In the contemporary debate on the languages of entertainment, the relationship between video games and comics is no longer a simple meeting point: it is a zone of narrative osmosis where the boundaries of genres, media and formats are constantly being re-discussed. It is not just a question of mutual influences or affectionate references, but of a structural convergence that reshapes the very ways in which imaginary worlds are built and enjoyed today.
While waiting for the big national exhibitions dedicated to comics - from Lucca to Rome, passing through Bergamo - it is enough to observe the current production of video games, both mainstream and independent, to grasp the extent of this contamination. The characters, the aesthetics, even the narrative logic typical of comics have found a second home in gaming, often more dynamic and accessible. In parallel, comics have opened up to an increasingly interactive form of reading, gathering suggestions from the videogame world and rearranging them in an authorial key.
Japan and the Grammar of Narrative Reincarnation
It is in the Japanese context that this intersection shows its most stratified form. Manga are not only a source of inspiration: they are narrative structures ready for use, mythological architectures capable of transmigrating from one medium to another without losing coherence. The case of Dragon Ball is emblematic. Born on paper in 1984, it has become a self-sufficient universe over the course of four decades: anime, video games, feature films, merchandising. But what is surprising is not so much the extension of the brand, but its symbolic endurance, the ability with which each transposition keeps the original spirit intact, while adapting to different technologies and audiences.
Even in the often overlooked segment of online gambling, traces of this aesthetic are becoming increasingly visible. Themed slots inspired by manga worlds — from Hazakura Ways to Mochimon — do not simply decorate the interface: they draw on a visual and imaginative code that the public recognizes and decodes immediately. In this sense, Japan continues to dictate a narrative grammar that manages to unite the archaic and the futuristic, the ritual and the playful, finding in video games a perfectly compatible form of expression.
From Industry to Pop Mythology: The West Responds
While in Japan, transposition between media occurs according to a logic of narrative reincarnation, in the West the phenomenon takes on the form of a true industrial project. The Marvel Universe , and more recently the DC Universe, have clearly demonstrated how comics, cinema, and video games can be orchestrated according to an editorial strategy capable of generating synchronized narratives across multiple platforms. Spider-Man, Iron Man, Batman: no longer characters but layered icons, spanning different narrative cycles while maintaining a solid and functional recognizability.
This transversality is also evident in gaming titles, from consoles to online platforms, where the visual identity of superheroes is reimagined for an interaction that combines experience, storytelling, and entertainment. In particular, the entertaining slot machines inspired by these narrative universes don't simply feature familiar faces, but integrate them into gameplay mechanics that enhance the character's symbolic dimension. Familiarity with the hero, in these cases, isn't a secondary element, but a semiotic device: those who play do so with prior knowledge, a narrative baggage that implicitly fuels engagement.
What is striking is that, despite the absence of an updated critical language, these forms of convergence are no longer marginal. They do not move at the boundaries of high or low culture, but redraw their coordinates.
The article is very interesting because it discusses how video games and comics influence each other. But I don't know if it's true that there is a real convergence between different genres, I think that each genre has its own specific rules.