The Strong Bond Between Anime and Video Games Posted Oct 11, 2017
When creating a Venn diagram for fans of anime and fans of video games, the middle section – the one that overlaps both sets of fans – will be considerably larger than other diagrams. Anime and video games go hand in hand, and anime especially gives itself very well to being made into a video game. Anime is known for large casts of characters, often fantastical elements, and a lot of battling, which can be turned into battle arena games, narrative quest games, or spin-offs of characters rarely seen. The anime way of storytelling found its perfect match when it was turned into fighting pixels – and anime based video games do extremely well across all platforms.
Naruto
The Naruto game series focuses primarily on the battles of the series – rather than the tremendous amount of episodes. The visually striking graphics in the anime are perfectly matched in the games, and focus on the cavalcade of foes Naruto has faced, including mysterious Princess Kaguya. The formula of chasing the mysterious anime princess has been one replicated heavily – and with good reason given its success. Players can even attempt to win cash while they chase the princess when they become a new user of Slots.io and start playing the anime-themed Koi Princess.
Dragon Ball Z
Dragon Ball Z first aired in Japan in 1989, based on the manga by Akira Toriyama. The series followed Goku on his quest for the dragon balls – and the various friends and foes he came into contact with. From extra-terrestrials to androids to past and future versions of people he knew – and that Super Saiyan ability to change hair colour. The Dragon Ball Z games largely borrow from the show the fighting aspects, which takes a lot of its background from Japanese martial arts, interacting with the elements and one’s environment in a way to reach the highest level of being zen. The games focus on fighting opponents – which works well given the huge roster of characters that have appeared in the show (and all their forms and incarnations).
Pokemon
The Pokemon games and anime co-exist as two very different ways to interact with Pokemon. The anime – due to the releases of the games taking more time than the episodes to produce – focus more on the characterization of those who catch Pokemon, the personalities of the Pokemon themselves, and of Ash Ketchum. Initially, Ash sailed through Kanto in the series, catching badges extremely quickly – and as the series needed to stall, the show was forced to be creative and act as a supplementary guide to the Pokemon players of the game were catching. However, the anime has certain creative license over what they choose to show of the actual gameplay mechanics.
Anime and video games are very useful for fans of one (or both) as they allow fans to interact with different aspects of a franchise they enjoy. Fans of anime will enjoy being a part of their own narrative journey, while fans of gaming may enjoy seeing what it would be like for the game world to really come to life.
