It was very surprising seeing a new video game release that was based on the 90s action movie classic, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Luckily for me, and every other action movie fan out there, Terminator 2D: No Fate was a fun adaptation of the iconic movie that looked fantastic. Being able to play as Sarah Conor, the T-800, and John Connor through an experience that had the look and atmosphere which made the film so heavily beloved was fun and engaging. It not only gave us the best scenes in the movie, but it mixed things up with a few extra layers that made me wish we had a game like this back when the movie was first released in 1991.
But playing through the game got me thinking about how interesting it was to see a classic movie get adapted in the modern day. And with so many great action films from the 80s and 90s to look at, there could be a treasure trove of great video games that could use a Terminator 2D: No Fate type of game on current-day consoles. What’s old can feel new once again. Here are 3 iconic action movies I want to see get the Terminator 2D: No Fate treatment.
Rambo (First Blood series)
No man, no law, no war can stop him
Throughout the 80s and 90s, a few big names were always tied to the action movie genre. One of them was Arnold Schwarzenegger, who went on to make multiple blockbuster films, including The Terminator series. But the other big name of the genre was Sylvester Stallone, who was famous for creating the Rocky movies and the Rambo series. The first few Rambo films are easily some of the best movies in the genre, and have been used as a basis for different video games released over the years. We’ve seen action platformers, shooters, and on-rails-styled games based on the character, all of which had varying degrees of success.
But what if the first three Rambo movies were put into the hands of Bitmap Bearu and developed into a game similar to Terminator 2D: No Fate? The result could be an amazing action game that could adapt a version of Rambo that many people would love to play through. While the original movie that introduced the world to Rambo, First Blood from 1982, isn’t enough to make up one full game, covering the trilogy of films from the 80s would be a great basis for one. There’s a lot more action and bad guys getting blown up in both Rambo: First Blood Part 2 and Rambo III that could play out similar to what was done in the stages of Terminator 2D: No Fate.
The beauty of this with a series like Rambo is that there could also be a lot of variety for gameplay. Terminator 2D: No Fate keeps things simple with 2D platforming and shooting, which could be done for Rambo as well. But things like shooting on rails and driving could be part of the experience in some way, taking what was done in Terminator 2D: No Fate a bit further, applying it to a 1980s military type of setting. If there’s any action movie star that could have a game to compete on the same level as something with Arnold Schwarzenegger, it’s definitely Sylvester Stallone.
Mission Impossible
Your mission, should you choose to accept
One of the biggest action movie franchises that first started in the 90s was Mission Impossible. However, the movies are based off a television series from 1966, which went on to air seven seasons on television. The first movie starring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt is arguably one of the best films released in the decade, which went on to spawn multiple sequels in the years that followed. While there have been a few games based on Mission Impossible for platforms like the NES, the Nintendo 64, and the original PlayStation, all of them had a mediocre reception upon their releases.
Terminator 2D: No Fate is a game that jumps between perspectives from different characters, including some of the most iconic scenes from the movie it’s based on. This type of approach could work for something like Mission Impossible, especially during the parts of the original film where Ethan Hunt is working with various other agents. Fighting enemies and moving through locations featured in the film could be pretty neat, especially if things are rendered with the same level of detail as the stages that Terminator 2D: No Fate adapted from the film. Even something like the iconic Mission Impossible theme could be remixed in a clever way for each stage, just like Terminator 2D: No Fate had done with the melody of the Terminator 2: Judgment Day soundtrack.
The best scenes of the movie could also look fantastic if rendered in the same visual style as Terminator 2D: No Fate. Taking control of Ethan Hunt or other characters as they try to complete their mission would be interesting when covering all aspects of the movie’s plot. We don’t need to just see Ethan at work, but the rest of his allies he encounters throughout the movie doing things for the mission. I could only imagine seeing the climatic train scene from the end of Mission Impossible as a grand finale that has me controlling a digital Tom Cruise trying to escape a fiery blast from a helicopter.
Aliens
This time, it’s war
The Alien franchise is another series of movies that action movie fans really love. The original Alien film was a horror story set in space, but the sequel shifted in genre and became an action sci-fi film that became iconic in its own right. For some fans, Aliens is the best and most exciting movie of the entire series, even though it deviates from the original vision of Ridley Scott. There’s a hero in Ellen Ripley, multiple allies with guns, and tons of xenomorph foes lurking around every corner. It’s a great setup for a movie, and an even better one for a video game adaptation.
Over the years, there have been multiple games that were based on the Alien franchise, including some for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. Some were adaptations of the films themselves in different ways, while others were spin-offs that were set in the same universe. But none of them truly adapted the events of the movie in a way that was faithful, with the most infamous being the video game based on Alien 3, which changed some of the context of the story. Having a game made like Terminator 2D: No Fate that follows Ripley’s journey after the events on the Nostromo and coming into contact with the Weyland-Yutani company would be exciting and action-packed.
The graphical style of Terminator 2D: No Fate could make for some truly awesome-looking renditions of the xenomorphs and their hive. Going through locations in the film where Ripley and her team have to escape the aliens pursuing them could be very similar to the future timeline stages of Terminator 2D: No Fate. Shooting the xenomorphs and battling different versions of them for boss fights could be really exciting if handled in the same way. And the final battle with the Queen xenomorph could be an awesome encounter if we got to control Ripley using the exosuit cargo loader.
Great potential for more adaptations