In nearly every video game, the player takes control of a character who doesnโt exist in real life (outside of sports games). Mario got his name from a real person, but thereโs no diminutive Italian plumber in the real world who travels about stomping on turtles … Well, there might be, but that would be a coincidence or a crazy copycat. Still, some games are based on real events or incorporate historical figures into their gameplay. Other games, like the five detailed below, are based on real people and allow the player to take control of them in the gameโs world. Thatโs far less common than you might think, but each of these games, arranged in no particular order, gave it a shot, and it worked out well.
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1) Like a Dragon: Ishin!
Like a Dragon: Ishin! is a remake of a 2014 action-adventure game released on the PlayStation 3 and 4. The remake hit modern consoles in 2023 and later expanded to additional platforms, allowing more people to discover and play it. The game is set in the late Edo period of the 19th century, and the player controls Sakamoto Ryลma, a samurai who was a major figure in the establishment of the Empire of Japan. The game uses him and the period to craft an adventure centered on a coup d’รฉtat, in which you must locate and identify an assassin. Itโs a great game thatโs incredibly well-made and detailed, covering the period in an artistic and honorable way.
2) Hamurabi
Taking a significant leap back in time, we have Hamurabi, a text-based strategy game developed by Doug Dyment in 1968. It was made for a friend and consists of 10 rounds in which the player takes on the role of the ancient Babylonian king Hammurabi. The goal is to manage grain and crops each round so you can feed your people and buy land to expand, while dealing with mishaps like plagues and other issues. Over the years, the concept of Hamurabi was redeveloped in several ways, and it was also an influential game, helping to establish what would become the city-building genre, which gave rise to the SimCity franchise and many others.
3) Yoshitsune Eiyลซden: The Story of Hero Yoshitsune
Yoshitsune Eiyลซden: The Story of Hero Yoshitsune is a 2005 hack-and-slash game released only in Japan for the PlayStation 2, though it has since been translated into English via a fan project. The game follows its titular hero, Minamoto no Yoshitsune, a samurai commander who lived and died in the 12th century. He was politically connected and was highly regarded as one of the most popular samurai of his era. In Japan, Yoshitsune is well known even today, though his common name was Kurล. The game is a third-person action title that incorporates real-time strategy mechanics, inspired by theย Dynasty Warriorsย franchise, where gameplay involves commanding troops across a battlefield.
4) Eternal Sonata
Eternal Sonata is an interesting example of a game based on a real person because it both is and isnโt. The game revolves around composer Frรฉdรฉric Chopin and takes place in a fictional world that exists in his dying mind. He is a character within this world (pictured), and the Japanese role-playing game is unlike pretty much every other JRPG youโve played because itโs directly tied to Chopinโs music. The combat system uses musical elements for special attacks, and thatโs only one aspect of Chopinโs influence on the gameโs design. Eternal Sonata was released in 2007 on the Xbox 360 and was later ported to the PlayStation 3. It received plenty of critical acclaim, but the game isnโt well-known these days.
5) Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker
Video games in the early 1990s were often strange, and one of the weirdest was Michael Jacksonโs Moonwalker. The game is a beat-โem-up in which the player controls the King of Pop, with stages loosely adapted from Jacksonโs โSmooth Criminal.โ In it, the player must rescue kidnapped children, and it includes audio samples from Jacksonโs catalog. The game wasnโt a major hit, and some ports were downright awful, but it was fun in the arcades and was best played at home on the Sega Genesis. Moonwalker is all about Jackson, though a fictionalized version of him, but itโs him nonetheless.
What’s your favorite game based on a real person? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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