I'm a little surprised not to see the original release of Spongebob: Battle for Bikini Bottom in a list like this, it's often hailed as one of the best licensed games ever made. I also know two obscure ones that people should definitely check out - Piglet's Big Game, which despite the Winnie the Pooh characters is a very surreal horror game with a surprising amount of depth in its atmosphere (I've actually done a video essay talking about the game and how well made it is), and Mata Nui Online Game, a flash web browser visual novel/point and click created to promote Lego's Bionicle franchise, and easily the best licensed game I've ever seen, legit doesn't feel like a licensed game at all. But as a big fan of licensed games, I really enjoyed seeing this list. Great job!
Thanks so much! Battle for Bikini Bottom is admittedly a blank spot for me - before I had a kid, Spongebob wasn't something I ever had on my radar, and I just let the original release pass by without ever trying it out! I just got the remastered version and need to try it out, but I'll be on the lookout for the original release when I'm at conventions! And excellent suggestions on Piglet's Big Game and Mata Nui - I'll look into both of them! Thanks so much for watching and for commenting! :)
@@SquarePegs Best of luck with the remake of Battle for Bikini Bottom - I'd go as far as to call it the worst remake of a game I've ever played, it's *really* rough and blatantly unfinished.
Yessssss! X-Men Origins: Wolverine for PS3/360 is phenomenal, and I’m glad to see it here! It really is one of the rare examples of a game that completely outshines the movie (not that it’s hard to do considering the movie it’s based on stunk). Every time I’ve showed people the opening 10 minutes, jaws-dropped for every person I showed it to. Star Wars: Force Unleashed was also a great game that really was a ton of fun. Scott Pilgrim is a great beat-‘em-up that I finally beat last year on the Switch version. I forgot about the Dungrons and Dragons Capcom games. I have it on the Wii U and I need to go back to beating those lol. And Spider-Man for PS4…yeah, that game is a masterpiece. Easily my favorite licensed game. Excellent video as always man!
Great video. That’s convinced me to buy Batman Brave and the Bold for Wii! I’d say the following as a start: Star Wars Revenge of the Sith - surprisingly good GBA Brawler Batman Animated Series - Beautiful on Gameboy Batman & Robin - SNES All the Batman Arkham games Robocop - Gameboy Simpsons Hit and Run - GameCube The Simpsons game - Xbox 360 Ghostbusters - Genesis Disney games on Genesis New Ghostbusters 2 PAL NES Turtles games on NES and SNES Willow on NES Now that I think about it there are A LOT of good licensed games out there! Almost don’t know where the reputation comes from!
Oh man, that is an absolute STACK of fantastic suggestions! I've played a lot of them, but things like Robocop and Revenge of the Sith are things I'll need to invest time into! Thanks for watching. :)
I've often heard good things about Batman the Brave and the Bold game and really want to check it out. Loved Wolverine. What an amazing example of bad movie turned fantastic game. Longtime fans of the LEGO games. They've done so good with that license. Force Unleashed, hell yeah! Dbz loves don't take half an hour to pull off in the anime, c'mon man! It takes twice as long, two part episodes. What a noob. Lol j/k Scott Pilgrim for the win. There's a reason we went for that big LRG set. Mysteria is a great choice too--here's a game that's FINALLY getting the love it deserves. Of course Spidey had to be here! Great list Jay!
The Wolf Among Us is a masterpiece, truly. It was on the short list, but I'm saving it for a video next month that it's going to feature heavily in. The entire Fables universe is amazing, I read the comic from issue 1 and loved it and all its spin-offs. :)
How about the one that changed fighting games forever...X-Men: Children of the Atom? I remember seeing it in the arcades back in '95, and was absolutely floored seeing the comics come to life. Seeing Omega Red's Omega Destroyer was a literal "holy s***" moment. Of course, subsequent releases improved much further on gameplay, but COTA started it all!
Gcg is the one who told me that Wolverine game was awesome and i still need to finish it. I never really gave the Spider-Man game a chance need to go back and revisit
Awesome vid I have been saying forever not all licensed games suck I can probably compile a huge list of games 1 I highly recommend is monsters vs aliens it’s a very causal game with original voice actors I frequently go back to it
I got Stranger Things 3 for my PS4. Wasn't sure if I would like it, but it was a fun experience. If you are a fan of Stranger Things, it was pretty good. Lot's of fetchy questy things though. But growing up, I had Advanced Dungeon and Dragons Treasures of Taramin or something like that for my Intellivision. I loved it. I think there have always been good licensed games out there. Only the bad ones suck soooo bad, those are the ones we talk about the most!
It is very true that the bad ones are SUPER bad, and they tarnish every other licensed game as a result! I'll need to check out that AD&D game! I've got Stranger Things 3 on my Switch, but I haven't played it yet, as I'm still in the middle of season 3 of the show (I know...I know). I might knock that out this week though so I can try it out!
surprised you didn't go with JLH: The Flash on this one, tho you arguably couldve flooded the list with over-reaching GBA titles (would loved to have seen Astro Boy on here for myself.)
Astro Boy was specifically held for an Anime based licensed games video down the road - it's too good to ignore. As for JLHF, I have no excuse other than I completely spaced that it even existed for this video, and I really wanted to feature Invincible Iron Man since I got the FF: Flame On! game a few weeks back.
So many great choices! Little disappointed you went with Star Wars Force Unleashed instead of Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. Love that game. Still remember running out to a Best Buy to pick it up for pc. I am very glad you included D&D Chronicles of Mystara. Had so much fun playing that in the arcades. One of the cool things growing up as a kid was being able to travel with dad for his work over the summer. He traveled all over Florida repairing movie projectors. Often times those theaters were in malls so I would get a chance to discover all sorts of arcade games that my home town didn't have. Here are the few games I would add to your list. Shadowrun Returns for the PC. I actually kickstarted that game and it was a blast to play. Sentinels of the Multiverse for mobile and pc is an excellent adaptation of the amazing card game. I know Sentinels doesn't use a license from an existing comicbook company but it is by far the best superhero card game I have ever played. Lastly I would add Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the Arcade Game. I wouldn't be able to have a list of licensed games without including at least one Ninja Turtle game.
I gotta hold SOME games for future episodes! ;) KOTOR is one of my all-time favorite games, and it will DEFINITELY be featured in an upcoming video. Shadowrun was on the short list, actually! I need to get around to playing Sentinels - I haven't had a chance yet and I'm kind of kicking myself for it because I love the tabletop version so much (and the Sentinels crossover expansion with Bottom of the Ninth!)
They don’t all suck, just most of them do. Some of my favorite games are licensed titles but I do hate more licensed games then I like them since they mostly consist of games that are rushed to the market but when they aren’t rushed.... they are sometimes epic
I don't even think most of them suck - I legit believe that the ones that DO suck so SO DAMN BADLY that they cause other games to be viewed negatively. The Punisher on the NES is a perfect example - it's an LJN game, so it must suck. But it's actually a really fun game that most people didn't give the time of day to because of games like Wolverine and Silver Surfer.
The SEGA Disney games! I love Castle of Illusions and World of Illusions. One licensed game that is awesome is the Rocky game for PS2 and Gamecube. It is my favourite boxing game.
To be fair: the game has not aged especially well (a bit glitchy, a bit repetetive) , but the license elevates it above its peers and makes it more fun.
One of the best games I ever played was X-men Origins Wolverine the game, regardless of how the movie turned out the it was a great hack n' slash game.
I actually had a bit of dialogue in the original cut of this video where I caution people off of TFU2, but I cut it out just because it was so anti message from what the rest of the video was trying to impart. I think it's an alright game, but when I played it, there were an overabundance of bugs in it that killed my enjoyment.
@@SquarePegs wasn't the development cut short by the publisher? The story I heard was one day the publisher came in and said "Finish the story where you're at and ship it".
truth, only some suck, a lot aren't all that bad and a lot are merely medicore rather than sucking. And there's a lot more licensed games than people think, (technically)
I'm a little surprised not to see the original release of Spongebob: Battle for Bikini Bottom in a list like this, it's often hailed as one of the best licensed games ever made.
I also know two obscure ones that people should definitely check out - Piglet's Big Game, which despite the Winnie the Pooh characters is a very surreal horror game with a surprising amount of depth in its atmosphere (I've actually done a video essay talking about the game and how well made it is), and Mata Nui Online Game, a flash web browser visual novel/point and click created to promote Lego's Bionicle franchise, and easily the best licensed game I've ever seen, legit doesn't feel like a licensed game at all.
But as a big fan of licensed games, I really enjoyed seeing this list. Great job!
Thanks so much! Battle for Bikini Bottom is admittedly a blank spot for me - before I had a kid, Spongebob wasn't something I ever had on my radar, and I just let the original release pass by without ever trying it out! I just got the remastered version and need to try it out, but I'll be on the lookout for the original release when I'm at conventions!
And excellent suggestions on Piglet's Big Game and Mata Nui - I'll look into both of them! Thanks so much for watching and for commenting! :)
@@SquarePegs Best of luck with the remake of Battle for Bikini Bottom - I'd go as far as to call it the worst remake of a game I've ever played, it's *really* rough and blatantly unfinished.
Shrek Super Slam is an amazing one too. You can tell it was made with love. Plenty of secrets, characters, and game modes.
Yessssss! X-Men Origins: Wolverine for PS3/360 is phenomenal, and I’m glad to see it here! It really is one of the rare examples of a game that completely outshines the movie (not that it’s hard to do considering the movie it’s based on stunk). Every time I’ve showed people the opening 10 minutes, jaws-dropped for every person I showed it to. Star Wars: Force Unleashed was also a great game that really was a ton of fun. Scott Pilgrim is a great beat-‘em-up that I finally beat last year on the Switch version. I forgot about the Dungrons and Dragons Capcom games. I have it on the Wii U and I need to go back to beating those lol. And Spider-Man for PS4…yeah, that game is a masterpiece. Easily my favorite licensed game. Excellent video as always man!
Wolverine was kind of the original impetus behind this video when I got it again last year - it's been percolating for that long. :P
This would be a fun regular series! Busting video game myths.
The idea HAS crossed my mind, my friend. ;)
Great video. That’s convinced me to buy Batman Brave and the Bold for Wii!
I’d say the following as a start:
Star Wars Revenge of the Sith - surprisingly good GBA Brawler
Batman Animated Series - Beautiful on Gameboy
Batman & Robin - SNES
All the Batman Arkham games
Robocop - Gameboy
Simpsons Hit and Run - GameCube
The Simpsons game - Xbox 360
Ghostbusters - Genesis
Disney games on Genesis
New Ghostbusters 2 PAL NES
Turtles games on NES and SNES
Willow on NES
Now that I think about it there are A LOT of good licensed games out there! Almost don’t know where the reputation comes from!
Oh man, that is an absolute STACK of fantastic suggestions! I've played a lot of them, but things like Robocop and Revenge of the Sith are things I'll need to invest time into! Thanks for watching. :)
Those D&D arcade games are legit!
I've often heard good things about Batman the Brave and the Bold game and really want to check it out.
Loved Wolverine. What an amazing example of bad movie turned fantastic game.
Longtime fans of the LEGO games. They've done so good with that license.
Force Unleashed, hell yeah! Dbz loves don't take half an hour to pull off in the anime, c'mon man! It takes twice as long, two part episodes. What a noob. Lol j/k
Scott Pilgrim for the win. There's a reason we went for that big LRG set.
Mysteria is a great choice too--here's a game that's FINALLY getting the love it deserves.
Of course Spidey had to be here!
Great list Jay!
Thank you so much! I Nerd for licensed games, what can I say. ;)
Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise is my favorite. In the end, it is a Yakuza game with FOTNS skin, and it is amazing.
Ooooh, I need to check that out! Love FOTNS and had no idea that game even existed!!
Cool video dude, beat em ups are not my cup of tea, but that D&D one looked awesome. Ill check it out
They're super fun games!
The Wolf Among Us is definitely one of my favorite licensed games as it really captured the feel of the comics
The Wolf Among Us is a masterpiece, truly. It was on the short list, but I'm saving it for a video next month that it's going to feature heavily in. The entire Fables universe is amazing, I read the comic from issue 1 and loved it and all its spin-offs. :)
How about the one that changed fighting games forever...X-Men: Children of the Atom? I remember seeing it in the arcades back in '95, and was absolutely floored seeing the comics come to life. Seeing Omega Red's Omega Destroyer was a literal "holy s***" moment.
Of course, subsequent releases improved much further on gameplay, but COTA started it all!
COTA was and is a perfect example of a license done right. Great suggestion!!
I am new to your channel so I am subscribing and going back to watch your videos.
Oh Captain, my Captain - welcome aboard! I hope I can continue to earn your subscription and views. :)
Gcg is the one who told me that Wolverine game was awesome and i still need to finish it. I never really gave the Spider-Man game a chance need to go back and revisit
Spider-Man is well worth playing - especially on the PS5 where the load times are non-existent.
Awesome vid I have been saying forever not all licensed games suck I can probably compile a huge list of games 1 I highly recommend is monsters vs aliens it’s a very causal game with original voice actors I frequently go back to it
I got Stranger Things 3 for my PS4. Wasn't sure if I would like it, but it was a fun experience. If you are a fan of Stranger Things, it was pretty good. Lot's of fetchy questy things though. But growing up, I had Advanced Dungeon and Dragons Treasures of Taramin or something like that for my Intellivision. I loved it. I think there have always been good licensed games out there. Only the bad ones suck soooo bad, those are the ones we talk about the most!
It is very true that the bad ones are SUPER bad, and they tarnish every other licensed game as a result! I'll need to check out that AD&D game!
I've got Stranger Things 3 on my Switch, but I haven't played it yet, as I'm still in the middle of season 3 of the show (I know...I know). I might knock that out this week though so I can try it out!
surprised you didn't go with JLH: The Flash on this one, tho you arguably couldve flooded the list with over-reaching GBA titles (would loved to have seen Astro Boy on here for myself.)
Astro Boy was specifically held for an Anime based licensed games video down the road - it's too good to ignore. As for JLHF, I have no excuse other than I completely spaced that it even existed for this video, and I really wanted to feature Invincible Iron Man since I got the FF: Flame On! game a few weeks back.
Alright, you got me thinking I need to go back and try not only that Batman game, but also Wolverine.i totally skipped them back in the day.
They're both worth it!
Do you know if the D&D game was released physical, it looks really cool. Great list, cheers 🍻
Digital only, sadly, but well worth finding! They're great on Steam.
Lego City Undercover is very underrated game and by far one of the best Lego games made by TT (Travellers Tales).
It's probably my favorite LEGO game, if I sit and think about it. I like the licensed games, but LCU is something REALLY special. Thanks for watching!
Give me all your power. waagggh Three episodes later.
Deadpool for the PS3 was excellent! He knows he's in a video game and breaks the 4th wall all the time.
Fantastic suggestion!! I love that it's so in tune with the characterization of Wade knowing he's a character from the comics. :)
So many great choices! Little disappointed you went with Star Wars Force Unleashed instead of Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. Love that game. Still remember running out to a Best Buy to pick it up for pc. I am very glad you included D&D Chronicles of Mystara. Had so much fun playing that in the arcades. One of the cool things growing up as a kid was being able to travel with dad for his work over the summer. He traveled all over Florida repairing movie projectors. Often times those theaters were in malls so I would get a chance to discover all sorts of arcade games that my home town didn't have.
Here are the few games I would add to your list. Shadowrun Returns for the PC. I actually kickstarted that game and it was a blast to play. Sentinels of the Multiverse for mobile and pc is an excellent adaptation of the amazing card game. I know Sentinels doesn't use a license from an existing comicbook company but it is by far the best superhero card game I have ever played. Lastly I would add Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the Arcade Game. I wouldn't be able to have a list of licensed games without including at least one Ninja Turtle game.
I gotta hold SOME games for future episodes! ;) KOTOR is one of my all-time favorite games, and it will DEFINITELY be featured in an upcoming video.
Shadowrun was on the short list, actually! I need to get around to playing Sentinels - I haven't had a chance yet and I'm kind of kicking myself for it because I love the tabletop version so much (and the Sentinels crossover expansion with Bottom of the Ninth!)
Great list, another GBA Marvel game added to my wishlist now, thank you.
Enjoy! It's a lot of fun!
They don’t all suck, just most of them do. Some of my favorite games are licensed titles but I do hate more licensed games then I like them since they mostly consist of games that are rushed to the market but when they aren’t rushed.... they are sometimes epic
I don't even think most of them suck - I legit believe that the ones that DO suck so SO DAMN BADLY that they cause other games to be viewed negatively. The Punisher on the NES is a perfect example - it's an LJN game, so it must suck. But it's actually a really fun game that most people didn't give the time of day to because of games like Wolverine and Silver Surfer.
Spiderman 2 For PS2 was the best in my book.
The SEGA Disney games! I love Castle of Illusions and World of Illusions. One licensed game that is awesome is the Rocky game for PS2 and Gamecube. It is my favourite boxing game.
I've never played that Rocky game! I'll have to check it out!
To be fair: the game has not aged especially well (a bit glitchy, a bit repetetive) , but the license elevates it above its peers and makes it more fun.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy by Interplay in the 90s was great.
I'll have to check that out!! (HI MARY!!!)
Hey, Jay! 👋👋👋
I remember having trouble with that game back then. Loved the novelization though.
One of the best games I ever played was X-men Origins Wolverine the game, regardless of how the movie turned out the it was a great hack n' slash game.
100% agreed! (That's why it's on the list!) ;)
Great choice with Spider-Man. Also a good pick with The Force Unleashed and not the Force Unleashed 2 haha
I actually had a bit of dialogue in the original cut of this video where I caution people off of TFU2, but I cut it out just because it was so anti message from what the rest of the video was trying to impart. I think it's an alright game, but when I played it, there were an overabundance of bugs in it that killed my enjoyment.
@@SquarePegs wasn't the development cut short by the publisher? The story I heard was one day the publisher came in and said "Finish the story where you're at and ship it".
What? No Superman 64? Screw that!
Sadly, no. As much as I'd like to put it on here, I'm not a masochist.
truth, only some suck, a lot aren't all that bad and a lot are merely medicore rather than sucking. And there's a lot more licensed games than people think, (technically)
I coulda been an ass and listed a bunch of sports games, but I decided to actually do a real video. ;)
Coming back to Force Unleashed, it makes me not wanna touch Jedi Fallen Order anymore. Force Unleashed is just so much better.
I don't know that I necessarily agree with that, but I think it stands on its own two feet very well.
Riddick
I'd argue that Riddick the game did more for the character and the franchise than the movie did - FANTASTIC suggestion!!
Would you consider Def Jam a licensed game?
I would (and it's on the list for Licensed Music Games that I'm doing in a couple months)!
Nice video
Thanks very much for watching!
The wolverine game is better than the movie
Zero lies detected.