Hollywood has been trying to adapt video games to live-action for years, though it hasn't had much success in bringing some games to the big screen, especially fighting games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, which already have a loyal fan base.
Unfortunately, fighting games with long continuities present a number of obstacles for live-action adaptations, given the difficult task of trying to make multiple games' storylines and characters work in a short two-hour movie. Let's break down each of the live-action fighting game film adaptations to see which of these fighting movies would be crowned champion.
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10 Tekken: Kazuya's Revenge was a disappointing prequel despite decent fight scenes.
The largely unknown Tekken: Kazuya's Revenge was released in 2014 and serves as a prequel to the 2009 adaptation of the hit fighting game series, which follows the amnesiac fighter named "K" (played by Kane Kosugi) who is manipulated into becoming a fighter as he discovers his memory.
The film's title erased much of the mystery about K's identity, and while the fight choreography excelled in the prequel, Kazuya's Revenge fell short in almost every other respect, as well as failing as a prequel with numerous inconsistencies.
9 The King of Fighters didn't have much in common with the video game.
SNK's hit fighting game series, The King of Fighters, originally served as a way for various characters from other game series to fight together alongside the original characters in a deadly tournament using an innovative team battle system, which was loosely adapted in 2010.
TheKing of Fighters movie introduced new sci-fi elements that placed the fighting tournament inexplicably in alternate dimensions, while miscasting the game's original characters, such as Kyo Kusanagi, to become a flawed and forgettable adaptation.
8 Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun Li features bad fight scenes and performances.
The live-action Street Fighter franchise was rebooted in 2009 with Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, which focused on the origin story of the titular fighter, taking place before the events of the game and establishing the rivalry between Chun-Li and M. Bison.
Unfortunately, some roles were oddly cast and the movie didn't feature many of the game's most popular fighters, which was probably for the best, as the movie's fight scenes were poorly done and would have been a disservice had other characters appeared.
7 Mortal Kombat: Annihilation felt like a low-budget direct-to-video sequel.
The 1997 sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation was based on the events of the first film and the Mortal Kombat 3 game, in which the defenders of Earthrealm traveled to Outworld to fight Shao Kahn and his warriors.
Although the sequel was highly anticipated by fans of the first film, the recast characters, bad fight scenes, terrible dialogue, and mediocre special effects gave Annihilation a straight-to-video movie feel that left fans of the film and video game disappointed and fearful of any further attempts at a live-action adaptation.
6 Double Dragon turned a violent fighting game into a flashy children's movie.
There were several video game adaptations in the 1990s that hoped to capitalize on the success of fighting games, such as Double Dragon, which was an arcade hit and pioneer of the beat-em-up genre that followed two brothers as they fought through the gang-controlled territory to save a damsel in distress.
1994's Double Dragon attempted to reimagine the light supernatural elements of the game series and mixed them with a post-apocalyptic storyline that couldn't decide if it was a kids' movie for adults or an adult movie for kids, so it ended up being basically for no one.
5 Street Fighter quickly became one of the worst video game adaptations.
Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia starred in 1994's Street Fighter, which explored the feud between leaders Guile and M. Bison and their respective armies of world warriors, and featured quite a few characters from the fan-favorite fighting game.
Unfortunately, Street Fighter had a ridiculous plot, even worse dialogue and cheesy action scenes filled with bad fight choreography that focused on too many characters (while relegating important characters like Ryu and Ken to little more than cameos), tarnishing video game adaptations for years.
4 DOA: Dead Or Alive had great fight choreography but not much else.
The Dead Or Alive fighting game series separated itself from the rest of the genre with a cast of mostly female characters and a focus on their sex appeal, which eventually led to spin-offs that abandoned fighting altogether and were little more than a swimsuit photo shoot simulator.
The movie followed in the same vein as the games and focused on female fighters invited to a private island to compete in the DOA fighter tournament so they also investigated their host's ulterior motives. DOA wasn't very gripping story-wise, though it did feature some fun fight scenes that helped set the movie above the rest.
3 faithful-looking Tekken characters and a post-apocalyptic twist.
One of the most common changes in video game adaptations over the years has been the inclusion of a post-apocalyptic plot that doesn't always reflect the game's storyline, something that happened in 2009's Tekken.
Set in a world run by large corporations hosting the Iron Fist Tournament, Tekken focused on the dynamic between the Mishima/Kazama families and featured fairly accurate-looking characters with fast-paced fight scenes that served to distract from the numerous changes made to the game's source material that removed the demonic storyline.
2 The 1995 Mortal Kombat had a unique blend of violence and cheese.
Despite the failure of previous video game adaptations, fans were excited about the 1995 version of Mortal Kombat, as the game had swept the board on its 1992 release, and the film featured a faithful look and an action-packed tournament.
The original Mortal K ombat succeeded in several respects by staying true to the game's story and focusing on a few key characters. There were some cheesy moments and disappointing characterizations of popular fighters like Sub-Zero and Scorpion, but 1995's Mortal K ombat remained a standard for video game adaptations for years to come.
1 The 2021 Mortal Kombat reboot introduced new divisive elements.
A new version of theMortal Kombat franchise was released in2021 with the modern reboot largely staying true to the game's continuity and established characters, although the film introduced some new elements that proved divisive among fans.
The new main character that was created for the reboot failed to impress fans, and the mystical abilities used by some of the game's characters were now connected to an Arcana power source that was activated by a mark that resembled the MK logo. The fight scenes and dedication to the game's storyline made this one of the better video game adaptations, but it still had room for improvement.