But there are some video game OVAs that have fallen by the wayside. Ones that fell into obscurity because they either strayed too far from its franchise’s target audience or were based on a game that was a little too niche. Here are some game series whose OVAs disappeared into the ether.

10 King Of Fighters

Technically, King of Fighters: Another Day was an ONA (original net animation) as it was released in four 6-minute-long episodes online. Made by Production I.G, each episode focused on a different KOF fighter. One episode would have K’ and Maxima taking on Ralf and Clark, then another would have Kyo Kusanagi taking on Ash Crimson.

It’s also the only time the characters from the Maximum Impact games would appear in animation, with the first episode focusing on protagonists Alba and Soirée Meira. Another Day got plenty of coverage during its release in late 2005. But its fame has since faded away due to that brief release and short runtime. It felt more disposable as a result, despite arguably looking better than its CG successor KOF: Destiny.

9 Megaman

Surprisingly, the Blue Bomber has had more animated love in the West than his native Japan. Despite having some lavish animated scenes in the PS1 entries (and notoriously terrible voice acting). But Megaman’s most memorable animated appearances have been Western. Those being his infamous recurring role in Captain N: The Game Master, or the insane Ruby-Spears cartoon.

However, in 1993, Japan got a 3-episode OVA called Rockman: Hoshi ni Negai Wo. In it, Megaman chases Dr Wily out of the Famicom and into the real world. With the help of the Kobayashi family, the super fighting robot battles against the mad scientist while learning about Japanese culture. The OVAs did somehow reach the US a decade later via ADV Films but remains relatively obscure.

8 Street Fighter

Street Fighter: Yomigaeru Fujiwara-Kyō is perhaps the most obscure of the franchise’s official animations. It’s a semi-sequel to the more famous Street Fighter 2 anime, using its art style and Japanese voice cast, and doesn’t actually feature any fighting at all, in the streets or otherwise. Instead, Ryu, Ken, E.Honda and Chun Li find themselves split up and sent back in time to Fujiwara, Japan’s ancient capital city.

Ken tells Ryu random facts about the city as they search for Honda and Chun Li. The OVA was never released outside of Japan, and it was only available there twice: on VHS at an exhibition about Fujiwara in 1995, then on DVD for Street Fighter’s 15th anniversary in 2002. Nowadays, the curious can find the whole thing subtitled on YouTube.

7 Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer

After Masami Obari turned Fatal Fury and Battle Arena Toshinden into OVAs, the Double Dragon developers Technos got him to work on Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer, one of their fighting game projects. Unlike his previous work, Obari got to design the game’s characters from scratch before putting them on the small screen. Unfortunately, his designs weren’t as good as SNK’s classic characters, and the game got middling reviews at best.

The 3-episode OVA got edited together into a film for its US release via Central Park Media. It tried to go more in-depth on the game’s plot, not that there was much of one to begin with. The OVA is mostly remembered today for its bonkers plot and bad voice acting. Still, two of its characters - Karin Son and Shaia Hishizaki- got to survive beyond the franchise in Obari’s porno series Angel Blade.

6 Zone Of The Enders

To prepare for the release of Noriaki Okamura and Hideo Kojima’s anime-style mech-combat sim, Sunrise Inc put together Zone of the Enders: 2167 Idolo. The hour-long installment served as a prequel to explain the game’s premise. Notably, how Earth and Mars went to war with each other, what Idolo is, and how it connects to Viola, Enders’ main villain.

Helen McCarthy included it in her 500 Essential Anime Movies book back in 2009. Though chances are most people forgot Zone of the Enders was a thing. Despite also gaining a TV series, Z.O.E: Dolores, I, the franchise’s legacy today exists largely as references in Kojima’s Metal Gear series.

5 Samurai Shodown

Ever wondered what Samurai Shodown would look like in the hands of the guy behind Kite and Mezzo Forte? The character designer from those series, Yasuomi Umetsu, got to redesign Shodown’s Ainu priestesses Nakoruru and Rimururu, as well as Nakoruru’s dark counterpart Rera.

Nakoruru: Ano Hito Kara no Okurimono was originally going to be a 13-episode series until Studio ARMS cut it down to two. Then they lacked funding to finish the second episode. So, in the end, it became a one-off, half-hour show about Nakoruru fighting against Rera and her inner darkness. While Rimururu and Manari play around on the sidelines.

4 Twinbee

If the FPS genre ruled the US during the 2000s and collectathon platformers ruled Europe in the early 1990s, shoot-em-ups reigned in Japan across the late 1980s. For fans that wanted something less serious than Gradius, less funny than Parodius, while still being a Konami product, Twinbee scratched that itch.

That may sound facetious, but Twinbee was a pretty big deal at the time of its release. It had tie-in manga comics going well up to 2006, two short anime films, a radio drama CD, and an OVA adaptation of said radio drama called Twinbee Paradise. In it, Twinbee and friends must retrieve the Belle Cloud of Bell to restore their shrunken pilot Pastel back to her normal size in time for the Ms Donburi contest.

3 Panzer Dragoon

Sega Saturn fans didn’t have much to hold above their PS1 and N64-owning friends. A version of X-Men vs Street Fighter with actual tagging was Japan-exclusive, and the only Sonic game that didn’t have a host of caveats on it was Sonic Jam-a compilation of the Genesis games. There was Panzer Dragoon, a series of Space Harrier-esque 3D shooters that became a cult hit with gamers.

Production I.G even put together a half-hour OVA about a boy and his blue dragon rescuing a damsel in distress from a black dragon. It can be found on YouTube, though it isn’t recommended. One review on MyAnimeList described it as “an odious dumpster juice smoothie”.

2 Ninja Gaiden

Going by the game’s Japanese name, Ninja Ryūkenden has a grand total of 2 sentences on Wikipedia. Luckily there is more info on it elsewhere, and the full OVA is on YouTube as well. It was released back in 1991, well before Ryu Hayabusa gained his kunoichi harem via the DOA series and modern trilogy. In fact, it came out before even the third game in the original NES trilogy.

Taking place between Ninja Gaiden 2: The Dark Sword of Chaos and Ninja Gaiden 3: The Ancient Ship of Doom, Hayabusa has to stop Dr Ned Friedman and Professor Bucky-Wise from using the Bone of the Demon to fill New York City with monsters. Yes, Bucky-Wise. Sounds like the kind of name Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z would’ve used.

1 Salamander

AKA Life Force, the Salamander series never really stepped out from the shadows of the Gradius series. It could spin off as much as it could, but Gradius and its jokey equivalent Parodius ended up being the belles of the shoot-em-up ball. Regardless, it gained two OVAs: Salamander and Salamander Basic Saga: The Meditation of Paula in 1988. The latter is the more obscure of the two, with not even a Wikia giving it a full synopsis.

The best that can be winkled out is that the titular Paula comes to warn the people of Planet Gradius of a grave threat heading their way. Then it’s up to three heroes to confront it and save the day. Maybe it’ll turn up online someday. Though it might be easier to just re-watch the Macross series again.

More: Great Anime OVAs Everyone Forgot About