The anime industry is growing and becoming an ever popular industry filled with the hype of weebs everywhere. As such, some members of the industry will always want to capitalize on said hype, and an excellent way to do so would be through video games, of course. After all, a lot of anime viewers are also gamers, so it’ll be a win-win situation.
Why Are Most Anime Based Games Usually Bad?
The problem is, most of the games being made from anime these days quite frankly suck. (In my opinion, of course.) Sometimes it might not be the developer’s fault. Often times these games are made exclusively to use the hype of fans to make money and not for passion. And due to that, these games are made quickly and with not a lot of effort.
That’s why you’ll often see the same things done in most anime games repeated and rehashed many times. Most of them will be arena fighting games, and most of them will have you create a character to play as. Not to say that these types of games on their own are bad, but at some point, you start to get some fatigue over these generic repeated elements.
You’ll also notice that many anime games that are successful allow players take on the role of the main characters, not just some random nobody you threw around in an afternoon. This is because most anime fans will want to play the story they’ve seen and wonder what it’ll feel like going through the same experience the characters did, but this time they’ll be in control.
Examples of Bad Anime Based Games
Sadly, this isn’t the case for a lot of anime-based titles coming out recently. Instead, they’re clearly made as cash grabs by whatever or whoever is funding the game and are often not handled correctly. The developers are either given a low budget to work with (as a lot of this can be seen in some games), or the whole project will be outsourced to a developer no one knows, just to save costs. An example of such would be the god awful game based on the Naruto series, Naruto Shippuden: Dragon Blade Chronicles. By developer Tomy, a developer studio I’ve never heard off until right this moment.
My most recurring gripe with a lot of these games is their less than optimal mechanics that are often clunky, the gameplay is simplistic and lack any depth, the visuals are often hard to look at and are always made of the same generic CG, and they are usually very glitchy and rarely ever get fixed, because that would be too much trouble. After all, its just a game for making money and nothing else.
Take Attack On Titan: Humanity in Chains as an example; a notoriously bad game whose visuals are terrible, with clunky controls and is hardly entertaining, which brings me to another point.
Examples of Good Anime Based Games
Most of these games are catered to a specific audience, so you’ll rarely ever see someone, not from the same following playing these games, because they aren’t good enough for anyone to just simply pick up and play, which is just sad. In a better world, games like these are meant to not only appease the fans but also be good enough to attract other players, not of the same fandom.
While I might be hard on some of these games (because quite frankly they deserve it), there are a lot of other fantastic games out there based on popular anime such as the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm series, or even Dragon Ball FighterZ
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, as an example, is an amazing title loved by many and even has its own competitive audience. And not for nothing either it is a well-balanced game, the visuals are amazing it incredibly fun to play and going back to my point earlier, is not just a create your own character kind of story. It allows the player to experience the stories they’ve seen in the anime while giving them control of it. It’s a power fantasy of sorts, and with Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, the power fantasy is grand, bombastic, and beautifully animated.
Final Thoughts
Granted, a lot of these successful titles are from successful anime and, as a result, have more money to work on the production. But in my opinion, a game shouldn’t be made if it’s bound to be terrible. When a game is released with no proper funding or support, then its most likely on purpose.
To be fair, though, a lot of these successful franchises also make terrible games take One Piece: Grand Cruise, a laughably bad VR title released in 2018 based on the popular One Piece anime series that games like these are another example of games made with only money in mind.
In conclusion, I’d like to advice video game developers to stop making crappy video games based on anime just to capitalize on the hype of fans. With more anime games coming out, such as the newly announced Kimetsu No Yaiba game coming next year, (an anime known for the immense hype behind it.) Let’s hope they’ll put a lot of work into it, lest it becomes another mediocre anime game among many others.
Do you enjoy anime based video games? Do you agree or disagree with me? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.