Anime gacha games are all the rage these days. Fate/Grand Order. Magia Record. Revue Starlight Re Live. And there are a lot more on the way, such as Symphogear XD Unlimited and Love Live! School Idol Festival All Stars. Even Nintendo has gotten in on the business, with recent releases such as Pokémon Masters and Mario Kart Tour.
While there are so many great mobile gacha games that are built around a media empire, there are surprisingly still a few out there without an animated series of their own. Considering how gacha games live and die on their fan support, it's amazing these mobile games have - at the time of writing this - haven't expanded into animation, after proving their long-lasting appeal. Here are 10 gacha games that deserve an anime adaptation.
10 Dragalia Lost
Dragalia Lost is a collaborative mobile game from Nintendo and Cygames. It takes place in a fantasy world of Alberi, where humans can transform into dragons and wield their power, after forming a pact with one. When The Holy Shard can no longer protect Alberi, the Seventh Prince finally decides to begin his Dragon Selection Trial to protect his people.
An anime where everyone possessed amazing dragon powers would be thrilling to watch and the partnership between the dragons provides a nice Pokémon hook to it.
9 Fire Emblem Heroes
It’s hard to believe there was ever a time Fire Emblem was forgotten by Nintendo. After Fire Emblem Awakening, the successful Nintendo 3DS relaunch in 2012, the role-playing series set in a fantasy re-imagining of the Middle Ages has seen sequels, spin-offs, and numerous appearances in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
When it comes to mobile games, Fire Emblem Heroes is Nintendo’s biggest money-maker. What makes Fire Emblem Heroes so appealing is that it keeps the series rich tactical combat, while keeping everything accessible for mobile players. An Fire Emblem Heroes anime would be the perfect gateway for even more newcomers, as it’s an amalgam of all the fan-favorite heroes from the games.
8 World Flipper
Typically, gacha games fall into the category of RPGs or music rhythm games. World Flipper, on the other hand, is an anime-esque action/pinball game by Cygames. The game follows Ark, a boy with no memory of his past, and his female companion Stella, as they try to help a furry creature named Light return to his world to defeat the Demon King.
Even though the story is straightforward, the cast is colorful and large. The pinball gimmick would also be a fun thing to see adapted onscreen.
7 Girls' Frontline
Girls’ Frontline transforms the world’s deadliest firearms into the world’s cutest anime girls. The mobile game takes place in a futuristic world where wars are fought with female androids known as "Tactical Dolls" or "T-Dolls.” Each T-Doll in the game is an anime girl anthropomorphism of a real-life gun, such as Jericho being based on the Jericho 941, or Vector being a Kriss Vector submachine gun.
Grils’ frontline has crossed over with other gaming properties, like BlazBlue, Guilty Gear, and DJMax Respect. While there have been anime gag shorts, a traditional anime TV series that fleshed out the world and characters would be interesting to watch. There's no doubt that a trigger-happy game like this could inspire some incredibly animated gunfights.
6 Epic Seven
As the name suggests, Epic Seven is an epic anime adventure squeezed all the way into your mobile. The fantasy RPG follows Ras Elclare, the Heir of the Covenant, as he tries to prevent the Seventh World from facing destruction by the endless wars of the Archdemons. All the characters within the game are beautifully illustrated, making you want to scout for them at first glance.
Despite not having an anime series of its own, Epic Seven does have animated cutscenes for its story. It’s impossible not to want an Epic Seven anime, after watching one minute of its gorgeous animation.
5 Sevens Story
Sevens Story is a mobile remake of a 2013 social game of the same name. It’s a tile-based tactical RPG that’s overflowing with adorable designs in chibi form. While traveling to historical ruins, a young adventurer encounters a mysterious girl with amnesia.
There’s also a cute rabbit that players can feed with carrots grown in their own virtual field. It’s a sugary-sweet game that would make for a perfect comfort show.
4 Another Eden: The Cat Beyond Time and Space
Another Eden: The Cat Beyond Time and Space is often considered as the spiritual successor to Chrono Trigger. Why? Game writer Masato Kato and musical composer Yasunori Mitsuda - two talents who worked on Xenogears and the Chrono series - are involved in the mobile game.
It’s a time-traveling adventure about a boy named Aldo who’s trying to rescue his sister, Feinne, from the evil Beast King, but is whisked away 800 years in the future. For anyone who ever played Chrono Trigger and wished it had an anime of its own, Another Eden is the best shot at making your dreams come true.
3 Valkyrie Connect
Valkyrie Connect is a mobile gacha RPG where the player can obtain fantasy heroes via a magic dagger. You play as a hero chosen by destiny to stop an upcoming calamity, and to do so you must recruit a band of magical warriors.
Aiding you on your guest is a Valkyrie named Skuld, who guides you from one epic quest to the next. The story may sound standard, but the individual character stories for fabled heroes, like Sun God Amaterasu or Trickster God Loki make Valkyrie Connect come to life. An anime of Valkyrie Connect would be the perfect vehicle for fleshing out these mythical heroes.
2 Arknights
Arknights is different from your average fantasy gacha game. In the tower defense RPG, you play as a key member of Rhodes Island, a pharmaceutical company fighting off a deadly infection spreading throughout the world.
You’ll recruit anime-ish Operators and train them in combating the disease, assigning them missions based on their unique skills. A dramatic premise like this would be fascinating to watch people examine humanity's rash reaction to the ill and the struggle to treat them in a capitalistic world on TV.
1 League of Wonderland
League of Wonderland is a strategy game where fact and fictitious heroes can battle it out in 2-minute battles. The goal of the game is to destroy the other player’s tower by using your customized deck of eight cards. Heroes from history, fairy tales, and mythology are available for play, such as Red Riding Hood Scarlet or Battle Goddess Athena.
As fantastical as the game sounds, League of Wonderland depicts its action through a comic book flair. A silly, yet, stylized game like League of Wonderland would make a great action series.