From Game to Anime: 5 Adaptations That Surpassed the Original Video Game

The “curse of video game adaptations” is a real phenomenon. For decades, most anime based on video games were, at best, 20‑minute commercials and, at worst, rushed adaptations that stripped away everything that made the original great.

But that has changed.

In the modern era of streaming, creators have had the freedom to take the lore and world of a video game and build something new—something that is sometimes even more cohesive and emotionally impactful than the source material.

This is not a list of “bad games”; it’s a list of anime so good that they have become the definitive way to experience that story for millions of people.

From Game to Anime: 5 Adaptations That Surpassed the Original Video Game

In most cases, an anime based on a video game is a simple marketing tool. But on rare occasions, the adaptation not only honors the source material but surpasses it—fixing pacing issues, giving depth to characters, or turning vague lore into a masterful narrative.

Here are 5 anime that took a video game and elevated it into an art form.

1. Arcane (Based on 'League of Legends')

• The Video Game: League of Legends (LoL) is a massive multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA). It is famous for its competitive gameplay, not its narrative. Its story is scattered across character biographies, comics, and YouTube videos.

• Why the Anime is Better: Arcane did the impossible. It took LoL's lore and created a mature, emotional, and visually revolutionary character story. It won multiple Emmy Awards and was universally acclaimed by critics who had never played the game. Arcane didn't just adapt the lore; it created a 10/10 cohesive narrative from scratch, setting a new gold standard.

2. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (Based on 'Cyberpunk 2077')

• The Video Game: Cyberpunk 2077 had one of the most disastrous launches in video game history in 2020, plagued by bugs and broken promises.

• Why the Anime is Better: In 2022, the anime Edgerunners (from Studio Trigger) was released on Netflix. It was a 10-episode, self-contained, and brutally emotional masterpiece. It was so good, so well-written, and so visually spectacular that it literally "redeemed" the franchise. The anime caused a massive surge in sales for the Cyberpunk 2077 video game. The anime became the perfect entry point to the franchise.

3. Pokémon (Based on 'Pokémon Red/Blue')

• The Video Game: Pokémon Red/Blue (1996) was a massive Game Boy hit. It was a simple monster-collecting JRPG.

• Why the Anime is Better (Culturally): The game made you the player. The anime (1997) gave you a world. The anime is the reason Pikachu is the most recognizable icon on the planet. It gave the franchise a face (Ash Ketchum), a heart (his bond with Pikachu), and iconic villains (Team Rocket). The anime is what transformed Pokémon from a popular game into a global cultural phenomenon that has defined generations.

4. Rage of Bahamut: Genesis (Based on 'Rage of Bahamut')

• The Video Game: Rage of Bahamut (by Cygames) was a gacha card-battle game for mobile phones in the early 2010s. Its gameplay was simple, and its story was basic, existing mostly to justify the card art collection.

• Why the Anime is Better: Studio MAPPA (in 2014) took the card art and basic lore and created a swashbuckling dark fantasy epic. The anime introduced a charismatic original protagonist (Favaro), a "Pirates of the Caribbean" style high-fantasy plot, and cinematic-level animation. The anime is the only reason the franchise is known in the West and it completely eclipsed its source material.

5. Uma Musume: Pretty Derby (Based on 'Uma Musume')

• The Video Game: Uma Musume (by Cygames) is a massively popular gacha game in Japan. Its gameplay is a repetitive "training sim," where you grind to train horse-girls to win races.

• Why the Anime is Better: The anime (especially Season 2) is considered a masterpiece of the sports drama genre. It ignores the repetitive gacha gameplay and focuses on a linear, deeply emotional narrative about rivalry, injury, and the drama of racing (based on real-life racehorses). The anime is a top-tier sports drama that is beloved by fans who have never even played the game.

Conclusion

These 5 series are the rare exception to the "video game adaptation curse." Their success demonstrates a clear pattern: the best adaptations don't just copy the gameplay. Instead, they take the lore, the world, and the characters as a foundation to build a cohesive narrative that is, in many cases, superior to the game's.

They prove that when an anime is given the freedom to be a great story in its own right, rather than just an advertisement, it can elevate its source material to legendary status.