Good Licensed Games?

[MRSKELETON]

I'm starting to see alot of licensed games are getting better, Spider-man 2, Ghostrider and the new TMNT GBA game (Which is the SEX) So, any of you guys know decent ones?

[jameseightbitstar]

Honstly I kinda think "licensed games suck" is just a fanboy myth. I've honestly never played one that was all that much worse than your average non-licensed game.

Batman for NES was decent, Batman Returns for Genesis was good, the 16-Bit versions of Hook were awesome, many of Konami's Tiny Toons games were awesome, most of the Disney-based games I've played weren't so bad either.

And of course there's Goldeneye.

[kal]

Jungle Book and Aladin both have their charms.

[wyrdwad]

Willow for the NES was one of the best action RPGs of its time, and still is fairly impressive when you consider how ahead of its time it was.

And if you're counting Japanese games, the PSP Brave Story title is absolutely OUTSTANDING. Easily the single best licensed game I've ever played, period.

-Tom

[The bag of sand]

Die Hard Trilogy for PSX is awesome.

[vysethebold]

My Picks:
Chronicles of Riddick (PC, XB)
Sega Disney Titles: Aladdin, Lion King, Castle of Illusion, World of Illusion, Tailspin (Gen)
Chip N Dale: Rescue Rangers (NES)
Duck Tales (NES)
The EA Lord of the Rings Games (PC, PS2, XB, XB360)
Little Nemo: The Dream Master (NES)
Any Tiny Toons game (NES, SNES, Gen)
Some Star Wars games
Spider-Man (PSX, DC)
TMNT 16 bit and before and apparently now with the Ubisoft one (I haven't played it but really want to)

It really depends on the developer on whether the licensed game is good. Usually Activision, Capcom, and Konami are the best at making these. They do have some pretty bad ones, too, but they generally do a good job. There are plenty out there that are really good but many are just shoved out there for a quick cash fix by random game companies, especially with GBA/DS ports.

[ahnslaught]

The original Batman for the Genesis was also a very good side scrolling action game, with pretty impressive graphics in its day; however, I don't think any licensed game has topped Chronicles of Riddick - it's so polished and so much better than any of the movies it's based on. It's probably one of my top 5 single player FPS experiences, with its only flaw being that it drags a bit storywise, IMO, when you get into the cycle of trying to break out and keep getting caught for like the third or fourth time. Other than that, it's a completely exciting adventure with no filler or inane puzzles.

I'm also really looking forward to The Darkness (also from Starbreeze). If it's anything like Riddick, it's going to be amazing.

Turning to the actual licensed games being crap discussion, I think it's even narrower than that. Generally, they can be good, or at the very least competent, but with the sole exception of movie tie-ins. Somehow, with very, very few exceptions, movie tie-ins always manage to suck. If the game has time to develop and isn't hampered by the movie, though, they can be great. Look at stuff like the Capcom fighters, more recent superhero top down action-RPGs, and Lord of the Rings games post-movie release as some proof of that.

[neomerge]

If you havent played Batman Returns for SNES your missing out. This is one of the best Batman game I ever played. I think its a lot better than the Genises version.

Willow had amazing graphics for a nes game. That game almost seems like a turbo grafx-16 "16-bit" game.

[YourAverageJoe]

Dragonball Z Budokai 3. An okay Tekken clone with unoriginal characters, but the game itself has so much energy that you really couldn't care less.

[wyrdwad]

There were also a surprisingly large number of quality Disney-based titles back in the day. I distinctly remember LOVING "Mickey Mouse's Castle of Illusion" and "Donald Duck in Quackshot" on the Genesis, both of which were simply WONDERFUL platformers. The SNES Mickey Mouse game, too, while nowhere near as good as Castle of Illusion, was also a lot of fun.

And another great NES title based on a movie was "Gremlins II: The New Batch". Man, what a great game that was... and it had some seriously rockin' music, too!

And we mustn't forget the defining movie moment of the 80s, which never did get a theatrical sequel, but saw three distinct video game adaptions, all of which were outstanding: THE GOONIES!! (: Goonies 2 is still one of the best games on the NES, *period*.

-Tom

[dai jou bu]

Capcom did a pretty good job with their final game using Marvel characters before their license expired.

EDIT: Oh wait, someone mentioned that.

I heard Bleach DS was good.

Wagamama Mirumo de Pon Taisen Mahoudama is also not that bad either.

[Weasel]

Beavis & Butthead: Virtual Stupidity is on my list of the best adventure games ever. While it pales in comparison to stuff like The Dig, Full Throttle, Space Quest V, and Hotel Dusk, the very fact that it's a B&B game and it's actually good puts it right up there.

[sideshow]

Ice Age 2 turned out suprisingly well. The only drawback with the game is that its short and ends kinda abruptly.

[brianc]

Astro Boy GBA is very well done. It's better balanced and more challenging than Gunstar Super Heroes, at least for the US/EU version (which has been improved over the JP one). It's one of my favorite GBA games.

I found the Capcom Disney games to be quite good. Duck Tales 2 and Darkwing Duck weren't mentioned yet. I found them both to be very good on both NES and GB. Magical Quest SNES is also very cool.

I like Cool Spot quite a bit. It was from the makers of the Genesis Aladdin (which was designed by Virgin Games, not SEGA. It was only published by SEGA), which I also like quite a bit. In fact, some of the gameplay elements like the way Aladdin jumps and the map screen that appears at the beginning were inspired by Cool Spot.

[zzz]

I am a firm believer that for whatever reason licensed games that are released in America, regardless of where they are made, are disproportionately likely to be horrible games. With only a few of them even being playable. It is getting better than it was. PS and PS2 era licensed games that get released in America are way better than they were for SNES and NES, generally speaking. The games that get released in Japan do not seem to have ever been any more or less likely to be bad however.

A few favorites:

Ranma 1/2 Chogi Ranbu Hen
Dragon Ball Z Hyper Dimension
Gundam Wing Endless Duel
That Konami Chibi Makuro Chan game for SFC (name?)
Wedding Peach
Other 16-bit DBZ fighters
Select games from Bandai's Battle series
EVERY GAME EVER MADE BY CHARACTER SOFT