'90s Video Games That Would Make Amazing TV Shows

Video game adaptations have finally moved past their tragic history of bad movies and other attempts to translate their stories to other media. This includes successful television shows based on video games, like "Fallout" on Prime Video and "Devil May Cry" on Netflix. Whether it's direct retellings of fan-favorite stories in these various universes or a reimagining of their core premises, Hollywood is looking increasingly at video game properties to adapt. Having said that, there is still an extensive treasure trove of '90s video games that have yet to get the television treatment.

From family-friendly programming to more mature fare, there is no shortage of '90s games that could make the leap to modern television. This should go without saying, but games that did end up receiving some form of television adaptation, like "Donkey Kong Country" or "Castlevania: Rondo of Blood," are not included. Nor does this list include video games that are themselves adaptations of existing movie or television properties. Here are '90s video games that would make amazing TV shows, either in live-action or animation.

Before sending Indiana Jones to discover the fate of Atlantis, LucasArts produced a very different point-and-click adventure with 1990's "The Secret of Monkey Island" for PC. Set sometime when seafaring pirates roamed the Caribbean in the late 17th century to early 18th century, the games follow protagonist Guybrush Threepwood. Guybrush tries to prove himself worthy of becoming a pirate, taking on the undead buccaneer captain LeChuck while romancing the beautiful Elaine Marley. The game was followed by a line of sequels, including the acclaimed "Return to Monkey Island" in 2022.

While there were tentative plans for Lucasfilm to adapt its "Monkey Island" games into an animated movie, nothing ultimately came of this project. An animated television series might make more sense for an adaptation, perhaps suited for Disney+, through Disney's 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm. The show could be Disney's family-friendly alternative to "Pirates of the Caribbean," maintaining similar aesthetics and archetypes but within the familiar world of Guybrush's swashbuckling adventures. With its lush environment and distinct art style, "Monkey Island" could find a whole new audience in animated television.

If we're talking about '90s games that hold up beautifully today, 1995's "Chrono Trigger" definitely needs to be a part of the conversation. Square's masterpiece RPG on the Super Nintendo, the game follows fantasy protagonist Crono as he and his friends discover time portals allowing them to travel to the past and future. After traveling to the distant future, Crono and the rest of his party discover that a villain named Lavos is destined to trigger the apocalypse. Determined to prevent the devastation of their world, Crono recruits heroes from across the timeline to confront Lavos and save the future.

While a short anime special serving as a prequel to "Chrono Trigger" was produced in 1996, the franchise has since been relatively untouched in major animated projects. Given that the game's character designs were developed by "Dragon Ball" creator Akira Toriyama and fit within his signature style, this feels like a wasted opportunity. An anime series based on the game and its spiritual successors could be a slam-dunk project with a huge global audience. And with multiple wild endings for "Chrono Trigger" to choose from, fans could get a presumably canonical conclusion to this time-bending tale.

Another Super Nintendo gem from 1995, albeit one that didn't see an official North American release until 2024, is "Clock Tower." Heavily inspired by movies from Italian filmmaker Dario Argento, the point-and-click horror game follows orphan Jennifer Simpson after she's adopted by the enigmatic Barrows family. Joined by a group of fellow adoptees, Jennifer travels to the remote Barrows Mansion, which is distinguished by a large clock tower as part of the estate. While enduring the horrors of the mansion, including being pursued by a monstrous boy wielding a large pair of scissors, Jennifer uncovers a mystery linked to her long-missing father.

"Clock Tower" is a horror mystery that's ripe for adaptation as a live-action series, especially in our current streaming era. A television version of the story could lean more into the mystery and coming-of-age aspects, punctuated by the game's penchant for tension and bloody horror. Until its recent international remaster for modern platforms, "Clock Tower" was another long-dead video game franchise. With the original game finally available worldwide, "Clock Tower" could see its resurgence take a grander stage with the emergence of a television show based on the property.

One Xbox franchise that needs to be revived is "Banjo-Kazooie," which didn't get its start as a Microsoft title at all. Launching on the Nintendo 64 in 1998, the platforming series is named after a musically inclined bear and bird duo living together at Spiral Mountain. The original game had Banjo and Kazooie venture into the lair of evil witch Gruntilda after she kidnaps Banjo's kid sister Tooty. The game spawned sequels and spin-offs, after which the property was acquired by Microsoft, but it's been dormant since a remaster of the first two games in 2008.

With its quirky and distinctly British sense of humor, "Banjo-Kazooie" could totally work as an animated series. In addition to its familiar aesthetics, any adaptation should maintain the franchise's gibberish language spoken by all of its characters, providing subtitle translations when necessary. And given the title's cheeky tendency to call out its own history and flaws, a show could poke fun at the series' missteps along the way to its television debut. While it looks like Microsoft won't release a "Banjo-Kazooie 3" or any other follow-ups any time soon, a show could give this franchise a much-needed shot in the arm.

Blizzard has a long-standing history of creating immersive, fully realized worlds around its games, particularly with "Warcraft" and "StarCraft." While the former received its own big-budget fantasy movie in 2016, "StarCraft" hasn't been given the movie or television treatment yet. While there have been several novels delving into the entire story of "StarCraft," the franchise is ripe for a television adaptation. If produced properly the show could present audiences with dazzling sci-fi spectacle as it details the interstellar war between humanity, the monstrous Zerg, and the psionically evolved Protoss.

To be clear, any adaptation of "StarCraft" for television, be it live-action or animated, would be an ambitious production. But such a globally dominant real-time strategy franchise, that's been thrilling players worldwide since 1998, deserves no less. With its three primary factions, the show could feature a sweeping, multi-perspective account of the epic war for the cosmos. An exciting and sprawling sci-fi story spanning worlds, with the tides of battle turning constantly, "StarCraft" could feel like event television.