Manga and Anime Games We’d Want to Play

We see tons of anime game adaptations. A big part of Bandai Namco’s line-up in recent years has involved tapping into everything Shonen Jump has to offer. (I, Jenni Lada, still think the Vampire Knight DS dating sim is great.) But there are a lot of series that aren’t getting that sort of special treatment just yet. So for this week’s Siliconera Speaks Up, we figured we would talk about manga and anime games we really want to see companies make.

I have no idea how it would be executed, but I’d like to see a Chainsaw Man game. I’m a big fan of the series and everything Tatsuki Fujimoto’s done with it. There are some great characters and it has these powerful moments. I’d be tempted to say it could work as something along the lines of a beat’em up, where Denji is facing different foes like the Bat Devil. It seems like its nearing its conclusion, so you could feasibly tell the whole story. And, since we see other characters appear, we could have segments where we play as Power or Aki. – Jenni

Being a huge fan of world-building in fiction, Kaiba is an anime series that I fell in love with instantly. Directed by Masaaki Yuasa and produced by Madhouse, the 12 episode sci-fi love story does exactly what I need: establish a unique world with nuanced characters, tell its story efficiently, and leave you wanting more. In the world of Kaiba, memories are stored digitally via chips, which can be swapped out between human bodies and machines. Tell me that’s not some NieR-adjacent magic right there! I’d love a narrative-driven RPG (turn-based if I could really have my way!). Whether it would be before, during, or after the events of the series, there’s so much to explore: what it means to be human, degradation of society, questioning your memories and reality—the list goes on! I didn’t even get to the atypical anime visuals and its color theory, but I’ll just end this by recommending you go look Kaiba up right now! –Oni Dino

Perhaps it’s a sign that my taste is “basic,” but it just so happens that most of my favorite manga and anime have gotten a game adaptation, or at least a cameo or two in some gacha title or the odd Super Robot Wars entry. That means I’m going to cheat a bit and widen the net by including shows that haven’t had an internationally released game, or a game released in a very long time. In other words, I’ve found a good excuse to write about Legend of the Galactic Heroes!

Yoshiki Tanaka’s legendary 1980’s space opera has actually had a ton of game releases in the years since its 1988 debut, from the MSX to the SNES, PlayStation, and even a browser-based gacha game. But they’ve all be exclusive to Japan. Now that Galactic Heroes has been getting more and more recognition since its premiere on popular streaming services and the creation of its Die Neue These remake series, and I think the time is right to bring the war between the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance to wider release. The game I’m imagining is less a Homeworld-style space tactical sim like the 2008 strategy game released on PC, but more akin to Crusader Kings in space. The truth is, though Legend of the Galactic Heroes‘ most enduring image is of its epic space battles, it’s a story of big moves and great figures networking and acting across a massive map. In other words, its soul is perfect for Grand Strategy, and carving out your destiny as one of a thousand noble families in the Galactic Empire or as an up-and-comer in the Alliance sounds like the right kind of move. – Josh

The only game appearances Valvrave the Liberator have had so far are in the two mobile Super Robot Wars apps, officially available only in East Asia. Despite the massive promotions done for the title back then, such as the theme songs by Nana Mizuki and T.M. Revolution or the series’ own line of plamodels, I find it very appalling that it still has not received a standalone console game of its own, let alone an appearance in a proper console SRW game.

A game adaptation usually adds more perspectives or even alternate branches from the original anime storyline. They could easily add the new characters and mechs from the Undertaker side-story novel, or even create brand-new original characters during the process. The story could also be branched to alter the fates of some characters or even lead to different endings from the anime. The alteration on the relationship development between Shoko and Haruto made in the novel version is just one of the additions they can include into such a game, and I could only imagine the multiple possible endings that can be added to a Valvrave game, just like the PS2 RahXephon game, Code Geass: Lost Colors, or the more recent Full Metal Panic! Fight! Who Dares Wins. – Kite

Sailor Moon‘s rebirth should include a brand new game tie-in! Yes, I know there were plenty of Sailor Moon anime games back in the 1990s, but we didn’t see official English releases and my Japanese is nowhere near strong enough to play an import copy. Imagine a shiny new JRPG in which we follow the events of Sailor Moon Crystal from start to finish. Add in side quests and minigames where we hang out with our squad Persona-style to increase our bonds and perform overpowered combo attacks. Looking at you, Bandai Namco! – Annette

If there is a series that I really wish had gotten a game back at the height of its popularity, it would be Maoyu: Archenemy & Hero. The entire setting for the plot begins with a straight parody of Dragon Quest’s final battle. Rather than offering the Hero the opportunity to rule over half of the world, the Demon Queen instead asks the Hero to work alongside her in order to change the world for the better using the power of knowledge and economics, so that both sides will never have to fight again.

What follows is a grand tale of reformation, beginning with things like the introduction of potatoes and crop rotation to medieval human society to the introduction of groundbreaking inventions like the printing press and a more modern sense of economics. As such, I’ve always envisioned the series being adapted into a grand strategy game like the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series with a dash of Civilization. The player would manage resources and diplomacy and also choose characters to send out to key battles as commanders. – Alistair

I can’t imagine how exactly something like this would work, but I would be absolutely stoked if a developer translated the chaos of FLCL into an enjoyable gaming experience. It is a rare but thrilling experience to partake in a game that refuses to limit itself and an FLCL game could only work if it consistently defied expectations . It’s also rare to see a game dive into the surreal and an FLCL game would almost certainly have elements of the surreal in it. We could also expect highly stylized visuals, a healthy dose of comedy, and, hopefully, music from The Pillows. Oh, and a sort of unrestrained action that would be considered a poor fit for most other video games. – Benjamin