For the most part, the cartoons served up to British kids in the 80s and 90s were always either quirky, re-dubbed European fare (Dogtanian et al), cheap and cheerful American toy ads like He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, or low-fi British efforts, such as Rhubarb & Custard.
Indeed, the few game-based cartoons we received were firmly in that middle category. It's worth noting that for every Pokemon or Super Mario Bros. Super Show, there were ten terrible, terrible, terrible video game-based cartoons. And - ohhhh! - here are ten of them right now!
Though an all-CGI cartoon was novel at the time, the visuals have dated appallingly; the characters' mouths barely bother to stay in synch with their dialogue, and they lope around the screen with all the weight and gravitas of helium balloons. Therefore, it's rather surprising to learn that the show was one of the first ever to utilise motion capture for its animation. Sadly, that's as far as the innovation stretched.
Featuring all of Donkey's extended family from the games, it introduces a number of other characters - all voiced seemingly with the express intention of setting teeth on edge (Diddy Kong goes full Scrappy Doo, while Donkey himself sounds, incongruously, like a whining, all-American, "fratboy" who has just failed a beer-pong challenge).
There's an overarching plot about King K. Rool wanting to steal a magical, wish-granting, coconut from Donkey Kong - though it lacks the action and adventure you might've expected from such a premise, and games which were all action. It's mostly lame jokes, and tedious, feel-good, sitcom messages.
It also sought to explain the vast number of items Link is able to carry - showing him shrinking them down, so that they can all fit inside his special pocket.
Though monsters, items, locations and music are all drawn from the first couple of Zelda games, not every plot would've felt right in the game series. One episode finds Link and Zelda guarding the construction of a water theme park, and another has Link faking a cold in order to get sympathy...
Sounds like he'd have fit right in on Twitter.
We learn that twin brothers Jimmy and Billy were separated at birth, and - somewhat coincidentally - are both raised by martial arts masters. Unlike in the game, rather than street pugilists, Billy and Jimmy are more superheroes - able to transform into their heroic identities at moments of heightened violence.
In a sort of reverse of how Prince Adam transforms into He-Man, they drop their alter-egos by crossing their magic swords and shouting "By the power of the dragon!". Notably, the forgettable Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls was based upon the cartoon.
Kevin and his dog Duke find themselves transported - Tron/Jamie & The Magic Torch-style - to another dimension called Videoland, which is under attack from the forces of Metroid's Mother Brain. Armed with a Nintendo Zapper, he teams up with Kid Icarus, Mega Man and Simon Belmont from the Castlevania games.
They encounter other second string characters from Nintendo games, such as Burger Time, Paperboy, Punch Out, and - in series two - the Game Boy, a human-sized supercomputer. Which is a bit of a joke, although probably not the intentional sort.
Nicely, every episode ends with one of the characters being crushed by a cow.
Packed with risible one-liners, and shoehorning a previously unexplored heroic angle into the game's mythos, it also featured the characters flying around in jet planes.
Its only lasting contribution to Mortal Kombat lore was the introduction of Quan Chi - who would go on to become a major antagonist in the game series. Perhaps the only other thing you need to know is that Sub-Zero was voiced by Beverly Hills 90210 actor Luke Perry.
Unlike the game, which was a fairly straightforward race 'em up, Pole Position featured gadget-packed transforming cars, with talking computer brains. As with the vast majority of shows in this article, it lasted one series before being axed.
Every inch the hyperactive smartarse he was in the games, we learn that Bubsy lives with a cowardly armadillo (who, early on, is the subject of a baffling news report about how he's going to die), Bubsy wastes few opportunities to spout his grating catchphrase "What Could Possibly Go Wrong?" (indeed - the title of the pilot is named for it).
The plot of the pilot, such as it is, begins with Bubsy kissing an alarm clock depicting a representation of his own face, and inexplicably putting an orbital sander against his lips, before throwing his nephew and niece into the mix.
Somehow, they prove to be even more annoying than their uncle, and when they stumble into possession of a reality-warping device invented by a rat, they go on a rampage of destruction. And, of course, there's a villain - an egotistical cat, with a pair of idiot henchmen, who seem to exist only to be brutally assaulted at every turn.
An astonishing mess.
For reasons that are hard to fathom, the three main 'Toads are depicted here as unpopular high school nerds, who - after being drenched with sci-fi ooze - are transformed into their amphibious alter egos.
They can switch back and forth between their toad personas by shouting either "Let's get warty" or "Let's get normal". Which, however you look at it, isn't quite as quotable as "I have the power".