An anime receiving a game adaptation is nothing new, nor are the necessary creative and narrative liberties taken. To take advantage of the unique sensibility of the video game medium, some anime are told differently when heading to a game console.
That said, some anime game adaptations take these freedoms to extremes by having almost nothing in common with the source material. Some tell an entirely new story, while others don’t even have a framing device to speak of.
10 Berserk Dreamcast Games Tell A New Story
Berserk has two Dreamcast games, and none of the single 1997 anime adaptations. These were Sword Of The Berserk: Guts’ Rage and Berserk: Millennium Empire Arc: Chapter Of The Holy Demon War (also on PS2), released after the anime ended. Canonically, they occur at the start of Guts and Puck’s quest (which was not in the anime) to cure Casca’s madness.
Both games feature new stories made by mangaka Kentaro Miura, who canonizes them as “lost” episodes. These games feature new Apostles, the first appearances of certain manga characters, Guts’ worsening post-eclipse trauma, the futility of his mission, and more. Even better, most of the cast from the 1997 anime reprized their roles, and Susumu Hirasawa returned to compose.
9 The Gungrave Duology Continues One Death’s Story
Gungrave is one of the most criminally underrated cartoons of its time, and it’s an even better fate than the games it was based on. Few people even know of the existence of the two Gungrave PS2 games, let alone know the differences between the two. Basically, the anime is a very loose adaptation of the games.
The anime takes the events of the first game in a different direction, opting for a more grounded, character-driven approach than an emphasis on action. In short, the anime ends with almost everyone dead – Brandon Heat/Grave included. Meanwhile, Overdose (released shortly after the anime) features a reawakened Grave, who survived the first game and the events of the sequel.
8 Ongoing Serial Experiments May or May Not Be an Alternate Timeline
Experimental Surreal Serial Experiments Lain is the last anime one would expect to have a game, but Lain’s dive into The Wired made its way to the PS1 in 1998. Although it features the characters from the anime and analyzes the same themes of humanity’s changing purpose in a digital world, the game tells a whole different story.
In typical fashion for mind-blowing serial experiments, the game may or may not be a divergent timeline. That said, calling it a “game” is charitable since the gameplay is more of an interactive website than a traditional game. Moreover, the developers don’t even consider their creation a game, classifying it as “Psycho-Stretch-Ware” instead.
7 Girlfriend of Steel 1 & 2 Turn Dark Evangelion Into A Rom-Com
Neon Genesis Evangelion has many video games to its name, but only a fraction actually adapt the anime or even feature Eva-Vs.-Angel fights. In fact, most Evangelion games are slice-of-life simulators set in the alternate (angelless) high school reality of the anime’s finale. One of the best known is Girlfriend Of Steel, a two-part cross-platform visual novel.
Players experience a happier Evangelion here, as Shinji’s biggest problems are harem comedy grades and hijinks. Additionally, Girlfriend Of Steel introduced fan-favorite Mana Kirishima (center), who was never in the anime. The first game could be considered a “lost episode,” but the second is a high school rom-com completely separate from canon.
6 Detective Pikachu Explores The Underworld Of Pokemon
Ignoring some major discrepancies like the existence of Ash Ketchum, the anime and Pokémon games are virtually the same. Typically, they both focus on aspiring trainers forming their dream Pokemon teams, battling rivals or Team Rocket, and more. This is what sets Detective Pikachu apart, as it is an investigation game with a talking Pikachu.
Released for the Nintendo DS, Detective Pikachu had more in common with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney than a regular Pokémon game or episode. Detective Pikachu was a breath of fresh air and is notably one of the only kid-friendly PG-rated entries in the franchise. The game even became the basis for the first live-action Pokémon movie, which starred Ryan Reynolds as the talking Pikachu.
5 The Gundam: Battle Assault Games merges Gundam timelines
The Mobile Suit Gundam franchise is unique: as a whole, it’s a generational story of armed conflict. Due to this strict timeline and clear division between alternate centuries, some fan-favorite mobile suits cannot meet or battle. Cross-platform Gundam: Battle Assault is the solution to this problem, as it’s basically Tekken with mobile suits.
Unlike the Gundam VS series which recreates gun wars (ex. The Earth Federation battles the Principality of Zeon in the first entry), Gundam: Battle Assault allows players to choose any mobile suit they want, regardless of chronology. The end results are ridiculously cool mecha fights that contradict the Gundam timeline, like Big Zam versus Destiny Gundam.
4 Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Lets Popular Light Novels Collide
Dengeki Bunko is the editor behind some of the most popular light novels turned anime, such as A Certain Scientific Index and Sword Art Online. Due to the specificity and uniqueness of each story’s world, there is no imaginable way to cross paths. Dengeki Bunko’s PlayStation Fighting Game skips that and lets players know if their favorites are the publisher’s strongest.
Like all the fighting games listed here, characters like Shizuo from Durarara!! and the Taiga of Toradora! lack their usual contexts, which means that they are only approximations of themselves. That’s no problem, though, since Fighting Climax’s priority is to let players have fun pitting their favorite light novel characters against each other, and it delivers in that regard.
3 Jump Force is a Shonen Royal Rumble dream come true
One of the most (hilarious) annoying questions from the anime community is “Can Son Goku defeat X?” with X representing literally any fictional character. Cross-platform fighting game Jump Force puts half of that question to rest as it’s a crossover battle royale featuring Shonen Jump’s most famous characters.
The game’s roster features just about every Jump icon, from hard-hitting newcomers like My Hero Academia’s Izuku Midoriya to classics like Fist Of The North Star’s Kenshiro. There’s a paper-thin excuse for these heroes and villains to meet in one dimension, but that doesn’t matter next to whether Son Goku can truly beat everyone in the Shonen Jump Library.
2 Super Robot Wars is an all-out mecha brawl
Without exaggeration, the anime spawned over 1000 giant robots. Whether they are the heroes or the villains or even simple foot soldiers, each mecha has its passionate fans. The long-running cross-platform Super Robot Wars franchise lets players command and wage war on their favorite mech.
There are in-universe justifications for why Gurren Lagann would fight Voltes V, but these have more in common with fanfiction than anything else. Devoid of their usual backgrounds and motivations, the mecha and pilots starring the guests bear only the most vague similarities to their respective anime. No one is complaining, though.
1 M.U.G.E.N. Let anyone fight everyone
“Mugen” means “unlimited” in Japanese, and this legendary fan-made game lives up to its title. Currently, the M.U.G.E.N. the roster has at least 3,000 fighters, and it’s growing every day. Thanks to its freeware engine, M.U.G.E.N. allows anyone to add any character they want. This led to expected additions like Dragon Ball’s Saiyans, and odd ones like Ronald McDonald.
A good rule of thumb is that if an anime exists, at least one of its characters is already in M.U.G.E.N. Any anime character seen here is devoid of their original context, as the game has no story. This allows players to see crazy brawls like the Servants of Fate against Haruhi’s SOS Squad that would never get an anime for creative and practical reasons.
NEXT: Fightback: 15 Best Swordsmen In Anime, Ranked
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Angelo Delos Trinos
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