There have never been more forms of entertainment that fight for people’s attention. Anime is a medium that continues to grow in exciting ways, not just within its own genre, but also by spreading into other fields. It’s become fairly common practice for anime to experience spin-offs or supplemental material with many of these taking the forms of video games. Gacha games are a style of video games that have become increasingly prominent.
These titles typically implement a free-to-play structure that then utilizes in-game purchases with real money as incentives for progression. Gacha games have a mixed reputation, but they’ve turned into a common area for popular anime series to expand their horizons.
10 Sword Art Online Creates A Gacha World That Doesn’t Diminish The Franchise’s Depth
The past decade has seen isekai series emerge as some of the most popular anime and there's no end in sight to these fantasy hybrid series. Sword Art Online utilizes a colossal MMORPG world as the environment that its characters get whisked away to, which is an angle that lends itself quite naturally to video games. Sword Art Online: Alicization Rising Steel isn't the only gacha title under the franchise's belt, but it's the most rewarding and falls back on a full turn-based RPG that can fully be experienced without stooping to gacha assistance.
9 Bleach’s Gacha Game Doesn’t Fall Into The Typical Pitfalls Of Shonen Adaptations
The major problem that surrounds gacha iterations of the most popular anime series is that they can easily devolve into "character collectors," which is the case with the Dragon Ball and Naruto gacha titles. Bleach: Brave Souls is far from perfect, but it's a lot more thoughtful and fair in comparison to the other gacha games of mainstream shonen properties. Bleach's gacha game only came out in the past few years, long after the series' conclusion, which allows Brave Souls a helpful level of freedom when it comes to the characters, their powers, and the series’ lore.
8 Captain Tsubasa Lets Players Build Their Dream Team With The Help Of Gacha Basics
Anime does such an excellent job with how it represents essentially every sport and recreational activity imaginable. There are several anime that explore soccer, but Captain Tsubasa has become the most iconic franchise in the area. The concept of a sports-based gacha title makes a lot of sense, but unfortunately, Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team, exploits the gacha mechanic.
Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team has some initial charm, but it's too painstaking without indulging and giving into the gacha temptations. Much better Captain Tsubasa games have since come out and shown that the gacha angle maybe isn't best for it.
7 Date A Live Uses The Gacha Mechanic To Focus On Its Characters
A complex world has been built out of Date A Live's anime and it dabbles in surprisingly bleak material considering that it's an adaptation of a light novel series. Date A Live looks at the release of spirits into the world, which triggers a number of "spacequakes" that cause millions of casualties. Date A Live: Spirit Pledge decides to take the gacha concept and use it more for the dating sim genre of video games. There's still some action in Spirit Pledge, but it decides to explore the anime's characters in this unconventional manner.
6 Revue Starlight’s Gacha Game Is So Strong That It Should Turn People To The Anime
Revue Starlight quietly plugs along and turns out to be one of the biggest surprises of its season. It initially appears to employ a standard idol approach as optimistic performers vie for fame and a future on stage. However, Revue Starlight becomes more complex, psychological, and action-packed in what's a very satisfying subversion of expectations. Revue Starlight Re LIVE is one of the better gacha titles to come along, and it even functions as a sequel of sorts to the anime since the game's events begin right after the series' conclusion.
5 The Powerful Magic In Seven Deadly Sins Makes An Excellent Fit For Gacha Action
Seven Deadly Sins is a more recent shonen series that's very much a mixed bag, but it's especially exciting when it works and brings everything together. The anime tells an inspiring story of redemption with flawed characters, especially its protagonist, that take time to mature and grow.
Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross is another gacha title that offers unexpected depth when it comes to both its amount of content as well as the layered nature of its combat system. Grand Cross really takes advantage of the magic and combat from the anime franchise and successfully translates it into this game.
4 Pokémon Goes All-In With Its Gacha, Emphasizing Both Pokémon And Trainers
Pokémon is one of the most popular properties of all time, and its anime is just as revered as the video games. There have been more risks taken with Pokémon as it grows in size and scope, which also means it’s easy to not be aware of the many niche Pokémon titles that slip through the cracks. Pokémon Masters EX is the franchise’s jump into gacha territory, and it represents both the best and worst of the genre. Pokémon Masters EX involves the collecting and pairing of iconic trainers and Pokémon, and it’s set in the new region of Pasio.
3 Fate/Grand Order’s Gacha Builds On The Anime’s World And Is On The Players’ Side
Fate/Grand Order is one of the more popular series in the larger Fate franchise, and it tackles dangers of a colossal nature where both the fate of the past and the future are at stake. The story, characters, and combat from Fate/Grand Order is a natural fit for a gacha game, and the end result is a surprisingly deep mobile title. The Fate/Grand Order gacha title is packed with content, and its gacha mechanic is also incorporated in a way that feels fair and doesn’t manipulate the player.
2 One Piece Gacha Games Dig Into The Anime’s Deep World Of Pirates And Reward Fans
One Piece is one of the most popular anime series of all time. It’s a phenomenon that’s run for over two decades and accrued nearly 1000 episodes, which makes the anime feel like a juggernaut due to how much ground it’s covered. There have been a few attempts at One Piece gacha titles, with the first, Bounty Rush, being a fairly pedestrian effort. However, the recent Treasure Cruise is a gigantic open-world RPG experience that offers so much more than the standard gacha game.
1 Magia Record Turns Magical Girls And Memoria Into Gacha Prizes
Magia Record is an offshoot of the larger Puella Magi Madoka Magica franchise, which operates as a brilliant deconstruction of the magical girl genre. Magia Record turns magical girl tropes into a dangerous ultimatum where these transformations become the eternal price girls pay for having their wishes granted. Magia Record’s gacha expansion represents some of the most basic and frustrating gacha conventions. The game’s currency is Magia Stones, which in turn can unlock magical girls as well as Memoria. Magia Record even has a “Pity System” that kicks into gear at a certain point, which is never encouraging for gacha.