The Best Anime Video Games

Video games and anime are inextricably interlinked: chances are that if you play the former, you watch the latter. This is particularly true of the JRPG genre: JRPGs and anime exist perpetually side-by-side, with very few games in the genre boasting a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:realistic art style.

A collage of games with a retro anime twist such as fields of Mistria and Mullet Jack.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网: 10꧋ Best Game𒁏s Inspired By Retro Anime

These games 💧feel like playing an anime from the '80s or '90s.

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This anime insp🌌iration runs deeper t💛han the artwork: anime games take writing and design influences from the visual medium as well. The end result is that anime fans are spoiled for choice when it comes to video games: here are the best ones ever.

10 Grandia

Grandia

JRPG

Systems

Released: September 30, 1999
ESRB: T F🌺or Teen Due To Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Partial Nudity

WHERE TO PLAY

PHYSICAL

Platform(s): PC, PS1,ﷺ Sega Saturn, Switch
Developer: Game Arts
Publisher: Entertainment Software Publishing, Sony Computer Entertainཧment, Ubisoft, GungHo Online ꧟
How Long To Beat: 42 Hours

Grandia had the unfortunate burden of being expected to do for the Sega Saturn what 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy 7 did for the PS1. If it had been treated as what it was - an excellent niche JRPG heavily inspired by '90s anime, it w𒊎ould have been much more successful on launch.

Yet over the years, Grandia built up a devoted fanbase for a reason. Its writing was top-notch, with the characters changing so steadily that you didn't even realize when they had become entirely different people. This is a game beloved by its fans, warts and all. Its minor flaws - such as the so-bad-it's-good English dub - parallel the struggles🐟 that anime itself faced back then.

9 Final Fantas🌄y 7

While Final Fantasy has shed some of its anime influence with recent entries, the art style was alive and well in Final Fantasy 7. So m꧂uch so, in fact, that this game is credited with helping b🥀oth anime and anime-styled video games break through in the West.

Before Final Fantasy 7 came out, Western publishers would avoid anime games. After 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Cloud's spiky hairdo graced PS1 systems worldwide, companies were actively ꦇlooking📖 for anime games to localize. This three-disc marvel is, in essence, a self-contained anime series as a video game.

8 Persona 3

Persona 3's influence is one that was not decided by gaming historians, but by the fans. There had been anime games before; there had been anim⛄e games set in schools before; there had even been anime games that had dating sim elements before. But none of them handled these elements as masterfully as Persona 3 did.

168澳洲幸运🤡5开奖网: Best Mainline Persona Games, Ranဣked

It's hard to go back tᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚo old-school JRPGs sometimes, but not when the stories 𒐪are still so good.

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After Persona 3 came out, the Shin Megami Tensei series shot up in popularity, and anime games changed as a whole. All of a sudden, every JRPG had to have relations🌟hip mechanics, and the medieval fantasy aesthetic started getting phased out for contemporary school settings.

7 ♕ Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witc💫h

If you want to make a truly spectacular anime game, you need to hire the best, and that's exactly what Ni No Kuni did. This game boasts character designs and cutscenes from 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Studio Ghibli, the eternal champion of Japanese an🦋imated films.

Not only is its art style uplifting, but Ni No Kuni also has a beautiful story about overcoming grief. With a cute mascot like Mr Drippy guiding him, the young protagonist comes to terms with his mother's death while learning two of the most important life lessons an anime story ca𒈔n teach: trust your friends, and explore what this world has to offer.

6 ꦗ ♒ The World Ends With You

Anime wasn't mainstream in the 2000s like it is now, but it maintained a niche fanbase. The World Ends With You struck a chord with that fanbase: not only did i💙t have era-appropriate angular designs courtesy of Tetsuya Nomura, it had a nu-metal soundtrack that made ༺it the definitive emo game.

Yet calling this game edgy would be doing it a disservice. Like a lot of anime, The World Ends With You aims to teach its audience life lessons. The most profound one is in the title: 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the world ends with you. If you want to expand your world, yo💟u n🌌eed to broaden your horizons.

5 Dragon Quest ꦬ8: Journey Of💛 The Cursed King

Dragon Quest is Japan's favourite JRPG and anime icon Akira Toriyama's second most popular work, but aft💜er Dragon Quest 7 the series was in very real danger of falling behind. As great as it was, DQ7 was too big for its good, and the series' simplistic plots started being compared negatively to Final Fantasy's nuanced writing.

Akira Toriyama Dragon Ball, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest

168澳洲幸运5开奖网: 7 Video Games W💦ith Akira Toriyama Artwork🅘

Let's take a look at the enduring magic of Toriyama ac🅷ross gaming's history.

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All of those criticisms fell by the wayside once Dragon Quest 8 came out. This game was a breath of fresh air that perfectly transplanted Toriyama's distinctive art style into a 3D setting. Dragon Quest 8 reinvented the series, reaffirmed its popularity, and remains one of the best anime games o🌃n the PS2 tod꧑ay.

4 🧔 Skies of Arcadia ꦅ

The Dreamcast is a tragically underrated console, filled with obscure gems that never got their due. This is particularly true of Skies of Arcadia. Most people in the gaming community have heard of Skies of Arcadia; you've probably seen a Sega fan touting it yourself. But 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:not enough people have played it. And chances are, if you were told the story centres around gathering six elemental crystals to save the world, you'd th꧟ink it's nothing special.

But Skies of Arcadia is special. The game's spirit of adventure is unmatched. Even on the Dreamcast'🔜s limited hardware, the game feels at every turn huge and refreshing, with a good dose of anime humour to keep things from getting too bleak.

3 ⛎ 📖 Tales Of The Abyss

Tales is one of the most loud-and-proud anime-inspired video game series. E🌄ach game pokes fun at anime tropes, but from a place of love rather than ridicule. As♎ the series went on, its plots grew ever more complex.

In terms of both gameplay and story, Tales peaked with Abyss. This gam🍃e had it all: a gorgeous art style, brilliant music, a deep main character, a world so detailed it made your head spin, shocking plot twists, and engaging combat.

2 ♐Valkyria Chronicles

The one thing anime-inspired video games always struggled with until 2008 was that they could never quite make you feel like you were playing an anime. That is, until Valkyria Chronicles came out. This game 𝓰had a watercolour art style, seamless engine, and inspired environment desig💞ns that made gaming finally feel like playing a 3D anime.

Not content to rest on its laurels, Valkyria Chronicles also had a unique World War 2-inspired setting and tackled social issues that other anime games wouldn't dare to go near. The game was a sleeper hit and m𝓰aintains a large fanbase to this day.

1 ꦐ 🐎 Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact is subject to a lot of criticism: it's presumed to be grind-heavy and money-hungry, and to some, its prestige wi꧂ll always be dragged down by virtue of it being a gacha game. These criticisms are overblown: not only is Genshin Impact mass♌ively user-friendly for a live-service title, it's one of the most beautiful anime games ever made.

The 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:design leads at Mihoyo are, first and f🅠oremost, fans of anime themselves. This means that every character design, every breathtaking environment, and every detailed locale is filled with love for the medium. The game has a long-running story delivered through consistent updates, keeping fans invested much like a multi-season anime would.