So I was looking at my game collection the other day and realised I own quite a lot of Anime related video games especially for series I've always been a fan of like Dragonball, but there are a lot of titles I picked up on a whim or had originally played at a friends house that in turn got me super interested in a certain series like Naruto for example. The more I thought about it the more it occurred to me that it's down to video games that I am a huge fan of certain Anime and without me playing these games I may not have even given many series a chance.
With the Naruto example this was back in around 2006, I had always heard of the series being really popular before it was brought over to the West, with many saying it was 'the next DBZ' but Id never thought to actually sit down and watch an episode. However in high school a few of my friends had modified PS2's with a bunch of Japanese titles on them, this was the first time Id really thought that there were more modern (at the time) games that were not released worldwide and really opened my eyes to a lot of titles.
One of the games we would always play was what I believe became the Naruto Ultimate Ninja series in the West, which only had a basic amount of characters and only really went up to the first few arcs of the Anime. I remember thinking the attacks were pretty cool and the characters interesting enough, but I think what really sold it to me was seeing that Naruto had something similar to Dragonball with the nine tailed transformation. It was soon after discovering this that I began to look online and start watching the series.
I have a really big memory of being really sick that Summer holiday and just sitting in my room watching the series from start to finish but skipping out that god awful filler that would lead into Shippuden. This was around the time the Shippuden Anime had just began airing in Japan and quickly I decided to begin reading the Manga as I could not deal with the amount of filler being thrown out. I think over time a lot of people slowly got to the point where they were sick of the series to a degree but were so invested in it that they felt they had to see how it ended, I know I was. Overall it was an enjoyable Manga Series and while I probably would have go into it eventually, It was because of that PS2 game that I took the plunge.
I think video games have hugely benefited a lot of series, especially in the West where a lot of series would otherwise not be considered for dubbing even Manga releases, it's thanks to the release of certain titles that these series can gain a whole new group of fans and get an idea of how successful the series could potentially be in the West.
The biggest example of this for myself is the Dynasty Warriors Gundam series of games which is now on its fourth title. Before I played this game I had only watched Gundam Wing on UK TV and played one game on the PS2 set during the original series, which at the time I assumed was some kind of Wing side story. So for Christmas in around 2007 I asked for a Xbox 360 and the first game I got was DW Gundam as I had been hearing about it online and how it featured a large number of series.
Now in this game it pretty much mashed together all different series and timelines into one big what if story with some proper Anime related story modes along the way, I believe this was really beneficial as it introduced me to so many new characters and Mobile suits as well as a useful section of the game which informed you about everything to do with them albeit briefly. Seeing all these characters interacting and noticing some knew each other previously due to being set in the same universe gave me a huge incentive to research the franchise itself and find where I could watch some of these shows and when they were produced.
Unfortunately in the UK at the time there was no real way to obtain any of the other series legally so I had to resort to downloading them, I don't believe Sunrise have too much of a problem with this as the primary aim of the show was to sell Gunpla models and merchandise, in a sort of glorified toy commercial style and if we're only shown one series we may not even know these models existed. This has changed slightly now with more releases showing up in the UK but also on Gundams official Youtube page in which they will upload entire old series for a set time and also broadcast new episodes of shows weekly just after their airing much like Crunchyroll.
I think the first series I started with was G Gundam, a sort of mix between Dragonball and Gundam and the first alternate universe show in the franchise, which understandably was right up my street. Shortly after I watched Seed which was another alternate universe series but used a lot of plot elements and features from the original series almost as if being a modern adaptation (in 2002). I think it also helped that a series was just airing at the time titled Gundam 00 which I got in the habit of watching weekly, this really made me feel like a part of the fan base because I could discuss it each week with friends and online much like when I used to watch a show on Toonami.
It's fair to say this franchise is one of my all time favourites and if my Gunpla collection is anything to go by it will remain that way for some time, at the moment I've watched pretty much every single thing that's been released, even some terrible Canadian live-action movie, it's almost as if releasing the game in the UK was some kind of master plan from Bandai and Sunrise and in my case it really worked out.
There are of course a few more examples such as the Ghost in the Shell game on Playstation 1 which I played on a demo disc in the late 90s, In all honestly this game was not one I can remember a lot of other than the red mech you pilot during the demo and it is perhaps not the best representation of the Anime overall but I remember the huge amount of demo discs I would have as a kid from magazines and all these now hazy memories of obscure titles id endlessly play. While the Ghost in the Shell game was one of these, I remember playing this game a hell of a lot compared to the other titles on the disc and it was not until the around 2008 that a magazine company in the UK started to release certain Anime titles every few weeks on DVD with a new issue of their magazine.
The first of these was Ghost In the Shell and as soon as I saw this I instantly remembered the name from that demo disc I had enjoyed countless times, I didn't even realise the game was based on this Anime when I first played it but I quickly picked it up and watched it as soon as I got home. As much as I enjoyed the movie I've still yet to watch the sequel or series produced more recently, regardless it was due to a dumb demo disc that I even picked up this DVD in the first place, but I guess that's what the studio was hoping for with the creation of this game.
The most recent example of a video game enticing me to view a series is with Jojo's Bizarre Adventure All Star Battle on Playstation 3 which was a title I originally saw being discussed on forums every so often, but what really caught my eye with this title was it's amazing looking visuals which looked as though they were taken straight out of the Manga pages themselves. This game was developed by CyberConnect2 who are known for their amazing look Naruto titles and the Anime inspired Asura's Wrath, both of which I had previously played and was impressed with visually, so I knew this title would be worth a look.
However I did not want to import the title just because I thought it looked nice, so I looked online and researched the series as best I could and luckily saw the A new animated adaptation of the Manga was in the process of airing in Japan. I began watching the series right away and while I found the first half of the first arc to be slow I found the ending and the entirety of the second arc to be amazing, I've even begun to read the Manga way past this point and thoroughly enjoy it.
What is most
interesting about this game is that a huge number of fans began
importing it purely because they had enjoyed watching the Anime online, due to this the developers used this new found Western popularity to
finally announce a physical Western release in certain stores and because of the nature of the game going all the way up to the 8th arc of the Manga it has opened up the entire series to a new audience which has allowed Viz Media to license a USA release.
After I played this title myself when it was released in the UK I was honestly blown away, not because it was a super amazing game but because of the quality and care taken by the developers to produce something that actually looked like it came right off the page, I think the developers really know how to handle Anime related titles and have proven this time and again, especially with the amount of fan service they add to these titles in the form of subtle references, the attention to detail and the use of perfectly choreography, even really little things like having a certain super move breaking another players super depending on who the character is that you're against (think Saibamen Vs Yamcha in a DBZ game), truly this is a great title to own if you're a fan of the series.
While video games can be great for getting someone in to a series they can also be used to breathe new life into a series that may have already ended. The biggest example of this can be the Dragonball series of video games before and after the release of the new movie. Now Dragonball is a good case because it's a series that is so immensely popular across the world and has had a huge amount of games produced but there are only so many times you can play through Raditz to Kid Buu without getting tired.
While this is counteracted by perhaps making the gameplay change depending on the series such as Budokai to Tenkaichi, generally the inclusion of what if scenarios was introduced. Now this was probably the best thing to happen to a lot of games as the series is such a wealth of possibilities both character wise and story wise. For example Budokai had the infamous Cell absorbing Krillin stage as well as the what if fusion prominent in the second game, whereas Tenkaichi focused more on the what if story aspects such as having Raditz join up with Goku and Piccolo or Zarbon plotting against Frieza.
To an extent this kept things fresh and was welcomed by many who were getting tired of playing over the same story over and over again, I think over the years developers of these titles have got the message and tried to incorporate as much new content like this as possible, while that is a lot easier now with new movies being produced the recent Xenoverse title has adapted this in full force by having the entire game revolve around the idea of the story we're all familiar with being changed to a certain degree.
While a lot of this was inherited from Dragonball Online the way that the developers expanded upon it and added a number of new scenarios as well as the ability to create your own character have only proved that this fresh air breathed into the series is welcome, especially if the numbers in which the game has been selling are anything to go by. It's pretty clear that if used well what if ideas can certainly keep the popularity of some series afloat long after they have aired and also continue to bring new fans along the way.
I always found it quite strange that these titles are generally well received as opposed to most movie licensed games, but perhaps the concepts within these shows are a lot easier to work with or perhaps it's because in a lot of cases it's fans of the series who are working on the games and actually put a lot of time and effort in to them rather than working towards a release window of a certain movie. Regardless it's clear to see that Anime and Videogames go hand in hand and can greatly benefit each other if used correctly.
But I'm curious are there any titles that got you into a certain Anime, let me know via Twitter or something!, thanks for checking this out as always.
