Best Video Game Fan Films

The Street Fighter movie is one of the worst video game flicks ever made, in addition to being Raul Julia's last role. But the franchise has so much potential for awesome cinema that it's a crying shame. The geniuses behind the short Street Fighter: Legacy recognized that and pulled out all the stops for their fan film, which pits eternal rivals Ryu and Ken against each other in a one-round fight to the finish. Beautiful cinematography, sweet moves and even some hadoukens.

Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid games usually sport more than a movie's worth of cutscenes, so it's no surprise that filmmakers are looking to tap their rich cinematic vein. The best example is the incredibly ambitious Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy, a 2009 film made by a group of Italian filmmakers. With a cost of over $13,000, this was no small project, and it shows. The motivating force behind the project was Giacomo Talamini, who wrote, produced, directed and starred as Solid Snake.

The saddest thing is when a company doesn't appreciate the work that went into a fan film. Case in point: The Legend Of Zelda: The Hero Of Time, a truly epic flick that ran almost two hours long. Recapping the story of Ocarina Of Time, David Blane stars as Link as he awakens the Master Sword and faces off with the villainous Ganondorf. One of the best things about the film is the original music, which is well-composed and performed. Sadly, after it hit the Internet in 2009, Nintendo started throwing lawsuits around and now it's gone for good.

Back to Valveland for a really well-produced short film based on the Portal series. Director Dan Trachtenberg was so taken by the space-warping puzzle action of the game that he decided to transform it into a short film. Starring the comely Danielle Rayne as the female lead, it features some remarkably good special effects that make good use of the portal gun. Sure, the enemy guards look a little hokey, but everything else is totally awesome.