Video Games and Anime: should they mix?

[Zera]

They are both quite different fields if you think about it. Being a fan of both, this question came to mind. Now I know there have been some anime based games, But do you ever think they would be well "good enough" for other gamers to get into besides the fans of the anime. Take me for example. I like Bleach and just decided to buy the two games for the DS and Wii this week. More than likely I will enjoy the games since i'm a fan of it to begin with, even if they have some gameplay issues(not saying they will until I play). However so called critics will think otherwise. Do yall get what I'm saying? Whats your opinion on the subject?

P.S. I dont want to hear a "Bleach sucks" message. Get enough of it already

 

[Joe]

I thought you didn't like licensing, though.

Personally, and I'll cop to not getting anime, but I don't see a problem with it. Russ, a really badass-looking DBZ game for the Wii [http://www.warcry.com/]. For special moves, you had to move your hands to mimic the characters. I could only imagine the same thing with super heroes.

 

[Bongo Bill]

Sure. Any design aesthetic can be applied to a game if you know what you're doing.

 

[Lex Darko]

There are a numerous anime based games in existence, just that most of them aren't released internationally.

I know some good games come out of licensing but when you license something like the ip of an animated series or movie you can start to put limits on the creative freedom a developer has when making a game.

For example take Bleach. Do you think a developer can make a Bleach game where Ichigo wasn't the main character? I don't believe the question is should they mix. Because they can mix just fine and result in a good game. But when they mix it should be in a way where the developers have the freedom and time to make a game that is good where they aren't necessary trapped by the ips backstory or unrealistic deadlines.

 

[Zera]

I thought you didn't like licensing, though.

Personally, and I'll cop to not getting anime, but I don't see a problem with it. Russ, a really badass-looking DBZ game for the Wii [http://www.warcry.com/>Dana and I checked out <a href=]. For special moves, you had to move your hands to mimic the characters. I could only imagine the same thing with super heroes.

Good to see you remember my topic. My VideoGame side is not a fan of licencing so like i meant I would be able to tell where the game may be faulty, "technical" faults that is. But my Anime side will enjoy the game nonetheless, therefore I will enjoy it.

 

[Katana314]

Most TV shows suck, but when they come around I find anime video games are generally at least a bit more reliable. But let's not forget that there are already so many video games that are, essentially, anime in themselves. Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem, Trauma Center, Blue Dragon, etc.

 

[Zera]

Most TV shows suck, but when they come around I find anime video games are generally at least a bit more reliable. But let's not forget that there are already so many video games that are, essentially, anime in themselves. Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem, Trauma Center, Blue Dragon, etc.

Not sure on what you mean, but they do sport an anime-ish look.

 

[LisaB1138]

Well, anime/manga is both an art style and a medium for storytelling. In games like FF and Blue Dragon, they are capitalizing on the popularity of the art style and creating their own world in that style.

You're right in that games based on an anime are going to be more enthusiastically received by fans than non-fans, but that's the way it is with any franchised product or even genre. I doubt the Harry Potter games were picked up by anyone who didn't have an interest in the book/movie series. People who don't enjoy horror movies are not going to look favorably on Silent Hill.

In the end, it doesn't matter how well any game is crafted, if one isn't interested in the subject matter, it's going to be boring or hard to play. There are people who just "don't like anime" and won't like any game based on Bleach regardless of how ground-breaking it might be (or how adorabe Kisuke is.) Like any other game, "fans" of the genre or franchise are going to put up with gameplay issues that will make any non-fans put the controller down and wonder why "*anyone* would suffer through that horrible experience."

In the end, franchised products are intended for the existing market, which is why so many of them are sub-par as games.

 

[DarkKaz]

If you ask me, anime and video games have mixed in Japanese games for a long time. Even in the most Western-looking Japanese games, the characters, backstory, and storytelling strongly resemble anime even if the art style doesn't. Of course, that's in part because the designers and writers are coming from the same country, but still... Lost Planet, which looked as Western as games come, had an amnesiac main character fighting the aliens who killed his father, a calm, cool leader who spoke to you over his shoulder all the time, a young tech-wiz with an annoying voice and a female character who didn't really do anything but look pretty and probably fall in love with you or die in the end, I never got that far. Hell, the recent Sonic games are just getting more anime-style characters shoved up their tailpipe with each installment.

Ironic that a lot of original action-adventure titles could be easily turned into anime series, but a lot of games based on popular anime series tend to be unpolished fighting games or by-the-numbers beat-em-ups.

 

[NickCaligo42]

Licensed games exist for a single purpose: to capitalize on the portion of the gaming market that overlaps with their fan base and doesn't have a sense of quality strong enough to be unable to ignore or forgive a few flaws. Could there be a really, REALLY good Cowboy Bebop/Trigun/Whatever game? Absolutely. It's possible, it's just never happening because no developer is silly enough to put the time, money, and creativity into it when they know they'll make roughly the same amount of money one way or the other. The amount advertising dollars it would require to mobilize a game based on an anime series and actually induce some kind of appeal to gamers who've never heard of it--much less ones who know it and DON'T like it--would be too much for the publishers to even consider it. Now try and do that and tell the fans that their favorite characters from the series aren't even going to be there and that you're using an original cast in the interest of giving the writers some creative freedom. Sounds more than a little sticky, doesn't it? For the game publisher the production of any game is a major gamble and the more risks that are involved the less they're willing to stake. I wouldn't expect more than a quick brawler or at best a fairly-executed fighting game when you go to buy your anime-based games. At least that applies to the ones that're released here in the states.

 

[Sentios]

Anime can be mixed with gaming, there's really no problem there. The problems arise when the games don't live up to the anime, because not all of us anime fans <200+ series myself> will play something just because it's anime. The bleach and naruto games I have no desire to play, usually because they rehash the same part of the story over and over again or because they're fighting games. I played the Inuyasha game through to the end and it was bad, not even accounting for how long it took every one to appear on screen at the start of a battle. The story just felt too 'fan fiction' and it wasn't even good fanfiction. I've also play Mobile Suit Gundam games (the best of which is Federation versus Zeon even with it's 'pants on headed retarded' friendly AI that love to shoot you in the back and horrid in space movement controls) however you weren't constantly surrounded by the main characters in the show.

Which then bring me to what I think is the best thing to do for anime based games. Seperate storylines away from the main storyline. Trying to bend the storyline to fit in a player usually just makes the game suck however if an original storyline is created in the same setting then there is great potential. I mean the previously mentioned Federation vs Zeon did basically just that, you were fighting as some complete unknown and only bumped into the show's character every once in a while. (Although they treated you as though you didn't exist at all, except when they were taking out half your HP with their god moded weapons, which could have been improved...)

 

[LordLocke]

Anime are just another license, generally as prone to being misused and abused as any other one. Just because we get the ones that aren't total rubbish doesn't mean there isn't a kajillion and one crummy anime-based games in Japan, just like there are a kajillion and one crummy movie, cartoon, and comic-based games here. And when they get it right, I appreciate the good game as much as I appreciate a good game based on licensed material from other medium, like DBZ Budokai 3.

But these games, like any licenced games, are mostly for the fans of the series, not joe schmoe me who doesn't know and care what they are- I'm not much of an anime fan, mostly because I'm not much of a TV watcher, period. I've got friends who are fans, and I've seen some at their insistence, but on my own accord I tend to ignore it like I do any other TV media. Maybe some of the anime-licenced games I've snubbed have appeal to those who actively enjoy their source. There's probably an appeal to say, Naruto: Clash of Ninja, that I'm just missing because I don't care about the kid in the orange jumpsuit, his emo-bishie friend/rival or the rest of those possibly-lovable losers. I just see a mediocre brawler that's a decent stop-gap between playing better games while my friends get it out of their system.

 

[LordOmnit]

In my opinion, it really doesn't come down to anime games or game animes, but any kind of overlapping between games and other media. Any decent story (from any media form) can be made into a decent game if done correctly, and vis-versa, but due to the sheer volume of games produced (including all mainstream and non-mainstream games) it tends to the shitty because people go out of their way to take advantage of a popular series and make money off of it (see the infinte Naruto, Dragon Ball, and other games). But just because it is a game made from a mainstream title doesn't mean that it's bad, oh no, it just as much means it could be bad as any other game, like I said before, it all depends on how well it is done. If it isn't well done, then it wasn't worth the effort, otherwise it was.

 

[VideoGameFan]

Do games and anime mix well? That depends on how good, the gameplay, storyline, etc., is.

 

[ccesarano]

Not sure on what you mean, but they do sport an anime-ish look.

I think I get where he's going. Or at least, it's actually my major issue with JRPG's ever since the PSX era. I used to love JRPG's on the Super Nintendo as not only was the story a key point, but the gameplay was as well. There was a focus on evolving on how the RPG genre played, and you even had a lot of variety in turn based systems. One of the best things to me, though, was that none of the stories felt like the other. They all felt unique, and most of all, they didn't remind me of the episode of Ronin Warriors I had just watched that morning.

Then Neon Genesis became popular, and suddenly a lot of the "mystery" and "mind-fuckery" elements in that were found in, well, Final Fantasy 7. Granted FF7 still managed to be pulled off with a great enough execution that it didn't really feel like anime, but it kind of started the kick off. Now, most RPG's from Japan are better labeled as interactive anime, as not only do they have the art style, but the stories are all the same stereotypes. The biggest issue is that the gameplay isn't even a focus. Anyone that tries to tell me "RPG's aren't about the gameplay, but the story" can go stuff it, because ANY video game should be about gameplay. Hence being a video game. If you don't put much effort into how well the game plays and just put it all into story (which most of the stories are severely uninspired anyway), then you have yourself a bad game.

In the end, you can't enjoy a JRPG nowadays unless you're an anime fan, which I am not. Fortunately, despite the look, I have found Blue Dragon has a very unique atmosphere and style to it, so it doesn't feel like I'm playing an anime. Too bad it's aimed towards a younger, new to RPG audience, otherwise I'd enjoy it more. Hopefully Lost Odyssey will appeal to me more greatly.


Now, as for the actual topic, of course it's possible that you can take an anime show and turn it into a good game. The problem is, a lot of times the designer falls flat in good ideas somewhere, or the game just can't appeal to anymore than fans.

Someone mentioned Goku in the DBZ games. To anyone that's not a fan of DBZ, that is completely cheap, unbalanced and it shouldn't have even been allowed to happen. To DBZ fans, you're not going to want to pit Goku against, say, Yamcha anyway. You're going to want Goku against Brolli or Vegeta or Majin Buu. The fans themselves will balance it out, and if the game did try to balance the fighters out then the fans of the series would be incredibly disappointed. So, the DBZ developers did a good job with their audience. Same goes for the guys who made the Godzilla games on GameCube and Xbox and upcoming Wii. If you're not a Godzilla fan, you won't get it. But if you are (and I am), then it's totally awesome.

Now, an example of a good idea gone bad is Robotech: Battlecry. I love the game. I love how playing the different forms of the Veritech not only felt different, but had different control schemes as well. It wouldn't be right any other way. Where the designers fell flat on their faces, however, was when the missions became nothing but escort missions and "destroy the convoy in x amount of time" missions. Basically the two most annoying objective types ever, and the massive number of them kept me from ever finishing the game.

So, in the end, anime and video games can definitely cross over. However, they'll either appeal to a limited market for being accurate to the franchise (DBZ), or they'll have the potential for a large market but fail due to design shortcomings (Robotech: Battlecry).

 

[gameloftguy]

I thought you didn't like licensing, though.

Personally, and I'll cop to not getting anime, but I don't see a problem with it. Russ, a really badass-looking DBZ game for the Wii [http://www.warcry.com/>Dana and I checked out <a href=]. For special moves, you had to move your hands to mimic the characters. I could only imagine the same thing with super heroes.

Good to see you remember my topic. My VideoGame side is not a fan of licencing so like i meant I would be able to tell where the game may be faulty, "technical" faults that is. But my Anime side will enjoy the game nonetheless, therefore I will enjoy it.

Ooh! Multiple personalities.

I think they have mixed quite well. I always considered the Final Fantasy Series to be an example of a successful mix of the two genres. If you are talking about storyline then I would say they have the ability, and tendency, to fall into the same trap as a movie adapted off of a book or show or comic. I have a short fuse with those since they always fall short of my thoughts on what they could have done with it.



Case in point was the the recent FF2 movie. Silver Surfer's power was tied to his board? Don't remember that one. I do vividly recall him fighting quite well without the board anywhere near him yet in the movie he could be shot with a needle without it? Huh? Or The Silver Surfer taking out Galactus.....I mean if you are going to put that type of character in the movie, be somewhat true to him. That was just ridiculous. /rant

 

[Zukunft Krieger]

Since this was started by talking about Bleach lets first use that as a comparison. I personally love Bleach and its been one of my favorite animes since I discovered it (just got on season 4). At the same time, my experience with anime games has been lackluster in the past. All that aside my main issue with anime games is they always seem to fall primarily into one genre: The side-to-side fighter. It's almost a law in japan that if you're going to make a game based on any anime series its going to have to be a 2-d fighter because they're cheap and easy to make and at the same time they will sell to two markets (2-d fighting enthusiasts and fans of the specific anime series). I think Bleach would work perfectly with a sandbox style of gameplay where you play Inchigo in 3rd person and roam around his town/soul society/where ever the story is and develop his skills in action oriented battles (somewhere between Crackdown and a non-standard RPG like Chrono Trigger). Merlynn's point about a superman character is a good one, but she/he is misinterpreting the problem. A main character can be ridiculously powerful compared to a normal human so long as the enemies the character fights are just as (and even better if more so) powerful than the protagonist. In the series Ichigo doesn't start out being that powerful and at every step of the way he is confronted with opponents who are more powerful than he is and often nearly dies in the process of getting stronger. You can't have your charter start off as a superman and you can't have him be one without equally powerful enemies, but that doesn't mean your characters have to have human limitations. Just chiming in.

 

[Overnuke [deprecated]]

I can't stand anime, so, no I don't think it should be a part of video games. Anime has it's cartoon shows, and comic books, video games have their...well...games.

 

[GrandBoy]

I personally am a rather big fan of CERTAIN anime's. Naruto (not the english dubbed for the love of god) and Fullmetal Alchemist being my top 2, Bleach im personally not to fond of because i watch something like epsidoe 24 and got completely lost which has now put me off it.

To the point, anime game's are often below par , Fullmetal alchemist game (cant remember name) and Naruto Ultimate Ninja are the only 2 anime games I own and they both are rather boring.A mega exception to these rules are the 9 year old's favourite show's, Digimon and Pokemon. Digimon games are incredibly well done, Digimon World 2003 is a fantastic example of this as it almost grind-free , but still incorporate's fun and quest's.Pokemon game's have always been popular RPG's , at least every game up to Ruby was (havent bought the new games due to a recent crash with a Beamer =O.).

To conclude, some anime games are roughly 4/10 , but when you include an RPG element it makes it sometimes over double that score.Sometimes, certain games seem rushed, either with typo's, glitches or you can just tell , these element's do not define a good Anime game.