Hollywood has been attempting to adapt video games to live-action for years, though there hasn't been a lot of success in bringing some games to the big screen— especially fighting games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat that have already established and loyal fanbases.
Unfortunately, fighting games with long continuities present a number of hurdles for live-action adaptations given the difficult task of trying to make multiple games worth of storylines and characters work in a short two-hour movie. We'll be taking a closer look at every live-action fighting game movie adaptation to see which of these fighting movies would be crowned champion.
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 while he uncovers his memory.
The title of the movie erased much of the mystery about K's identity, and while the fight choreography stood out in the prequel, Kazuya's Revenge largely fell flat in almost every other area while also 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 place for various characters from other game series to fight together alongside original characters in a deadly tournament using an innovative team battle system, which was loosely adapted in 2010.
The King of Fighters movie introduced new science-fiction elements that set the fighting tournament inexplicably in alternate dimensions while also miscasting original game characters like Kyo Kusanagi to become a flawed and forgettable adaptation.
8 Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun Li Features Bad Fight Scenes & Acting
The Street Fighter live-action franchise was rebooted in 2009 with Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, which focused on the titular fighter's origin story that took place before the events of the game and established Chun-Li and M. Bison's rivalry.
Unfortunately, a number of roles were oddly cast and the movie didn't feature many of the game's most popular fighters, which was probably for the best since the fight scenes in the movie were poorly done and would have been a disservice if other characters had appeared.
7 Mortal Kombat: Annihilation Felt Like A Low-Budget Direct-To-Video Sequel
1997's sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation was loosely based on the events of the first movie as well as the Mortal Kombat 3 game, as the defenders of Earthrealm traveled to Outworld to fight Shao Kahn and his warriors.
While the sequel was highly anticipated for fans of the first movie, recast characters, bad fighting scenes, terrible dialogue, and lackluster special effects gave Annihilation a direct-to-video feeling that left both the movie and video game fans disappointed and dreading any further attempts at a live-action adaptation.
6 Double Dragon Turned A Violent Fighting Game Into A Flashy Kids' Movie
The '90s saw a number of video game adaptations that were hoping to cash in on the success of fighting games like Double Dragon, which was an arcade hit and pioneer of the beat-em-up genre that followed two brothers as they fought through gang-controlled territory in order to save a damsel in distress.
1994's Double Dragon attempted to reimagine the light supernatural elements of the game series and blended those with a post-apocalyptic storyline that couldn't decide whether it was a kids' movie for adults or an adult movie for kids, so it ended up basically being for nobody.
5 Street Fighter Quickly Became One Of The Worst Video Game Adaptations Ever
Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia starred in 1994's Street Fighter, which explored the ongoing feud between warring leaders Guile and M. Bison and their respective armies of world warriors, which introduced quite a few characters from the fan-favorite fighting game.
Unfortunately, Street Fighter featured a ridiculous plot, even worse dialogue, and cheesy action scenes filled with bad fight choreography that focused on way too many characters (while relegating major characters like Ryu and Ken to little more than cameos), tainting video game adaptations for years.
4 DOA: Dead Or Alive Featured Great Fight Choreography But Not Much Else
The Dead Or Alive fighting game series separated itself from the rest of the genre with a largely female cast of characters and a focus on their sex appeal, eventually leading to spin-offs that abandoned the fighting entirely and were little more than a swimsuit photo shoot simulator.
The movie followed in the same vein as the games and focused on the female fighters as they were invited to a private island to compete in the DOA tournament of fighters why they also investigate the ulterior motives of their host. DOA wasn't very gripping story-wise, though it did feature some fun fight scenes that helped rank the movie above the rest.
3 Tekken Featured Faithful-Looking Characters & A Post-Apocalyptic Twist
One of the most common changes made to video game adaptations over the years has been the inclusion of a post-apocalyptic storyline that doesn't always reflect the storyline of the game, which occurred in 2009's Tekken.
Set in a world run by massive corporations that host the Tournament of the Iron Fist, Tekken focused on the dynamics between the Mishima/Kazama families and featured fairly accurate-looking characters with fast-paced fight scenes that served to distract from the many changes to the game's source material that removed the demonic storyline.
2 1995's Mortal Kombat Featured A Unique Blend Of Violence & Cheese
Despite the failure of earlier video game adaptations, fans were excited by 1995's take on Mortal Kombat as the game had taken the world by storm upon its release in 1992, and the movie showcased faithful looks and an action-packed tournament.
The original Mortal Kombat succeeded in a number of ways by staying faithful to the game's story and focusing on a few key characters. There were a few cheesy moments and disappointing characterizations of popular fighters like Sub-Zero and Scorpion, but 1995's Mortal Kombat remained a standard of video game adaptations for years.
1 Mortal Kombat's 2021 Reboot Introduced Divisive New Elements
2021 saw the release of a new take on the Mortal Kombat franchise with the modern reboot that largely stayed true to the established game continuity and characters, though the movie introduced a few new elements that proved to be divisive among fans.
A new lead character that was created for the reboot left fans unimpressed, and the mystical abilities used by some of the characters in the game 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 storyline of the game made this one of the best video game adaptations, but still had room to improve.