Let’s remember the lengthy history of Toonami game reviews

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Toonami celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. For many, it was a window into so many worlds; it was how you learned about Dragon Ball, Tenchi Muyo, and Outlaw Star. It was the after-school animation programming with hype and lights, battles and arcs. And Toonami also had video game reviews.

Growing up, those reviews were unknowingly forming my basis for learning about video games. My best means for learning what games were cool was word of mouth and the occasional magazine or demo disc, but Toonami was a pipeline of video game information.

As I was nostalgically looking back on old Toonami promos today in light of the 25th anniversary, I stumbled across some of the reviews from my era of Toonami viewing. Between the adventures of my favorite anime protagonists, I’d hear about some cool new PlayStation 2 game that might be worth looking into.

To its credit, Toonami covered a surprising breadth of games. The animation block’s Wiki is a great repository for all the scores and games covered over the many, many years. Many of the reviews, according to the Wiki, are written by Jason DeMarco or Gill Austin. At one point, Toonami even had written reviews. Yes, the Web Archive contains a full written review of Grandia for the PlayStation from Toonami.

There are novelties and oddities to behold, sure. Blue Stinger for the Dreamcast is the lowest-scored review from the team, at a 1 out of 5. Games like Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, and Soulcalibur earn full marks, while some dip lower. Someone at Toonami clearly loves the Hot Shots Golf series, and honestly, that’s relatable.

There’s also the time The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind earned an 8/10. Don’t watch it for the score, though; watch it the excellent line delivery