Summary
- Great anime games should faithfully represent the source material, like Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization with its intense combat and familiar characters.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R improves upon the previous game with more characters, assist moves, and content for die-hard fans.
- One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 stands out with its action-based combat, flashy combinations, and a wide range of playable characters, making it a fun game to enjoy with friends.
When it comes to solid video game releases based on iconic Anime series there are a lot of solid options like Dragon Ball FighterZ or JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R, but not all of the titles translate well to video game form. Luckily, a few diamonds are hidden among all the different video games out there, providing hours of fun content to people who enjoyed the source material.
A good licensed anime game should include lore and features that call back respectfully and accurately to the anime or manga it's based on. A great anime game will even include tidbits and hidden Easter eggs that further complement the narrative or lore in the series, providing rich content for those who decide to play the game. These are the 10 best-licensed video games based on an anime series or movie.
Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization (2016)
Platforms: PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, PC
|
Critic |
Score |
|---|---|
|
69 |
|
|
Mostly Positive |
What It's About
Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization is a classic RPG with high-intensity action elements and is based on the 2012 anime series, which is based on the web novel and manga published in 2009. The game takes place after the narrative arc of the series and lets people design a character in the Sword Art Online universe. The game includes intense combat while meeting familiar characters and foes from the anime and manga.
Why It's The Best
With interesting combat mechanics, including timed critical strikes, advanced combinations, and parry mechanics, combat certainly stands out in Hollow Realization. With many skill-based systems, the game has deep, detailed upgrade trees and abilities, enabling people to fine-tune their character builds to best suit their playstyle. Though the story narrative could be more compelling, the combat makes up for this, and is a solid licensed video game based on an anime.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R (2022)
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC
|
Critic |
Score |
|---|---|
|
3.5/5 |
|
|
73 |
|
|
Mostly Positive |
What It's About
JoJo's Bizzare Adventure is quite the strange anime and manga, spanning centuries with its twisting and often peculiar plot. Well-known for spawning an array of hilarious memes, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R is a title that translates the essence of the anime into a fighting game. A remake of 2013's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle, the latest entry in the series improves upon the gameplay and combat mechanics in several ways while introducing new characters to the roster.
The original JoJo manga series was published originally in 1987 in Japan.
Why It's The Best
All-Star Battle R contains 50 characters across the anime's nine different story arcs and includes single-player and multiplayer game modes. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R takes the 2014 combat design and improves upon it with assist moves that increase combo complexity. With great visuals, amazing music and voice acting from the show, and many Easter eggs and content for die-hard JoJo fans, this is certainly a fighting game worth checking out.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles (2021)
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC
|
Review Outlet |
Review Score |
|---|---|
|
69 |
|
|
Very Positive |
What It's About
Currently, 2022's The Hinokami Chronicles is the only video game adaptation of the smash hit Shounen series. There are more to come given the anime's popularity, but it's still more than enough so far with its impressive boss fights and the return of the show's voice cast.
Why It's The Best
The story allows the player to master the 13 strongest breathing forms in Demon Slayer, taking Tanjirou Kamado through the first arcs of the anime as he fights to defeat demons and restore his sister's humanity. The Hinokami Chronicles also features a versus mode, allowing players and their friends to pit demons and demon slayers against each other.
Fist Of the North Star: Lost Paradise (2018)
Platforms: PlayStation
|
Critic |
Score |
|---|---|
|
3/5 |
|
|
72 |
What It's About
This classic dystopian martial arts anime may have ended back in 1988, but the action-packed video games based on the series are still going strong. Lost Paradise follows stoic, noble hero Kenshiro through an alternate universe where he hopes to find his lost love Yuria, in the utopian city of Eden. The game is set in an absurdist, post-apocalyptic world, with gory brawler combat.
Note: The Fist of the North Star manga series was originally serialized in Japan in 1983.
Why It's The Best
Not all is as it seems in Eden, and to defeat his old enemies and reunite with Yuria, Kenshiro borrows the same combat mechanics as Kazuma Kiryu from Sega's even more famous fighting series, Yakuza. Unlike that series, Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise has huge mobs of enemies, with Kenshiro gaining more power with every bloody blow. The action feels snappy and frenetic, with skill-based combos creating a wonderful collage of blood & guts on the screen.
Attack On Titan 2 (2018)
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC
|
Critic |
Score |
|---|---|
|
75 |
|
|
Very Positive |
What It's About
Based on the first two seasons of the anime, Attack on Titan 2, or A.O.T. 2, is the popular series's newest and most polished adaptation. The action game uses the series' high-flying ODM gear with a custom-created character that takes the role of a new cadet in the 104th Cadet Corp.
Why It's The Best
The game features snappy, fast-paced combat and a cooperative campaign mode, and it features a lot of the plot and narrative in the popular anime series. A notable improvement over the first game in the franchise, the game enables people to re-live the events depicted in the show with a solid and fun gameplay base. For those who always wanted to fly across the town using the iconic ODM gear, this game is the best iteration of the anime mechanic.
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 (2016)
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, PC
|
Critic |
Score |
|---|---|
|
79 |
|
|
Very Positive |
What It's About
With a huge roster of characters from the anime, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 is arguably the best Naruto fighting game ever created. At its core, Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 is a fighting game where people can recruit a trio of Naruto characters for different combat synergies and special abilities.
Why It's The Best
Though Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 was originally created in 2016, the cell-shaded graphics, snappy gameplay, and combat mechanics still hold up to this day. With a fairly high amount of control over movement and abilities, Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 is one of the most fun, polished, and complete Naruto titles ever created, with characters and moves pulled straight from the anime.
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 (2020)
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC
|
Critic |
Score |
|---|---|
|
3.5/5 |
|
|
75 |
|
|
Very Positive |
What It's About
Though One Piece: Odyssey is the latest in RPG games for the iconic anime One Piece, it just slightly loses out to the epic musou mega-brawler One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4. The licensed anime title covers a huge span of the anime series, covering multiple arcs with voices recorded by the anime's original actors.
Why It's The Best
Rather than using a turn-based combat system, Pirate Warriors 4 showcases the true power of Luffy and his pirate crew by taking on waves of innumerable enemies with action-based combat mechanics. Flashy combinations, intense action, and a wide range of playable characters keep One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 fresh and fun throughout its duration. With up to four-player co-op available, it's also a great game to enjoy with friends.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme VS. MaxiBoost ON (2020)
Platforms: PlayStation
|
Critic |
Score |
|---|---|
|
3/5 |
|
|
78 |
What It's About
Though there are a ton of different Mobile Suit Gundam games available, many are lackluster — including the notable ill-fated PvP game Gundam Evolution, which lasted for just around a year before development would stop for it. The high-flying action team-based action combat Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme VS. MaxiBoost ON is not such a game. With 180 different Gundams over a variety of different Gundam series and movies, there is a mobile suit for every play style. Based on a widely popular arcade version, this console port is a successful example of how to do an anime license correctly.
Why It's The Best
The attention to detail in Gundam: Extreme VS. MaxiBoost ON to stay accurate to the anime series is pretty amazing, with a wide, albeit at times overwhelming, range of options for people to choose from. The cell-shaded graphics complement the title, and the simple yet eye-catching visuals keep the focus on the snappy Gundam combat. Though the game does maintain a focus on quick matches in pre-defined arenas and lacks a main story mode, it makes up for it with its controls and superb gameplay.
Astro Boy: Omega Factor (2003)
Platforms: Game Boy Advance
|
Critic |
Score |
|---|---|
|
8.8 |
|
|
85 |
What It's About
Reaching back in time, Astro Boy: Omega Factor is a GBA game that is renowned for its fun gameplay. A side-scrolling beat 'em up, Astro Boy: Omega Factor puts people in the role of the titular protagonist as they advance through the game's 32 stages and seven levels.
Why It's The Best
Though the popularity of Astro Boy in the United States is far less impactful than in Japan, this side-scroller is still widely regarded as one of the best video game anime adaptations. Rather than boasting simplistic beat 'em up mechanics, Astro Boy: Omega Factor opts for skill trees that one can alter to fit their playstyle. This, combined with frenetic combat and skill-based combat, makes the title a retro classic worthy of praise.
Dragon Ball FighterZ (2018)
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC
Dragon Ball FighterZ
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Xbox One , PC , Xbox Series X/S
- Released
- January 13, 2018
- Developer(s)
- Arc System Works
- Publisher(s)
- Namco
|
Critic |
Score |
|---|---|
|
4/5 |
|
|
87 |
|
|
Very Positive |
What It's About
Dragon Ball has seen a series of gaming adaptations, but DBFZ stands as a solid fighting title, regardless of whether one enjoys the anime. Based largely on the fighting mechanics made popular by other titles like Marvel vs. Capcom, Dragon Ball FighterZ is a team-based fighting game where one can choose three different characters to create unique team synergies and extend combos.
Why It's The Best
Dragon Ball FighterZ successfully spawned a smaller esports community around the release of the game. With assist mechanics and a wide range of characters from Yamcha to Gogeta, this fierce, high-paced fighting game requires practice but is worth the feeling of gratification in the end. The game not only stands up as one of the best adaptations of Dragon Ball Z in a video game but is also a solid standalone fighting game, even for those with no familiarity with the franchise.