In the last few decades, so many movies have been turned into video games that it's hard to keep track of all of them. On the other hand, television-to-game adaptations have been a bit less frequent. This may be because game designers do not know which genre to fit specific TV series.
Home Improvement, a 1990s sitcom that featured Tim the Tool Man Taylor murdering prehistoric animals with wrenches and hammers, is a clear example that many TV programs should not be translated to the gaming medium because there is no reasonable way to do so. Even when an idea is good, its shoddy execution puts the project at jeopardy.
Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, the showrunners of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, have discussed this subject many times over the years. Last month, the pair told Inside the Gilliverse that they even wanted to talk to developer Rockstar Games about launching a semi-open world adventure in the vein of their most well-known films, such as Grand Theft Auto.
We thought it would be fun to test out some of the most efficient ways the ABQ meth-verse might be fully realized in a video game. We will examine several different genres and consoles to see which have the most creative, yet realistic results.
Open World Action Adventure
These are the highest-risk, highest-reward genre that these programs might be translated into. The beautiful New Mexican landscape from these worlds could be further fleshed out in an open-world adventure game, which allows the fans to wander around in and explore. It could either be played out like Red Dead Redemption, where you play as Walter and you roam around the desert and the city of Albuquerque, as well as the Uncharted series, where your play is more action-oriented and linear.
The developers would have to choose whether or not the missions would be a mix of canon-fodder and novel characters inspired by the shows. This option would allow for the game to fill in some of the things the shows didnt get to see in the fourth season of Breaking Bad, or Walts' ascendance to the top of the meth food chain in the fifth season.
Role-Playing/Strategy
Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are two of the best character-intensive games. By bolstering Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, Jimmy McGill, and Kim Wexler with new abilities and items, they would mimic the way their personalities evolve in the series.
The largest thing a game designer would have to think about is the type of combat it would have. Turn-based seems to be the finest approach. There arent enough antagonists or on-screen enemies to go around hacking and slashing like in Diablo. A role-playing adventure with these characters would have to be slower, more deliberate, and atmospheric.
Due to the neo-western themes, a JRPG is out of the question. The best thing I can think of that eliminates all of these limitations is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Choosing between all of the fan-favorite characters for your playthrough means going through the journey with a different character class that significantly impacts your progression in the game.
Walt and Jesses power-ups would be different from Hank and Gomez because they are more like a stealth class because they often win with guile or trickery, whereas their counterparts are more heroic because they are DEA agents. This would be a massive game that would be available on PC and PS5.
Puzzle
The best way to turn these programs into a puzzle game would be to combine different mundane aspects of them into a set of brainteasers or minigames, like WarioWare or Cooking Mama. If the former served as inspiration, players would toggle through dozens of stand-alone minigames that illustrate different parts of the world weve come to know.
In a Breaking Bad version of WarioWare, measuring certain substances while cooking meth, riding the RV through the desert after dark, getting documents out of Chucks house before he wakes up from his EMS-induced sleep cycle, etc. would all serve as great minigames.
The concept for a puzzle game based on Breaking Bad or Cooking Mama would be limited to the meth lab, where players would manipulate the drug-making steps as Walt or Jesse, mixing ingredients and testing the meth for purity. There was even a fan-made game by a man named Juan David Gomez that reinvigorated some of these ideas in the show's hayday.
The puzzle genre is so broad that there is practically no limit to the kinds of games you may create. A meth lab game like Tetris might be fun to imagine. Moving various ingredients in the correct positions to get a high score would be addictive and fun.
A trivia game about video games inspired by Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader would be a great party present with a group of friends. The subject could be inside Walter Whites classroom, and Walt is the one proctoring the exam with his trademark smartassery. These games seem to work best on the PC or the Switch.
Visual Novel
The visual novel genre isnt one of the most popular gaming genres, but it would work great with Better Call Saul, especially the legal portion of the show. If you look at the Ace Attorney series, you'll realize that people are interested in engaging in court drama and making decisions that may result in a guilty or innocent verdict for their clients.
Jimmy, Chuck, Kim, and Howard are seldom seen in their natural habitats in the series, with their legal scenes often interspersed with their personal lives in a visually novel video game. Players could control each of these four lawyers and begin to appreciate their very different litigation methods.
This game would work perfectly on the Nintendo Switch, but would have been even better on the Nintendo 3DS.
Fighting
As obscure as it may sound, the Breaking Bad universe actually has quite a few characters that might fit in a fighting game. Tuco, Lalo, the Salamanca cousins, Nacho, Gus, Tyrus, and Mike would all have their own unique move set.
Nacho would be defensive because he is naturally passive. Tuco would be out of control and full of rage, forcing the player to exploit that power to win the match. Gus would be calculated and use weapons instead of fists, as we know how much his signature box cutter will impact the game.
Hand-to-hand combat is certainly a plus in these programs, with Mike taking a bite from Tuco in the second season, and Howard and Jimmy boxing in the sixth season.
This approach allows for wonky combinations and wacky attacks, and Super Smash Bros. and Multiversus have demonstrated that this kind of game is possible. From Walter throwing pizza in the air to Kim twirling her ponytail at the enemy, there are a myriad of fighting possibilities. This type of fighting game would be ideal on the PC.
What would you expect a Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul video game to be like? Share your thoughts in the comments below!