Leave it to Takashii Mike to take one of the gaming’s most bizarre and idiosyncratic franchises and turn it into a great movie. The widely celebrated Japanese director is known for making utterly bizarre and often quite horrifying movies, so the Phoneix Wright series seems like a perfect fit. In this adaptation, Phoenix Wright finds himself investigating the murder of his mentor Mia who died under mysterious circumstances. Whilst not based on any of the pre-existing Ace Attorney games, the film’s story is equally as bonkers, keeping in all the trademark humour the series is known for. It’s all here from the court room battles, to evidence being provided by ghosts and many cases of “Objection!” being yelled at any given opportunity.

As is often the case with Mike’s films, Ace Attorney is brimming with so much infectious energy and surreal imagery that’s it’s difficult to not get swept up in it from the opening moments. Mike shows a great understanding and appreciation for the source material without sacrificing any of his own artistic traits that make his films so wonderfully engrossing. Featuring everything that a fan from the series could ask for, as well as great courtroom drama and an intriguing, yet often baffling mystery, Ace Attorney stands as one of the finest, if not strangest video game adaptations ever made.

Serving as a prequel to the events of the first game, Dead Space: Downfall provides an interesting glimpse into the horrific events that took place aboard the USG Ishimura. Upon discovering an alien artifact known as “the second Marker”, the crew of the ill-fated ship are attacked and massacred by a horde of gruesome monsters known as Necromorphs. From there on it’s a tense and bloody affair as the ship’s security team must fight their through the ship to escape.

The film is fast-paced, bloody fun throughout and a welcome addition to the franchise. It succeeds at capturing the game’s doom-laden atmosphere whilst keeping a brisk pace with plenty of action. By adding more depth to the already dense lore and throwing in many nods to characters and locations found in later instalments, Dead Space: Downfall is every bit as strong as the games that inspired it.

For just a second, let’s forget that any of the sequels ever happened. Sure, Resident Evil: Apocalypse is watchable and somewhat entertaining, but the rest is complete garbage. With the sixth and final movie in the series coming out soon, it goes to show that despite what hardcore Resi fans may think, this is one very popular film series.

The latest instalment looks utterly ridiculous in both tone and plot, so it’s interesting to look back at where it all started. The original film, despite a handful of problems, is a solid action film. There’s some cool set-pieces, great cinematography and two of the most badass female leads action movies have to offer. The plot is paper-thin and some of the characters are barely even fleshed out but it’s an entertaining ride none the less.

Having gone back and re-watched it for the purposes of this list, I have to say that it deserves a little more credit than it gets. It was a bold decision to not make a direct translation of the game, instead opting to create a new story from the core themes and ideas of the game. It doesn’t completely pay-off and rabid fans like myself can definitely find issues with it, but on its own merits, Resident Evil is a decent movie.

Moving away from the colourful and somewhat cartoon-ish look of the game, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie takes the game’s narrative into darker territory. Sure, it’s the same basic plot, M Bison is an all-round evil bastard and everyone who is remotely good is out to stop him. He fixates on finding and defeating Ryu as he deems him to be the greatest warrior alive and so on and so forth. If you’ve ever played a Street Fighter game, you’ll know the score.

Increasing the violence and adding an air of bleakness to the scenario, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie really stands apart from its source material whilst still remaining faithful. The iconic cast of characters are all here, complete with their signature moves and quirks. The fight scenes are often outstanding, particularly a prolonged fight between Chun-Li and Vega that is for my money, the best scene in the entire film.

Fun fact: Bryan Cranston voices Fei-Long in the English dub of the movie. Now that is awesome.

Here we have it, the finest film adaptation of a game we’ve seen thus far. Again, let’s forget a sequel ever happened and focus on the original. Showing a tremendous amount of respect for the games, director Christopher Gans created one of the few video game films that is able to breathe outside of it’s source material.

Taking cues from the first three games in the franchise, this adaptation took all the right ingredients and merged them together into one cohesive story. It may take a few liberties here and there with certain characters, like Pyramid Head for example, but it stays focused throughout and

Silent Hill is not only a solid adaptation, but on it’s own merits, a decent film. It’s wonderfully shot, well acted and surprisingly well paced for a film that’s just shy of two hours. Starting off slow and restrained before building up to the one of the most daring and blood-soaked finales seen in a horror film. Those unfamiliar with the games however may not see the big attraction and may be left a little puzzled by the film’s closing minutes, but those in the know are sure to have a great time.