Indiana Jones

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Indy's first appearance pitted him against Nazis who are after the Ark of the Covenant. It came with the tagline "The Return of the Great Adventure", as the character and franchise was inspired by many of the early adventure films from the '30s, '40s and '50s This film introduced many classic franchise characters (some who would appear in the various games), including: Sallah, Marion Ravenwood and Marcus Brody.

It's widely considered to be a classic of the adventure genre and a film that inspired many of the young filmmakers who are working in Hollywood to this day.

The only video game to be based on the film was for the Atari 2600 and was released in 1982.

Temple of Doom

Temple of Doom, the second film in the franchise, saw Indiana Jones trying to get a mysterious stone from an evil religious cult in India. It came with the tagline "If adventure has a name, it must be Indiana Jones." It is considered by some to be the 'black sheep' of the film franchise, as it is much darker and there is no actual 'search' throughout the world like in the other films.

It introduced characters such as Short Round, Lao Che and Willie Scott.

An arcade game based on the film was released in 1985, and it was ported to the NES in 1988.

The Last Crusade

The Last Crusade, the third and last film in the 'original trilogy', saw Indiana Jones searching for his father, Henry Jones, Sr.. His father is a Holy Grail scholar who is captured by Nazis in their search for the lost religious relic. It came with the tagline "The man with the hat is back. And this time he's bringing his dad." In the film, Indy finally came face to face with Hitler, who didn't recognize him and signed his father's diary.

The film saw the return of Marcus Brody and Sallah, as it returned to the lighter tone of the first film.

A graphic adventure game based on the film was released for the PC in 1989 (developed by Monkey Island creator, Ron Gilbert,), along with two different NES games: one in 1989 and another in 1993.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the fourth film in the franchise and released 19 years after Last Crusade, saw an older Indiana Jones being pitted against Soviet Agents who are after a psychic alien crystal skull. It was generally received favorably by the movie going public, although criticism was leveled against certain moments ("nuke the fridge") in the film.

While introducing many new characters to the franchise, Crystal Skull saw the return of Marion Ravenwood to the film series.

Lego Indiana Jones 2 is the only video game so far that will be directly based on this film.

Other Adventures

The Indiana Jones video game franchise has branched off from the films and provided players with various original, new adventures to guide Indy through. The most notable one being the classic adventure game Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.