It is a uniquely strange feeling that a franchise like Scooby-Doo, currently past its 50th year of existence, has seemingly never found a solid footing with popular culture. There is no doubt that the children’s mystery comedy was a huge hit in the first years following its inception, but after that initial run, the mystery-solving teenagers have existed in a state of cultural limbo. Each attempt at a reboot comes off more as an indication of the franchise’s inability to capture the heart of the moment.
There are countless movies based around Scooby and his pals, yet Zombie Island, Witch’s Ghost, Alien Invaders, and Cyber Chase live on as the most memorable ones. The live-action films have become cult favorites and then there’s the string of modern home releases that have failed to muster up a large enough reaction from the public. Coupled with the comedy-horror reboot Mystery Incorporated being canceled after two seasons and a recent feature film in Scoob! receiving largely negative reactions, Scooby-Doo is a franchise that has been consistently left behind by a cultural landscape with no room for the canine detective.
As fun as the amateur detectives can be, focusing on inconsequential movies and shows can make for a profitable business model, leading the franchise down a path of business decisions taking heavy precedent over creativity and a desire for longevity. It doesn’t matter if people don’t care about the latest Scooby-Doo Wrestlemania film after 4 months as long as those first months drum up enough profit for the next film. Scooby-Doo is not a unique case with this model, but with the franchise sometimes showing brief flashes of creativity and potential for a definitive work, it leaves the impression that this comedic mystery series could have more up its sleeves than it normally shows.
But that potential may not be reached through the usual film and TV model. Maybe the Great Dane belongs to the world of video games?
Scooby-Doo is no stranger to video games, with the earliest attempt at a transition occurring in 1983 with the title, Scooby-Doo’s Maze Chase. Since then, a total of 20 official games (not counting any potential fan spinoffs on the likes of itch.io and such) have been released, ranging from puzzle games and sidescrollers to platforming games. However, 20 official games over a near 40-year period give off the impression that Warner Bros. is still hesitant to pledge their full support behind a spirited Scooby-Doo game with a decent budget to boot. As such, it’s been a creative wasteland for Scooby in the video game realm, often relegated to small-scale mystery games that either capture the aesthetic of the show without any of the fun or are enjoyable enough romps with a short shelf life.
Much like the franchise’s many home video releases, the Scooby-Doo games function more as short-lived business decisions banking almost solely on the IP to draw attention over anything else. That is why whenever the games manage to stick out for their extra effort in their creation, such as the surprisingly memorable movie tie-in game, Cyber Chase, it’s seen as a breath of fresh air. Cyber Chase hasn’t aged well thanks to its clunky controls and blatant attempts at ripping off Crash Bandicoot, but it has stood out as one of the rare examples of the Great Dane feeling right at home in a video game.
But Scooby-Doo’s potential for a definitive video game can’t simply stop at a platformer doubling as a tie-in for a movie, right? Even as the franchise has struggled to gain relevance in the past, it still had the advantage of robust and fun world full of lore to explore. This is something that was only somewhat touched upon in the live-action film, Monsters Unleashed. A game that could either lovingly recreate the classic mysteries from the original cartoon or use those villains to create a new story set in the modern world would have the foundation for a Scooby game with an enjoyable story to hook fans of the series in.
Scooby-Doo is a franchise that almost completely bases its modern relevance on nostalgia, reminding fans of the cartoon that they were likely in love with between the 1970s and 1990s. It’s a tactic that could be employed in a video game, but unlike the home movies, games are capable of telling a Scooby-Doo story in a number of creative ways. Game design has evolved to the point where the canine and his friends would not need to be hindered by graphical limitations or a lack of in-depth level design.
Games are an art form that have continued to break the barriers for how artists and storytellers could create their own personal work and despite having a steady catalog of games, Scooby-Doo and company simply have not taken advantage of the opportunity to possibly catapult the Mystery Gang to new heights. This isn’t to say that the next Scooby-Doo game should have the scope of a God of War or a Last of Us or even a Super Mario Odyssey. Scooby-Doo is a franchise with a limited appeal, mostly towards children or nostalgic adults. A large fanbase, but not one that justifies overspending on a project that only a smaller audience may support. But that doesn’t mean that Scooby-Doo should be confined to a smaller space either.
Scooby’s appeal is primarily based on his personality and dynamic with Shaggy, so it’d be foolish to not have that be a focus for a hypothetical future game. A buddy game between the two is the formula that feels the most likely to succeed, but where does that leave the rest of the Mystery Gang? With Velma’s strengths in analytics, Fred’s ingenuity for making traps, and Daphne’s skills in martial arts and PR (if we take the live-action films and Zombie Island into consideration), there is a wealth of gameplay for gamers to sink their teeth into.
A game that lets you control the Mystery Gang as they delve into their latest mystery may not sound terribly exciting on paper, but video games have the potential to let the players run around with as much freedom as developers can generate. It’s not an outlandish idea to suggest that game developers could do the same with Scooby and the Gang. Maybe there’s a chance for a game that could let the players solve the mystery and plan the traps for the masked monsters on their own.
Combine the mystery of the original cartoon show with the 21st-century design of 1st and 3rd person games, particularly those of the horror genre. Imagine a classic Mystery Gang chase sequence, only you get to choose not only where to hide, but how to hide as well, mimicking Scooby and Shaggy’s creative attempts at escaping the various monsters they’ve encountered. The mysteries can be longer and build up genuine curiosity as to who is committing the crimes. The episodic nature of Persona 5 comes to mind, though way shorter in length and self-serious because at the end of the day, Scooby-Doo is a children’s property.
That is perhaps the most important rule to consider when looking at Scooby-Doo. No matter how many spinoffs, reboots, re-imaginings, or sequels there are, the franchise is targeted mainly towards children. But even in that context, Scooby-Doo is a franchise that could offer kids endless hours of fun and potential scares in a video game. As the game industry continues to hit new heights with the release of the next-gen consoles, the opportunities for greater variety in video games only increase.
That isn’t even counting the endless games to find on itch.io, letting budding game developers run wild with their craziest fantasies. The potential for a make-or-break Scooby-Doo game is stronger than ever, but it’s up to the powers that be to take the plunge for a franchise that has floated in-and-out of relevance for over 40 years. But maybe the next generation will birth a truly definitive Scooby-Doo game. Maybe a smaller developer will blow up with their ambitious take on the Mystery Gang. It may forever float in cultural limbo, but not like it’s not worth a shot, right?