Anime encompasses many genres and styles – enough for anyone to find something they like. From philosophical titles like Neon Genesis Evangelion, through a blend of science and magic in the Full Metal Alchemist, the violence-filled Berserk, to mystery driven thrillers such as Death Note. For the countless anime series out there, there is also a myriad of games across different platforms. I’m here to recommend the top five.
1. Dragon Ball
Probably the most popular and most successful game franchise, it spans across a variety of platforms and includes a handheld console, arcade, mobile, and windows games. All games follow the male protagonist, Goku, as he sets out on a quest to collect seven Dragon Balls and engage their fans in the fantasy adventure, martial arts combat, and buddy comedic relief. Most of the games from this franchise are fighting RPGs and with such a long list of releases, it might be difficult to decide which of the games are worth your while. However, by far the most universally loved title is Dragon Ball FighterZ, developed by Arc System Works and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The game delivers great fighting combined with beautiful anime graphics, resulting in an overall fantastic experience.
2. Naruto
This manga series follows the story of a young ninja, Naruto Uzumaki, who aspires to gain approval of his peers and to become his village leader – the Hokage. The manga was an inspiration for a stream of games which sold 10 million copies worldwide. Released on different consoles, the overall quality of the games differs widely from publisher to publisher. Most are fighting games, where the player fights against AI or another player. One of the highest ranked among Naruto games is Naruto: Rise Of A Ninja, developed by Ubisoft Montreal. This game takes the player through 80 episodes, ninjutsu training, side missions, and learning hand seals all in one of two modes – one to one combat or role-playing.
3. Sailor Moon
The series was one of the firsts to center on a female protagonist, who’s joined by other female characters on a quest to save the Solar System. The franchise remains a classic among female-centred anime action series and it was widely successful in generating video games for a variety of platforms. The first games included side-scrolling fighters, unique puzzle games, versus fighters, and turn-based role-playing. One of the games, Sailor Moon: The Shining Moon was also released on Nintendo DS. Two tabletop games were also released, Sailor Moon Crystal Dice Challenge in 2017 and Sailor Moon Crystal Truth or Bluff in 2018. What’s more, we’ve also seen a few casino slot games heavily based on Sailor Moon pop up, including massively popular online slot games like Moon Princess.
4. Yu-Gi-Oh
One of the only manga series out there about gaming, Yu-Gi-Oh follows the story of a young boy, Yugi Mutou, whose gambling alter ego helps him come out of conflicts unscathed by using games. The franchise generated multiple spin-off manga and anime series, as well as a variety of tabletop and video games and it is one of the highest grossing media franchise of all time. A stable element across most of the consoles and handheld systems games is Duel Monsters – a fictional trading card game. Nightmare Troubadour, released on Nintendo DS in 2005, comes most highly recommended as it smoothly incorporates the touch screen technology into gameplay enabling the player to make decisions faster and easier, than on previous platforms.
5. Pokemon
Unlike many other games, which are adaptations of manga and anime series, Pokemon was actually originally developed as a game and later turned into a very successful television series. Pokemon is the highest grossing media franchise of all time and its revenue exceeds $90 billion. While the main game series are RPGs, the spin-offs include many other types of games including action role-playing, puzzle, fighting, and digital pet games. A common feature across all the games is the choice of one of three different Pokemon at the beginning of the game. With so many Pokemon games to choose from, choosing the best one is virtually impossible, however, if we had to decide on one it would be the Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver versions. These games include the staple Pokemon action points like capturing, battling and evolving and includes cool features such as an internal clock, which means that you can only catch some Pokemon at specific times of the day.
