Five Great Anime Adaptations based on Games

The video game adaptation curse has long been synonymous with Hollywood for years. Unfortunately, more often than not, it involves a greedy studio getting their hands on a much beloved video game property, and in their desire to “make it more accessible to mainstream audiences”, they end up stripping away everything that had made said video game so beloved by fans in the first place.

The trend however, seems to be slowly breaking. 2019’s Detective Pikachu was a surprising hit and fully embraced the whimsical nature of the Detective Pikachu games. This was followed shortly by Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog movie. Admittedly, it had a really rough start with the infamous initial design of the titular character (I still see ugly Sonic in my nightmares), but the studio responded to the backlash and kept animators working to redesign the character to be truer to the blue blur we know and love. Finally, this year we are getting HBO’s adaptation of Naughty Dog’s magnum opus, The Last of Us, which has received both critical and fan acclaim.

It would appear that Hollywood seems to be finally getting over the Video Game adaptation curse. Hooray Hollywood!

That said, if we were to look east, we would find a different story entirely. Anime seems to have had little to no problems when it came to adapting video games. Some of the most iconic anime shows of all time, many of which we all know and love, were actually based on Japanese video game properties. Without further ado, here’s a short list of great anime that were adapted from video games.

1. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

Cyberpunk 2077 was one of the most anticipated games of 2020. Studio Projekt Red was riding high after their astounding success with the Witcher series and could do no wrong in the eyes of fans and critics alike. After several delays, they finally released the game that everyone had been waiting for, and it was a bug ridden mess. If we didn’t know any better we’d have thought it was a Ubisoft game!

Enter Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. The anime based on the game that everyone had been so excited for breathed new life into the IP, and renewed the interests of many players who had given up on the game. The series was not a direct adaptation of the game, however. It carved its own path and introduced a colorful new cast of characters.  If you’re into the cyberpunk genre as a whole or were one of the many disappointed by the game we got, this is the anime you need. It encapsulates everything about the genre and is definitely worth adding to your list.

2. Steins;Gate

If someone told me that a story about a group of friends meddling with time using a microwave would become one of my most beloved anime of all time, I would have laughed them out of the room. And yet, after watching Steins; Gate, based on a visual novel of the same name, that’s exactly what happened.

The show follows Rintaro Okabe and his friends who discover that they can alter the events of the present by sending text messages to the past. The hijinks centered around this premise are funny, heartwarming, gut-wrenching and all other emotions in between. This series takes the time traveling trope to new heights and is one of the best anime from the 2010s.

3. Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works

Let’s face it, there are too many Fate adaptations to even keep count. So if you’re still putting off getting your masters in Nasuverse plot threads, or just wondering in what order you should watch the Fate franchise, we’re here to save you the effort. Start withUnlimited Blade Works.

Studio Ufotable flexed their nigh infinite budget on this show featuring some of the best animation ever put to screen. Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works is a fantasy anime series based on the visual novel of the same name. The series follows a high school student named Shirou Emiya, who becomes embroiled in a battle between powerful mages known as Masters and their summoned servants, legendary heroes from history and mythology.

Shirou summons the servant Saber, after an encounter with another servant, and after some hesitation, together they fight to win the Holy Grail War, a battle between Masters to determine who will be granted a wish from the Grail. Along the way, they meet other Masters and servants, each with their own agenda and motivations.

The series is known for its complex story, well-developed characters, and thrilling action scenes. It explores themes of destiny, power, and sacrifice as Shirou struggles to understand his own motivations and the consequences of his actions. The animation and soundtrack are also widely praised for their quality and effectiveness in bringing the story to life.

4. Pokémon

This is an Anime franchise that requires no introduction. Nintendo’s monster collection game lept into both the small and big screen and found resounding success. The Pokémon anime series from the 90s took the world by storm and largely served as an introduction into this massive franchise for many kids. The show follows the journey of a young Pokémon trainer named Ash Ketchum, who sets out on a journey to become a Pokémon master and catch as many Pokémon as possible. Along the way, Ash meets other trainers, makes friends, and battles other trainers in order to become the best.

Ash is accompanied by his trusty Pikachu (aka the most widely known Pokémon ever), who is his first Pokémon and closest companion. Together, they travel through different regions and meet new friends and rivals, such as Misty, Brock, and Dawn. Ash’s journey is filled with many exciting adventures and battles, as he tries to catch and train as many Pokémon as possible.

To this day, Pokémon stands as the second highest earning media franchise of all time. If you want to be the very best, do yourself a favor and watch this anime yesterday.

5. Castlevania

While it’s debatable whether or not Castlevania can be counted as an anime, what’s not debatable is its superior quality. The series takes the beloved 80s video game franchise and elevates it into a brilliant dark fantasy series and adds depth to the game’s characters. The show follows the story of a vampire hunter named Trevor Belmont, who is the last surviving member of the Belmont family, a clan of vampire hunters. He sets out on a journey to defeat the vampire count Dracula, who is on a mission to wipe out the human race. The series takes place in the medieval kingdom of Wallachia. Along the way, Trevor encounters several allies and enemies, including the sorceress Sypha Belnades and the dhampir Alucard, the half-human, half-vampire son of Dracula.