8 Awesome Video Games Based On Toys
Some of the best games based on toys have been made with the help of some amazing toy products.
Barbie is better than anyone could have hoped. Since the company had been around since 1959, it seemed like too little, too late. It doesn’t matter if Barbie as a brand is as important to kids in 2023 as it was in the 1960s.
Just put, Barbie is a good movie. So, let’s take a look at toys and video games as a way to celebrate. What other toys have done as well in video games as Barbie did in movies? There are some clear examples, as well as some hidden gems from the retro scene. Sad to say, no Barbie game makes a showing because, to put it mildly, none of them have guns.
Army Men
Army Men were first made as toys in 1938, which is before the Barbie name. Barbie dolls were everywhere, and they became a well-known figure in the toy industry. It doesn’t seem too strange that the toys would be turned into games in the 1990s.
The first one, which was an RTS, was the first in a big rebooting effort that led to dozens of mostly action-based sequels and spinoffs. It was a way to sell guns to kids without making their parents worry about all the blood. They were cheap, but also fun and, in a way, good for you.
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth
Who was there first? Were they the toys? Was it the comic book? Were there games? Even die-hard Digimon fans might not know this, but in 1997, the brand was first sold to kids as a digital pet. From there, a kingdom grew, and Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth is one of the best games to come out in recent years.
It’s a cyberpunk detective game that plays like an RPG. In this Pokemon-like game, players could add Digimon to their party and make them Digivolve to make a cool team of monsters that could solve crimes.
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
G.I. Joe was an improved version of Army Men, which were first made in 1964. G.I. Joe had a lot of figures that begged to be in comics and cartoons, and kids in the 1980s and 1990s knew that this toy line would make a great video game.
Whether you were looking at toys, watching a show, or playing a game, it was hard to avoid the brand.The NES version of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is a great game that lets players send three famous soldiers on a journey. Everyone’s skills and health were different, and they could be switched in the middle of a fight.
Hot Wheels Unleashed
The first Hot Wheels were made in 1968, and the business is still going strong today. Both people who enjoy collecting things and kids who just want to race cars enjoy it. There have been many tries over the years to make a good racing game in this series, but things have only started to change in the last couple of years.
Hot Wheels Unleashed is the biggest and best stand-alone choice, but the DLC packs for the Forza series, like Forza Horizon 3: Hot Wheels, have also been great. They are fun for both kids and adults who want more than karts in a race game.
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is a full set that lets people play through all nine movies in Lego form. Lego is another brand that tried hard for years to get into video games after making a name for itself in the toy market, which it did beginning in 1949. Fans have always loved Lego Star Wars games, and Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga brings together what they liked best about the older games.
None of the games were good until 2005, when the prequel series was made into the first Star Wars game. It might have seemed strange to start with the prequels instead of the original series, but in the 2000s, the prequels were more important. Things have been great since Traveler’s Tales took over the brand online.
Monster In My Pocket
Monster in My Pocket is a 1992 game for the NES made by Konami. Some people might not know that it is based on a toy line that started in 1990. There have always been small, pocket-sized toys, but putting monsters like Dracula and Frankenstein in pockets was something new in the 1990s.
In Flappy Bird, players could pick a character and fly through a series of levels. That was it. Even though it was short and not too hard, it was still fun to play because Konami was still good at what they did in the 1990s.
Skylanders
Skylanders did and did not start with a line of toys. The first game was part of a series that started with Spyro in 2011. Skylanders put Spyro and dozens of other toy models into an action role-playing game. The hook was that players could buy characters, level them up, and then take them to a friend’s house to continue the chaos.
This is more like when a line of toys and a line of computer games come out at the same time. It’s important to talk about because it was a huge hit when it came out and helped start the “toys that come to life” genre. Other copies, like Disney Infinity, would follow.
Transformers: Devastation
In the 1980s, Transformers were one of the coolest toys. It brought together the things that kids liked as kids, like cars and action figures. In 1984, it was like getting two toys in one, and from then on, the name got stronger. There have been many movies, TV shows, and online games about Transformers.
Since PlatinumGames worked on it, Transformers: Devastation is one of the best versions. Also, Transformers: War for Cybertron would be a close second. Because of licensing problems, both games are kind of hard to find, but hopefully there are still hard copies out there for those who are interested.
