Top 10 Video Games That Ripped Off Anime
Top 10 Video Games That Ripped Off From Anime
Top 10 Video Games That Should Be Anime
Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting our picks for the top 10 Video Games That Ripped Off From Anime & Manga. For this list we’re looking at games throughout history that we felt most obviously, and with seemingly no regrets, borrowed from elements of various popular anime and manga. Can you think of any video games that ripped off anime? Let us know in the comments below!
#10: “Xenogears” (1998)
From “Gundam” Franchise (1979-)
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While it’s very clear that Xenogears is a love letter to the mecha genre, it clearly takes many notable cues from various series in the Gundam franchise. Grahf who serves as the foil to the protagonist is clearly based on Char, as they both don a mask and wear red. The unstable girl Elly pilots the mecha Vierge, which uses abilities very similar to the “Qubeley” that was also piloted by the equally unstable Puru in Gundam ZZ. And while the iconic G Gundam pose is also featured in the game, one of the most notable scenes is when all the mecha get together to stop a missile strike, a scene that is clearly based on the “Char's Counterattack” finale.
#9: “Asura's Wrath” (2012)
From Various
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Asura’s Wrath borrows so much from various anime that it could probably have it’s own dedicated Top 20 on the matter, but for this entry we’ll just focus one some of the more interesting aspects. The entire intro scene of the game is very much based on the battles in Gunbuster, with the enemy gohma carriers look just like the space monsters from that franchise. Also the climatic finale is a big shout out to Gurren Lagann’s second movie, with a supermassive mech battle leading into a one on one fist fight in a space void.
#8: “League of Legends” (2009)
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From Various Magical Girl Anime
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While a lot of the skins featured in this extremely popular MOBA are based on many parts of pop culture, none of them seem to stand out quite so much as the Star Guardian line. Inspired by the Magical Girl Genre, the Star Guardian line takes from many shows such as Card Captor Sakura, Madoka Magica, Precure and most notably Sailor Moon. Lux’s dance references DokiDoki! Procure and her recall animation is heavily based on various transformation sequences in Sailor Moon.
#7: “Rondo of Swords” (2008)
From “Fate/stay night” (2006)
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This obscure strategy RPG was released for the Nintendo DS in 2008 and features a character who shares a lot with everyone's favorite anime interpretation of King Arthur, Saber. Aside from the fact that his outfit is pretty much exactly the same as Sabers, the protagonist Serdic rips many traits from her, such as the fact they’re both unwilling kings. And where as Saber was mistaken for a man in the Fate lore, Serdic himself goes the opposite route and has very feminine traits.
#6: “Mega Man” (1987)
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From “Astro Boy” (1963-66)
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While it’s been said that Mega Man’s design was based on Anime and Tokusatsu, It really doesn’t take much to realize that Mega-Man was heavily inspired by Astro Boy and its take on the classic pinocchio tale. Like Astro Boy, who was created by Doctor Tenma, Mega Man is created by the scientist Doctor Light. Both take on superhero roles and fight off against evil robotic combatants. Bit on the nose there, folks.
#5: “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” (1992)
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From “Dragon Ball Z” (1989-96)
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At first glance, the side-scrolling adventures of gaming’s most enduring blue hedgehog don’t appear to have an obvious connection to “Dragon Ball Z”. The former deals with the liberation of woodland creatures and running through increasingly mechanized levels, while the latter focuses on space warriors punching one another for sport and conquest. Yet in “Sonic the Hedgehog 2”, the situation changed with the expanded role of the Chaos Emeralds, seven colourful gems which enhance the holder’s reflexes and strength. The similarity to the seven Dragon Balls aside, there’s also the matter of how Sonic’s superpowered form is called Super Sonic and involves his fur turning bright yellow.
#4: “Dark Souls” (2011)
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From “Berserk” Franchise (1989-)
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Many a person has found themselves drawn to the melancholic, brutal and challenging world of “Dark Souls”. From its menagerie of grotesque beasts to the subtleties of its world-building, the game enthralls and engages to no end. What’s not immediately apparent about the game, though, is how much of it is built on affectionate nods to “Berserk”. Various enemies – like the Bonewheel Skeletons and Knight Artorias – call back to that earlier dark fantasy anime, as do more incidental details. More broadly, “Dark Souls” seems drawn to the anime’s patented blend of harsh violence and cynical stories about a world in decline, using it as inspiration.
#3: “Persona 4” (2008)
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From “JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable” (1992-95)
Past works in the “Persona” series have been noted for appearing to take cues from the manga-turned-anime “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” with the most notable being the ‘personas’ themselves are clearly inspired by JoJo’s ‘stands’. Yet it took until the widely-acclaimed “Persona 4” for the games’ mirroring of particular plot threads to become clear. “Persona 4” is primarily set in a rural Japanese town, and focuses on a group of high schoolers who aim to unravel a conspiracy of supernatural forces and bizarre murders. For many in the audience, this seemed awfully evocative of the basic premise, setting and themes of the manga’s 1992 to 1995 arc “Diamond is Unbreakable”, adapted to animation in 2016. Whether it’s intentional or merely great minds thinking alike, the resemblance is hard to deny.
#2: “Oni” (2001)
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From “Ghost in the Shell” (1995)
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Is it loving homage or shameless rip-off? When reflecting on their work in crafting the 2001 action game “Oni”, Bungie West made no secret of what directly influenced their work: 1995’s “Ghost in the Shell”. That landmark animated film peeks out from every facet of “Oni” - a dystopian future cityscape, a superhuman heroine working for a questionable government agency, ruminations on the subject of humanity and anti-authoritarian resistance. So committed were Bungie to paying tribute that even the game’s name is a knowing reference; “Oni” is a mythological creature sometimes depicted as a supernatural spirit known as a Yokai.
#1: “Extinction” (2018)
From “Attack on Titan” (2013-)
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Tell us if you’ve heard this one before: a species of towering beasts begin targeting the last of humanity in a medieval setting. The only chance for survival is a handful of fighters who swing around with grappling hooks and who slay the beasts by cutting into the back of their necks. The extent to which “Extinction” appears to borrow from the notes of “Attack on Titan” is astounding, even beyond a clear fixation on the same core premise. Much of combat looks and feels the same, there’s the expected emphasis on methodical strikes against highly resilient beasts, and various cutscene shots seem lifted straight from the anime.
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