Manga Manga based on Video Games

[Nony]

With franchises like [i]Kingdom Hearts[/i] and [i].hack[/i] (and others I'm sure, I just can't think of them), you seem to end up getting these manga that "retell" the story of the games, usually within just three short volumes.
Now, I haven't actually read the KH manga before, but I do have experience with the .hack ones. There's [i].hack//XXXX[/i] (pronounced "dot hack ex-fourth") and [i].hack//G.U.+[/i]. The former summarizes the tale of the first four .hack games within just two manga, and the latter covers the G.U. games' plot in three then branches off on its own storyline for another two volumes.

Obviously, with such short amount of time to do so, these types of manga can't possibly cover what the games did in a satisfactory manner. More than anything, the plot gets edited like hell down to the bare minimum, to a point where it seems like only fans who've played these games should even bother anymore. It's pretty much just to rake in money.

So here's the question I'm wanting to ask here. Is there a real point to making manga like this? I suppose there's an appeal for fans, especially when sometimes creators will add extra info in the manga that was (for some reason) never covered in the games. But personally, I'd rather they create a brand new story for a manga rather than redoing an old one. It'd be much more interesting to follow a new character, or even to learn something about a side character we didn't know before.

Short version: Do you like manga that are based on video games or would you rather they make something else?

[Kei]

[color=darkblue][size=1]Having read the Kingdom Hearts manga treatment, I have to say that it -was- an extremely watered down version of the story and almost wasn't worth reading (and this is coming from someone that doesn't even dig KH that much). I've also read the Ocarina of Time manga, and while that was cute, it took some liberties that didn't sit well with me (though the second bonus chapter was cute).

When it boils down to it, I suppose I don't care for them because they leave so much out. I can understand if you have page limits and are doing it for a magazine, but if this is a self-created endeavor that's been picked up by a company, don't you owe it ot the fans (yourself included, since you're drawing it) to include everything in the story? I can understand leaving out things that would only make sense in the game, but other than that... It kinda shows a lack of effort, at least from my point of view.[/color][/size]

[Nony]

[quote name=''Kei'']It kinda shows a lack of effort, at least from my point of view.[/quote]
Yeeeeah. Oftentimes it feels like they could've done so much more with the manga, so it's kind of a disappointment. :/

I have yet to read a video game based manga that paces itself well enough. You could say this is the common complaint of fans whenever something gets adapted for a different medium, such as books to movies, but it is a legitimate complaint. When the quality of the entertainment suffers because they were rushing too much, then yeah.

[Allamorph]

[quote name='Kei;][color=darkblue][size=1]When it boils down to it, I suppose I don't care for them because they leave so much out. I can understand if you have page limits and are doing it for a magazine, but if this is a self-created endeavor that's been picked up by a company, don't you owe it ot the fans (yourself included, since you're drawing it) to include everything in the story?[/color'][/size][/quote]
[FONT=Arial]The current mindset in the spinoff industry is that as long as the fan sees something with the name of their fandom on an item, they will buy that item regardless of quality. And that has been perpetuated by a overarching dearth of discriminating shoppers.

The point of manga based on video games is to make money on a deadline. And unfortunately, the less a company spends putting a project together, the less of a deficit they have to overcome afterwards in order to reap a profit. Nevermind that their item won't be wildly successful. When you're marketing to a select group of people (in this case the percentage of Americans who read manga), your worries about an item becoming a huge hit diminish somewhat.

That said, I find I avoid most manga based on established video games or stories because I anticipate that the results will be fairly bland and half-assed. I [I]did[/I] read the Metroid manga, but that was only because I wanted a good chuckle at the mangaka's expense, and I wasn't disappointed. (Plus seeing Samus Aran drawn in the style of Ranma 1/2 was absolutely hilarious.)[/FONT]

[eleanor]

[font=trebuchet ms] Video games never translate well into ANY other medium. Movies, books, mangas, whatever. My 2 cents:

- There are too many holes because with games you spend 95% of your time actually playing, and so when it translates the other medium has to make up **** to fill that time in. Even though it seems possible to translate it well (i.e. character has to go to some temple, so in the manga they can just depict that) there is a large disconnect between interactive gameplaying and storytelling.

- Even if people choose simply to take the world of the video game and use the story loosely... like Allamorph said, spin-offs are generally about money and not genuine passion or interest about it. When spin-offs/recreations DO work, it's usually between more relatable mediums: book/plays --> movies always work best (and when you think about it, a lot of the best movies are usually based off of novels), tv shows --> movies are second best. It's because movies/books/tv shows are all based upon some form of a script, whereas games are based off of gameplay.

- Seriously, even games based off of movies/tv shows are always terrible. Again, the disconnect and the focus on milking franchises. I'm of the opinion that video games should stay video games. No matter how you spin it or how many contrary examples you want to throw at me, games are about playing, not storytelling.[/font]

[Dagger]

@Lunox: Yeah, that isn't a point I would necessarily choose to argue--stuff like Advent Children (which I couldn't get through very much of) made me see how much the gameplay aspect adds, and I say this as someone who started playing games primarily for their story. :p

There are definitely "games" where the actual gameplay aspect is minor to nonexistent, and maybe it's not surprising that a very high ratio of these get adapted to manga. In cases where I'm already a fan, I certainly don't mind them making the effort to expand the story as a media franchise. At worst, it's something I can just ignore, and at best, it might end up being arguably better than the original work in some respects.

That said, I generally don't read manga adaptations for games I haven't played. I'm sure there are manga versions that don't detract from the source material at all and would make a great starting point in and of themselves. It's just that I tend to spend more time on story-heavy games than on manga itself anyway, so the natural flow for me is to go from game to manga.

Often the manga ends up being just one of many supplementary products, most of which are inevitably hit or miss--drama CDs, novels, artbooks, doujinshi, online radio, action figures, anime, etc. The same game might have superbly produced drama CDs but a crappily written novel adaptation, for instance. What makes manga a little different is the fact that it's serialized--if it's good enough to get new fans, or at least has a popular artist, it can keep going for a long, long time after the game's release date. It's nice to see people's interest stay alive like that.

~Dagger~

[mangamaniack21]

MegaMan NT warrior, which is one of my all-time favorite series, was based off of a video game and i enjoyed every page of the manga. it was so addicting, too bad it's over along with the anime :3
i also liked Galaxy Angel and Higurashi no naku koroni (including the animes too)
:D

[sbsp13668]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"][COLOR="DeepSkyBlue"]I recommend that you read [I]Suikoden III: The Successor of Fate[/I] manga. It's based off of the third installment of a video game series, but it's much better than most video game mangas! You don't need to play the games to get the plot; I've never played the games, and the manga's still fantastic. All of the characters are awesome, the plot is consistent and interesting, and the setting is brimming with creativity. The art is good too, considering that the characters are somewhat detailed. Also, the manga is complete in 11 volumes, but you have to buy it because there are any full translations of it anywhere! @.@ Good Luck! ^.^[/COLOR][/FONT]