7. Thundarr The Barbarian
In the opening credits to Thundarr the Barbarian is depicted a disaster geek's wet dream; a planetary catastrophe shatters the moon, appears to tear away the ozone layer, and tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanoes wreak world-wide devastation. Man's civilisation cast in ruin is how the voice-over puts it - which is, let's face it, pretty poetic for a cartoon from 1980. Two thousand years after this ruination, the Earth is a much-changed place, where super-science and sorcery are often indistinguishable. In a bare-bones backstory, Thundarr escapes gladiatorial slavery like a fur-leotard-wearing Spartacus and finds both an energy blade weapon called the Sun Sword, and a couple of friends to adventure with; Ookla the Mok and Ariel the Sorceress.
How This Could Work: Apart from the group dynamic and usual combat skill, attribute enhancement and spell trees, the beauty of this property is that much is unwritten, and the only limit to any game you might make is how much you can shoehorn on to the disc or cram in to the DLC. The characters travel widely in the series, the inhabitants of the world are hugely varied, and sometimes in the series plot devices such as spells are used to access new areas. Go nuts with it! In the first episode of the cartoon they're already climbing all over a magically animated Statue of Liberty like it's PS2 game night and they've lost their copy of Shadow of the Colossus let your imagination run wild from there.