What Saint Seiya video games are there?
Thirty-five years of games, and the map of them is a map of where Saint Seiya was loved.
Bandai started early: the first Saint Seiya game reached the Famicom in August 1987, while the anime was still young. The line runs through RPGs, a typing tutor, arena fighters and a small ocean of mobile titles, and its release geography is the franchise in miniature: Japan always, Europe often, North America almost never, until the digital era finally let American players in.
THE CONSOLE LINE
Famicom to PlayStation 4Ōgon Densetsu · Famicom · 1987
The first game: an RPG with platforming and beat-’em-up elements, adapting the Sanctuary arc. Released August 10, 1987, and, uniquely for its era, exported to France on the NES.
Ōgon Densetsu Kanketsu Hen · Famicom · 1988
The conclusion chapter, May 30, 1988, finishing the Twelve Palaces story. Japan only. Both Famicom games returned in 2013 inside the 3DS compilation J Legend Retsuden.
Saint Paradise · Game Boy · 1992
Saint Paradise: Saikyo no Senshitachi, November 13, 1992: a super-deformed card-battling RPG that runs all the way to the Poseidon arc. Japan only.
Ōgon Densetsu Hen Perfect Edition · WonderSwan Color · 2003
The Famicom original remade and fused, July 31, 2003, covering the anime’s first 73 episodes. Famitsu scored it 19/40; collectors score it as the strangest little Saint Seiya artefact Bandai ever shipped.
The Sanctuary · PS2 · 2005
Dimps’ 3D fighter on the Twelve Palaces: Japan April 7, 2005, Europe June 30, 2005. No North American release.
The Hades · PS2 · 2006/2007
The sequel, and a release-order curiosity: Europe and Australia got it in September 2006, Japan not until February 1, 2007. The fan base’s centre of gravity, expressed as a shipping schedule.
Sanctuary Battle · PS3 · 2011
Saint Seiya Senki in Japan (November 23, 2011), a Dynasty Warriors-style brawler. Europe followed in March 2012, Latin America under its own local titles; North America skipped it entirely.
Omega: Ultimate Cosmo · PSP · 2012
A fighter for the Omega anime generation, November 29, 2012. Japan only.
Brave Soldiers · PS3 · 2013
Dimps again, October 17, 2013, the first game to cover all three arcs of the manga, and the first Saint Seiya console game released in the United States since the Famicom era, that November.
Soldiers’ Soul · PS3/PS4/PC · 2015
September 25, 2015, adding the Soul of Gold cast; the PC port that November finally put a Saint Seiya game on American computers at launch parity with Japan.
THE ODDITIES AND THE ONLINE YEARS
Typing tutors and MMOsTyping Ryu Sei Ken · PC · 2002
A typing tutor themed on the Pegasus Meteor Fist, December 19, 2002. Japan only, and exactly as peculiar as it sounds.
Saint Seiya Online · PC · 2013
The Sega and Perfect World MMO: shown on Kurumada’s own blog in 2006, open beta in China in May 2013, launched in Brazil in 2017. Its Chinese service ended December 31, 2018, closing the franchise’s MMO experiment.
The crossover trail
Seiya also fights as a guest: Famicom Jump (1988), Jump Ultimate Stars (2006), J-Stars Victory VS (2014) and Jump Force (2019), with Pegasus Fantasy playable in Taiko no Tatsujin. The Saints travel well.
THE MOBILE ERA
2014 to todayCosmo Slottle · 2014
The first smartphone chapter, January 10, 2014: slot and pachinko mechanics in Saint Seiya dress. Japan only.
Zodiac Brave / Cosmo Fantasy · 2016
The action RPG that went worldwide in English in 2017; service ended July 28, 2022. For many Western players this was the first Saint Seiya game they could actually buy.
Awakening · 2017/2019
Tencent’s turn-based RPG, first released in China in 2017 and globally in June 2019: the mobile era’s flagship, and the franchise’s biggest game footprint of the last decade.
Shining Soldiers · 2020
A PvP fighter that lived fast: launched 2020, service ended January 2021. Documented here because the census counts the fallen too.
Legend of Justice · 2022
The idle-RPG chapter, 2022, carrying the classic cast into the genre of the moment. The line continues.