This page is a list of
television programs based on
video games, technically both computer and console games based on. Series like The Witcher and its spinoff The Witcher: Blood Origin are not included as a basis of video game adaptation due to being adapted from novels.
There have also been several one-off video game-based cartoons, including specials such as Bubsy (1993),
Battletoads (1992) and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon (2006–2009).
Aaron Stone (2009–2010) – A boy turns into his favorite online superhero
Accel World (2012) – A series about a boy who plays VR video games to escape bullies in school and discovers a secret program that is able to accelerate the human cognitive process to the point at which time appears to stop.
Ace Lightning (2002) – Children's television series centered on a teenage boy's life after his video game characters come to life.
Alice in Borderland (2020) – Series about a group of gamers trapped in a parallel dimension.
Arcadia (2008) – Guatemalan TV series about video games
Harsh Realm (1999) – Hobbes, a soldier about to retire, is put into a virtual reality where the only way to get out alive and get back to his wife and the love of his life, is to kill Omar Santiago, another soldier in the game and has taken it over.
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid (2016–2017) – The 18th installment of the Heisei era Kamen Rider series. This show utilizes game cartridges called Rider Gashats and the rider's motifs are inspired by retro video games.
Log Horizon (2013–2018) – The series follows the strategist, Shiroe, and the other players of the long-lived MMORPG Elder Tales after they find themselves whisked away into the game world following a game update.
Magic Micro Mission (1983) – UK TV series aimed at a younger audience covering contemporary video games and technology.
Starcade (1982–1984) – Arcade game-based game show hosted by
Geoff Edwards (with early episodes being hosted by Mark Richards)
Sword Art Online (2012–2020) – A series where players get trapped in a VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Game) named Sword Art Online.
The Tribe (1999–2003) – Series four focuses on tribes addicted to a virtual-reality game.
Virtual Insanity Advance (2012) – Sketch-comedy series centered on video games where people simulate popular and ancient corresponding video games while interacting with real people and features short animated segments of cartoons based on popular video games.
Season 3 Episode 5: "Blasting The Big Gamemaster Bully" (2009) – The villain Super Pro Gamemaster 2 creates a video game that influences children to become bullies.
Season 4 Episode 6: "Peter Pan, the Backup Plan, Adventures in Babysitting and A River Runs Through It" (2021) – Dan and Luiz play a virtual reality game.
Season 1 Episode 7: "
Emmanuelle 7: The Meaning of Love" (1994) – Emmanuelle uses virtual reality computer simulations to help her clients achieve sexual ecstasy.
Season 1 Episode 1b: "Power Mad!" (2001) – Timmy utilizes a
virtual reality helmet to play a video game he wished for as "challenging, a game that you can't wish yourself out of". A.J. and Chester use the helmets to play the game as well, not realizing they are in mortal danger.
Season 3 Episode 15: "Games Vampires Play" (1996) –
Nick investigates the
death of a
software designer whose murderer puts clues into the
vampire game the designer created. Nick plays the game (which is erasing itself while being played) and finds his vampire tendencies being strengthened by the actions of the vampire character. He also finds the clues that lead to the murderer... in a
church!
Season 4 Episode 3: "
Anthology of Interest II" (2001) – In the segment Raiders of the Lost Arcade,
Fry sees a
simulation of life as it would be if it were more like a video game.
Season 6 Episode 26: "
Reincarnation" (2011) – The segment Future Challenge 3000 is animated to resemble a video game.
Season 3 Episode 20: "King of Remedial" (1989) – At an academic tournament, a remedial student uses video game references to answer the final question.
Season 1 Episode 22: "Gamer" (2016) – When Max loses a challenge at a video game tournament, he gets akumatized into the Gamer and unleashes a giant robot onto Paris.
Season 3 Episode 16: "Gamer 2.0" (2019) – When he cannot find anyone to test his video game that pits formerly akumatized villains against one another, Max again becomes one himself: Gamer 2.0.
Season 12 Episode 12: "Stop, Drop and Side Scroll" (2020) – They are inside a video game and has to use video game knowledge to survive. They're in a platformer and sometimes we see them on the screen of a game Unit. The whole season is about video, but this one is the most.
Season 3 Episode 3: "Watching and Dreaming" (2023) – The Collector forces Luz, Eda, and King to partake in various games, including games similar Pac-Man and Tetris.
Season 2 Episode 11: "Gaming the System" (2009) – Buford plays a game called "Jump N' Duck", where all he has to do to beat the game is to jump and duck.
Season 2 Episode 62: "Brain Drain" (2010) – Phineas, Ferb, and the gang is about to play a Street Fighter II-like video game.
Season 5 Episode 6 "
Back to Reality" (1992) – Exposure to a
hallucinogenictoxin leads the crew to believe that the past four years of their lives were spent playing a total immersion video game. Seemingly back on
Earth, they struggle to adapt to their "true"
selves.
Season 1 Episode 5: "Death Punchies" (2010) – While playing a new
Dig Dug-like
two-player video game with Mordecai, Rigby expresses his resentment at always having to be "Player Two" due to his poor video game-playing skills.
Season 2 Episode 7: "High Score" (2011) – After beating the
world recordhigh score at an
Excitebike-like
arcade game, Mordecai and Rigby find themselves competing for the 'universe record'.
Season 2 Episode 8: "Rage Against the TV" (2011) – Mordecai's and Rigby's
TV stops working just as they reach the final stage of the
Double Dragon-like video game they have been playing for 20 hours straight, and locating another one (so that they can beat
"The Hammer") proves difficult.
"Season 9 Episode 18:
The Frogger" (1998) – At Mario's Pizza Parlor,
George Costanza discovers he still has the high score on the old Frogger video game he played in high school, with a score of 860,630 points. He decides to buy the Frogger machine to preserve his fame, but Jerry asks him how he is going to move it and keep it plugged in to preserve the high score.
Season 17 Episode 2: "
Informative Murder Porn" (2013) – This episode is centered on the parents learning to play Minecraft in order to get their murder porn back.
Season 1 Episode 2: "Grand Theft Starship" (2008) –
Captain Lone Starr and
Princess Vespa are sucked into a game of 'Grand Theft Starship', leaving the Spaceballs to conquer the known universe. But, missing Lone Starr's opposition,
President Skroob and
Dark Helmet follow them into the game world.
This page is a list of
television programs based on
video games, technically both computer and console games based on. Series like The Witcher and its spinoff The Witcher: Blood Origin are not included as a basis of video game adaptation due to being adapted from novels.
There have also been several one-off video game-based cartoons, including specials such as Bubsy (1993),
Battletoads (1992) and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon (2006–2009).
Aaron Stone (2009–2010) – A boy turns into his favorite online superhero
Accel World (2012) – A series about a boy who plays VR video games to escape bullies in school and discovers a secret program that is able to accelerate the human cognitive process to the point at which time appears to stop.
Ace Lightning (2002) – Children's television series centered on a teenage boy's life after his video game characters come to life.
Alice in Borderland (2020) – Series about a group of gamers trapped in a parallel dimension.
Arcadia (2008) – Guatemalan TV series about video games
Harsh Realm (1999) – Hobbes, a soldier about to retire, is put into a virtual reality where the only way to get out alive and get back to his wife and the love of his life, is to kill Omar Santiago, another soldier in the game and has taken it over.
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid (2016–2017) – The 18th installment of the Heisei era Kamen Rider series. This show utilizes game cartridges called Rider Gashats and the rider's motifs are inspired by retro video games.
Log Horizon (2013–2018) – The series follows the strategist, Shiroe, and the other players of the long-lived MMORPG Elder Tales after they find themselves whisked away into the game world following a game update.
Magic Micro Mission (1983) – UK TV series aimed at a younger audience covering contemporary video games and technology.
Starcade (1982–1984) – Arcade game-based game show hosted by
Geoff Edwards (with early episodes being hosted by Mark Richards)
Sword Art Online (2012–2020) – A series where players get trapped in a VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Game) named Sword Art Online.
The Tribe (1999–2003) – Series four focuses on tribes addicted to a virtual-reality game.
Virtual Insanity Advance (2012) – Sketch-comedy series centered on video games where people simulate popular and ancient corresponding video games while interacting with real people and features short animated segments of cartoons based on popular video games.
Season 3 Episode 5: "Blasting The Big Gamemaster Bully" (2009) – The villain Super Pro Gamemaster 2 creates a video game that influences children to become bullies.
Season 4 Episode 6: "Peter Pan, the Backup Plan, Adventures in Babysitting and A River Runs Through It" (2021) – Dan and Luiz play a virtual reality game.
Season 1 Episode 7: "
Emmanuelle 7: The Meaning of Love" (1994) – Emmanuelle uses virtual reality computer simulations to help her clients achieve sexual ecstasy.
Season 1 Episode 1b: "Power Mad!" (2001) – Timmy utilizes a
virtual reality helmet to play a video game he wished for as "challenging, a game that you can't wish yourself out of". A.J. and Chester use the helmets to play the game as well, not realizing they are in mortal danger.
Season 3 Episode 15: "Games Vampires Play" (1996) –
Nick investigates the
death of a
software designer whose murderer puts clues into the
vampire game the designer created. Nick plays the game (which is erasing itself while being played) and finds his vampire tendencies being strengthened by the actions of the vampire character. He also finds the clues that lead to the murderer... in a
church!
Season 4 Episode 3: "
Anthology of Interest II" (2001) – In the segment Raiders of the Lost Arcade,
Fry sees a
simulation of life as it would be if it were more like a video game.
Season 6 Episode 26: "
Reincarnation" (2011) – The segment Future Challenge 3000 is animated to resemble a video game.
Season 3 Episode 20: "King of Remedial" (1989) – At an academic tournament, a remedial student uses video game references to answer the final question.
Season 1 Episode 22: "Gamer" (2016) – When Max loses a challenge at a video game tournament, he gets akumatized into the Gamer and unleashes a giant robot onto Paris.
Season 3 Episode 16: "Gamer 2.0" (2019) – When he cannot find anyone to test his video game that pits formerly akumatized villains against one another, Max again becomes one himself: Gamer 2.0.
Season 12 Episode 12: "Stop, Drop and Side Scroll" (2020) – They are inside a video game and has to use video game knowledge to survive. They're in a platformer and sometimes we see them on the screen of a game Unit. The whole season is about video, but this one is the most.
Season 3 Episode 3: "Watching and Dreaming" (2023) – The Collector forces Luz, Eda, and King to partake in various games, including games similar Pac-Man and Tetris.
Season 2 Episode 11: "Gaming the System" (2009) – Buford plays a game called "Jump N' Duck", where all he has to do to beat the game is to jump and duck.
Season 2 Episode 62: "Brain Drain" (2010) – Phineas, Ferb, and the gang is about to play a Street Fighter II-like video game.
Season 5 Episode 6 "
Back to Reality" (1992) – Exposure to a
hallucinogenictoxin leads the crew to believe that the past four years of their lives were spent playing a total immersion video game. Seemingly back on
Earth, they struggle to adapt to their "true"
selves.
Season 1 Episode 5: "Death Punchies" (2010) – While playing a new
Dig Dug-like
two-player video game with Mordecai, Rigby expresses his resentment at always having to be "Player Two" due to his poor video game-playing skills.
Season 2 Episode 7: "High Score" (2011) – After beating the
world recordhigh score at an
Excitebike-like
arcade game, Mordecai and Rigby find themselves competing for the 'universe record'.
Season 2 Episode 8: "Rage Against the TV" (2011) – Mordecai's and Rigby's
TV stops working just as they reach the final stage of the
Double Dragon-like video game they have been playing for 20 hours straight, and locating another one (so that they can beat
"The Hammer") proves difficult.
"Season 9 Episode 18:
The Frogger" (1998) – At Mario's Pizza Parlor,
George Costanza discovers he still has the high score on the old Frogger video game he played in high school, with a score of 860,630 points. He decides to buy the Frogger machine to preserve his fame, but Jerry asks him how he is going to move it and keep it plugged in to preserve the high score.
Season 17 Episode 2: "
Informative Murder Porn" (2013) – This episode is centered on the parents learning to play Minecraft in order to get their murder porn back.
Season 1 Episode 2: "Grand Theft Starship" (2008) –
Captain Lone Starr and
Princess Vespa are sucked into a game of 'Grand Theft Starship', leaving the Spaceballs to conquer the known universe. But, missing Lone Starr's opposition,
President Skroob and
Dark Helmet follow them into the game world.