No, this isn’t an extremely belated April fools’ joke – Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore almost became a video game back in the early 2000s. As revealed by Digital Realms head Mike Mika over on Twitter, the studio had pitched exactly that to Microsoft following the release of Sandler’s movie, stating it would have been a hybrid of the fighting and golf genres, developed in conjunction with the actor’s Happy Madison Productions.
While the project would never come to fruition (for reasons not made entirely clear), Mika managed to unearth some early assets or the title, sharing them with his followers on social media. Among these are mock-up box art featuring the hockey player-turned-golf-pro himself. Check it out for yourselves below.
Released in 1996 (the same year as Billy Madison), both films helped to establish the offbeat brand of humor that Sandler would become well known for and would ultimately lead to further success in similar releases such as The Waterboy (1998) and Little Nicky (2000). As for how the game adaptation would’ve worked, Mika says they’ll try to dig up more information on the concept, but does tease in one response that Abraham Lincoln and the Alligator would both have been present as unlockable characters.
Sadly, major platform holders seemingly weren’t in agreement that the idea would have translated well to the realms of gaming, leaving fans only able to wonder what the final product would have looked like. Not a surprising outcome, of course, given how unconventional and niche the venture would have been, but what do you think? Would Happy Gilmore‘s premise have made for a terrific interactive experience, or destined for the bargain bin? Let us know in the usual place below!
