Anime and video games have a complex history, with a lot of regional and audience gatekeeping on both sides that only combine into a much worse threat with the ever-elusive adaptations from one to the other. Oftentimes these titles become hidden retro gems due to poor western sales or review bombs, and other times they just can’t live up to their source material.
While the crossover between anime and video game fans is pretty broad, there haven’t been a lot of successful industry crossovers, save for aesthetic events in otherwise unrelated games. The few good ones that did release were either undersold in the west, or region locked in Japan. These are a few of the best games that western audiences never got to play, and maybe never will.
10 Devilman (PS1)
Devilman, being one of the earliest anime, never really got the attention it deserved. Aside from Masaaki Yuasa’s heart-wrenching reboot, Crybaby (which was slept on by quite a few viewers for its abstract visual style), there haven’t been many appearances of the titular demon across media. The PS1 game is equally frustrating, seeing as it seems like a fun adaptation.
The first part of the game is a survival horror adventure, following Akira and Ryo as they traverse a comically large mansion infested with demons, which then becomes a beat-em-up in the second part after Akira fuses with Amon and becomes Devilman.
9 Neon Genesis Evangelion (N64)
Loosely following the events of the show, Evangelion 64 is a fighting game that takes pretty surprising strides relative to the franchise’s other disappointing games.
This game brings out a few of the key elements from the actual Eva piloting mechanics and adapts them to a more action-oriented formula. The player, while fighting Angels, must keep track of their synch rate, umbilicals, Eva damage (which can result in a grisly berserk unleash if depleted too much), and AT Fields.
8 Evangelion VR – The Throne of Souls: Berserk
While waiting for the fourth rebuild film, it appears as though Japanese arcades have been upping their game in terms of immersive content. There’s actually been quite a bit of intriguing VR content from JP developers, including a Shin Godzilla immersive short, and even an Evangelion Versus Godzilla crossover ride that pits Hideaki Anno’s biggest creations against each other. In this multiplayer arcade title, players join their friends in the fight against the Angels, taking a direct first-person helm to the giant Eva units.
7 Crayon Shin-Chan (Switch)
In the most recent Nintendo Direct, as is always true, we got quite a few wonderfully exciting announcements that left fans rabid for Nintendo’s new year of games.
It quickly became apparent, however, that Japan got a somewhat different list of titles than viewers in the west. Among those titles, one stood out in the form of the new Crayon Shin-Chan game, based on the slice-of-life anime of the same name. Much like the show, the game promises an adorable and charming adventure in the shoes of Shinnosuke as he experiences a wholesome summer vacation.
6 Jump Ultimate Stars (NDS)
Jump Ultimate Stars is more or less an official licensed version of MUGEN, bringing fighters from across several famous Shonen Jump franchises together into one giant brawl. The DS, being popular as it was, got quite a few Jump titles. Regardless of those titles, however, Jump Ultimate Stars didn’t find its way to the US where a fairly large audience was waiting for it.
The premise is simple, Smash Bros. but instead of Nintendo mainstays, it’s Luffy, Naruto, JoJo, Goku, and many many more. Jump seems to have made up with its loss of sales with the release of Jump Force, a more modern adaptation of this concept for last-gen consoles.
5 Super Robot Taisen Alpha Gaiden (PS1)
That’s… quite a title to say the least. On par with Street Fighter’s trend of “Super Mega Alpha Ultimate Editions,” SRTAG is actually a much more simple game than its titular descriptors would imply. The game follows a similar RTS format to Fire Emblem, except the devs implemented as many mech franchises as they could get their hands on, including Gundam, Getter Robo, Macross, Mazinger, and more.
SRTAG is for mech fans what Project X Zone is for Capcom junkies, and it does pretty well for it. Though it was region-locked, there is an English fan translation available through emulation.
4 Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Another Story (SNES)
For how many times Sailor Moon references video games, and how popular the series was in the west, it’s surprising we never got a comprehensive game release.
The series would do incredibly well in a beat-em-up format or visual novel, but the best studios could muster was this SNES RPG that didn’t even get an official English release, only just recently getting a translated ROM for emulators. Another Story presents the Sailor Scouts with a complex time dilemma in which discontented future Crystal Tokyo citizens begin to blame the Scouts for all their past conflicts. Usagi and her friends now must come together in a classic JRPG format to battle new and old foes alike to realign their timeline.
3 Vampire Hunter D (PS1)
Vampire Hunter D is too cool a franchise to not get a proper game adaptation, though achieving such a feat might be a little hard regardless of Final Fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano being involved heavily in the series’ art direction.
The PS1 game plays a lot like early Resident Evil, following a similar story to the second film Bloodlust, in which the player takes control of D in his hunt for legendary vampire Meier Link. Unfortunately, the game received poor ratings for its controls and animation (ironically, considering the flare of the movies) and never got much attention after that.
2 Cowboy Bebop: Tsuioku No Serenade (PS2)
Cowboy Bebop is an iffy title in terms of adaptation, with fans shaking in simultaneous joy and fear at the thought of the upcoming live action Netflix release. Ironically, it seems like video games would be an easier medium to bring the crew of the Bebop to life, but Tsuioku No Serenade falls flat regardless.
Critics list Serenade as being a poor game, but a solid addition to the Bebop lore, as its events center around an original story in which the group searches for a space pirate’s legendary treasure while avoiding a mysterious organization attempting to halt them.
1 Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs. (PS3)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs. is a fun arcade take on a series that’s admittedly hard to adapt. When adapting mech media, studios always seem to have a hard time on focusing the gameplay between the mechs and their pilots, whereas anime allows directors to pace the emotional impact from one to the other seamlessly.
MSG: EV throws that balance out the window, instead opting for a simple 3D arcade fighting game. Players have a bank of points that they expend between rounds as they buy new mechs, or lose their current mechs, making a tense balance between winning and losing players.
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