There are so many franchise games being put out there thesedays. So many.

Hollywood and Video Game makers are similar in that regard;they are ever on the lookout for remakes and adaptations they can make becauseits cheaper to run off of an existing fan-base than to advertize a new idea.Sometimes it works (Batman: Arkham Asylum) and sometimes it fails horribly(Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game). And despite those failures, we keepbuying in, time and time again, for the hope that this time we'll see ourheroes done right.

After all, there's nothing more fun than being, say,Spider-Man, without having to worry about all of that 'Great Responsibility'bullshit.

But, despite the hundreds of sequels and franchise games beingpumped out month after month, there are some real missed opportunities outthere. There are properties with rabid, built-in fan bases that would be theperfect cornerstone of a viral marketing campaign, that are largely untouchedby the game world. Or, even worse, they had a game but something went horriblyawry, and the game was unfinished, or maybe even a complete piece of garbagewhen it DID finally come out.

I present to you now, five great game ideas that have beenoverlooked, criminally, for years. Lets hope someone's paying attention outthere...

Dr. Strange- Straight from the pages of yourfavorite comic, presented in the Mighty Marvel Manner!

Doc Strange has been in a couple games before, but never hisown title. In fact, out of the Ultimate Alliance series, Strange has beenrelegated to a side character, or a plot device in a cut-scene at best.Marvel's failure to develop an on-going series or a movie for this character issadly matched by the gaming world.

But what a game the Doctor could have! As a brilliantneurosurgeon turned sorcerer, the game could have a dash of Trauma Centerfor dramatic effect, and the rest of the game could be new types of mysticalaction that push the boundaries of what your gaming system. Not only could youdo battle with some of Marvel's nastiest, and most frighting villains, but youcould spend time flying through tremendous, alien, 3-D dimensions, battlingmonsters that wish to conquer the 616 Earth.

I picked Dr. Strange as a front runner, as magic itself issorely misrepresented in games so far. The energy blasting, flying, futurereading, reality warping possibilities of magic could make for some reallytricky action/puzzle play, and lead to an adventure that is psychedelic andmind-bending. And what do we get? All the magicians we ever see in video gamesare relegated to firing energy beams; they're so generic. Magician Lord wasawesome back on the Neo Geo, guys, but its 20-years later. Lets see what youcan do.

The Dungeons and Dragons series is a good start for Wizards,but one read through the early Dr. Strange comics of Steve Ditko and Stan Leewill show you the boundless possibilities of magic done right.

Cthulhu Mythos- This property had a game comeout, but sadly it was not well received. But when I think of Mythos games, Idon't tend to think of Dark Corners of the Earth, rather, I think of EternalDarkness.

ED was arguably the best game on the Gamecube, but also under-appreciated. Thisgame was the forerunner M-rated game on an otherwise very juvenile system, andit was a rough transition. those who took the time to find a copy have neverforgotten the terror and mystery, the literal madness, of Eternal Darkness.

With Horror games having cinched a major spot in videogaming, with titles like FEAR and Resident Evil, its remarkableno one else has tried to take the reigns of the Mythos monsters, created by H PLovecraft, and make  horrific andentertaining video games from them. Though he wasn't a prolific writer by the standardsof some of today's writers, the concepts Lovecraft came up with are stillpushing the boundaries of the human imagination, and in creative hands, couldbe the most frightening games ever! You see many of his ideas bleed over,inspiring other series, Afraid of the Dark coming to mind first, butstories themselves are untapped and boundless resources.

Bone-  Boneis a property that has been left sadly untouched since its original creation, acomic book from acclaimed writer Jeff Smith. But recently, Bone was reprintedin a series of hardback, easy to read digests. Bone's kid-friendly contentcaught the eye of Scholastic, who has been putting them in school libraries allover. Now the kids in the libraries are taking time to read them in schools allacross America. Its taken ages for Bone to circulate properly, but now its inthe hands of the youth, building that fanbase. The comic series was a runawayhit when it came out in the '90s, and this new resurgence in the hands of afresh generation are bringing back whispers of an animated film.

And why not? Bone is easily one of the best comics everprinted, a real masterwork. It features the 3 Bone cousins, who make, at first,comical characters, lost in the woods, racing cows, and fighting off Rat-men atevery corner. As the story progresses though, it becomes more and more epic,and soon Bone is taking up arms to fight a horde of monsters something likethat of Sauron's army from Lord of the Rings.

Story-telling like this naturally lends itself to video games. This is the kindof tale video game writers try to grasp constantly, and often fail at. Fun,quirky, comical, the early stages of the tale are fun and light and make youfall in love with the characters, so much so that at the end, you can feelevery hit your characters take, and their mission feels important in yourhands. Imagine a game that feels like Mario at the beginning, fun andwhimsical, battling silly monsters and finding treasures and hidden jokes alongthe way, but as you progress, the world grows darker, and the fight more deadlyand serious.

If you want a good basis for a game, companies need to lookno further than the adventures of Phone Bone and his battle with the LocustKing.

Dr. Who- The Doctor, that nameless, immortal,time-traveling hero from the end of existence would make the perfect video gamehero. There was an effort to make a game of him a few years ago, but it cameout as a lame PC card-game program. Travesty. Dr Who is the Superbowl ofSci-fi, being easily the highest rated British TV show ever, and its episodesfrom 1980's 'City of Death' arc remain the highest rated fiction shows in theUK to this day. The Doctor deserves better than he's gotten.

The possibilities are literally endless. The Doctor's TARDIS(a time machine disguised as a Police Box) can travel anywhere in space andtime, guiding him where he's needed. If you want to battle the Aztecs over acursed gem, you've got it. Robot Men come to the present from another world todestroy mankind? The Doctor is on it. How about a trip to another world thatlies in the far future on the edge of a dying star, and you need to save theinhabitants. Literally, if you can think it, the Doctor can do it; its theperfect set-up!

Dr. Who would be a thinking man's game for sure. The Doctordoesn't use guns, only his sonic screw-driver. At best, he MAYBE punches abitch. That said, the Doctor's games would rely on puzzle solving, creativethinking, and quick-witted reflexes to survive. If anything, that's probablybeen the greatest challenge for game designers in putting together a Who game,they have to set aside their reliance on blowing shit to ribbons with guns asthe answer to any scenario.

Having the ability to alter and visit different time-lines,ala Chrono Trigger, would make for great in-game Easter Eggs, too!

Captain N: The Game Master- Ah, a losttreasure from my youth. Captain N was on Saturday mornings in the halcyon daysof the old NES entertainment system. This cartoon featured Kevin, a typicalhigh school guy who's sucked into his TV, and to the land of Nintendo, where hefinds that all the games on the NES co-exist peacefully in this same place...except for that bitch Mother Brain, of course, which Kevin has to fight on aweekly basis.

The best part of the show was the mix of video gamecharacters at its disposal. Its pretty rare to see companies loaning outlicenses so freely, but then, it was a different time back then. You had MegaMan, Simon Belmont, Kid Icarus, Link, Bayou Billy, Donkey Kong, King Hippo, allof these classic characters crammed into one show! A lot of the plots seemfairly silly now, but there's a good number of 8-bit Nintendo gags thrown inthere, and at the time it was just great to be able to watch a show withfriends and share in your revelry for those early games.

Just think about seeing that kind of franchise interactionin one game. Each character, Link, Mega Man, Simon, would need your help inridding their world of Mother Brain's influence; choose who to help and when,and find yourself playing through their world. A player could find themselvesfighting Dr. Wily's robots one moment, and in the middle of Castlevania thenext, maybe top it off with a Zelda-style 3-D dungeon crawl. And in each ofthese levels, you'd find not just your usual bad guys, but a host of deadlyenemies from any and all of the video game worlds. Robots popping up inCastlevania or aliens invading Donkey Kong Country! It would be the greatesttribute to that golden age of Nintendo.

Sadly, despite Smash Brothers and its success, it seemsunlikely all these characters will ever be able to get together under one roof.The paperwork and licensing of what have become multi-million dollar charactersis far too complex anymore. But if Capcom and Konami are ever able to agree toit, maybe we can see a few of these classics together again on the screen. Wegot Freddy Vs Jason, didn't we? Anything can happen.

There's still a few great ideas left out there, and I'm surethese five are just the tip of the iceberg. What kind of things do you want tosee? The great thing about video games are the endless possibilities foradventure.