It’s a fact: most video game to movie adaptations suck. Luckily, there’s anime.

Dealing with drawings and animations gives creators the freedom to make the characters look exactly like they’re supposed to, unlike when actors are involved (I’m thinking the new Dragonball Z movie, in which all the characters are white. It’s just… wrong). Some games have been adapted into animes that are just as good, and which can stand alone as fantastic shows. The following 5 are my own personal favorites.

I’ve never played the Zone of the Enders games, but this science fiction anime is amazing (and this is coming from someone who is NOT a sci fi fan). The characters captured my heart. Who knew a giant Mech spaceship in vague humanoid form could be so girly, and so adorable?

The anime is set in the same world as the video games, in a future where Mars has been colonized by Earthlings. Both sides are not entirely happy about this. Many want this to come to an end, but how they go about doing this makes a huge difference in whether they’re seen as “good” or “bad.” Dolores is an Orbital Flame - an ultimate weapon created to help determine if the time has come for Earth to leave Mars… and to figure out her uncertain past.

Dolores makes AI seem surprisingly human, showing everything from emotions and physical feelings, to a deep attachment to the person “piloting” them. It’s a touching anime that players of the game will love, and those who had never played can appreciate.

I might not have been able to enjoy this anime yet (it’s scheduled to come out in February of next year), but the trailer is promising. The art looks great and the music is beautiful. Halo Legends is supposed to “shed new light and epic perspective on Halo lore,” according to the official site. Will it do the game justice? And can it stand on its own, or is this geared specifically towards existing Halo fans? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

I admit it, I enjoyed the Kirby anime when it came on FOX a while ago. But what is there not to like? Kirby being his adorable yet fierce self, a great cast of characters, nostalgia for the old days… Then again, the creators of this anime were not just trying to make more money off an established name, they were striving to make an anime for all age groups to enjoy. Kirby: Right Back At Ya is full of satires of movies, politics, current events, and so much more. Of course, when I watched it way back when, I didn’t realize any of these things. I think I’ll have to pay Kirby another visit sometime to see it with a fresh perspective.

I was actually surprised to learn that this great and symbolic anime was originally a Japanese “visual novel.” In case you don’t understand why that was in quotes, let me rephrase that - the original Fate/Stay Night game is a hentai game (although an “all-ages” version was released for PS2). The game is supposed to have even more background information and story than the anime, and, of course, more of Saber and the other lovelies than you’ve ever seen before. Really. Fate/Stay Night puts a whole new spin on the concepts of the Holy Grail, the church, King Arthur, and much more. I’m aware that hentai games generally do have involved stories, since they are pretty much interactive graphic novels (emphasis on graphic), but this game/anime take this to a whole new level.

This is one of those “chicken or the egg” kinds of questions: Which came first, pokemon the show or the game? And the answer is… it depends on where. In Japan, the game came out first (in 1996), then the show, about a year later. Here in the US, we do things backwards (and take forever to import and translate Japanese games!) so the show aired first (in 1998), and the game came out about a month later.

Anyway.

So that’s right, folks, Pokemon is just another anime that was based on a video game. And it’s one of the best examples of what happens to video games when they cross over the world of anime - they are usually based loosely on the world of the video game, and tend to take on a life of their own. Do you think that to fully appreciate the glory that is pokemon you must both watch the show and play the video game? It’s debatable. But if you liked one, chances are, you’ll like the other.

So go check out some of the titles on this list, either to play or watch.

These are just my personal favorites. What are yours?