Like Anime, video games had played a big role in my life after I was introduced to it during my childhood. After some thought, I felt the need to share my experiences with video games and how it influenced me to watch Anime since these two mediums are closely related to each other. Not surprisingly, most anime fans are probably gamers as well. (Image Source)
When I watch anime, there are always some shows that make references back to popular video game culture as shown in Lucky Star, Seitokai no Ichizon, Ore no Imouto and Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai. In a way, video games and Anime industries have a very close relationship with each other as shown through anime adaptations of video games and the other way around. I always felt that both of these mediums shared a common theme of escapism and fantasy. This is why you see adaptations of visual novels/video games like Kanon, Fate/stay night, Pokémon, The Idolmaster and Utawarerumono to name a few. Although video games never give the same experience every time he or she plays the game, it still has a plot. Therefore, making an anime based off a game gives a person an idea of what the story is about and can potentially convince them to play it if they want more. Not only that, some Anime series have a game released to expand on the storyline and also, allows people to experience how it’s like in the show. The possibilities are endless.
As for me, I grew up with video games ever since my childhood and it had a strong impact on my life. I recall my father buying us a Super Nintendo as a present for Christmas. This was one of the first video game consoles my sister and I ever owned. Additionally, we got the original Gameboys. Eventually I upgraded to the Gameboy Pocket and then, the Color. The portable systems eventually got me hooked with Pokémon when I played Blue version while my sister had Red for the first time in the late 1990s/early 2000s. Since then, we got every main Pokémon game to date along with the other Nintendo consoles (Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Gamecube, Wii and the 3DS), despite skipping some of the spinoff games. Aside from that, Pokémon also got me into Anime as it started airing in the late 90s. We used to record Saturday mornings and then watch them after returning from Piano lessons. We eventually stopped as the dub cast changed and I lost interest in watching the show, thus I just focused my efforts on the games.
Sometime in 2004, we got introduced to the Sony Playstation 2. Although I didn’t play many games on it until the Playstation 3, my sister started getting into the Kingdom Hearts series. It’s not until I got the Playstation 3 with backwards compatibility I started playing more games on the Sony consoles. This is where I got hooked on the Final Fantasy series (VII, X and XII) along with other JRPGs like Eternal Sonata. Not only that, it opened a door to other games that only got released in Japan. Unlike other consoles, Sony’s Playstation 3, Playstation Portable and the Vita are the only ones that have no region locks. With that, it eventually motivated me to learn Japanese and enabled me to play The Idolmaster 2, a game that Namco never intends to release outside of Japan and it was a very enjoyable game. Like Nintendo, Sony’s Playstation also influenced my gaming hobby as it opened a different library of games not available on the former.
Fast-forward to the present, my view on video games has not changed since I still view myself as a hardcore gamer. When I’m on break (college not in session), I usually spend my free time trying to beat a game and become better at it. For me, the immersive experience is important since it provides a sense of enjoyment, just like with Anime. This is true when I’m playing a game on any console or PC. However, it’s the opposite with the increasing trend of smartphone gaming.
If you haven’t seen my numerous rants on Twitter and my side blog, the mainstream media and naysayers who keep putting down Nintendo and Sony have increasingly enraged me. They saying that these companies should “give up” their console business and publish games for the iPhone or Android because everyone’s doing it. This really got my blood boiling because they do not understand gaming at all. Not only that, I have tried out games like Angry Birds and Cut the Rope and it’s utter garbage since I got bored within three minutes of playing it. The main problem with these games is not only for the awfully boring gameplay along with the lack physical controls, it can never provide the same experience real video games provides. Although simple games like visual novels will do fine on such a platform because it doesn’t require physical controls, I feel that the only things that can provide the best gameplay experience is handheld/regular consoles and the computer with everything else providing a subpar experience. To make matters worse, most mobile games are rushed, rip-offs, clones, have poor gameplay and/or something that’s not worth playing in the long-term. To me, mobile gaming is the fast food of poor quality games and I won’t be surprised if the mobile gaming market crashes in a few years like it did in 1983 for the same exact reasons.
Looking ahead to the future, my relationship with Anime and Video Games is not likely to change since both are closely related and both are one of my favorite hobbies. When I get better at Japanese, it’s only going to open a door to other games I never heard of. Additionally, Anime can potentially motivate me to play the original games if something about them interests me.
Aside from that, I leave you with this question: How does video games influence how you look at anime and vice versa?
I agree with you. Video games are huge to me. I love JRPG’s the most because I like going to a new world that’s not like ours.
I loved video games as early as 6-7 years old – my first system was the Sega Game Gear followed soon by the Sega Genesis. I loved Sonic the Hedgehog games the most, but had lots of others too. I bought my first Nintendo system, the Game Boy Color, when I got into Pokemon in 1999. Soon after I got into anime and just didn’t have the time and money to be as big a gamer as I used to be. I only had the space in my life for one major hobby, and that was anime while games became secondary. So I only continued to buy Nintendo consoles for the sake of Pokemon games, though I do squeeze in other series here and there, like Okami, Smash Bros., Spyro, and Harvest Moon. But for the most part, I just don’t have time and money for anime AND games, so I just play a few series I’ve grown to like, Pokemon being the main one, and don’t usually get into the big names like Final Fantasy, Zelda, etc,. I do eventually hope to get a PS3 for the sake of its BD player and certain games like Sonic Generations.
I didn’t know people were saying those things about Sony and Nintendo. I haven’t played any iPhone or Android games, but I can’t imagine the kind of complex RPGs or fighting games we see in today’s video game systems existing on little gizmos like the iPhone. As long as there are fans of complex games with gorgeous graphics, I don’t think Sony and Nintendo will be going anywhere.
Yes, games are time consuming, but still really fun. Although I’m pretty sure I was introduced with Anime with one of the Miyazaki film, I was introduced to Nintendo at 4. Because of this, we tend to favor Nintendo since as we grew up with these games and of course, it’s the only handheld console marketed in America until the PSP came along (Gamegear and the Atari Lynx doesn’t really count). But just as Anime, video games cost a great deal of money and we spent a lot of money on it. Of course, the most expensive game in the whole collection is Idolmaster 2 since Japanese PS3 games are expensive (about 30 dollars over how much a typical PS3 cost in the US). Even so, we never pirated any games for any of the consoles nor we mod any.
Yes, I agree that any games that requires physical controls won’t work on smartphones. I own an iPhone 4S myself, but I only really use it as a camera, phone, check email, mp3 player and twitter. Even so, the mainstream media and investors managed to infuriate me because they only care about the bottom line and Smartphones with their ripoff in-game purchasing model and low costs of producing a low quality game, they tend to bash handheld consoles which cater mostly to the core and hardcore gamers, people who actually wants to play games, NOT TIME WASTERS. The problem with smartphone games is that they are extremely shallow games geared mainly for wasting time. Not only that, people don’t really know what they want in that market, so they just suck anything up, even if it’s bad or a copycat of a different game. This is why I see mobile gaming as a bubble that is about to burst and eventually, people will go back to gaming on consoles designed for gaming instead of using multipurpose devices that isn’t good at more than one thing.
Wow, you missed out on many amazing Sega and SNK consoles and games.
I use to be a huge gamer until the industry became conservative and focused on casual gaming. I’m actually pretty annoyed often how people assume I’m into video gaming because I’m into anime. It’s really annoying to see anime news sites flooded with off topic junk. To be fair there’s a couple (older) games I’m still into, but I surely don’t consider myself a gamer.
While I have heard about the Sega and actually played with one a little during summer camp, the main reason we never own the other consoles beside Sony is that we grew up with mostly Nintendo. In turn, I missed out on the Sonic games although you can buy them on the Wii.
As for the industry, while there are still hardcore games like JRPGs, fighters, rhythm games, etc, I’m not too into the casual stuff (nor I really play any shooting games). I like games that take skill, hours to level grind and master. Time wasters like Angry Birds, Cut the Rope and Fruit Ninja are crappy games to me since anyone can play them and then get bored of it. Although I don’t do much gaming during college and focus mainly on Anime, I do keep up with the trends and such…
Yes, I play visual novels as well, although they are technically not a game at all, but more of an interactive picture book.
Also, I kind of understand the confusion between gaming and Anime since they are closely related and considering that some games use anime-style graphics (mostly Japanese RPGs and others).
Anime and games are indeed super closely related, and it seems like most people who are deep into one is into another as well. It’s not the case with me though… I don’t really play any video games. I think it’s probably just because I never bothered to own consoles and I’m not very good with computers. Heh.
I admit that consoles are expensive just so you can play with the games. The games themselves along with the accessories are also expensive on their own right. Still, you should be able to play game easily on your computer since there is stuff like Steam, which makes it simple to buy and download games… and you don’t have to do many steps.
Still, I admit that video gaming is an expensive hobby as with Anime. Not everyone is going to be interested in it, although there are many genre of games out there (mobile games don’t count in my book).