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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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!
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