Anime-based Game Intros

M`egumi in action.

Alright, getting the blog back on track, it's time to combine the 2 loves of my life: anime and games (I am NOT an otaku!).

Game intros are always fun to watch. They contribute nothing to gameplay, but with a good music montage + quality animation, it gets you in the mood to play the game. And it wastes your time on YouTube too. Bugger.

Nowadays it's all 3d, 3d, 3d. They're nice too, but I still lean towards their 2D counterparts. I know, I hear you. All anime intros are similar. They MUST have:

• Character showcases: A depiction of the characters' lives before they joined the fight.
  
• Fights: Said characters show off their specialty, one by one. Used during upbeat chorus.
  
• Daily life scenes: 2 or more characters do typical stuff like drying clothes or eating dinner.
• Villain showcases, with the final boss shown as a large shadow to avoid spoilers.
  
• Depressing scenes: Characters are shown as exhausted in an end-of-the-world situation.
• Now-there's-hope scenes, with characters staring from a cliff. Add wind for best effect.
  

Still, I love them. Here are some of my all-time favourites, ordered by category, not preference. Note that I prefer music montages over those storytelling types.

The high-quality button is your best friend.

RPGs

Say anime game intro, then Namco's Tale Of series immediately comes to mind. My current favourite Tales Of intro is still...

Tales Of Eternia (PS1)



The bright colours, the animation, the music, a girl kicking a monster twice her size, a pirate loli... it's all there! Many like the intros of Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss, but I'll stick with this one. Whichever one you choose, Production IG rocks anyway.

Chrono Trigger (DS)



I just finished the classic time-travel RPG Chrono Trigger on the DS. Could only find the PSX version on YouTube though, but it's the same. As you can see, the intro is quite cool, with scenes from different eras and stuff. Gotta love that Toriyama Akira magic. Pity the guy, he just got his famous creation slaughtered by Hollywood.

And let's not forget our favourite western series!

Wild Arms 3 (PS2)



Gotta love cowboys and whistling.

Summon Night 3 (PS2)



Duly underrated in the west, this game allows you to control either that red-haired dude or the long-haired girl with the white beret. I'll take the girl, thank you very much.

You can tell from the quality that it was animated by Studio 4C. Love the soft colour treatment and how the animation was well-timed with great music; I remember watching this again and again. And it has a cute pirate girl. All RPGs must have cute pirate girls.

Let's not forget that fairy who has flowers for her ass. That could be the nicest smelling butt in gaming history.


Treasure Games

Ah, Treasure. How they blessed our childhood with great imaginative games like Gunstar Heroes, Radiant Silvergun, Bangai-O and Ikaruga. Also these:

Guardian Heroes (Sega Saturn)



Gotta admit, Daim was right. The intro does look a bit dated. Still, it holds a special place in all our hearts (awwwwwww). Especially the song, right my dear *coughvideocameracough* cousins?

Silhouette Mirage (Sega Saturn)



The intro rocks just as hard as the game itself! In this unique 2D platformer, you control that half-red half-blue dude . You face right, you become red; you face left, you become blue. Enemies are also in red and blue, and can only be defeated by the opposite colour. Cool huh?

Just looking at the intro alone, you know the art direction is win. Music rocks too. 'Nuff said.


Steam-Industrial Era

Strange category, meknows. When it comes to steam-powered machines, what do you think of?

Sakura Wars 3 (Dreamcast)



Sakura Wars, of course! Beautiful girls in steam-powered robots. A man couldn't ask for anything more. The third one has the best intro, in my opinion.

I can imagine Fabian screaming with glee right about now.

Skygunner (PS2)



This game brings back my love for flight simulations. Simple and fun to play. The intro itself is beaaaauuuuuuutiful, with that kind of art direction and soothing music. And the characters have tails! Reminds me of what Treasure would do minus the zaniness.

And look at that fat plate of spaghetti. I'm so hungry now.


Crazy Intros

Some animation studios take pride in making game intros as incomprehensible as they possibly can.

Musashi Samurai Legend (PS2)



The kind of craziness you'd expect from the team that brought you Gurren Lagann. Throwing a girl up and whacking all the bad guys before catching her again, now that's bad-ass. Time and time again, Gainax cleverly utilizes the angles of a girl in short skirt. Sneaky bastards.

Namco x Capcom (PS2)



The intro best sums up all fanboy dreams to have Street Fighter, Soul Caliber, Xenosaga, Rockman, Tales Of series, Vampire Hunter and Klonoa characters all in one game. Done by Production IG, your resident crazy animation studio. Excellent job on this one.


Sonic

I can already hear Dzaid saying "uh-oh".

Sonic CD (Mega CD)



Sorry la Dzaid, I still love this intro. It's during the golden age where a Sonic intro is not ruined by a damn American punk rock song.

But there's still hope!

Sonic Riders (PS2)



Again, Production IG saves the day. Sonic looks so sleek in this one, but still we have to question Sega: why the hell does Sonic need a hoverboard?! Oh, and a sword for that matter too!


Korean Games

Korea has also begun to adapt anime-like characters in their games some time back. Their intros usually feature a more motion-graphic approach, with bright-coloured characters smacked in front.

My cousins would understand me when I say this: The difference with Korean games is that when the characters pop up in the intro, I would go "Ok siapa dia ni? (Who the heck is this?)". Wonder if you get that feeling too.

DJMax Portable 2 (PSP)



From the makers of the EZ2DJ arcade game. It's just a music game, but they always go the extra mile. Cool that it features the mobile phone as a glaring theme to the concert. Samsung is smart.

Yogurting (PC)



Having a title that could be easily misinterpreted, this game is a Korean MMO school-life battle RPG. Power kan the genre. The use of motion graphics in this one is quite intense, though again I ask: Siapa dia ni?!


Dating Sims

Lastly, we go back to where anime came from, this time in a genre only unique to Japan. Though they serve their purpose (in yummy ways, of course), usually the intros, well, suck. They're highly dependent on the illustration and how cute the song is, then after that you could easily use the Flash tweening feature to drag the 2D sprites all over the place.

Of course, time and time again there are a few exceptions to this rule, those being:

Haru no Ashioto (PC)



Well what do you expect, it's by Shinkai Makoto, the guy behind Voices of a Distant Star and 5 Centimeters per Second. His specialty is lighting; in an interview, he said that his first priority is to draw the lines that depict the rays of light.

Wanna see more of his stuff? Sure!

Ef - The First Tale (PC)



Possibly the game company's biggest hit, which turned into an excellent anime series. This time Shinkai Makoto teams up with a 3D animation company for that extra... rotational power.

Any more great anime-based game intros to recommend?