Important Importables: The Journey to the West in games

Journey to the West may be a staple of Chinese literature, but it is a tale that has certainly received a lot of love in Japan. The Ming Dynasty novel tells the tale of a monk, Xuanzang, who has been tasked with a holy pilgrimage to India to retrieve Buddhist sutras. He is accompanied by Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing, three sinners seeking atonement by following as his guardians/disciples, and Yulong Santaizi, a dragon prince seeking atonement that has been reincarnated as a horse.

The story has found a special place in Japan, where it has been adapted into tv series, animes, mangas and video games. Some anime and manga series, while not inspired by Journey to the West, have episodes or segments inspired by the story.

Journey to the West has inspired quite a few interesting video game spin-offs. While only a few have received US releases, it is interesting to see how the story changed in each incarnation…