Looking back over 25 years of the animation block’s enduring reviews
Toonami celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. For many, it was a window into so many worlds; it was how you learned aboutDragon Ball,Tenchi Muyo, andOutlaw Star. It was the after-school animation programming with hype and lights, battles and arcs. And Toonami also had video game reviews.
Growing up, those reviews were unknowingly forming my basis for learning about video games. My best means for learning what games were cool was word of mouth and the occasional magazine or demo disc, but Toonami was a pipeline of video game information.
As I was nostalgically looking back onold Toonami promos todayin light of the 25th anniversary, I stumbled across some of the reviews from my era of Toonami viewing. Between the adventures of my favorite anime protagonists, I’d hear about some cool new PlayStation 2 game that might be worth looking into.
To its credit, Toonami covered a surprising breadth of games. Theanimation block’s Wiki is a great repositoryfor all the scores and games covered over the many, many years. Many of the reviews, according to the Wiki, are written by Jason DeMarco or Gill Austin. At one point, Toonami even had written reviews. Yes, the Web Archive contains afull written reviewofGrandiafor the PlayStation from Toonami.
There are novelties and oddities to behold, sure.Blue Stingerfor the Dreamcast is the lowest-scored review from the team, ata 1 out of 5. Games likeFinal Fantasy VII,Metal Gear Solid, andSoulcaliburearn full marks, while some dip lower. Someone at Toonami clearly loves theHot Shots Golfseries, and honestly, that’s relatable.
There’s also the timeThe Elder Scrolls III: Morrowindearned an 8/10. Don’t watch it for the score, though; watch it the excellent line delivery from TOM 2 voice actor Steve Blum.
Jokes aside, I’ve been enthralled with revisiting these today. They really do mark the developing landscape of video game coverage, especially as it grew into video formats. And the conversational tone feels ahead of its time. It’s tough to pitch the game, sum up its many parts, and assess it in the span of a minute and a half. Toonami manages it pretty darn well.
And it’s also worth noting that while I’ve gone over the older legacy reviews, Toonami game reviews are—much like the block itself—still rolling on. Its most recent score, via the Wiki, was an 8/10 forA Short Hike. And it looks like the block has made an effort to cover independent games too, including lesser-known games likeGolf Club Wasteland,Ender Lilies, andGrisalongside the likes ofAnimal CrossingandAssassin’s Creed.
So here’s to Toonami, a block that got me into anime and also got me thinking about games at a very young age. They’re not the sole reason I’m putting words on a page today, but it’s hard not to look back fondly on these as some early sparks. Plus, they gaveBeetle Adventure Racingthe same score asFinal Fantasy VII. That’s just fantastic.
