50 Videogame Characters Who Need Movies
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Leonard & Bubba
The Game Characters: The sibling stars of forgotten gem Redneck Rampage , who are forced to fight off an alien invasion in the course of attempting to reclaim their prize pig, Bessie.
The Movie Version: A screwball comedy in the vein of Tucker & Dale vs. Evil . In fact, are we sure that wasn’t an adaptation of Redneck Rampage ?
Played By: Walton Goggins and Seann William Scott
Bitterman
The Game Character: One of Quake 2 ’s marines, sent to the home planet of the Strogg, a cybernetic race of aliens with plans to invade good old Earth.
The Movie Version: An alien invasion movie with a twist, being that the forces of Earth are going to do the invading. Go get ‘em, boys!
Played By: Vin Diesel
Sam & Max
The Game Characters: A pair of private investigators who just happen to be a rabbit and a six-foot dog. What’s weird about that?
The Movie Version: It might be a shade too cult for Pixar, but Dreamworks could work wonders with this one. Get it made!
Played By: Jason Bateman and Will Arnett
Sam Fisher
The Game Character: A bereaved spy in Splinter Cell: Conviction , who sets about avenging his daughter’s death with ultra-violent gusto.
The Movie Version: A good old-fashioned revenge thriller, full of sneering henchmen for our hero to off in spectacularly bloody fashion.
Played By: Liam Neeson
Pac-Man
The Game Character: An insatiably hungry, dot-munching lardass, whose days of ceaseless eating are periodically interrupted by the arrival of some pesky ghosts.
The Movie Version: A morality tale in which a morbidly obese man is warned of his folly by the ghosts of various fatties who have eaten themselves to death over the years.
Played By: Kevin James
The Host
The Game Character: The manically enthusiastic host of Super Smash TV , a kill-crazy game show in which contestants must gun down hordes of adversaries to get their hands on a range of glittering prizes.
The Movie Version: An update of The Running Man , in which our loveable host is revealed to be rigging the contest so that nobody ever wins but ratings remain through the roof.
Played By: Gary Busey
Grayson Hunt
The Game Character: Part of Bulletstorm ’s Dead Echo unit, a black ops team charged with defending the Confederation of Planets, until they make the shocking discovery that their commander is corrupt…
The Movie Version: A conspiracy-driven future thriller, in which Grayson attempts to keep one step ahead of his crooked boss to uncover his fiendish plan before it’s too late.
Played By: Channing Tatum
Kratos
The Game Character: An embittered Greek warrior who takes up arms against the men upstairs in classical adventure God Of War .
The Movie Version: It’s all-out war between the realm of men and their celestial overseers in this epic actioner. Along the lines of Clash Of The Titans , but you know, less crap.
Played By: Jason Momoa
Captain Falcon
The Game Character: One of F-Zero X ’s futuristic pilots, and a racer of the highest order. Nobody rocks a powerslide better.
The Movie Version: A younger version of the Captain, who’s just starting out in the cut-throat world of extreme racing. Can he dodge death and win the required amount of money to clear his dad’s gambling debts with a cartel of vicious gangsters? Probably, yeah.
Played By: Liam Hemsworth
Mike Tyson
The Game Character: The final boss in Mike Tyson’s Punchout . Leave the World’s Most Dangerous Man on the canvas to complete the game!
The Movie Version: A JCVD style post-fame mockumentary in which a washed-up Tyson struggles to accept life outside the ring.
Played By: Mike Tyson
Marcus Fenix
The Game Character: One of Gears Of War ’s primary badasses, Fenix is a former soldier, reinstated after abandoning his post many years previously in order to help defend the human-occupied planet of Sera from an alien race known as the Locusts.
The Movie Version: Imagine a less camp version of Starship Troopers are you’re in the right ballpark.
Played By: Mickey Rourke
Miku Hinasaki
The Game Character: An intrepid young woman who goes looking for her missing brother in survival horror game Fatal Frame , and ends up finding a lot more than she bargained for.
The Movie Version: The kicker for this one is that the ghosts in the haunted mansion can only be seen through Miku’s camera. Prepare for an incredibly tense nerve-shredder…
Played By: Rinku Kikuchi
Ethan Thomas
The Game Character: Condemned ’s SCU investigator boasting an uncanny instinct for detective work and seemingly superhuman powers of durability.
The Movie Version: A pitch black murder mystery in which Ethan must track down an elusive killer who has framed him for the death of two of his fellow officers. David Fincher, anyone?
Played By: Cillian Murphy
The Boy
The Game Character: The unnamed protagonist of eerie Scandinavian puzzler Limbo , who goes on a long journey in search of his missing sister.
The Movie Version: We’d love to see Guillermo Del Toro direct a version of this existential oddity, with its unnerving imagery and ambiguous storyline.
Played By: Asa Butterfield
Frogger
The Game Character: A humble amphibian whose only wish in life is to get across a busy road in one piece.
The Movie Version: Pixar takes a run at this one, telling the tale of a family of frogs attempting to find themselves a new home.
Played By: Michael J. Fox
Logan Kellar
The Game Character: One of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow operatives in Rainbow Six: Vegas , a taxing but addictive shooter set in and around Sin City.
The Movie Version: Frantic action sequences set around the iconic casinos of Las Vegas? Sounds like a winning combination to us.
Played By: Henry Cavill
Francis York Morgan
The Game Character: An FBI agent sent to the small town of Greenvale in order to investigate the mysterious murder of a local girl in Deadly Premonition .
The Movie Version: A surreal and unnerving murder mystery in a similar vein to Twin Peaks .
Played By: Mark Ruffalo
Tommy Vercetti
The Game Character: The morally questionable hero of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City , Tommy is a wannabe mobster who finds himself scaling the ladder amid the garish excesses of the ‘80s.
The Movie Version: We’d love to see a throwback gangster movie set in the decade that taste forgot. Although sadly, original voice talent Ray Liotta is probably a bit too old for this one these days…
Played By: Ryan Gosling
Jack
The Game Character: Bioshock ’s leading man, Jack is a plane crash survivor who discovers the underwater city of Rapture, a populace occupied by mutated creatures, robots and more.
The Movie Version: This would lend itself nicely to a dystopian sci-fi thriller, with one hell of a twist hiding away in the final act…
Played By: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Samus Arun
The Game Character: Arse-kicking heroine of the Metroid series, Samus is an ex-Galactic Federation soldier turned bounty hunter. Space Pirates… consider yourselves put on notice.
The Movie Version: There haven’t been enough female bounty hunters in the movies… time to put that straight!
Played By: Gina Carano
Dr. Robotnik
The Game Character: The egg-obsessed antagonist of the Sonic The Hedgehog series. Boasts a horrible moustache and bottle-end goggles combo that even the most flamboyant villain would blanche at.
The Movie Version: Robotnik would work well as the villain in a seedy LA crime film, a possible sex offender with a fiendish plan, who can only be foiled by a blue-haired super-cop nicknamed “Sonic”.
Played By: Alfred Molina
Joanna Dark
The Game Character: The heroine of Rare’s Goldeneye follow-up, Perfect Dark , Joanna Dark is part super-spy, part action heroine and all badass.
The Movie Version: An all-new action franchise in which Joanna Dark is positioned as a kind of female equivalent to James Bond, much as she is in the game.
Played By: Emily Blunt
Samanosuke
The Game Character: A Samurai from feudal Japan who crosses over to Modern Day Paris to fight demons in Onimusha 3 .
The Movie Version: The movie is already extremely cinematic, what with its photo-realistic performances from Takeshi Kaneshiro and Jean Reno, so there wouldn’t be much to change. Time-travelling Samurai mayhem, here we come!
Played By: Takeshi Kaneshiro
Alan Wake
The Game Character: The eponymous star of the horror shooter of the same name, poor old Alan finds himself set upon by a host of possessed creatures known as “the taken”, ranging from humans to inanimate objects!
The Movie Version: An unnerving psychological horror. Are those possessed lightshades just in Alan’s mind, or is this really happening?
Played By: Christian Bale
Louis
The Game Character: The least likely of Left 4 Dead ’s zombie holocaust survivors, Louis was a Junior Systems Analyst for an IT firm before the world went to shit. Now, he’s a fully paid-up zombie slayer.
The Movie Version: It might not be remotely original, but we’re more than happy to watch another disparate group of individuals pull together to fight off the forces of the undead.
Played By: Anthony Mackie
Commander John Shepard
The Game Character: Captain of the Normandy spacecraft in the Mass Effect series, Shepard is charged with saving humanity from a race of mechanical beings known as Reapers.
The Movie Version: A grand-scale sci-fi space opera that could easily span a couple of films. Is J.J. Abrams busy with anything? Oh…
Played By: Ben Affleck
Niko Bellic
The Game Character: An Eastern-European immigrant who finds the land of opportunity a tough nut to crack in Grand Theft Auto 4 .
The Movie Version: The grittiest of all the GTA stories, the plot of this one probably lends itself best to adaptation, with Bellic’s tale proving a tragic one when the cost of his new life is brutally exacted on his brother’s wedding day.
Played By: Rasha Bukvic
Bayonetta
The Game Character: A shape-shifting witch, sporting a pair of giant handguns which she uses to battle a legion of demonic cherubs. As barmy as it sounds.
The Movie Version: A wilfully silly martial arts adventure, employing a generous helping of CGI and some ludicrously OTT fight scenes.
Played By: Genesis Rodriguez
Simon Belmont
The Game Character: A renowned vampire-hunter, and the main protagonist of Konami’s Gothic classic, Castlevania .
The Movie Version: A chance to put right the wrongs made by Van Helsing, this would be a classic monster movie, as Belmont ends up going toe to toe with Dracula himself.
Played By: Nicolaj Coster-Waldau
William "B.J." Blazkowicz
The Game Character: The protagonist of Wolfenstein 3D , Blazkowicz is an allied spy attempting to break his way out of the titular castle, a POW facility in the heart of Nazi Germany with a nasty secret…
The Movie Version: A prison movie with Nazis and zombies? What’s not to like?
Played By: Chris Pine
The Man With No Name
The Game Character: The anonymous hero of Fallout 3 , the open-world action adventure set in 2277 in a world that has been ravaged by nuclear war.
The Movie Version: A post-apocalyptic thriller following our hero’s attempts to navigate this ruined America and find his missing father, who has mysteriously gone missing.
Played By: Karl Urban
Duke Nukem
The Game Character: A hard-drinking, wisecrack-spouting womaniser, who just happens to be Earth’s last hope against a race of invading aliens who are abducting our ladyfolk.
The Movie Version: A cartoonish action flick, dripping with gore and OTT action, in which the Duke can indulge his various vices to the full. Nobody steals our chicks… and lives!
Played By: Nic Cage
Desmond Miles
The Game Character: Your character in Assasin’s Creed , who uses a machine (don’t ask questions) to control the actions of his long-dead ancestor, Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad, a member of an ancient group of assassins.
The Movie Version: This one is actually happening, with English writer Michael Leslie currently hard at work on a script, set to star…
Played By: Michael Fassbender
Manuel Calavera
The Game Character: A travel agent in Grim Fandango ’s land of the dead, Manny is forced into his position with the Department Of The Dead in order to pay off the debts of a not-so-virtuous life.
The Movie Version: The next claymation project from Tim Burton and Henry Sellick. It was surely made for them…
Played By: Johnny Depp (of course)
April Ryan
The Game Character: Star of Dreamfall , April is an art student living in the futuristic world of Stark, where science and technology are celebrated above all else. However, when she starts dreaming of the fantastical Arcadia, full of dragons, fairies et al, things begin to get complicated.
The Movie Version: A fantasy epic in which April realises she is a shifter, capable of flitting between two parallel worlds, and called into action when the balance between the two is gravely altered.
Played By: Chloe Moretz
Carl Johnson
The Game Character: A kid from the ghetto in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas , CJ might aspire to get clean, but with gangbangers, family members and crooked cops all on his case, it ain’t going to be easy.
The Movie Version: A gritty, no-nonsense crime flick set on the mean streets of LA.
Played By: Michael B. Jordan
Alduin
The Game Character: The fiendish dragon who presides as chief antagonist in fantasy RPG, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim .
The Movie Version: What with its fantastical realm of noble warriors and fire-breathing beasties, Skyrim could be the big-screen answer to Game Of Thrones , with a ready-made fanbase of millions.
Played By: Patrick Stewart
Isaac Clarke
The Game Character: Dead Space ’s luckless engineer who finds himself battling with “Necromorphs”: reanimated human corpses that have grotesquely mutated.
The Movie Version: A claustrophobic, space-set horror movie in the vein of Alien . Floating severed limbs, ahoy!
Played By: Sam Rockwell
GLaDOS
The Game Character: The fiendish artificial intelligence that puts the player through all manner of fiendish puzzles in the pleasingly original Portal .
The Movie Version: It’s the age old battle between human and machine, as heroine Chell finds herself in a mortal struggle with a distinctly malevolent computer…
Played By: Original voice actress Ellen McLain. It really couldn’t be anyone else!
Nathan Drake
The Game Character: The swaggering, swashbuckling adventurer of the Uncharted series, Nathan Drake is just about the most charming treasure hunter in videogame history. Apart from Lara, of course…
The Movie Version: A throwback to the likes of the Indiana Jones series, with Drake shagging and wise-cracking his way through a classic adventure romp.
Played By: Josh Holloway
Alex Mason
The Game Character: A human weapon, as demonstrated by his kill-tastic antics in period war-blaster, Call Of Duty: Black Ops .
The Movie Version: Part war movie, part conspiracy thriller… and why don’t we chuck in some of the bonus-game’s zombies in there too? Just to liven things up a bit…
Played By: Luke Evans
Guybrush Threepwood
The Game Character: The bumbling star of the Monkey Island series, Threepwood is a hapless wannabe pirate who can’t quite make the grade in the swashbuckling stakes.
The Movie Version: A mainbrace-splicing comedy featuring Seth Rogen, Jason Segel et al as our crew of relentlessly inept sea-dogs.
Played By: James Franco
Master Chief John-117
The Game Character: Halo ’s cybernetically enhanced super-soldier is a man of few words, but when he’s this handy with a pulse rifle, who needs small talk?
The Movie Version: There has long been an adaptation “in the pipeline”, with Neil Blomkamp, Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg all having been linked at one time or another. At present however, the project remains in limbo…
Played By: Given that he never removes his armour and is largely silent, a stuntman could probably do the job just fine!
Solid Snake
The Game Character: Metal Gear Solid ’s leading man is an international agent of espionage, who tangles with all manner of terrorist groups and shadowy government agencies.
The Movie Version: Series creator Hideo Kojima has confirmed that a movie is on the way, although no director or star has been confirmed as yet…
Played By: Eric Bana
The Paperboy
The Game Character: The eponymous star of the ludicrously addictive platform caper, in which points are awarded for delivering the daily rag without breaking any windows (or bones) along the way.
The Movie Version: A teen slacker comedy about a high-school waster and his continuing mission to stick it to “the man”.
Played By: Logan Lerman
Axel Stone
The Game Character: One of a trio of arse-kicking ex-coppers charged with bringing justice to the Streets Of Rage . Using his fists, mainly.
The Movie Version: A bleak film noir in which a grizzled former policeman takes the law into his own hands in order to restore his idea of justice to a city full of corrupt cops and scheming mobsters.
Played By: Tom Hardy
Link
The Game Character: The diminutive hero charged with unravelling all manner of fiendish puzzles found in a host of inhospitable dungeons, all to rescue to the legendary Princess Zelda.
The Movie Version: A fantasy quest movie, as Link goes toe-to-toe with the fiendish Ganon to recover the all-powerful Tri-Force. Still with us?
Played By: Josh Hutcherson
Scott Shelby
The Game Character: A former police officer and marine, Shelby is one of the key players in Heavy Rain ’s ensemble of noir archetypes.
The Movie Version: Heavy Rain is already pretty cinematic, so we’d have this as a straight port-over of the game’s narrative, in which Shelby attempts to stop the Origami Killer, a predatory murderer of young boys.
Played By: Bruce Willis
Dr. Gordon Freeman
The Game Character: The star of Half-Life , Freeman is a theoretical physicist who finds himself in a living nightmare when his lab’s teleportation experiments accidentally open a portal to another world. A world full of very angry beasties…
The Movie Version: Sci-fi survival horror, as Freeman attempts to battle his way out of a lab that’s increasingly populated by various rampaging horrors.
Played By: Bryan Cranston
John Marston
The Game Character: Red Dead Redemption ’s gravel voiced protagonist, a former bandit attempting to go straight in a country where violence is only ever a horsehair away.
The Movie Version: Westerns are popular again, and this tale of one cowboy’s inability to escape the past would make for a cracking big-screen saga. Clint to direct, perhaps?
Played By: Josh Brolin
George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.