Licensed Games Can Easily Be Quality
Milking the cash-cow is the primary intension with franchise titles. So licensed games have the tendency of being dismissed as tripe before they're even released. Things get lost in the transition to game and gameplay often ends up crap, since development really only cares to do just enough to make the game sell.
This isn't always the case. It's easier to find good licensed games than many care to realize, and though it became increasingly hard during the X-'Cube-PS2 era when the production of shovelware skyrocketed, recent years have been as kind as ages further back, when games tended to be one of the main ways for franchises to garner money and they had to be genuinely well-developed.
My personal favorites:
Simpsons, X-men, and the TMNT series (Arcade)- Who hasn't wasted quarter among quarter among token on these classic sidescrolling beat-em-ups? All these games had vivid sprite animations and great sound quality (plus voices!) with ingenous stages and bosses. Maybe it's just my nostalgia glasses on, but it really felt like an episode out of these shows. To make up for watered down tech, the SNES port of Turtles in Time had fun extras, new enemies, and a more epic final boss fight to put it on par with its original.
The Warriors (PS2)- The use of licensing in The Warriors was actually meant for avant-garde purposes instead of any attempt to cash-in on a name. But that's what makes the game so good; it takes the cult-classic film and adds extra layers of story that make total sense, and the in-game mechanics and level design are just as clever. It did nothing but add on the experience of the movie while serving a nostalgic and genre-savvy tribute to beat-em-ups of the past.
Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3, 360)- By now you've heard all of the rave reviews and even played it, so this is self-explanatory. A romp through a less explored but still prominent part of the Batman world, with a wondrously foreboding atmosphere, rich story, and fun gameplay. The ending is quite a let down, but the rest of the game is incredible. Honest to goodness, the best superhero game of all time.
Spongebob: Battle for Bikini Bottom (PS2)- This game was a pleasant surprise for Spongebob fans and those who appreciated 3d platformers. It doesn't add anything to the genre, but it does take from the best of it. And together with quality presentation and the penchant humor of the series, it becomes a total diamond in the rough.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic I & II (PC, Xbox)- Moving us a long, longer time ago to that same galaxy far, far away, the KotOR games take place ages before the saga of the Skywalkers and luminously expands upon the universe of a franchise with a mix of wit, story, immersion, and the d20 RPG system. Given, the games were loaded with stupid glitches, but not enough to detract from the experience. Plus the KotR series does something that the original trilogy and even the love-or-hate prequels were unable to do; blur the lines between good and evil in respect to the Force. That alone makes them important parts of the "Extended Universe"
Stargate (SNES)- I rented this one lots as a kid. A sidescrolling action-platformer based on the movie, it wasn't without flaws; the controls are bothersome until you get used to them, you're forced to restart at annoying parts when you die, and the ship segments are a pain. But the graphics were stellar and animations were fluid for the SNES, the controls became more natural as you eased into them, and the gameplay was addicting for all of its challenge.
Judge Dredd (SNES)- Similar to Stargate, this is also a sidescrolling action-platformer based on its source material. But it honestly takes more from the 2000 AD comics than the movie whose release it coincided with. Partially for that reason and also because of its great controls and equally challenging but interesting gameplay, it's one of the better movie-to-game adaptations of the mid 90's.
Duck Tales (NES)- It may seem like just another sidescrolling platformer, but I've never seen an 8-bit game capture the spirit of a series so well. The graphics were good for their time, the background music was memorable, and the gameplay was standard but high-quality for all its straightforwardness. And on the topic of Disney games, we might as well include...
The 16-bit Disney games (SNES, Genesis)- From The "Mickey Illusion" series to Aladdin for Genesis to Gargoyles to even Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow, almost all of the Disney games that came out during the 16-bit era were either stellar or incredible. Featuring smart level design, great sound, convincingly series-like animation, all while properly immersing players in the same worlds as the respective series or movie they're based on (noticing a trend here?)
Goldeneye (N64)- Truth be told, Goldeneye really only did for console shooters of its day what Halo did for console shooters of its day; take some (keyword on SOME) of the best of what was on PC and bring it over to the consoles in a way that would make it interesting, challenging, but also easy to pick up and play. Even with it's now-archaic graphics and gameplay, that's obviously the one thing that made it good. Whether or not it captured the essence of the movie it was based is arguable, but its mark in the timeline of video games is undeniable.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (SNES)- That said, a licensed game doesn't need to capture the essence of its source material to be good. TMNT Tournament Fighters was the best fighting game of the 16-bit era, being its own title and not a simmered down port like any of the Street Fighter console releases. Even with four palette swaps among 10 characters (the turtles, who have very varied movesets anyway), the game was amazingly deep and balanced, with vivid graphics, awesome sound/music, and tight controls. Many professional fighting gamers actually stand by the game as a uniquely beautiful but underrated gem. If you fool around with it for a bit, you'd realize it plays way more like Street Fighter 4 than any other Street Fighter game ever did, which means it was truly ahead of its time. Do note that I'm referring to the SNES version, not the absolutely horrid Genesis one that's a completely different one.
Marvel vs Capcom 2 (Arc,DC,PS2,XB,XBLA)- Didn't think I'd bring this one out did you? A case of a licensed game hiding in plain sight, MvC2 may be incredibly unbalanced but withstood a decade to become one of the most revered fighting games in American history. By bringing a good chunk of the Marvel pantheon, and featuring so many characters and so much variety (though your forced to trade that for depth the better you get at the game), it sealed its fate as a timeless classic.
Tatsunoko vs Capcom (Wii, Arcades)- So by extension, I had to mention the upcoming Tatsunoko vs Capcom. For those who don't know, Tatsunoko is the Japanese animation company responsible for shows we've known here in the states as Teknoman, G-Force, and Speed Racer. The idea of Teknoman aka Tekkaman Blade teamed with or up against Megaman X's Zero is rapture-inducing, and the game (which has already been out in Japan for some time now) features the best of the "Marvel vs." quadrilogy, with better balance and some of its own enhancements.
Are there any licensed games you also think were awesome? How about franchises that you think deserved a game? Or franchises that should have had a good game? Because I know I'm still holding out on the hopes for a Transformers game that's actually decent...