Many popular manga (Japanese comic books) gain further popularity when adapted into animated series (called "anime") and soon find themselves made into video games. These games allow players to relive events from their favorite series or even take part in new storylines developed specifically for the games. The most popular series end up with a large number of adaptations on a variety of systems, and with the popularity of anime and manga in the English-speaking world, many of these games have ventured outside of Japan.
Naruto
Created by Masashi Kishimoto, numerous Naruto video games have been released outside of Japan, so gamers should have no trouble finding one at a department store or video game retail store. Most Naruto games are fighting games, including the Xbox 360's Naruto: Rise of a Ninja (2007), PlayStation 3's Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm and Nintendo Wii's Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution (2007), Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 (2008) and Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 (2009).
Portable gamers have numerous options for Naruto games. The Nintendo DS Naruto games cover several different genres: Naruto: Path of the Ninja (2007) and Naruto: Path of the Ninja 2 (2008) are both role-playing games, Naruto: Ninja Council 3 (2007) is a side-scrolling action game and Naruto: Ninja Destiny (2008) Naruto Shippuden: Ninja Destiny 2 (2009) and Naruto Shippuden: Ninja Council 4 (2009) are all fighting games.
The PSP games cover fewer genres, with Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes (2007), Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2: The Phantom Fortress (2008) and Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 (2009) being fighting games and Naruto Shippuden: Legends: Akatsuki Rising (2009) being a 3D adventure game.
Dragon Ball
Like Naruto many games based on Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball saga are fighting games with the exception of the DS action game Dragon Ball: Origins (2008), the DS role-playing game Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans (2009) Nintendo Wii adventure game Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo (2009).
Dragon Ball fighting games include Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2 (2005) on the DS, Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai (2006) and Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai: Another Road (2007) on the PSP, and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (2006) and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (2007) on the Wii. Dragon Ball: Raging Blast (2009) and Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (2008) are on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Bleach
Tite Kubo's manga series Bleach has been adapted by the company Sega into several video games, including 2007's Bleach: Shattered Blade for the Nintendo Wii, a fighting game that allows players to use the motion sensing capabilities of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk accessory to use the weapons within the game. There have also been two Bleach fighting games on the Nintendo DS: Bleach: The Blade of Fate (2007) and Bleach: Dark Souls (2008). For gamers who want a more tactical experience, the Nintendo DS also has Bleach: The 3rd Phantom (2009), a turn-based strategy game where players control teams of characters on a map, moving them around one at a time and forming strategies of attack on their enemies.
One Piece
While many of the video games based on Eiichiro Oba's seafaring adventure manga One Piece aren't available outside Japan, there are a few options for English-speaking gamers. One Piece: Unlimited Adventure came out for the Wii in 2008 and allows players to explore a mysterious island. Players with access to used video games stores may be able to track down the fighting games One Piece: Grand Battle and One Piece: Grand Adventure (2006) for both Nintendo GameCube and Sony PlayStation 2. One Piece: Pirates Carnival is a GameCube party-style game where up to four players engage in mini-games recreating scenes from the One Piece story.
Tags: Dragon Ball, fighting games, Naruto Shippuden, video games, game Dragon, game Dragon Ball