There are meetings that cause something marvellous: this is the case of when the world of manga inspires the gaming world.
Have you ever considered how manga and video games have influenced one another over the years? Today we will look at many curiosities about it together.
MIURA’S SHADOW IN VIDEOGAMES
I can’t find a better way to start talking about how the world of manga has impacted the world of gaming, beginning with the lamented Kentarō Miura.
The Master with his manga work Berserk knew not only creating one of the best seinen manga ever given birth before by the author, but also from the start how to enter vehemently in the mass culture.
Imposing himself with his idea of a cruder fantasy world and with a harrowing narration he succeeded in inspiring more and more videogames, that have drawn fully from the masterpiece.
An example above the others is Hidetaka Miyazaki, who has never hidden his love towards Berserk and has sown along the souls’ saga a lot of quotations and references to the above mentioned work. We can see it in the recent Elden Ring where we can find the great sword, which reminds of the iconic Gatsu’s sword.
Not only the souls’ saga draw inspiration from the world given birth by the Master Miura, we can also mention titles as Devil May Cry that with its red orbs quotes in a not so veiled way the resemblance with the bejelit of Griffiths, even if not confirmed officially.
Dragons Dogma, which is inspired by Berserk from the construction of the game and several weapons, or the saga of Final Fintasy in which many people find a parallelism between Gatsu’s sword and the iconic buster sword wielded by Cloud and in the likeness founded between the characters of Sephiroth and Griffiths in the seventh chapter of the saga.
Reminding the beautiful action made by the community of Final Fintasy XIV that after Miura’s death hundreds of players met up contemporarily in the server parading in black armor and with swords honoring the passing of the lamented Miura.
TORIYAMA ENCOUNTERS JRPG
Another exponent of the manga scene that touches the gaming market is Akira Toriyama.
The dad of Dragon Ball was the one occupied in the characterization of the character of the famous Dragon Quest in 1986, with his unmistakeable style.
Managing really well in his first test as an Art Director, seeing how nowadays that concept of jrpg and artistic
Style that the author was able to translate in th product, has become in the meantime one of the gaming saga most loved in Japan.
Continuing even now, counting in its more or less 40 years several games, among the ones of the principle series and spin off as the famous Dragon Quest Monsters Joker, released for Nintendo DS, that knew in the years finding a new space in the panorama.
But even several adaptations as the manga Deagon Quest: the Adventure of Dai and two anime adjustments. Becoming a full-fledged cult in the homeland of the rising sun loved nowadays.
Toriyama didn’t stop with Dragon Quest, in his career we have to quote also Chrono Trigger.
Another beautiful jrpg published by Square back in the 1995 and enjoyable even today with its story and well structured gameplay.
Between 1996 and 1997 he collaborated for the creation of Tobal No 1 and Tobal No 2, two fighting game for PlayStation 1, small curiosity in the American and Japanese version of the first game, was included a demo of Final Fantasy VII.
To finish the bracket of Toriyama I’ll quote the role-playing videogame Blue Dragon in 2006, that after inspired an anime series and its manga.
A STORY WITH TABLES TURNED
There are cases in which the transposition of famous manga in a gaming key has given birth to fantastic video games.
Naruto Uzumaki Chronicles 2 released for PS2 back in 2007 was a beloved game, due to fact it permitted for the first time to explore the settings with the favorite characters of the series, intriguing the fans with an unusual story that detaching itself from the manga and finding its own dimension in the brand.
A genuine gaming pearl that I suggest you to regain if you’re a fan of the most loved ninja ever.
The saga of Pirate Warrior inspired by the manga of One Piece, a Musou game that brings us to revive the most important moments of the manga, in particular the fourth chapter above the others, fort of a well structured gameplay and a roster full of iconic characters of the manga can donate to the fans of straw hat hours and hours of pure fun.
Even if it has not been released yet I would quote One Piece: Odissey that seems to bring a breath of fresh air for the brand uniting in a system of an old style turn-based fighting game with a more modern exploration of the maps all of them to discover, we’ll find out soon if the product will respect all the expectations of the fans, due to the fact the release date is fixed for the next January 13.
Jump force is a fighting game that encloses all of the legends present in the magazine of shonen jump: Goku, Luffy and Naruto.
With an appreciable graphic design and a system of fun combat even if not so profound, it can bring into the scene one of the most amazing gaming mashup, that hardly will disappoint the fans of the quintessentially manga magazine.
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, another fighting game that has accompanied the childhood of the strongest Sayan ever, with its funny gameplay and well-balanced but also a rooster and stuffed with the iconic characters, it’s reminded nowadays as the most beautiful game ever released from Dragonball.
Closing the circle with the recent Jojo’s bizarre adventure: all-stars Battle and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaba – the Hinokami Chronicles fighting game of the respective manga eagerly awaited by the fans and they were able to maintain the promise of bringing in the scene two amazing titles that I suggest you vividly to try them if you have the occasion.
