The 10 Best Anime to Video Game Adaptations

[00:02] games based on anime may not have the

[00:04] greatest track record when viewed as a

[00:06] whole but if you look past the stacks of

[00:08] semi-arena fighters and pools of shallow

[00:10] action games you'll see a bunch of gems

[00:12] that successfully translate over the

[00:14] magic of anime or manga into video game

[00:16] form these are our picks for the top 10

[00:19] video game anime adaptations

[00:23] [Music]

[00:27] attack on titan 2 lets us play as a

[00:28] custom character joining the canon cast

[00:30] of attack on titan in their ongoing

[00:32] fight against the fearsome beasts attack

[00:34] on titan 2 takes the base of the first

[00:36] game quite literally as it features some

[00:38] of the same cutscenes and missions but

[00:40] builds on the story in an interesting

[00:42] way it may not be the most beautiful

[00:44] game but it sure is a fun way to revisit

[00:46] the attack on titan story and lend a

[00:48] hand in slaying the massive creatures in

[00:50] the series

[00:56] the ds was a surprisingly solid handheld

[00:58] for fighting games and even though you

[01:00] might not expect it bleach ds was one of

[01:03] the best ones bleach is tailor made for

[01:05] 2d fighting game as each character has

[01:07] their own unique weapon each weapon has

[01:09] a super powerful bonkai form and fights

[01:11] move at a blisteringly fast pace sure to

[01:14] the series characters in bleach ds have

[01:16] quick shinpo dashes that allow them to

[01:18] close a distance extremely quickly and

[01:20] lead to super cool combos some

[01:22] characters have transformative bonkais

[01:24] that make them even more badass and on

[01:26] top of that its detailed sprites do the

[01:28] show justice even on the ds's small

[01:30] screen also worth pointing out that the

[01:32] ds stands for dark souls and while it

[01:35] obviously has no relation to that dark

[01:37] souls it is technically accurate to say

[01:40] that bleach ds is the dark souls of

[01:42] fighting games

[01:44] why come on it's true

[01:54] jojo's bizarre adventure manga series

[01:55] has been around since the 80s but had

[01:57] not reached peak popularity in the us

[01:59] until the anime adaptation that started

[02:01] in 2012. however 14 years before that

[02:05] arcade players and dreamcast owners got

[02:07] a taste of jojo in the fighting game

[02:09] simply called jojo's bizarre adventure

[02:11] made by capcom it ran on the same

[02:13] graphics engine at street fighter 3 and

[02:15] featured a completely new and innovative

[02:17] combat system the hook in jojo's bizarre

[02:19] adventure were

[02:21] cosmic slash spiritual beings that were

[02:23] integrated into the fighter's moveset

[02:25] but were also able to be summoned as a

[02:26] separate entity the whole package was

[02:28] made even more enticing by the several

[02:31] original artworks made by the creator of

[02:32] the manga hirohiko araki while there

[02:35] have been many jojo games since this one

[02:37] this game is still one of the best when

[02:39] it comes to style

[02:45] when people talk about mecca gundam is

[02:47] usually the first thing that comes to

[02:49] their mind gundam has a storied history

[02:51] in games going all the way back to the

[02:53] 80s on consoles that predate the nes in

[02:55] the early 2000s however gundam games

[02:58] reached new heights with the start of

[02:59] the gundam vs series gundam vs games

[03:02] consists of two v2 battles in a fighting

[03:04] game combat system similar to the

[03:06] virtual on series the games have had

[03:08] many iterations and one of the best was

[03:10] mobile suit gundam extreme versus maxi

[03:12] boost on released on the ps4 in 2020 in

[03:15] maxiboost on you have a massive volume

[03:17] of gundams to choose from across five

[03:19] decades of anime and manga while the

[03:20] game has a bare bones in sas factory

[03:22] story mode its multiplayer is where it's

[03:24] at which features fast paced action that

[03:26] has you constantly dashing jumping and

[03:28] dodging your opponent's attacks while

[03:30] attempting to attack them yourself the

[03:32] simple yet deep combat system is why

[03:34] this series has lived on 20 years after

[03:36] it started

[03:37] [Music]

[03:43] developer omega force has given the

[03:44] musso treatment to a number of anime

[03:46] properties but none have fit more snugly

[03:48] within the genre as one piece pirate

[03:50] warriors and pirate warriors 4 is the

[03:53] latest and greatest in the franchise it

[03:55] would make this list for the fun core

[03:56] gameplay alone which sees you wailing on

[03:58] literally thousands of enemies with

[04:00] iconic characters and special moves from

[04:02] the series however it's also a

[04:04] surprisingly robust retelling of most of

[04:06] the major arcs in one piece and while

[04:08] it's hard to recommend as a substitute

[04:10] for watching all 900 plus episodes or

[04:12] reading 1000 chapters of manga it at

[04:14] least allows you to relive many key

[04:16] moments in video game form

[04:19] [Music]

[04:23] back in the early 2000s street racing

[04:25] started gaining mainstream attention

[04:26] thanks to the first fast and furious

[04:28] movie and the initial d anime a couple

[04:31] of years later we got the first initial

[04:33] d arcade stage cabinets around the world

[04:36] using a physical card system players

[04:38] saved their progress and more

[04:39] importantly their customized car to race

[04:41] with other players in person in addition

[04:43] to some story elements from the initial

[04:44] d series arcade stage 8 infanti's music

[04:47] includes the always catchy eurobeat

[04:49] soundtrack that the anime is well known

[04:50] for and still gets used in memes today

[04:53] little references to the source material

[04:55] in the courses and the cards themselves

[04:57] show how much sega has put into the

[04:59] arcade experience initial d arcade stage

[05:02] 8 infinity shows just how far the arcade

[05:04] series has evolved over the years

[05:09] [Music]

[05:12] astro boy is one of the classic anime

[05:14] franchises created by the godfather of

[05:16] manga osamu tezuka when the 2003 anime

[05:18] reboot came out there were two games

[05:20] made as titans one for the ps2 and one

[05:23] for the gba the superior of the two is

[05:25] the gba game astro boy omega factor

[05:28] which was a love letter not just to

[05:29] astro boy but many of tesca's other

[05:31] works as well omega factor had a beat em

[05:34] up plus shoot em up factor that echoes

[05:35] the combat of the mega man zero

[05:37] franchises while tying to the shoot em

[05:39] up legacy of treasure titles like

[05:40] radiant silver gun and ikaruga and the

[05:43] story is a mashup of some of the 2003

[05:45] anime story some manga plot lines and

[05:48] all new tales it's also strongly

[05:50] encouraged to play through more than

[05:51] once in order to see its true ending

[05:54] [Music]

[06:02] one of the biggest crying shames in the

[06:05] world of anime and manga video games is

[06:07] that neither jump superstars nor its

[06:09] superior sequel jump ultimate stars ever

[06:11] made it outside japan's borders it's an

[06:14] anime fans dream game the likes of which

[06:16] we still haven't seen since even though

[06:18] games like jump force and jstar's

[06:20] victory versus have tried in 2006 jump

[06:22] ultimate stars brought together

[06:23] characters from 41 different shot and

[06:26] jumped mangas in a smash brothers s

[06:27] party fighter for the ds featuring 56

[06:30] playable characters though many

[06:32] characters were just slightly different

[06:34] variations of themselves players would

[06:36] construct a deck of manga panels that

[06:38] would represent a combination of

[06:39] playable characters assist characters

[06:41] and support characters leading to crazy

[06:44] amounts of customization on top of that

[06:46] it had a great single player campaign

[06:47] that constantly rewarded you with new

[06:49] characters to add to your deck it also

[06:50] featured online play and a combat system

[06:53] that did a wonderful job of bringing

[06:54] each character's special moves to

[07:00] life the naruto ultimate ninja storm

[07:03] series is one of the best arena fighters

[07:05] around and [ __ ] storm 4 along with its

[07:08] added expansion road to boruto is a

[07:10] culmination of the entire game series as

[07:13] well as naruto storyline in one game it

[07:15] features over 100 characters to choose

[07:18] from and that's not even counting the

[07:20] multiple iterations of some characters

[07:22] and its gameplay is extremely accessible

[07:24] which makes for an excellent competitive

[07:26] scene there have been many anime arena

[07:28] fighters but nothing really comes close

[07:30] to what cyber connect 2 has achieved

[07:32] with naruto ultimate ninja storm 4.

[07:40] it should be no shocker that dragon ball

[07:42] fighters tops this list of the best

[07:43] animated video game adaptations as it

[07:46] really checks all the boxes of what a

[07:47] video game adaptation of anime should be

[07:50] mimics the look of the show check

[07:56] adapts the essence of what makes the

[07:58] show special in video game form check

[08:00] gameplay that provides enough depth to

[08:02] sustain a fan's attention beyond just

[08:04] the initial appeal check but then

[08:06] fighters goes beyond that with a

[08:07] fighting system that feels truly unique

[08:09] in a crowded space of 2d fighters its

[08:11] pace is lightning fast thanks to a

[08:13] universal super dash mechanic that

[08:15] allows any character to close the

[08:16] distance in a flash along with a vanish

[08:18] attack that lets players instantly

[08:20] teleport behind their opponent to either

[08:22] continue a combo or catch their opponent

[08:23] off guard and typical dragon ball z

[08:26] fashion in the years since its release

[08:27] fighters has only improved with a ton of

[08:30] interesting dlc characters smart

[08:32] gameplay tweaks and the addition of a

[08:33] dojo to better help players understand

[08:35] its depth it's not perfect but it still

[08:38] stands as the best blueprint of success

[08:40] for video game anime adaptations

[08:43] and that's our list and you know what

[08:44] this actually wasn't super easy to call

[08:46] to just 10 picks more recent games like

[08:49] kill a kill if were discussed along with

[08:51] classics like the dragon ball z budokai

[08:53] and tenkaichi games but ultimately this

[08:56] was where we landed what are some of

[08:57] your favorites let us know in the

[08:58] comments and for more anime make sure to

[09:00] check out our picks for the top 10 anime

[09:02] of all time and for everything else keep

[09:04] it here on ign flow freely

[09:09] please protect the plants the animals

[09:12] protect this world i love

[09:15] you've prattled on long enough

[09:22] [Music]

[09:26] it's

[09:27] changing