Top 5 Vanillaware Games Released In The West! | Backlog Battle

Unicorn Overlord is around the corner, and to celebrate its release, we've ranked five Vanillaware games in this special Top 5 video! Let us know what your rankings look like in the comments below!
0:00 - Intro
2:08 - Top 5
4:08 - Top 4
6:30 - Top 3
7:55 - Top 2
9:51 - Top 1
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Featuring gameplay from:
‪@Kryschnack‬
‪@thegamearchivist‬
#odinsphereleifthrasir #odinsphere #vanillaware #13sentinels #13sentinelsaegisrim #muramasarebirth #muramasa #grimgrimoire #grimgrimoireoncemore #dragonscrown #dragonscrownpro #atlus #nisamerica #sega #shinmegamitensei #persona #finalfantasy #dragonquest #playstation #switch #nintendo #xbox #nonbinary #jrpg #rpg

[@Randhrick]

Heck yeah, 13 Sentinels was amazing, more people need to play that one.

[@BacklogBattle]

Lots of people sleeping on Vanillaware in general!

[@jogymogy3691]

I did... I did and love it

[@iveybullard8988]

I finally started it up last month. You are so right. Its so good.

[@Randhrick]

@@BacklogBattle True, which is a shame, they make amazing and very special games

[@robertdouth8979]

I have this, but it's on my backlog as I'm trying to clear a couple games and add UO to the list when it comes out. I also just got Star Ocean: Second story R, so I'm buried under quality games. My problem is I tend to 100% or as close to it as I can every game I play. Finished Zelda BotW 100% in anticipation of the 2nd coming out, then Nexomon and Nexomon Extinction as well as Chained Echoes and Octopath 1 and 2. Working on Triangle Strategy but I have like 20 games I want to get to. There just isn't enough time as you get older.

[@iveybullard8988]

Vanillaware is one of the dev teams i know will always deliver an interesting game.

[@curious6141]

Going through all the Vanillaware games again right now! Probably top 3 favorite game studio ever! Love to see the love

[@blackswordsmanguts]

Vanillware needs to remaster Muramasa: The Demon Blade.

[@BacklogBattle]

It’s called Rebirth 😉

[@user-pp1uf1jc7z]

Word! Put it on PS4 or 5. Or at the very least on the Switch!

[@xerontokyo]

Yeah do hope Marvelous would be cooperative to allow Vanillaware use the IP.

[@chriskos7868]

@@BacklogBattle no

[@gleipnirrr]

I actually played and finished 13 sentinels based on your long-form review, and I'm buying Unicorn Overlord based on that game, so I think you can safely take credit for both my purchases, haha

[@BacklogBattle]

I have a very good feeling about Unicorn Uverlurd!

[@gleipnirrr]

@@BacklogBattle me too! to be fair, i also liked that it reminded me of an indie game that is sort of similar, Symphony of War

[@newdivide9882]

I want Muramasa to come to Switch so badly, man. Such a beautiful game shouldn’t be condemned to a dead system Sony never took seriously to begin with

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

It really is a shame that Muramasa is stuck on the Wii and Vita, it deserves a re-release!

[@wizardseizure]

The vita isn't dead. It's more alive than ever

[@jmz2144]

Also Dragons Crown, handheld mode would be so good

[@chriskos7868]

It’s prefect my fine on my steam deck

[@itsYaMans]

Muramasa on the wii was the first vanillaware game I ever played; Dragons crown came afterwards, and now Unicorn overlord has easily rose to my top 5 games. I purchased grimgrimorie and 13 sentinels about an hour after playing UO. Think Vanillaware may be my way to enteral-gaming bliss.

[@Road_to_Dawn]

I can’t believe we’ve got a new VanillaWare game on our hands! I love VW so much, and it seems like we don’t get a whole new game from them that often, so every time we do it’s always like a holiday. 13 Sentinels was my game of the year at launch and I’d say it’s my favorite VW game, though since it’s very story-driven with fairly minimal gameplay (outside the actually really fun Destruction mode), I’d say that Odin Sphere, my next favorite, is much more replayable. Odin Sphere was also my first VW game ever, back on the PS2, so it’s got a special place in my heart! The other games I sadly haven’t gotten around to spending much time with. I wasn’t a fan of Dragon’s Crown because it’s really not geared for solo play well and I don’t have anyone to play it with, and it also doesn’t seem to have much of a story unlike pretty much all their other games. I’d really like to do more with Muramasa on my Vita, and especially GrimGrimoire! I just love the charm in that game in particular, and I’m partial to RTS games, having grown up playing Command & Conquer with my dad. And now Unicorn Overlord! Man, I’ve got the Collector’s Edition ordered and I just can’t wait, looking for any opportunity to gush about it! What a fantastic demo.

[@femtrooper]

Great list and man oh man, I need to play more of their games!

[@RwnEsper]

Great video, Alex! Muramasa Rebirth was one of the games that convinced me to get a Vita. Fantastic game. I still haven't gotten around to playing most of these, sadly. I own all of these, but have only kind-of finished Muramasa and the OG Odin Sphere. I've barely touched Dragon's Crown, but what I have experienced is very fun; my collector's edition of OS: Leifrasier is opened, but the disc has never been out of its case 😂. 13 Sentinel's has been on my backlog since it came out as well. There are just so many games, and so little time!

[@uppernimbus]

I'm so pumped for Unicorn Overlord, or should I say Unicorn 'Overlaud' 😉 I love Vanillaware's art-style, hugely underrated developer!

[@adamcampbell3263]

I’ve just bought 13 sentinels on sale today after years of hearing about it, I’m loving it so far! I’m very interested to try out Odin Sphere next after watching your review for it. Great video, man!

[@davidc1878]

It is kind of a fun tongue twister. Love the channel!

[@--ART3MIS--]

13 Sentinels was absolutely outstanding in storytelling! because everybody experienced the story a bit differently, depending on the order in which the protagonists were played.

[@MrDarksol]

To this day I still stand by the fact that Muramasa should be rereleased everywhere else. You can play Dragons Crown, Odin Sphere, 13 Sentinels and GrimGrimore on other platforms but NOT Muramasa since that rerelease is still stuck on the Vita, and not everyone would want to travel the world and buy a Vita just to play this one game. I mean come on Dragon's Crown was a Vita game and that got released on playable platforms so come on Vanillaware! That aside, Vanillaware does indeed do amazing work and while I was not that big on 13 Sentinels, Unicorn Overlord is definitely more my speed. Not to mention the main artist is fantastic with what he has been giving this company for years and glad that the way he draws women, never been censored AT ALL like damn, he made me like Amazon from Dragon's Crown and I am usually not that big on muscle girls lol. Still soild list there Alex!

[@SanzoKun]

i had forgotten how floppy some of the....ummm..."physics" were in Dragon's Crown XD those Sorceress gameplay clips gave me a good chuckle

[@UrBigFan]

They single-handedly reignited my love for RTS games and videogames in general through Unicorn Overlord

[@ArtorasKnight]

I never knew about Vannilaware until Unicorn Overlord. Great game!

[@cbmatty9262]

13 sentinels made me a huge VW fan, Unicorn Overlord looks absolutely amazing, I’ll definitely have to give the other VW games a go!

[@robertdouth8979]

Not gonna lie brother. Your cheesy grin when overpronouncing Unicorn Overlord is endearing as hell. You have the same look I have on my face when I zing my girls with a dad joke.

[@JohnD131]

Loved Dragon's Crown, would be very happy if they ported that to Switch.

[@JesseDylanMusic]

Yeah I was confused by grim grimoire back on ps2, but maybe I should try “once more”. I suck at RTS. Looking forward to your unicorn overlord review!

[@sonictelephone1526]

Dragons Crown was amazing 👍

[@76golong73]

I LOVE Vanillaware games! I own and have played all of these titles. My Top 5 list mirrors yours, except I would say that 13 Sentinels and OdinSphere are tied or first place! I'm looking forward to Unicorn Overlord!

[@BacklogBattle]

But what if you can only pick one on top? 🤔

[@76golong73]

@@BacklogBattle Ah man, only one?! I'd go with 13 Sentinels. It's story is Vanillaware's finest, and one of the best video game stories of all time. Also, I'm not a fan of strategy RPGs...yet they were able to hook me with with that combo of tower defense and RTS, while making it very accessible to all gamers. OdinSphere is still a close second, though!

[@myunihausen]

Dragons Crown Pro has a very good chance of being the best "Beat em Up" ever made.

[@cloud6254]

The satisfying food and cooking animations in muramasa

[@astoldb]

omg Grimgrimoire is one of my favorite games and no one ever talks about it. I actually shouted when I saw it appear xD

[@RegalPixelKing]

I just really hope that the success that Japanese studios have been having on PC, especially Sega, Vanillaware's international publisher, will mean that we will get PC ports of Vanillaware's catalogue. I own every Vanillaware game that has released on PlayStation and I have a Platinum in all of them. But I would happily double dip for every title if we got a PC port of all of their games. Sadly that won't be happening for Unicorn Overlord, at least at launch, but I think there is hope for that to change sooner rather than later. Being able to use a keyboard and mouse setup would be perfect for GrimGrimoire, 13 Sentinels, and interacting with dungeons and cooking in Dragon's Crown.

[@JesseDylanMusic]

Unicorn overlord seems poised to do pretty well on all three consoles. Maybe that will finally be the impetus to put it (and hopefully more/all of their games) on Steam!

[@xerontokyo]

Yeah most likely scenario is the next internal game project by them teased back in January 2023 by Kamitani will be day and date on consoles and PC.

[@sozaj]

I know a Top 1 Japan-only Vanillaware game that seriously needs to join the western releases - "Princess Crown", gosh darn it!

[@BacklogBattle]

I hope they consider bringing that AND Grand Knights History to the West some day!

[@JesseDylanMusic]

Aegis is a Latin word, so there are a variety of ways to pronounce it. You weren’t wrong necessarily! And actually, the G should be hard, and the vowels would be more like Spanish vowels. So technically it would be pronounced like Aigis in P3, but the I would be more like eeeee (Spanish/Latin vowels), so Ah-ee-geese :p to be linguistic about it :p Or eye-geese, if you like 😂 so if you were wrong so was everyone else. Anyway great video! My ranking is actually the same as yours.

[@simondeep]

Yup. Pronouncing it eye-geese is pretty legit. Kind of an anglican/classical pronunciation. Or eh-jeese for the italian/church style Then again, thats the point of Latin xD. Only alive in writing, so every few hundred years new branches of pronunciation pop up again

[@JesseDylanMusic]

@@simondeep I suppose so, but Latin’s vowels live on! (at least in Spanish, Italian, arguably French… English on the other hand is kind of a Frankenstein monster 😂) I’m glad someone actually read my caffeine-fueled comment! 😝

[@teosto1384]

Gotta say I absolutely adore the Vanillaware distinct art style. Don't remember who it was but some KZbinr got to visit their studio and the folks there seemed really nice bunch. Still haven't played any of their games even though Aegis Rim has been on my list for ages. It's just that the scifi/mecha isn't my style. I did play the Unicorn Overlord demo and it seemed interesting enough, from what little I tried. My only concern is the length of the game as I'm a huge fan of the lengthy games. Anything below 100h (on a slow explorative playstyle) I consider a bit of a disappointment. That said I will most likely buy the Unicorn just to support the awesome work they've done. Grim Grimoire is also going on my wishlist thanks to this video.

[@felman87]

This makes me want to dust off my Vita. I still haven't beat Muramasa or Odin Sphere.

[@Cerana1182]

I really wish Vanillaware would also put their titles on PC, though I understand they are a small company themselves

[@BacklogBattle]

I’m thinking they’re almost there! Unicorn Overlord is coming out on Xbox platforms, so maybe they’re learning how to accomplish that? It’s a complex process to bring things on PC since it’s got multiple configurations

[@allenwan4400]

Completely agree since I will say I'm mostly a PC player and now with the PC gaming handhelds feels odd to have a game release everywhere but PC. Yet I will say still preordered to play on a console cause I do love the games this studio puts out

[@autochat]

Muramasa the demon blade 👹 originally released on Wii, then on Vita, vita has the same gameplay , BUT, adds 4 DLC stories that had nothing to do with the main story , some are hard , all of them are fun to play.

[@Nucleric]

Odin Sphere is a must!!

[@Adam.C]

I thought 13 Sentinels was a masterpiece. I'm picking up Unicorn Overlord pretty much based on how much I enjoy their games. That and the demo was great.

[@RyanS406]

The demo was amazing … I bought the collector’s solely based on my experience with it

[@Xoulrath_]

@@RyanS406 same.

[@redstratus97]

The only one I own is 13 Sentinels. The rest I never played nor do I own. The PS4 box gives me a look once in a while reminding me that I need to play it while being jealous of the other JRPGs that I’m currently playing like FF7 Remake. I’ve heard so much good about 13 Sentinels that I really need to get to it. I remember the review of it on the channel and I think you said the game was too easy even on the highest difficulty? So does that mean that I can play it on hard and get a good trophy without much trouble. Thoughts please?

[@BacklogBattle]

You can adjust the difficulty at any time and from my knowledge, there's no trophy that specifically requires you to beat it on Hard. In the spirit of the game and its systems, play it however you want!

[@redstratus97]

@@BacklogBattle thanks for the info.

[@omegaman182]

This video has highlighted a misconception I've had for years, I have avoided all vanillaware games since I played a game call grand kingdom (believing it was made by vanillaware, confused with grand Knight history) The game had a very vanillaware art style but the battle system was a very repetitive grind so I didnt like it. I've looked at vanillaware games thought they looked good but if they were made with that same gaming philosophy it properly won't be for me.. Guess I've got no reason to avoid them now, where should I start?

[@BacklogBattle]

Any of these except GrimGrimoire OnceMore 👍

[@Cluelessdye-jz3hg]

So disappointed that the games are on steam, I would love another crack of muramasa rebirth, such a great game, especially to play 13 sentinels as well

[@BacklogBattle]

But they aren’t on Steam?

[@SicketMog]

Just wrote the question on a different video... So 13 sentinels... Is it very reliant on controls (the combat part)? I'm just ffw my way through this to see if it's my cup of tea, quite a few people recommended it, but it just doesn't look like my thing and the Switch-pricing feels a bit much. The only actual "game" part is the battle sequences? It's like a slightly more interactive VN? Currently checking out an auction of UO. Seems a BIT more like my thing.

[@BacklogBattle]

If you value gameplay above story, then you're probably better off with Unicorn Overlord. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim can only be enjoyed if you're all in on the story and ok with the abstractions. Highly suggest checking my reviews on both games!

[@Jaaskle]

U N I C O R N O V E R L O R D

[@Mundus66]

Muramasa is on the Wii also. And that's where i played it. Cause i don't have a ps Vita.

[@BacklogBattle]

Muramasa Rebirth isn't. It has a totally new translation that's more faithful to the original text, customizable controls, and four DLC characters and scenarios not available in the original.

[@ty_sylicus]

Dragon's Crown Pro is 4$ on PS4 right now!

[@shadowking2926]

8:40 the ironic part about this is that it literally doesn't! The original game is actually bundled in with the remake, so there's no excuse if you really want to play the original.

[@BacklogBattle]

I would say it replaces the original BECAUSE it also has the original in it!

[@CGRoom]

Muramasa Rebirth is on Nintendo Wii too.... ☺ Vita version is remastered version and the best one to play IMO....

[@BacklogBattle]

I think the Wii version is called Muramasa The Demon Blade…

[@joanjoestar3252]

My favorite one is Muramasa rebirth

[@benilinshingoseth2086]

Haha, yeah... And now, wait for Unicorn Overlord... It will shatter your thoughts about not only Vanillaware's productions but also big companies as well !

[@BacklogBattle]

I've known about this for years!

[@xNeoGenesis]

I wonder why they don't port their games to PC, they would sell like hotcakes! With PC becoming the main gaming platform hopefully they change their mind

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

Agreed, as someone that mainly enjoys games on their PC but is also a big fan of Vanillaware, it really sucks to see them completely ignore the PC market altogether.

[@xneutralgodx]

i still put odin sphere over 13 sentinals . but its close

[@jiggerblayne]

I think the only thing holding me back from getting really into dragons crown was the overuse of fan service. I don’t mind fan service I just hate when it’s kinda hentai like, the barbarian lady was fan servicey but I wasn’t wondering how her breasts were even staying in her top like the sorceress, or when the mermaid has an ass and her spine is twisted so you can also see her cleavage too. I couldn’t get anyone to play it with me because of that. I’m glad that unicorn overlord had a bit of fan service but it wasn’t so much that it pulled away from the experience.

[@jaydenmoon1165]

Dragon crown for switch please 😊❤

[@Livingtree32]

The only one of their games I played was the original PS2 release of Odin Sphere and I have to say I really didn’t like it, at all. Should I try another one? I’m interested in Grim Grimoire, but hesitant to Dragon‘s Crown, as it looks too similar to Odin Sphere.

[@BacklogBattle]

The original PS2 release of Odin Sphere versus 2016's Leifthrasir are vastly different, if you didn't like it because of its gameplay. Dragon's Crown plays nothing like Odin Sphere, as it's a multiplayer brawler like Double Dragon, the TMNT arcade game, or the Scott Pilgrim game.

[@Livingtree32]

@@BacklogBattle Ok ok, good to know! Yes, it was mainly because of the gameplay, not the art style that I found awesome (and because of which I bought it back then). So I’ll probably give it another try some time

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

@@Livingtree32 The original PS2 version of Odin Sphere is rough in terms of gameplay, the remake is leaps and bounds better, I urge you to give the remake a chance!

[@Livingtree32]

@@DanielSantosAnalysis I will!

[@TowerBooks3192]

Dragon's Crown is the best and I played that to death.

[@LimitedEye]

Dragons crown not being number 1 is criminal

[@d_shuffles]

I still need to play 13 Sentinels

[@BacklogBattle]

You gotta!

[@alejandrosunshadow6041]

Grimgrimoire is probably the weakest game... and it's an incredible good game too (i'm replaying the remake now). It's a pity how forgotten is that game. Anyway, that says a lot about how good the studio is. My personal order would be similar to yours, except dragon's crown, which I don't place in any position as it's the only one i have not played.

[@n3r0n3]

haha ok they released 6 (in the west - in Japan there's princess crown so like 7?) and I could understand a top 3 but a top 5 no offence is kinda weird ;) You like em all.. this is what u're saying and yes I agree... apart from grim grimoire.

[@n3r0n3]

ps. I love grand knight kingdom which was not developed by Vanillaware but it's the work of ex Vanillaware stuff and the follow up to Grand Knights History (a Vanillaware game for psp). That game is super cool and I consider it a Vanillaware game even tho on paper is not but really it is...

[@BacklogBattle]

Have you ever considered that the reason I would want to highlight all 5 games is to encourage people to check all of them out?

[@JesseDylanMusic]

Wait uh, they’ve only had 5 games in English tho… so the top five is… the only five. And yes!Words are hard sometimes!