckTales game can be thrown at the TV show and vice versa I think. Enjoying a revival thanks to the game? Last I checked I could stream DuckTales from Netflix. Parents introducing kids to the series via the game? I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few nostalgic parents wanted their kids to check out what was popular when they were young, or the kids even stumbled upon it and loved it. And I think even if DuckTales is mostly buried Mickey's Christmas Carol is probably more regularly seen and shown these days so kids would probably recognize Scrooge from that, and similar for Donald's nephews from wherever else. Failing all else it IS undeniably Disney so someone's probably going to think of it as "Disney based" similar to Goldeneye being "Bond based" and so the larger umbrella will overshadow the game. It absolutely isn't in the same league as stuff like the Witcher that became far more popular as a game outside of Poland.

 

[vagabondarts]

Little Nemo on NES is more popular than the anime movie it was tied in with.

 

[BigTnaples]

Turok was never popular, not even in his '50s "heyday". In fact, the first issue of his '90s comic book series is often cited as one of the harbingers of the collector bubble bursting. Retailers massively over-ordered on the assumption that any new #1 from Valiant was going to sell massive quantities on the strength of its multiple variant chromium-embossed gimmick covers alone, and they were left holding the polybag when it turned out no one gave a shit about Turok (who? he, uh... hunts dinosaurs, I guess?). The only reason Turok, Dinosaur Hunter is better remembered today than his Gold Key stablemates Magnus, Robot Fighter and Dr. Solar, Man of the Atom is because of a few moderately-popular video games.

And judging by sales figures, all those kids who never heard of DuckTales (because they don't watch the Disney Channel, where it's been in perpetual re-runs for the last quarter-century) didn't exactly line up for the cheaply outsourced downloadable NES remake, either.

I agree, aside from Turok being moderately popular. Turok was huge back during its N64 hay day. The hype for Turok 2 was immense, and the same for 3 though it was a disappointment to many.

 

[leng jai]

GoldenEye, maybe?

That's like saying Arkham Asylum is more famous than Batman.

 

[sakipon]

Gungrave.

So... Wanna share what it is based on? Manga? Books? Toys? Wikipedia only mentions there was an anime made after the game, nothing about source material.

 

[Hyun Sai]

Goldeneye ? TMNT ? Ducktales ?

Time to wake up from the Matrix guys. Even Tina Turner song is more famous than the game.

 

[rekameohs]

John Madden

 

[gabbo]

Would the STALKER games count if you consider Roadside Picnic as their source material (and not the movie which is also based on the novel...loosely)?

 

[Eusis]

Would the STALKER games count if you consider Roadside Picnic as their source material (and not the movie which is also based on the novel...loosely)?

I think that's just beating a dead horse given most of us didn't even know the movie existed (or at least I didn't.)

 

[Aokage]

It's a common misconception that Strider was -based- on the manga. It was a collaborative project with Moto Kikaku that was to span a manga, an arcade game, and a Famicom game (the latter curiously never released in Japan!).

 

[Emperor Bohe]

GoldenEye, maybe?

 

[Boss Doggie]

Wait, Noid is a Dominos Pizza?

 

[RadioHeadAche]

What about Digimon World? By the time it hit the West the anime had already started. The game was based on those Tamagotchi toys from the late nineties, but I don't recall being very familiar with the franchise until the first anime. I remember how popular Tamagotchis were, but not so much for Digimon.

Goldeneye ? TMNT ? Ducktales ?

Time to wake up from the Matrix guys. Even Tina Turner song is more famous than the game.

I prefer the Ace of Base one myself.

 

[J3ffro]

That's like saying Arkham Asylum is more famous than Batman.

Yeah, there is no chance Goldeneye the video game is anywhere near as famous as 25 James Bond films. In no world does that make sense.

 

[KDR_11k]

Which is a shame, as the novel is my favourite book. The films were...well, the first one was okay but I'll never choose to watch it, the second and third films are just a celluloid travesty.

Michael Ende was apparently so upset about the first movie that he tried to force them to drop the TNS name. If only the judge had known what the third movie would be like...

Considering Hollywood's love for big fantasy books ATM I wonder if we'll see a new movie trilogy made out of the book.

 

[Eusis]

Wait, Noid is a Dominos Pizza?

I remember Noid more as a mascot than as a game character, easily.

Of course, given that he's a retired mascot versus having a reasonably good game staring him I CAN see the video game getting longer traction, but it's kind of a fight with no real winners given the game's not being re-released any time soon.

 

[flatearthpandas]

GoldenEye, maybe?

/spit take

I'm assuming every questionable post after this one was a joke. Entertaining thread.

For the US, The Witcher seems like a great answer. Shin Megami Tensei is a good answer everywhere except the games aren't exactly well known themselves.

 

[Jamaro85]

Goldeneye strikes me as the main example. The movie is not that well-regarded as a part of the Bond series, and was as quickly forgotten as any other action blockbuster (never regarded as a classic). It was a big deal when it came out, but time has faded it pretty significanlty.

The Goldeneye game had much greater longevity, was relevant to people for literally years, and is still regarded as one of if not the greatest James Bond games.

To me this is where there is a disconnect within this thread. I feel like those who are claiming Golden Eye are talking about how much the game is beloved and revered compared to the movie. The thread is about a game being more famous (known, not popular) than the source material, and I don't think anybody can truly believe the game is more well known than the movie. How critically acclaimed they are is another subject.

Just because an old movie isn't being lauded today or hasn't held up well over time doesn't mean that the people who have heard of it no longer have any memory of what it is. The number of people who at least know of the movie has to be many times more than the number of people who have heard of the game. I don't see how someone can truly believe otherwise.

 

[Eusis]

/spit take

I'm assuming every questionable post after this one was a joke. Entertaining thread.

For the US, The Witcher seems like a great answer. Shin Megami Tensei is a good answer everywhere except the games aren't exactly well known themselves.

Some people seriously argued that point or at least agreed with the post "nailing it." Funny enough the poster's later post seemed to be basically just going MAYBE it's more popular than the movie.

And to be honest, I'm not sure how good of an example Shin Megami Tensei really is. The very first Megami Tensei is based off a book, yes... and the first game is practically unknown itself relative to other entries. It may technically be more popular, but it's in the same way that games like Ultima 1 are remembered: they started the series, and are KNOWN, but fairly few have played them and have strong memories of them, not versus later, better known entries like all of Shin Megami Tensei or Ultima IV-VII.

 

[StalkerUKCG]

The Witcher

 

[JediLink]

How many of these have there been?

I'm thinking that Turok and The Witcher games are much better known than the Turok comics or The Witcher novels at this point.

Any other obvious examples?

Waitwaitwaitwait

Turok was a comic? The Witcher was a novel?

 

[facelike]

Lol at the GoldenEye, TMNT and Ducktales comments. Anyone who picked these need to associate with people outside of the gaming bubble, seriously.

My ones were picked already which were Golgo13 and Last Battle. For both of those, I dicosvered their true origins over a decade later when borrowing Animes from friends. Though I like Golgo13 as a game (except for the damn controls), both Animes are better than these games. And way more bloody.

 

[Synth]

Also, my vote goes to

As a person from outside of the USA, I only discovere that this was a 7up licensed game at least 10 years after the game was released, when 7up was finaly released here

Also

Because there are STILL no signs of a Domino Pizza opening here

You realise you're arguing that Cool Spot is more famous than 7up, and Yo!Noid is more famous than Dominos Pizza here right? I thought the GoldenEye, Ducktales, TMNT trifecta would never be challenged...

So then we had a genuinely different methodology of posting in this thread. I took the OP to imply titles whose gaming legacy had outgrown or outlasted the original license.

I don't think anyone doubts that GoldenEye or DuckTales had massive audiences that eclipse the sales of any videogame. The argument would be instantly over if that were the case. The point being made is that as these licenses faded into the past, they proved to be more enduring to the legacy of gaming than as shows.

They are not a commonly known quantity in North America. I have never seen them for sale (in any decade I've been alive). Definitely less of a visible thing than the 1 million+ NES carts and the multi-platform remake.

1 million+ NES carts? Seriously? Out of that 1 million, there were probably around 6 unique people that were not aware of the cartoon at the time. Whilst at the same time there would have been multiple tens of millions of kids watching the cartoon that never played the game.

Out of that initial 1 million, how many give a shit about the game today? It's definitely not anywhere near a million people, else the remastered version wouldn't have sold like crap. Meanwhile, sure Disney isn't making NEW Ducktales cartoons, but they don't need to. Unlike a NES game, an update isn't required in order for those that grew up with the cartoon to show it future generations. My nieces and nephews know of the Ducktales cartoon because it's readily accessible to be watched today, and I'd be very confident in assuming the numbers of children exposed to it this way, are far greater than the number of parents having their kids play their dusty ass NES cart, whilst not buying the remake.

I would actually be extremely surprised if the number of children that are currently familiar with the Ducktales cartoon (and can sing the theme tune) is under the original 1 million number for the NES game, let alone the remake's numbers today.

 

[CesspoolofHatred]

I wanted to say BMX XXX, if only because I remember reading that its source material (Dave Mirra) took Acclaim to court to get his name taken off of it, and the lawsuit probably made both him and the game more (in)famous in the gaming community.

But then I found out that apparently it didn't sell all that well because it was shit anyways, so <shrug>

 

[Boss Doggie]

I remember Noid more as a mascot than as a game character, easily.

Of course, given that he's a retired mascot versus having a reasonably good game staring him I CAN see the video game getting longer traction, but it's kind of a fight with no real winners given the game's not being re-released any time soon.

Nah, I actually thought Noid was a cereal mascot.

 

[petran79]

Rogue Trooper

game was more popular than the comic, outside Britain at least

Since Ducktales was mentioned, kids born during the 90s probably must have watched this series instead

Where I lived, this show was broadcasted as Ducktales! I thought, great they'll going to re-air the show after almost 20 years.
Instead I got this. Didnt bother.

 

[Dire]

E.T. on the Atari.

Spoiler

Bugger you. I find it amusing at least.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

You realise you're arguing that Cool Spot is more famous than 7up, and Yo!Noid is more famous than Dominos Pizza here right? I thought the GoldenEye, Ducktales, TMNT trifecta would never be challenged...

If you read what he actually said, instead of shoving words down his throat to look fucking clever.
Cool Spot and the Noid weren't used as mascots outside N.America, but their games were released world wide. In Europe, there is no mention of 7up in Cool spot at all, it was all removed from the game.

 

[mindsale]

All it takes is a quick search to find "Videogames Based on Novels." Once you're past the young adult books, there're a lot of games I know whose source material I didn't.

 

[Menome]

Michael Ende was apparently so upset about the first movie that he tried to force them to drop the TNS name. If only the judge had known what the third movie would be like...

Considering Hollywood's love for big fantasy books ATM I wonder if we'll see a new movie trilogy made out of the book.

I think it would work much better as a TV show. Two seasons, with the split being at the point that Bastian usurps the Childlike Empress for a twist cliffhanger. Alas, it would need a bigger budget than networks would give it and they'd find a way to stretch it out to six seasons.

 

[Synth]

If you read what he actually said, instead of shoving words down his throat to look fucking clever.
Cool Spot and the Noid weren't used as mascots outside N.America, but their games were released world wide. In Europe, there is no mention of 7up in Cool spot at all, it was all removed from the game.

My post seems to have come off as a lot more serious/confrontational than I intended. If so, I apologise.

That said though, I actually did read what he said. He made no mention of the mascots themselves, but rather that 7up and Dominos as brands didn't exist in his country.

I only discovere that this was a 7up licensed game at least 10 years after the game was released, when 7up was finaly released here

...

Because there are STILL no signs of a Domino Pizza opening here

Did I miss something here?

 

[Addi]

Stalker? Seriously guys? One of the greatest movies of all time vs. a pc game that will be forgotten in a couple of years...

 

[element]

This thread is so NeoGAF it isn't even funny.

Goldeneye? Batman? TMNT? LOTR? Seriously?

 

[gai_shain]

Wait Wait so what alot of you guys are saying is that the goldeneye game is known my more people than the movie?

I am 100% certain that almost everyone that played the game knows about the movie but only a few people that watched the movie know about the game.

This thread is about something being more famous and if you really think the game is more famous than the movie im really out of words.

 

[T.M. MacReady]

Riddick could be one.

GoldenEye? Pls.

 

[Schweinehund]

Batman?



/s, but a lot of side stories of popular IP's that are made into games might fit this bill.

AC probably generated more revenue than all the batman comic books combined for the year.

 

[Patryn]

Pretty sure the breaking bad finale was one of the most watched pieces of television of all time.

You're fucking joking, right?

It had 10.2 million viewers.

An average episode of NCIS has 19 million+.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

I'd actually take the anime/manga scene at the time of their release over the Dreamcast versions of Berserk and especially Lodoss War in terms of notoriety. None of them set the world on fire but the anime for Lodoss was definitely better known than the game. People who picked up the game did so because they knew the anime, not the other way around.

It had to have been frustrating for fans of the anime to pick up the Dreamcast Lodoss game.
All the characters from the OVA are seen for maybe a second or two. It's mainly 30+ hours of some generic red-haired guy mowing down hundreds of monsters.

At least Berserk DC had you playing as Guts. Though the game takes place in a story arc that comes after the more well-known anime.

The Ducktales mention is still a total mindfuck.
(I didn't even like the game, and I love the show & comics)

Found a little something on Fester's Quest btw
http://hg101.proboards.com/thread/10788/deal-festers-quest-exactly

Because the Addams Family was extremely popular in Japan. An anime was planned at one point, but it was cancelled and made into a game instead. Originally under the development name of The Addams Family: The Legend of Uncle Fester" ( Za Adamusu Famir&#299;: Fesuteru-Ojisan no Densetsu ), plans were made to release it in Japan, but then executives thought that they might make millions releasing it in the US instead, so they did. However, just before release, American executives thought the name would be too long to remember, so they changed it to Fester's Quest.

And thus the legend was born.

It's probably BS but it makes just as much sense as the actual story of the game's development.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Waitwaitwaitwait

Turok was a comic? The Witcher was a novel?

Series of Polish novels, yes.

In Poland, Russia and Czech republic, they are probably better known than the game. Is the lord of the rings of poland, as fantasy novels where VERY popular during the 80's. There, before the game, it already had comics and even a TV series.

 

[Marty Chinn]

AC probably generated more revenue than all the batman comic books combined for the year.

We've been through this. You can't compare revenue as a measure of popularity. At $3 to $4 a comic, you only need 1/20th of the audience to match revenue with the game.

 

[KHlover]

Series of Polish novels, yes.

In Poland, Russia and Czech republic, they are probably better known than the game. Is the lord of the rings of poland, as fantasy novels where VERY popular during the 80's. There, before the game, it already had comics and even a TV series.

Why did you post the Spanish covers?

 

[Reversed]

I read somewhere that Sin & Punishment (N64, Wii) was actually loosely based on a book...Is there anyone who knows if there's some truth to this?

Weird. I'm only aware of the manga which is based on the game. It was published in 2000, yet I don't know if it came before or after the videogame.

 

[Boney]

Everything that stems out of reading material is gonna be more popular because people don't read no more.

 

[Phediuk]

I feel confident in saying there isn't a single movie-based game more well-known than the movie it's based on.

You pretty much have to go for comic books, anime, sci-fi/fantasy lit, or tabletop games here, because those industries are even more insular than video games.

 

[Eusis]

You realise you're arguing that Cool Spot is more famous than 7up, and Yo!Noid is more famous than Dominos Pizza here right? I thought the GoldenEye, Ducktales, TMNT trifecta would never be challenged...

Maybe it's just an arbitrary distinction, but a key difference in my eyes is that they're mascots FOR a product, not the product itself. Both were created in an attempt to sell a product, and were ultimately shelved, whereas if you tried to shelve James Bond or the Turtles you literally end those series as they're one and the same. It's not like we a Domino's themed Pizza game, or a 7up themed soda game, it's a Noid based game and a, uhh, Spot based game.

I'm dubious of those outweighing the mascots ANYWAY at least within NA (though Noid similar to Doki Doki was something else entirely in Japan) but the games are clearly based more on the mascots made to sell a product, rather than the product itself.

 

[Phediuk]

To people saying Little Nemo, I don't think that counts either. The 1988 movie wasn't a big hit, but the game is pretty niche even within gaming circles. Aside from that, Winsor McCay has considerable notoriety for pretty much inventing the modern comic strip and also being one of the first producers of animated films.

 

[HiredN00bs]

Where I lived, this show was broadcasted as Ducktales! I thought, great they'll going to re-air the show after almost 20 years.
Instead I got this. Didnt bother.

Look how '90s-hip Huey, Duey, and Louie are. Damn.