Anime often have plots or settings that make them obvious candidates for video game adaptations. Combat-centric series like Dragon Ball and genre-defining work like Initial D have games that successfully translate their appeal into engaging gameplay. Even some series that don’t seem adaptable have interesting adaptations, such as Crayon Shin-chan.
Spring 2023’s crop of debuting and returning anime have their fair share of video game adaptations. Some already have a good library of gems, while others have set release dates for their games. From MMORPGs to gacha, rhythm, and a number of other genres, there are enough games on offer to fill days between new episodes.
10 I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in the Real World, Too
Author Miku’s second work features an obese, bullied protagonist-turned-buff hero. It's not set in a game world, but its setting and mechanics lend themselves well to an RPG. They fit so well, in fact, that its staff announced a free MMORPG based on the franchise this year.
No release date has been announced for the free game, which is titled after the franchise with the subtitle “Parallel Universe.” But fans can look at the visuals released on the game platform G123, which will host the MMORPG. The game will be released worldwide in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean.
9 KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World
Konosuba is finally back on air with a series after a considerable hiatus and a few OVAs. Between anime seasons, the franchise’s light novels ended, and a number of adaptations made good on its goofy RPG premise. Every game is titled after the franchise, with a subtitle. The first two, subtitled In The Life and Revival of Beldia, were released along with Blu-ray and DVD copies of each anime season. A visual novel called Judgment on this Greedy Game! was released on the PS4 and PS Vita around 2017, then ported to the Nintendo Switch later.
Labyrinth of Hope and the Gathering of Adventurers was also released for the PS4 and Vita in 2019. The PS4 and Switch would get an updated version of this game a year later. Both consoles would get two more releases: Love For These Clothes Of Desire! and Cursed Relic and the Perplexed Adventurers. International fans can also jump on Fantastic Days, a mobile gacha RPG game available on iOS and Android in English, Japanese, and several other languages.
8 The IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls: U149
U149 is a spinoff of Cinderella Girls, a franchise with 190 recruitable idols across its various games. The main game now lives on in the form of THE iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls: Starlight Stage, where the U149 girls can join a fan’s playable roster.
Starlight Stage is a mobile rhythm game with surprising depth, thanks to its sliding controls. Sliding controls are more prominent the higher the difficulty level, and successful runs often make their way on video sharing sites for bragging rights.
7 Demon Slayer
Demon Slayer is another game prime for multiple video game adaptations. Along with the myriad of Breathing Styles that constitute flashy fighting techniques, it also has numerous characters with backstories worth exploring. The Hinokami Chronicles, a 2021 adaptation, made use of these elements to create a fun fighting game.
This Demon Slayer arena fighter has a single-player story mode that faithfully follows the manga’s story, up to the Mugen Train arc. Its main bread and butter, the multiplayer mode, lets players square up against CPU opponents or local and online fighters with a team of two characters.
6 In Another World With My Smartphone
With over 28 volumes and counting, In Another World With My Smartphone is another isekai franchise with a giant following. As mentioned by the title, protagonist Touya Mochizuki is sent to another world with his smartphone that proves indispensable in his new life. It’s not hard to imagine how useful it could be if Touya’s thrown into a video game adaptation next.
Smartphone’s creators have yet to reveal if it will indeed play a huge part in the upcoming adaptation In Another World With My Smartphone: Happiness Cradle. What is known is its host platform, G123, which will also host the Cheat Skill MMORPG.
5 EDENS ZERO
Rave Master mangaka Hiro Mashima came back with EDENS ZERO in 2017 after finishing the long-lived Fairy Tail the previous year. As expected of a Mashima title, EDENS ZERO is a sprawling adventure manga that, expectedly, spawned several video games.
Konami released the first of its two game adaptations in 2022. EDENS ZERO Pocket Galaxy is a 3D action mobile RPG where players can navigate the world and fight from a top-down view. The second of Konami’s games have yet to come out, but fans can tide themselves over with an RPG Maker-style game made by Mashima himself.
4 Birdie Wing
Birdie Wing made a splash in its debut thanks to its unapologetic, over-the-top story and extreme take on the tame sport of golf. Critics and fans alike also liked the cast’s chemistry and leads Eve and Aoi’s rivalry-slash-romance. For all these reasons, Birdie Wing has three video game adaptations slated for the future.
The earliest to come out is a 2023 title for the Switch. Birdie Wing - Golf Girls' Story will allow players to use the Joy-Con to swing their clubs in both story and multiplayer mode. A mobile game and VR suite are also in the works.
3 Stella of the Theater: World Dai Star
World Dai Star is the latest multimedia franchise to hit the market. Akame ga Kill! mangaka Takahiro, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? producer EGG FIRM, and Cowboy Bebop studio Bandai Namco Filmworks wrote and created the anime, manga, and the upcoming mobile rhythm game.
Titled World Dai Star: Yume no Stellarium, players control, raise, and recruit girls from the series to clear dozens of songs. Each board is set against 3D stage play performances of the girls. Like other idol rhythm games, raising a girl’s card will confer gameplay bonuses, and unlock neat side stories. Because the game is Japan-only, worldwide fans may need apps such as QooApp to access the game when it comes out.
2 Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury
The Witch from Mercury is arguably one of the best Gundam installments to come out in the last decade. Vengeance, political corruption, and the dangers of uncontrolled, emerging technology and capitalism intertwine with the dark coming-of-age of its leads Suletta and Miorine.
While the series has yet to get a proper standalone game, Suletta has made her way to an active Gundam game. Suletta and her Gundam Aerial are playable via DLC in SD Gundam Battle Alliance. They were also available as a limited-time unit in Mobile Suit Gundam UC Engage.
1 Crayon Shin-chan
Crayon Shin-chan, like Sazae-san, has never had an off-season, but it is a series that has had a recent video game adaptation. Shin-chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation – The Endless Seven-Day Journey is notable for having a worldwide release on the Nintendo Switch and PC.
As a spiritual successor to My Summer Vacation (Boku no Natsuyasumi), it successfully merged the charming, open-ended gameplay of the Japanese game series and the familiar characters of Shin-chan. Though it has an overarching plot, players, like the titular kindergartner, can spend the summer doing whatever they want.