by James Saunders

It was in the latter part of the 1960s that the Japanese gaming industry started up with several development companies enjoying great success, making it big in Japan. Household names like Sony, Nintendo, Sega, NEC and Namco to name just a few. There are not many that have not heard of Super Mario, Pac-Man or Sonic the Hedgehog, which are all still played and enjoyed by millions of people.

Not only are there exciting online games like Resident Evil, Final Fantasy and Street Fighter to enjoy, the most up to date statistics also tell us that the online casino slots industry is booming with many games influenced by Japanese characters. Lending popular characters and storylines to another format makes great marketing sense, besides extending players’ choices of how they want to view their own personal favourites.

In fact, it’s safe to say that the Japanese gaming industry has moved throughout the entertainment industry as a whole, producing so many video-related and merchandise products that can be bought almost anywhere in the world. Spin-off television shows based on the most popular video games like The Super Mario Brothers, Pokemon and The Legend of Zelda are just three successful adaptations based on video games.

But it’s not only television shows that have productions based on the video games, as there have been film adaptations created which were not only successful in their own right, but also boosted the exposure of the games, making them even more popular and introducing them to a new audience.

Take the live action version of Mortal Kombat which was released back in 1995 – it managed to gross an amazing $70 million at that time, and there are not many who have not watched Lara Croft in Tomb Raider. Released in 2001, Tomb Raider soon enjoyed the top rank in the box office numbers game.

Everyone will have their own personal favourite – maybe based on the game or the characters or music, director or actors who are cast; but one thing is for certain, and it’s that the Japanese influence, their creativity and expertise in developing games, TV series and movies, is second to none, which means we can look forward to a whole lot more entertainment to come.

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