Anime is?
My Partner (non-gay), colleague and long time Nemesis has made a good point in his last post: this is a Videogames blog and not an anime wank-off.
Now I’ll admit that my original response the previous post was to collect several Naruto/Bleach/One Piece games and do some kind of video game review and to make it pertinent to the blog. But I stopped myself. Though I may find this war of anime post vs non-anime post incredibly hilarious, I started considering the so-called link between anime and video games…
When it comes to anime and video game franchises there is a chicken-and-the-egg scenario, it seems that if a show has certain elements such as plot, special powers or catchy characters there will inevitably be game, and if a game has similar traits then there will be an anime (though not restricted to just anime). Though it should be noted that both can have their roots in a manga comic books, particularly in the case of the original Dragonball Z: Budokai game which stayed true to the plot of manga rather than the anime, however since games will unavoidably use voices, these are taken from the anime.
So wherein does this link between anime and video games lie? I find myself constantly drawn back to one of my theories from a previous post describing the different factors which can make a game “good”
The Tie-In core: A game based on familiar setting, either based on a movie, TV series or a previous franchise, often notoriously bad, however if the developers have time to work on the title, or if the franchise can be translated well, garnished with the other cores, these can be good.
E.g Star wars Titles, any Sequel.
From this we can see that anime is a fantastic medium to draw inspiration for video games from. Anime has rich plotlines and story arcs, it has diverse characters with unique traits, and of course special powers. This means that if a computer game gets released based on an anime, people will be drawn to it to embellish their familiarity with the characters and plot, but on a more superficial level it also means that someone can actually use the characters special powers. The ability to go super saiyan 3, perform a bankai release or just repeat a special move from the show, caters to our own fantasies from the show. If we look at the reviews on gamespot for many of these anime-tie-in games, we can see that though the games may not be constantly inspirational or unique (e.g. simple beat-em-ups) nor will they have exceptionally high scores, the reader reviews will almost always be higher. This is based simply on the fact that the readers (assuming they have seen the anime) have familiarity, and knowledge of the mechanics in the show. Though It is all about getting the right amount of familiarity with the anime, I’m sure we all remember Ghost in the Shell for the Playstation one, I believe it was the worst game released on the PS1, correct me if I’m wrong.
However the reverse scenario is more complicated, and for this I will be venturing out of the realms of just anime and into “western” (apologies for the use of the word “western”, I hate using it as a distinction between Japanese and non-Japanese, we are after all in this world as the same and one unifying mind and soul… blah blah blah… anyways…) “western” movies and animation. Ok let’s start with the big one “the” franchise, the big daddy of all video games… Final Fantasy. We have the Final Fantasy: Spirits Within movie apparently based on the series… But no it was not, it was mediocre and had no familiarity to the games themselves, its plot was confused and stupid similar to that of the ending of “The Hulk”. Nuff said not touching this ever again. Another movie spawned from Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, this was a direct sequel to Final Fantasy VII, this included enough familiarity (geekery?) with characters, plot, locations, music to actually make it an awesome film. Though, of course, anyone who did not play the game would find the film confused and strange. Resident evil movies… not going here either, they made nemesis a good guy. Actually this is as far as I go with “western” movies I’m done (though Silent hill was not too bad). Anime based on games… Lets see what do we have? Darkstalkers, apparently quite good, though the “western” version was cack. . Oh and of course Streetfighter! Anyone who was a fan of the series had to have seen it, (after the dismay of the movie, but we are not talking about that anymore) and Chun Li got her tits out! Other games which have spawned anime, Megaman (Or Rockman as he is called in the “non-western” side), Sonic (sonic has apparently spawned many series spin-offs and different generations) and Lastly… Pokemon. Yeah had to happen, the game came out first but in a strange occurrence, though the series does remain true to the game, both the video game and series are independent of each other both with cult followings that do not necessarily intersect. All thanks to a little electric rat and its cute little voice, chuuuuuuuuuuuu.
So what have we learned here children? Fuck all… I believe I may have just pointed out that video games exist about anime, and vice-versa. And I’m sure y’all knew that anyway.
Note: there is also .Hack some anime game crossover trilogy or something… no idea though.
Utah Saints!
Richie: here to make you question yourselves and open you eyes to new horizons (not in a gay way though)
Now I’ll admit that my original response the previous post was to collect several Naruto/Bleach/One Piece games and do some kind of video game review and to make it pertinent to the blog. But I stopped myself. Though I may find this war of anime post vs non-anime post incredibly hilarious, I started considering the so-called link between anime and video games…
When it comes to anime and video game franchises there is a chicken-and-the-egg scenario, it seems that if a show has certain elements such as plot, special powers or catchy characters there will inevitably be game, and if a game has similar traits then there will be an anime (though not restricted to just anime). Though it should be noted that both can have their roots in a manga comic books, particularly in the case of the original Dragonball Z: Budokai game which stayed true to the plot of manga rather than the anime, however since games will unavoidably use voices, these are taken from the anime.
So wherein does this link between anime and video games lie? I find myself constantly drawn back to one of my theories from a previous post describing the different factors which can make a game “good”
The Tie-In core: A game based on familiar setting, either based on a movie, TV series or a previous franchise, often notoriously bad, however if the developers have time to work on the title, or if the franchise can be translated well, garnished with the other cores, these can be good.
E.g Star wars Titles, any Sequel.
From this we can see that anime is a fantastic medium to draw inspiration for video games from. Anime has rich plotlines and story arcs, it has diverse characters with unique traits, and of course special powers. This means that if a computer game gets released based on an anime, people will be drawn to it to embellish their familiarity with the characters and plot, but on a more superficial level it also means that someone can actually use the characters special powers. The ability to go super saiyan 3, perform a bankai release or just repeat a special move from the show, caters to our own fantasies from the show. If we look at the reviews on gamespot for many of these anime-tie-in games, we can see that though the games may not be constantly inspirational or unique (e.g. simple beat-em-ups) nor will they have exceptionally high scores, the reader reviews will almost always be higher. This is based simply on the fact that the readers (assuming they have seen the anime) have familiarity, and knowledge of the mechanics in the show. Though It is all about getting the right amount of familiarity with the anime, I’m sure we all remember Ghost in the Shell for the Playstation one, I believe it was the worst game released on the PS1, correct me if I’m wrong.
However the reverse scenario is more complicated, and for this I will be venturing out of the realms of just anime and into “western” (apologies for the use of the word “western”, I hate using it as a distinction between Japanese and non-Japanese, we are after all in this world as the same and one unifying mind and soul… blah blah blah… anyways…) “western” movies and animation. Ok let’s start with the big one “the” franchise, the big daddy of all video games… Final Fantasy. We have the Final Fantasy: Spirits Within movie apparently based on the series… But no it was not, it was mediocre and had no familiarity to the games themselves, its plot was confused and stupid similar to that of the ending of “The Hulk”. Nuff said not touching this ever again. Another movie spawned from Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, this was a direct sequel to Final Fantasy VII, this included enough familiarity (geekery?) with characters, plot, locations, music to actually make it an awesome film. Though, of course, anyone who did not play the game would find the film confused and strange. Resident evil movies… not going here either, they made nemesis a good guy. Actually this is as far as I go with “western” movies I’m done (though Silent hill was not too bad). Anime based on games… Lets see what do we have? Darkstalkers, apparently quite good, though the “western” version was cack. . Oh and of course Streetfighter! Anyone who was a fan of the series had to have seen it, (after the dismay of the movie, but we are not talking about that anymore) and Chun Li got her tits out! Other games which have spawned anime, Megaman (Or Rockman as he is called in the “non-western” side), Sonic (sonic has apparently spawned many series spin-offs and different generations) and Lastly… Pokemon. Yeah had to happen, the game came out first but in a strange occurrence, though the series does remain true to the game, both the video game and series are independent of each other both with cult followings that do not necessarily intersect. All thanks to a little electric rat and its cute little voice, chuuuuuuuuuuuu.
So what have we learned here children? Fuck all… I believe I may have just pointed out that video games exist about anime, and vice-versa. And I’m sure y’all knew that anyway.
Note: there is also .Hack some anime game crossover trilogy or something… no idea though.
Utah Saints!
Richie: here to make you question yourselves and open you eyes to new horizons (not in a gay way though)
it sounds pretty gay to me.
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