Video games andanimeare inextricably interlinked: chances are that if you play the former, you watch the latter. This is particularly true of theJRPGgenre: JRPGs and anime exist perpetually side-by-side, with very few games in the genre boasting arealistic art style.
This anime inspiration runs deeper than the artwork: anime games take writing and design influences from the visual medium as well. The end result is that anime fans are spoiled for choice when it comes to video games: here are the best ones ever.
Grandia had the unfortunate burden of being expected to do for the Sega Saturn whatFinal Fantasy 7 did for the PS1. If it had been treated as what it was - an excellent niche JRPG heavily inspired by ’90s anime, it would have been much more successful on launch.
Yet over the years, Grandia built up a devoted fanbase for a reason. Its writing was top-notch, with the characters changing so steadily that you didn’t even realize when they had become entirely different people. This is a game beloved by its fans, warts and all. Its minor flaws - such as the so-bad-it’s-good English dub - parallel the struggles that anime itself faced back then.
While Final Fantasy has shed some of its anime influence with recent entries, the art style was alive and well in Final Fantasy 7. So much so, in fact, that this game is credited with helping both anime and anime-styled video games break through in the West.
Before Final Fantasy 7 came out, Western publishers would avoid anime games. AfterCloud’s spiky hairdograced PS1 systems worldwide, companies were actively looking for anime games to localize. This three-disc marvel is, in essence, a self-contained anime series as a video game.
Persona 3’s influence is one that was not decided by gaming historians, but by the fans. There had been anime games before; there had been anime games set in schools before; there had even been anime games that had dating sim elements before. But none of them handled these elements as masterfully as Persona 3 did.
After Persona 3 came out, the Shin Megami Tensei series shot up in popularity, and anime games changed as a whole. All of a sudden, every JRPG had to have relationship mechanics, and the medieval fantasy aesthetic started getting phased out for contemporary school settings.
If you want to make a truly spectacular anime game, you need to hire the best, and that’s exactly what Ni No Kuni did. This game boasts character designs and cutscenes fromStudio Ghibli, the eternal champion of Japanese animated films.
Not only is its art style uplifting, but Ni No Kuni also has a beautiful story about overcoming grief. With a cute mascot like Mr Drippy guiding him, the young protagonist comes to terms with his mother’s death while learning two of the most important life lessons an anime story can teach: trust your friends, and explore what this world has to offer.
Anime wasn’t mainstream in the 2000s like it is now, but it maintained a niche fanbase. The World Ends With You struck a chord with that fanbase: not only did it have era-appropriate angular designs courtesy of Tetsuya Nomura, it had a nu-metal soundtrack that made it the definitive emo game.
Yet calling this game edgy would be doing it a disservice. Like a lot of anime, The World Ends With You aims to teach its audience life lessons. The most profound one is in the title:the world ends with you. If you want to expand your world, you need to broaden your horizons.
Dragon Quest is Japan’s favourite JRPG and anime icon Akira Toriyama’s second most popular work, but after Dragon Quest 7 the series was in very real danger of falling behind. As great as it was, DQ7 was too big for its good, and the series' simplistic plots started being compared negatively to Final Fantasy’s nuanced writing.
All of those criticisms fell by the wayside once Dragon Quest 8 came out. This game was a breath of fresh air that perfectly transplanted Toriyama’s distinctive art style into a 3D setting. Dragon Quest 8 reinvented the series, reaffirmed its popularity, and remains one of the best anime games on the PS2 today.
The Dreamcast is a tragically underrated console, filled with obscure gems that never got their due. This is particularly true of Skies of Arcadia. Most people in the gaming community have heard of Skies of Arcadia; you’ve probably seen a Sega fan touting it yourself. Butnot enough peoplehave played it. And chances are, if you were told the story centres around gathering six elemental crystals to save the world, you’d think it’s nothing special.
But Skies of Arcadiaisspecial. The game’s spirit of adventure is unmatched. Even on the Dreamcast’s limited hardware, the game feels at every turn huge and refreshing, with a good dose of anime humour to keep things from getting too bleak.
Tales is one of the most loud-and-proud anime-inspired video game series. Each game pokes fun at anime tropes, but from a place of love rather than ridicule. As the series went on, its plots grew ever more complex.
In terms of both gameplay and story, Tales peaked with Abyss. This game had it all: a gorgeous art style, brilliant music, a deep main character, a world so detailed it made your head spin, shocking plot twists, and engaging combat.
The one thing anime-inspired video games always struggled with until 2008 was that they could never quite make you feel like you were playing an anime. That is, until Valkyria Chronicles came out. This game had a watercolour art style, seamless engine, and inspired environment designs that made gaming finally feel like playing a 3D anime.
Not content to rest on its laurels, Valkyria Chronicles also had a unique World War 2-inspired setting and tackled social issues that other anime games wouldn’t dare to go near. The game was a sleeper hit and maintains a large fanbase to this day.
Genshin Impact is subject to a lot of criticism: it’s presumed to be grind-heavy and money-hungry, and to some, its prestige will always be dragged down by virtue of it being a gacha game. These criticisms are overblown: not only is Genshin Impact massively user-friendly for a live-service title, it’s one of the most beautiful anime games ever made.
Thedesign leads at Mihoyoare, first and foremost, fans of anime themselves. This means that every character design, every breathtaking environment, and every detailed locale is filled with love for the medium. The game has a long-running story delivered through consistent updates, keeping fans invested much like a multi-season anime would.
