I've been wondering what others think about Anime based video games, but since most of my friends either play games or watch Anime, not both, I never got to ask. In my opinion, I really think that any Anime games' merit is based upon you liking the Anime series or not. Take Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm for example: I really doubt I would like the game half as much as I do if I didn't like the Naruto series. It's not a special fighter by any means really, I just bought it for the fact that I can play as several of my favorite Naruto characters. Same goes for the DBZ Budokai series.
Anime based video games
- Thread starter t00bz
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It's a very select few games that are worth anyone's attention. Most (if not all) are just a means to cash in on the series' popularity while the iron's hot, as it were. As such, thought is put more towards meeting the deadline, instead of meeting quality standards.
Huh. As far as I'm concerned, most anime-related games are never released in Europe, so I cannot really comment on that one. I think Berzerk is not bad, same for Afro Samurai. Also, I'd like to play a Ghost in the Shell game.
I'm no hardcore expert in terms of Anime, though. I guess it's pretty much the same as movie adaptations, isn't it?
I'm no hardcore expert in terms of Anime, though. I guess it's pretty much the same as movie adaptations, isn't it?
Exactly. Game companies realized a while ago that there was this vast untapped resource that they could exploit, anime fans. It allows them to make nothing-too-special fighter or RPGs who's solo purpose is just to play off the popularity of a particular theme.t00bz said:
The Lupin III games for the PS2 are probably not enjoyable at all if you don't like the anime...they're not especially good GAMES, but viewed as new episodes they are more than passable. (They're the only anime games I've played for reasons of liking the show.)
hmm, tough one
budokai tenkaichi is kickass
but im not so much a fan of the naruto ones or the bleach ones
however, i think anime styled games should also count
like the world ends with you literally feels like you're playing an anime and is so awesome at the same time
no more heroes is pretty sweet as well and falls under a similar category
budokai tenkaichi is kickass
but im not so much a fan of the naruto ones or the bleach ones
however, i think anime styled games should also count
like the world ends with you literally feels like you're playing an anime and is so awesome at the same time
no more heroes is pretty sweet as well and falls under a similar category
Budokai Tenkaichi is a special exception, in that it's not so much a "fighting game" as it is a simulation of the DBZ fighing style (minus about three hours of screaming).
I suppose in the purely technical sense, it's a fighting game, but in terms of feeling like a fighter, it doesn't really pass muster. That's what the straight Budokai series is for.
Overall, I'd say that BT is a resounding success as an anime game because it's not a reskinned fighter, but a game designed to make the player feel like they're part of the show's famous battles. Budokai, however, is more like a fighting game that people put Dragonball characters in, which is less of a win in my eyes. I doubt anyone considers Soul Calibur 4 a Star Wars game, for instance.
I guess my thoughts on games based on existing IPs are that they should make me feel like I'm in that world. Spiderman should make me feel like Spiderman, Batman should make me feel like Batman, DBZ should make me feel like Goku, etc. A lot of licensed games suffer from being reskins of other, less good, games which only sell because they have a pop culture icon on the box. We should cheer on games like BT and Spiderman 2 for breaking that mold.
- J
I suppose in the purely technical sense, it's a fighting game, but in terms of feeling like a fighter, it doesn't really pass muster. That's what the straight Budokai series is for.
Overall, I'd say that BT is a resounding success as an anime game because it's not a reskinned fighter, but a game designed to make the player feel like they're part of the show's famous battles. Budokai, however, is more like a fighting game that people put Dragonball characters in, which is less of a win in my eyes. I doubt anyone considers Soul Calibur 4 a Star Wars game, for instance.
I guess my thoughts on games based on existing IPs are that they should make me feel like I'm in that world. Spiderman should make me feel like Spiderman, Batman should make me feel like Batman, DBZ should make me feel like Goku, etc. A lot of licensed games suffer from being reskins of other, less good, games which only sell because they have a pop culture icon on the box. We should cheer on games like BT and Spiderman 2 for breaking that mold.
- J
Haven't really played many anime video games,just DBZ:Burst Limit.
Now,as a beat 'em up,its excellent,but as a DBZ game i found it to be shallow,so from my experience anime video games are just like movie tie-ins..
Unless either pokémon or yu gi oh games for the game boy count,because they're pretty good.
Now,as a beat 'em up,its excellent,but as a DBZ game i found it to be shallow,so from my experience anime video games are just like movie tie-ins..
Unless either pokémon or yu gi oh games for the game boy count,because they're pretty good.
I agree. One Piece: Unlimited Adventure is by far one of my favorite Wii games, the best One Piece game made (the others aren't that good), and very fun to play. I'm into the fan-subbed anime as well so it makes twice the experience.kizo said:
The DBZ BT3 was also a good game as far as fighters go.
Ghost in the Shell was another great game.
Some anime games should be avoided and were made to be absolute crap. Take Orphan for the PS2 for example. Read reviews of it and you'll see what I mean.
Good games that became animes are also fun to play. Pokemon, Monster Rancher, I'm forgetting one in there... It doesn't matter, you probably get my point.
One thing I've noticed recently is that many very good anime are becoming very lame, cardboard, tactical/strategy rpgs. You'll see this much more in Japan than in other parts of the world, so its not as hard to elaborate on how bad it has gotten. Any long anime that has become good in the past five years has become a tactical rpg. All are bland and all have the same gaming basics of 'you have n'th amount of characters, here is a map of squares. Now go square by square to defeat your enemy'. If people think EA is the pit of all evil, they can't hold a candle to this strategical crap developer.
I am in the lucky position of knowing japanese and possesing means to play games not released out of japan thus i get to enjoy a few gems most people miss.
The main one would be Jump! Ultimate Stars, it's a SSB-like fighter for the DS with characters from 41 (yes, forty one) different shonen jump manga series, a whopping 330 different characters. The gameplay has the longest learning curve, there's practically endless possibilities of combos to be done you can have teams of up to 4 different playable characters and there can be up to 4 people playing at the same time...so it's possible to have goku naruto (kyuubi 4tails) and vegeta all in your own team and nuke it out against hollow ichigo and timeskip sasuke
, it even has online play and it doesn't lag...what else can anyone ask .
Also there's series like berserk...where most people wouldn't even understand what's going on were for the game to be released over here (it's going on around volume 27....which i'm fairly sure hasn't been published out of japan yet) but the game is quite awesome, the recent demo of afro samurai ( a weak ameri-anime copy of ninja scroll btw hehe) reminded me of the berserk ps2 game but severely toned down and in crappy english.
Lastly, the Christmass game tatsunoko VS capcom has been quite amazing, pitting our good-ol SF shotos against Ken the eagle and Tekkaman and Karas...too bad for owners of nonjapanese WIIs it, like jump ultimate starts, will never be seeing US coasts due to licensing issues.
The main one would be Jump! Ultimate Stars, it's a SSB-like fighter for the DS with characters from 41 (yes, forty one) different shonen jump manga series, a whopping 330 different characters. The gameplay has the longest learning curve, there's practically endless possibilities of combos to be done you can have teams of up to 4 different playable characters and there can be up to 4 people playing at the same time...so it's possible to have goku naruto (kyuubi 4tails) and vegeta all in your own team and nuke it out against hollow ichigo and timeskip sasuke
, it even has online play and it doesn't lag...what else can anyone ask .Also there's series like berserk...where most people wouldn't even understand what's going on were for the game to be released over here (it's going on around volume 27....which i'm fairly sure hasn't been published out of japan yet) but the game is quite awesome, the recent demo of afro samurai ( a weak ameri-anime copy of ninja scroll btw hehe) reminded me of the berserk ps2 game but severely toned down and in crappy english
.Lastly, the Christmass game tatsunoko VS capcom has been quite amazing, pitting our good-ol SF shotos against Ken the eagle and Tekkaman and Karas...too bad for owners of nonjapanese WIIs it, like jump ultimate starts, will never be seeing US coasts due to licensing issues.
I think the biggest thing is that currently anime tie ins are simply considered cash cows that you can develop on the cheap and actually earn a pretty big profit because the fans will buy anything related to the product.
Once the fans actually start getting picky about which tie ins they pick up you might see some more quality out of the games. But until then we'll still get games like that Naruto fighter which had a grand total of one attack button (Seriously? WTF?).
However I do think that it should be noted that there is a difference between games based on anime, and games that emulate anime style. The first would be DBZ/Naruto, the latter would be more like Zone of the Enders 2.
Once the fans actually start getting picky about which tie ins they pick up you might see some more quality out of the games. But until then we'll still get games like that Naruto fighter which had a grand total of one attack button (Seriously? WTF?).
However I do think that it should be noted that there is a difference between games based on anime, and games that emulate anime style. The first would be DBZ/Naruto, the latter would be more like Zone of the Enders 2.
preciselyCalax said:
i think games of animes shouldnt be made, unless made with real effort like budokai tenkaichi 3 which is still great if youve never seen dbz
but i think that by all means games like twewy, NMH, fragile, tos, tov, ZotE2 etc should still be made since to me it's like being in an original anime
Anime inspired games like most rpgs and fighters aren't really anime games....they're just japanese...everything japanese has some animeish elements since anime is japanese too.Calax said:
As for the naruto games, they weren't meant to be traditional fighters like SF but more of anime representations, they may have just one attack button but in naruto you seldom if ever have long drawn out mellee brawls, having a jutsu demolish somebody or just fighting a bit and then going in a crazy barrage which finishes the foe is usually more of the way things get done in that anime...and the games did capture that quite well with jutsu being able to take tons of HP while also looking amazing and staying true to the series.
The best DBZ fighting game was Budokai 3...not Tenkaichi 3, but Budokai 3, for PS2. The Tenkaichi series has been an interesting experiment, but they haven't added enough to make it worthwhile. The original Budokai was cool but had serious problems, Budokai 2 added cel-shaded graphics, new characters, and a couple of new mechanics, and Budokai 3 tightened up the combat, tweaked the graphics, and added several cool new mechanics.
Legend of Goku 2 was an excellent GBA game as well...many times better than LoG1.
And just for reference, there was a Ghost In The Shell game that came out for PS2. It apparently sucked.
Legend of Goku 2 was an excellent GBA game as well...many times better than LoG1.
And just for reference, there was a Ghost In The Shell game that came out for PS2. It apparently sucked.