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The Top 5 Best Video Game Cartoons


On 08/28/2014 at 12:36 PM by The Last Ninja

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These five shows should be watched by everyone, imo

I hope you guys have enjoyed my retrospectives on VG cartoons of the last 30 years. Wow, there's a lot of them! Most of them are mediocre, some are just atrocious, but some are really good. After analysing over 30 different VG cartoons, it's time to pick the top five best. Please understand, this is my opinion. You may not agree with my top 5 choices, and that's fine, everyone's entitled to his own opinion. This is quite subjective, basically being my top five favorites. I'll be sure to explain why I believe they're so good. Do you agree or disagree? Go ahead and let us know what your favorite VG cartoon is and why. As always, thanks for reading and for your input!

5. Pole Position (1984, Namco)

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While Namco's Pole Position game is a simple racer, the cartoon is far more interesting, involving talking cars that perform stunts and have all kinds of neat gadgets. The show is really a mystery series as the two siblings, Dan and Tess, uncover all kinds of deadly mysteries using their technologically advanced cars. This one reminds me of a show from the 80s called Knight Rider (which I love), in which a guy stops bad guys using his nearly indestructible talking car. Yeah, it's as awesome as it sounds. Roadie and Wheels, however (the cars), are not indestructible. The stories are great, involving a lot of different elements, including mysterious codes, protecting a chicken, talking teddy bears, paintings in a museum, Mount Rushmore, magicians, and a lot more. The show only had 13 episodes, but those 13 episodes are filled with great voice acting and cool stories. It's part mystery, part spy material, part car stunts, part action, and the whole is quite satisfying. It's an oldie, but a goodie.

4. Viewtiful Joe (2004, Capcom)

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The Viewtiful Joe cartoon is one of the most faithful adaptations of any video game, adhering very closely to the stories of the games. The characters are fleshed out very well. Joe is a huge super hero nerd, so much that he annoys his own girlfriend by constantly talking about super heroes and comic books. When he finally gets the chance to become a hero, he's reluctant at first, but then jumps at the opportunity. Joe is all about showing off, and has a lot to learn as a hero. Sylvia is the damsel in distress, mostly waiting for Joe to rescue her while she lays around in a room. Her faith never wavers in Joe, despite her knowledge that Joe is easily distracted by anything. Blue Jr. also joins Joe on his quest, becoming his sidekick, and offers more sense most the time than Joe is even capable of. The cast of villains is very enjoyable, offering evil schemes while at the same time being bumbling and humorous. The show's humor is one of its highlights, being truly great, always coming when two characters clash over something ridiculous. Overall, this is a show that any kid or video gamer can enjoy.

3. Angry Birds Toons (2013, Rovio)

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This simple, no words cartoon is brilliant. It involves all of the angry birds we know and love, including Red, Chuck, Bomb, Matilda, the Blues, and many more. Each episode is only 2-3 minutes long, and always is about one main character. One episode has the Blues trying to protect their eggs from Bomb, who sleepwalks off with them on his head; another episode has Chuck trying to catch Red, who is falling in slow motion. The short length of the episodes keeps the ideas from becoming boring or overstaying their welcome, and the result is hilarious material reminiscient of Loony Toons kind of humor. While the birds are great, some episodes star the pigs, who are equally hilarious. They're always trying to find new ways of defeating the birds and failing miserably. One episode has a pig building a giant slapping machine and during the demonstration, it goes crazy and starts slapping the King Pig, ending in a giant explosion. The humor is nothing new; it's been around for a long time, but it never fails to hit your funny bone where it counts.

2. Kirby Right Back At Ya' (2001, Nintendo)

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Kirby, the world's most unlikely hero, gets his own cartoon, and it's nothing short of amazing. When Kirby crashlands in Dream Land, everyone wonders if he's friend or foe. They find out the hard way when Kirby defends Dream Land from a giant monster using his unique powers. While introducing a few new characters, the Kirby cartoon mainly uses characters from the games, and that's a LOT of characters! Dedede and Meta Knight both appear in the show, Dedede being the main villain, although his plans to squash Kirby never work. However, the real villain of the show is Nightmare, who is never seen until the show's finale. Due to so many characters being utilized throughout the series, KRBAY never gets old or samey. Nearly all of Kirby's powers are used (if not all of them), and many different monsters make appearances to fight the star warrior. Many episodes offer unique stories, allowing Kirby to use specific abilities to fight off the threat. To top it all off, this show has one of the best theme songs EVER, being totally jazzed-out and very catchy. It only helps to solidify the show as one of the all-time greats.

1. Digimon (Bandai, 1999)

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Although not as popular as Pokemon, Digimon enjoyed an entire decade of popularity, giving kids something similar to Pokemon, yet superior. A group of kids are chosen as the "digi-destined" to save the real world and the digiworld from evil. Each character is fleshed out surprisingly well over the course of the series, but the unique part is that each season had a different cast of kids. Season 2 had the younger kids in the group now as the older leaders of the team, bringing in mostly new characters; upon defeat, the main villain of Season 2 joins their team, becoming one of the digi-destined. Season 3 introduces all-new characters, and this continued for 7 seasons. As a result, the same thing is never really rehashed, keeping the series fresh. Season 3 was even darker in tone, going for a more mature audience. Bandai was willing to take risks by changing things up every season, and it all paid off. Fresh faces, new teams, different villains, and all-new story-lines keep Digimon from rehashing the same old territory, and that is why I believe it to be the best VG cartoon out there.

Stay tuned for the top 5 worst video game cartoons next!


 

Comments

Super Step Contributing Writer

08/28/2014 at 01:44 PM

I liked Digimon as a kid too, but I don't know how well I'd like it today. I have been wanting to watch season 2 on Netflix though. I never knew there was a Pole Position cartoon. Your 2-4 picks would probably be my favorites to watch now, since they're humorous, though Viewtiful Joe  did seem to have some of that anime cheese I remember from shows I watched as a kid. 

Can't argue with your list, I have no idea what video game cartoons I've enjoyed other than Pokemon and Digimon as a kid really. Yu-Gi Oh would be a card game. That may have been my favorite to watch when soccer practice got cancelled on Saturday morning.

Since you mentioned Knight Rider, I would like to see a cartoon based on the exploits of David Hasselhoff called Hassles of the Hoff

The Last Ninja

08/28/2014 at 02:36 PM

Digimon Season 2 was awesome! I'm gonna have to watch that if it's on Netflix!

Knight Rider was an awesome show. It's on Netflix too, if you want to see it. Hm, Hassles of the Hoff. . . yeah, that would be great!

Blake Turner Staff Writer

08/28/2014 at 02:23 PM

Damn, I wasn't even aware there was a viewtiful joe cartoon... MUST FIND!

And yeah, Digimon was awesome back in the day. I don't remember a fucking thing about it even though I watched every episode as a kid, but then again I don't remember much about Pokemon either, apart from that my girlfriend is super obsessed. I remember everything about Dragon Ball Z though. Strange.

The Last Ninja

08/28/2014 at 02:38 PM

Pokemon, Digimon, and Dragon Ball Z were all a little convoluted, but I would say Digimon was the best of the three. Pokemon is just overrated these days (the cartoon, I mean) and Dragon Ball stuff is really confusing.

Super Step Contributing Writer

08/28/2014 at 02:45 PM

Pokemon I think was more popular becuase it had cute characters that attracted a female audience as well. My friend and her I guess now ex-fiancee watched all of the first season of Pokemon when it came to Netflix. Seems like they enjoyed it quite a bit too.

I never really got into DBZ cause I only ever caught the filler episodes at my neighbors'. They had cable.

Cary Woodham

08/28/2014 at 07:16 PM

I don't like Dragon Ball Z, but I do like the original Dragon Ball.

Super Step Contributing Writer

08/29/2014 at 03:07 AM

Same here. I never knew there was a Dragon Ball before Z until Freshman year of college, and I was surprised by how funny some of the episodes I watched were, given how boring and serious Z's filler episodes were. 

Matt Snee Staff Writer

08/28/2014 at 04:57 PM

i think you've written and we've discussed Pole Position before.  Definitely intrigued by that.  

The Last Ninja

08/28/2014 at 10:42 PM

Yeah, it was in my blog on VG cartoons of the 80s. Great show, check it out.

Cary Woodham

08/28/2014 at 07:15 PM

I know that Kirby and Digimon would definitely be on my list, but I'm not sure about the other ones.  I liked the Pac-Man, Mario, and Zelda cartoons as a kid, but they certainly weren't very good!

The Last Ninja

08/28/2014 at 10:43 PM

As a kid, nothing is more cool than Mario. But then you grow up. Eew, time has not been good to you, Mario Super Show.

KnightDriver

09/06/2014 at 01:52 AM

I want to see that Viewtiful Joe one. I love the style of that game. 

As a kid I didn't see any video game cartoons because there weren't any. I don't think I even saw any when there were either. I've seen lots of cartoons that were turned into video games though, but that doesn't count.

The Last Ninja

09/06/2014 at 10:31 AM

Well, it's time to remedy that and start watching them! The five on this list would be a good place to start.

KnightDriver

09/06/2014 at 02:47 PM

I'm watching the ones in your previous blog right now. Got through FFU and Kirby last night. Both were cool. I'll be posting the notes I've been taking when I watch the rest of them.

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