(Contributor: Ryan Kuo)

Did you know that the average volume of the "Naruto" manga regularly outsells the average Spider-Man or Batman graphic novel? It's that kind of success that's let the hot-headed, orange-clad ninja become a multimillion-selling videogame star for several publishers. (And, we do mean several; try counting them all?) Just like Naruto, Namco's upcoming Afro Samurai game started as a manga, jumped to television, and will soon debut as a multiplatform release. I've seen the game a few times now, and it delivers the stylish slashing of Samuel Jackson's samurai with great enthusiasm.

Thinking about Naruto and Afro Samurai made me wonder what other manga would make for good gameplay experiences. Caveat lector: Do note that your humble authors don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of all things manga or videogame. Some of these titles might already have been made into games in other territories. So, the list that follows would, to the best of our knowledge, cover hypothetical titles that would be new to the U.S.

Lone Wolf and Cub and/or Path of the Assassin

(Dark Horse Comics)

Description: Created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima and set in feudal Japan, these historical fiction titles actually inspired this column. "Lone Wolf and Cub" focuses on wandering samurai Itto Ogami and his young son Daigoro, who travel from town to town and take assassination jobs as they seek vengeance against a corrupt and powerful clan. "Path of the Assassin" follows the close friendship of a young Tokugawa Ieyasu and his trusted shadow warrior Hattori Hanzo, as the former rises to become the first shogun to unify Japan.

It's a Natural, Because: Swordfighting action aside, the inherent structure of the massive 7,000-page, "Lone Wolf and Cub" story -- father and son go to a new place and acquire a new target in every chapter -- would be a perfect fit for level-based game design. Political intrigue and melodramatic relationships abound in both titles, and they each present a catalog of fighting styles, military strategies and bladed and ranged weapons that could be used to fuel gameplay.

The Take: Third-person action-adventure. It's true, samurai and ninja games aren't new. But, few have had source material this rich. Multiplayer duels are a must.

Development Studio: Kojima Productions. Despite the divided reviews that Metal Gear Solid 4 received, I'd still tap Hideo Kojima and his team to bring the epic feud between Itto Ogami and the Yagyus to consoles. The swordplay would force the KP crew to work with new combat ideas, and, given the philosophical bent of the Metal Gear games, Kojima-san would probably enjoy working with the themes of Buddhism, fate and morality. (Side note: Hideo Kojima, Solid Snake's creator, is presumably not related to Goseki Kojima.)

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Black Jack

(Vertical)

Description: Created in 1973, the title character performs the riskiest medical procedures for anyone who can pay his price. With its aloof, amoral physician and the melodrama of his patients, "Black Jack" is one of the most popular manga series ever created. Its creator, Osamu Tezuka, might be best known for his other creation "Astro Boy," but the black-clad doctor operates in a decidedly more adult world than the robot boy.

It's a Natural, Because: The impossible surgeries Black Jack performs -- full-body skin grafts, brain transplants and operations in space -- practically cry out to be adapted for the touch-screen and stylus of the Nintendo DS. Also, Tezuka always took care to render the muscle and organs beneath his characters' cartoony skin with sharp realism, a contrast that would create a more visceral experience when the player makes an incision.

The Take: Third-person role-playing game with surgery elements. Much of the drama in "Black Jack" stories comes from the patients' desperation, why they need the titular doctor's talents, and how he upends their lives. So, a highly emotive role-playing template would be good for setting up the stakes as Black Jack prepares to wield his scalpel.

Development Studio: Atlus. The teams behind the publisher's Trauma Center games could probably knock these games out in their sleep, but the more outr? elements of the surgical procedures would likely present some interesting challenges. In one story, Black Jack must cut himself open while being attacked by wild dogs. You telling us you don't want play through that?

Cromartie High School

(ADV Manga)

Description: This long-running comedy series by Eiji Nonaka features Takashi Kamiyama as he transfers to Cromartie, a school infamous for being a collection of delinquents and ne'er-do-wells. Everyone in the school constantly tries to out-tough each other, but the main characters tend to be insecure, dumb-as-rocks egomaniacs with little in the way of social skills.

It's a Natural, Because: Videogame protagonists (even the women?) are dripping with machismo. The market's ripe for a game that shows just how ridiculous 24/7 macho attitudes are. With the secret lives that all the characters lead, Cromartie parodies how trying to be tougher-than-thou forces people into dead ends.

The Take: Action-adventure, with a blend of puzzle, quiz and even karaoke elements. We'd actually like to see this game as a blend of first-person and third-person. In the first-person view, the player would see the school as Takashi does, getting right in the faces of the wacky cast of characters to talk, interact, and set up the action. With action done in the third-person, the game could show off Grasshopper Manufacture's skill in animating distinctive characters. Finally, the puzzle elements could provide loads of laughs by spotlighting just how dumb these characters are.

Development Studio: Grasshopper Manufacture. As the team behind cult games like Killer 7 and No More Heroes, Suda 51's studio has shown that it knows how to create mood, whether it's horror or comedy. And, face it, Travis Touchdown, the hero of NMH, could very well be a Cromartie grad.

Gyo

(VIZ)

Description: Horror auteur Junji Ito's two-volume story stars an appropriately nondescript teenager, Tadashi. While he's on a vacation in Okinawa with his girlfriend Kaori, the two stumble upon noxious gas-spewing fish that have the gall to walk right out of the ocean on mechanical legs. The story spills quite naturally from there.

It's a Natural, Because: Ito (also the author of cult-classic "Uzumaki") builds his stories as variations on a central, sick theme. Gyo starts with walking tuna, but broadens its scope to include sharks, whales, dogs, circus elephants and -- you guessed it -- people, whose bloated bodies are stuck to the gas-powered legs. They'd translate instantly into a bevy of fresh (well, rotten) enemy and boss designs that could grip the mind and touch the absurd.

The Take: Third-person survival horror. Tadashi runs and gets ambushed a lot in the manga, so a perspective wider than first-person, combined with a feeling of helplessness, would be key. The fish and other gaseous fiends move very fast -- unlike most of the frights in survival horror games -- and this could create an interesting new feel for the genre. Intense running, climbing, falling, and hiding in dark, urban environments could be broken up with adventure-style interactive segments with the supporting characters in "Gyo," Tadashi's scientist-uncle and his enticing assistant.

Development Studio: Team Silent, the group behind the Silent Hill games, would be naturally equipped to bring "Gyo" to stinky life (with plenty of vision-obscuring gas in the environments). But it's a pretty over-the-top manga that verges on self-parody, so it could be a chance for Team Silent to show that they have a sense of humor, too.

Blame!

(TokyoPop)

Description: Tsutomu Nihei's futuristic seinen manga pares cyberpunk (think "The Matrix" or "Ghost in the Shell") down to its essentials. A sourpuss named Killy prowls endlessly through the inside of an artificial world of near-infinite dimensions called "The City." He's searching for things called Net Terminal Genes, but that's beside the point. As Killy wanders, he's assailed by silicon-based cyborgs and heartless, robotic sentries called the Safeguard programmed to destroy the life inside the City.

It's a Natural, Because: "Blame!" is a videogame on paper. The labyrinthine City is a fluid realm: Up can be down; down can be sideways. Different regions of the City are actually divided into "levels" that cascade outwards. Killy seems to get killed time and again, only to pick himself up, unfazed and a little more determined each time. And he packs a big gun. A videogame edition of "Blame!" could take the manga's concept and do it several times better.


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The Take: First-person shooter/puzzler. The cavernous, sprawling architectural environments of "Blame!" would best be navigated through Killy's own eyes. The Gravitational Beam Emitter he packs would be your only weapon. As in the manga, you could charge up the gun for more attack power, but at a risk of blowing yourself away with the recoil. At full charge, the beam's able to carve new openings in the environment -- use it to get yourself out of a sticky situation or find a new path to your goal. A fully destructible environment that dynamically adjusts itself to your progress? Easier said, we know.

Development Studio: Platinum Games, the current incarnation of Clover Studio (Okami, Viewtiful Joe). The guys at Platinum have a knack for style, and they'd go nuts with the high-concept, stark imagery in "Blame!" They're also behind the ultraviolent MadWorld forthcoming on the Wii, and we wonder if the first-person mechanics described above wouldn't be an intriguing match for Wii Remote-waving.

It goes without saying that we think these books are awesome. Click the publisher links to find out more. Think we missed out on your favorite manga? Let us know in the comments.