Licensed video games tend to get a bad rap. As games based upon previously existent properties, many licensed games are little more than hollow cash grabs that are trying to profit off of an already successful IP such as a show or a movie. However, every so often a licensed game comes along that through strong gameplay, design, or even writing, earns the respect of the industry.
While it’s no secret that games such as those in the Arkham series, Spider-Man, and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game are of high quality, there are many solid licensed games that slip under many player’s radars. So today, we’re going to examine the ten most underrated licensed video games of all time!
10 Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People
Developed by Telltale Games, Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People was a point-and-click adventure game originally released as Wii Wiiware. Taking the form of separate episodic adventures that took place within the world of the flash series, Homestar Runner, the game featured tons of charm and phenomenal dialogue, with each of the game’s episodes having its own distinct flavor such as The Baddest of the Bands which as the name would suggest, focuses on a battle of the bands.
9 Power Rangers: Battle For The Grid
When it comes to over-the-top team-based fighting games, the Marvel Vs. Capcom series is often the first to come to mind. However, Power Rangers: Battle For The Grid is a fighting game released in 2019 that features similar high-energy combat full of flashy combos, using the characters from the Power Ranger franchise.
Playable on Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and Steam, players looking for a flashy combo-heavy fighter may be surprised by the high quality of Battle For The Grid‘s gameplay.
8 Yu Yu Hakusho: Tournament Tactics
As a combat-heavy Shonen anime, one would expect a Yu Yu Hakusho video game to take the form of a fighting game. Despite this, an interesting choice was made by Sensory Sweep Studios to have the game take the form of a tactical RPG.
With combat similar to that a player would expect from Final Fantasy: Tactics, the game is perfect for fans of the original anime or the tactical RPG genre looking for a non-Fire Emblem game to try.
7 Captain America And The Avengers
The ’90s arcade scene was filled to the brim with countless classic beat ’em ups based on a variety of pre-existing IPs. While players fondly remember the numerous great TMNT games of this nature as well as the iconic Simpsons arcade game, Captain America and The Avengers is a hidden gem of the era. Released well before the Avengers boom in popularity, this game was released in 1991 and allowed players to assume control of Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Vision. While numerous games of this nature had casts of characters that played exactly the same, playable characters had differing attacks that they could utilize.
6 Gundam: Battle Assault
Though many are familiar with the Dynasty Warriors: Gundam Games, the Gundam franchise is home to numerous underrated fighting games in the form of the Gundam: Battle Assault series. 2D sprite-based fighters, the series featured a wide range of playable characters from across the franchise’s history.
5 Alien Vs. Predator
Like Captain America and The Avengers, Alien Vs. Predator is a classic arcade beat ’em up from the 1990s. Released by Capcom in 1994, the game allows players to assume control of numerous predators from the Predator franchise. and original cyborgs as they fight hordes of aliens from the Alien franchise.
Each playable character has their own unique combative abilities that make them each feel quite distinct, while the game featured three-button gameplay as opposed to two-button combat that was often standard.
4 Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy Of Goku II
Like with Yu Yu Hakusho: Tournament Tactics, Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy Of Goku II is a game that took a combat-heavy IP and rather than making a fighting game out of it, went in another direction. Released for the Gameboy Advance, Legacy of Goku II is an action RPG that has the player experience the events of Dragon Ball Z‘s Cell Saga.
3 X-Men: Children Of The Atom
Capcom is highly regarded for the numerous high-quality fighting games they released during the ’90s such as games of the Street Fighter series. While one of their most frequently praised franchises of this era was the Vs. series that originated with X-Men Vs Street Fighter, the franchise likely would’ve never come to fruition if not for the release of X-Men: Children of the Atom. An X-Men fighting game that uses the same voice actors as those in the X-Men animated series, the game features the excellent combat that Capcom fighters of the era were known for.
2 Mickey’s Speedway USA
While games like Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing will always be the most iconic kart racers on the Nintendo 64, Mickey’s Speedway USA is a deceptively great racing game for the console that has some of the most fine-tuned gameplay of any racer on the console. This is largely in part to the game being developed at the tail end of the console’s life span by Rare, one of the most prolific developers of the era who were responsible for games like Banjo-Kazooie, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, and the aforementioned Diddy Kong Racing.
1 Fist Of The North Star
Arc System Works is one of the premier fighting game developers when it comes to 2D anime fighters, responsible for games like Guilty Gear and Dragonball FighterZ. In 2005, they developed a fighting game based off the First of the North Star series with the game garnering a cult following. Characterized by insane combos and terrifying damage potential, Fist of the North Star allows every character of the roster to feel broken in their own special way, while maintaining the quality one would expect from Arc System Works.
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