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Screenshot via GundamInfo on YouTube

Top 5 anime that deserve video game adaptations

Why is there no Cowboy Bebop game?!

Anime and games have existed side by side for decades. Shows like Lupin III and Gundam have been adapted for arcades as early as the 1980s. There’s a tight relationship between these two mediums, each borrowing from the other to create great art for us to enjoy.

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Giant anime series like One Piece, My Hero Academia, Dragon Ball, and Naruto have plenty of game adaptations, I feel like there are untapped gems from the anime sphere that will translate well into video games.

Log Horizon

Shiroe from Log Horizon stretching out his hand
Shiroe from Log Horizon. Imagegrab via Crunchyroll Store Australia on YouTube

The first thing I did after watching Log Horizon was look for games similar to it. Unfortunately, nothing even comes close. Log Horizon is set inside a fictional game called Elder Tale, where all the characters suddenly find themselves, making it perfect for a meta video game adaptation.

If ever there’s a game adaptation for this anime, it doesn’t matter if they don’t take the same storyline. I just want developers to create an MMORPG similar to Elder Tale as the game’s mechanics are fascinating.

With the countless subclasses you can create in Elder Tale, that mechanic will make the MMORPG feel more sandbox-y than the MMOs currently out, which is a hook for other people looking to just chill in their MMOs.

Cowboy Bebop

Spike from Cowboy Bebop lighting a cigarette
Spike from Cowboy Bebop. Image via Netflix Anime on YouTube

Okay, this one puzzles me the most. Why is there no proper Cowboy Bebop game?! You have space fights, stunning planets, and tense shootouts. The amount of action and swagger in this anime would surely translate well to a game. It could be mission-based, with players hunting down bounty targets, with action-based gameplay similar to Final Fantasy 16.

Related: Overwatch’s new anime short series left us wanting more—but not in a good way

A Cowboy Bebop game isn’t a Cowboy Bebop game if it lacks Spike’s swagger. So, nope, we don’t talk about the 1998 game or the PlayStation 2 game, they don’t count. This anime needs an action game on current-gen consoles.

Shiki

A vampire and a doctor butting heads.
Two characters from Shiki. One Doctor and one Vampire. Imagegrab from Bess on YouTube

Shiki is a horror anime that would work well as a, you guessed it, horror game. I believe the game should follow Shiki’s story closely. The anime starts when a random family suddenly moves into a mansion situated in the remote village where the main character is living. Since they’re new people, there are talks about them and rumors which fuel the suspense the anime masterfully executed.

In particular, the chain of events during the latter parts of the series, which I will not spoil here, tops Another by a whole mile. Yes, I said it. Shiki over Another.

Gun Gale from Sword Art Online

LLENN from Gun Gale Online hugging her pink P90 and hiding from enemy bullets
LLENN from Gun Gale Online. Imagegrab via アニプレックスチャンネル on YouTube

Okay, look. We’re not talking about the current Fatal Bullet that’s already out. See, when I watched Sword Art Online’s Gun Gale arc, I didn’t expect Fatal Bullet to be some kind of RPG top-down thing that we currently have right now from Bandai Namco.

What I imagined a Gun Gale game would be was something along the lines of Destiny. First-person shooter, has the ability to wield swords, cool movement, all that good stuff. Bullet Lines can also be in the game, but if you think about it, it just looks like laser sights.

Great Pretender

Laurent, Abigail, and Eddie all held at gunpoint (off screen) with Laurent already raising his hands.
Laurent, Abigail, and Eddie from Great Pretender. Imagegrab via Netflix Anime on YouTube

Alright, hear me out. Imagine Payday, but more strategic. Great Pretender is all about heists, but less violent. If developers are going to make a game out of the Great Pretender, I want it to be more intricate and you’re going to be much more strategic.

Each heist would be divided into prep days and heist days. Prep days would include social engineering, information gathering, and mapping out the facility. It would be even better if it was a co-op game so you could heist with friends like in GTA Online.


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Author
Image of Cedric Pabriga
Cedric Pabriga
A freelance writer who mostly covers VTubers, Smash Ultimate, Genshin Impact, and industry news. He has three years of experience in video games journalism and his bylines can be found on sites such as IGN, IntoTheSpine, and Dot Esports. If he's not working, he's either listening to music or playing another RPG he got his hands on. Either that, or getting lost at a random place.