Miyamoto's view on why movie adaptations of games tend to fail

Stole this from 1up's forum:

Source/Nextgeneration

Full Interview

What are your thoughts on the Disney Super Mario Bros. movie?

Well, when we first initiated talks about a Super Mario Bros, movie, I tried to emphasize the point that the Mario Bros. games are fun as videogames and if we were going to make a Mario Bros. movie, that movie should be entertaining as a movie, and not a translation of the videogame. I think that they tried very hard and in the end it was a very fun project that they put a lot of effort into. The one thing that I still have some regrets about is that the movie may have tried to get a little too close to what the Mario Bros. videogames were. And in that sense, it became a movie that was about a videogame, rather than being an entertaining movie in and of its self.


Why do you think so many translations of video games to films haven't succeeded?

I think that part of the problem with translating games to movies is that the structure of what makes a good game is very different from the structure of what makes a good movie. Movies are a much more passive medium, where the movie itself is telling a story and you, as the viewer, are relaxing and taking that in passively. Whereas videogames are a much more active medium where you are playing along with the story. In some cases, you are progressing the story yourself, or perhaps you get to a point where it gets too difficult and maybe you "I think that people who like movies also have an interest in the creative work that goes into making a videogame."give up. So there is interactivity with the videogame that you don't necessary have with a movie. Inthat sense, I think the structure of the two are very different and you have to take that into account when converting a videogame into a movie. I think that videogames, as a whole, have a very simple flow in terms of what's going on in the game. We make that flow entertaining by implementing many different elements to the videogame to keep the player entertained. Movies have much more complex stories, or flow, to them, but the elements that affect that flow are limited in number. So I think that because these surrounding elements in these two different mediums vary so greatly, when you fail to take that into account then you run into problems.

I disagree. If the Super Mario Brothers movie had been closer to the cartoon series adaptation which far more closely followed the games, it at least would not have been AS BIG a piece of trash as it was.

I think that part of the problem with translating games to movies is that the structure of what makes a good game is very different from the structure of what makes a good movie.

Captain Obvious

Apparently this man may know what he is talking about and may have some credibility. Now he's never directed a film but come on, even I could figure out that what makes a game good isn't what exactly translates to film. Try making an F-Zero movie. Oh right they made a comic. Speaking in ratios, I'm pretty sure that the quality of that comic compared to other comics wasn't as good as the quality of F-Zero compared to other games at that time.

I think he's absolutely right. As far as storytelling goes especially, a game has the potential of telling a much deeper story than a movie. The Silent Hill movie actually demonstrates that scenario quite well. The game goes on for well over two hours, and much of what you experience has to be pieced together to really understand what happened in the town and with the main characters. The story is given to you piece-wise. It is never just thrown at you.

The movie version almost had too much story to tell in a single two hour sitting. That's why, for instance, that they had to practically blind you halfway through the movie with a white light and then tell you the plot of the story in a period that seemed to go on forever. Good movies might have their setup told you to you in the beginning in short but dramatic effect (such as the first LOTR movie), but they should almost never require the user to sit through a text reading like Silent Hill did.