Detective Conan
It’s no secret that these days anime is on the rise. What was once a niche market has been steadily creeping its way into the mainstream; and like many things in pop culture, anime can lend itself quite well to video games. Some of the most beloved games out there are based on anime. However, for every Dragonball Z Budokai 3 or Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution, there are plenty more shows out there that just never had a good game for whatever reason. So here’s a list of just a few anime that would work well for a game.
Starting things off, we have the beloved Detective Conan series. While Conan may be familiar to some thanks to its time on Adult Swim in the past, in Japan the series is a staple that has been in production for over 20 years. It features Shinichi Kudo as a brilliant young detective who is transformed into a child and must use his wits to solve mysteries in spite of his limited stature. All the while trying to find some way to get his normal body back.
At over 800 episodes and 93 volumes of manga, it’s safe to say Conan is kind of a big deal. Which is precisely why in this era where Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton-style puzzle games have a dedicated following, we should bring Conan to the gaming world as well. The series lends itself well to a mystery puzzle game and its general lighthearted tone can let audiences both young and old appreciate it.
Re:Zero
Re:Zero is by far the most recent entry on this list, but it’s here with good reason. For many it was the big hit of 2016 and to date remains a popular and beloved franchise within the anime community. The series is an Isekai show, meaning it features its protagonist Natsuki Subaru suddenly awakening in a different world akin to something one might find in a video game. What set Re:Zero apart from its peers however was its gimmick: Subaru enters this fantasy world with the ability to respawn like in a video game. Unlike in games however, the series uses this to great effect in exploring dark and gruesome themes.
So how would this work for a game adaptation? By design Subaru is completely weak, and being able to die and respawn is his only noteworthy ability; and as tempting as it is to suggest this ability be used in some sort of macabre Dark Souls-style RPG, I think his character lends himself quite well to an adventure game. In a series where the protagonist is stuck trial-and-erroring his way through the story until he stumbles upon the right chain of events, it’s a natural fit.
Initial D
A surprising number of anime-based video games are fighting games, and it’s pretty easy to see why. The over-exaggerated characters and powers lend themselves greatly to it, but you know what else it lends itself well to? Sports. Sports anime are one of the most exciting and plentiful genres in the business and standing near the top as a classic is Initial D.
For those who might not know much about Initial D, it’s a racing anime that follows Fujiwara Takumi as a masterful downhill street racer and his adventures with Project D – a team of highly skilled racers who set out to become the very best in Japan. While rather simple nowadays, the series remains a delightful watch and is still held up by many for its exciting races and hype-inducing Eurobeat soundtrack.
However, aside from an arcade game made almost 15 years ago the series hasn’t really had any notable games. So why not make it now? In a world where racing games are either grounded in realism or are cute and cartoony, Initial D can take the anime genre’s decidedly over-the-top energy and apply it to racing. The series gives you all you need in terms of music, characters, style, and so on. In the right hands it could even give Mario Kart a run for its money.
Lupin the Third
Speaking of classic and beloved franchises, we have Lupin the Third, by all accounts the definitive anime crime caper franchise. Split across dozens of movies and several different anime, Lupin III chronicles the misadventures of Arsene Lupin the Third as he and his gang of fellow criminals, which include a sharpshooter and samurai, wander the world in search of wealth and fun. What backs this surprisingly basic idea is a core set of iconic characters and some of the best talent in the business (at one point even Hayao Miyazaki worked on Lupin). It’s a franchise that’s almost artistic in its simplicity, yet it too hasn’t had much in the way of video game success.
The series lends itself well to a blend of stealth and action. There’s plenty of variety to be had in terms of gameplay thanks to the cast.Whether it’s general stealth as Lupin or sharpshooting as Jigen or even hack-and-slash action as Goemon, the game can and should go just about anywhere. With some good writing to do the series and characters justice, a Lupin game can be a damn good time. Lupin has survived across all sorts of different mediums. Now it’s time he broke out into gaming as well.
Gurren Lagann
The fact that Gurren Lagann has never had a major game release is disheartening. For a series viewed by many as a classic, if not their favorite anime of all time, it’s almost baffling to think that it hasn’t had a great game yet. Granted, Gurren Lagann has appeared in some games, but the series itself never had any sort of definitive game adaptation.
Gurren Lagann is a rather complicated beast to explain just for how absurd it and just how far it goes with its basic premise. Though, for those wondering, the premise is that the world is run by a race of beast men, and two people from an underground city, Simon and Kamina, come out onto the surface and begin a fight to take back their world. A fight that, I kid you not, reaches a point where mecha are throwing entire galaxies at each other and warping reality at one point.
So yeah, Gurren Lagann is pretty nuts; but so are plenty of video games nowadays, so now’s a good time to give the series a game worth remembering. Give it to a studio that can do it justice like Platinum, tell them to go nuts, and sit back to watch the insanity play out.
These are just a few anime ideas for potential video games, but what do you think? Are there any anime that you think would make for a good game? What sort of game? Let us know in the comments!
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