Danball Senki Wars: Agon and Mimicry
Danball Senki Wars follows the player's avatar, a new student at a school called Kamui Daimon, as they operate small robots known as LBX. The character is sorted into a 'virtual country' and engages in battles with other students and their LBX from other virtual countries. This game is highly agonistic, with it being necessary to defeat your opponents to continue with the game. It also involves aspects of mimicry, as the player is required to take on the role of a student at Kamui Daimon - Danball Senki Wars also allows the player to use their own avatar (the options are shown on the right) and set their own name, as well as the name of their virtual country (default Harness) to make them feel even more involved with the mimicry aspects of the game. The invention continues with the LBX the player uses to fight being completely customisable - the player can change the appearance and functions of their LBX throughout the course of the game.
Logo and avatar art belong to LEVEL-5.


Love Live! School Idol Festival: Agon and Alea
Although Love Live! is a rhythm game, possibly the most well-known aspect of the game is the scouting system, where the player gives up a certain amount of premium currency for a chance at obtaining Member cards of high rarities. The rarities go from N (lowest rarity) to R, to SR, to UR (highest rarity). Although the chance of getting a UR card is just 1%, players still spend their money on purchasing in-game currency to throw away for a chance to acquire SR and UR cards, the most significant and valuable cards in the game. However, sometimes this pays off; a player hitting the 1% chance of gaining a UR Member card can be shown below. These occasional successes, albeit rare, encourage the player to use their premium currency even more often in an attempt to get the cards they want. This scouting system makes up the aleatory aspect of the game.
However, if the player is successful in gaining high-rarity cards, it increases their scores in the rhythm section of the game; this is my reason for also classifying Love Live! as a partially agonistic game. Particularly in a type of event known as a 'Score Match', the player is required to play songs at the same time as three other players in a battle to get the highest scores. The player with the highest scores then gets more event points and better overall rewards from the event.

All images are screenshots taken from the game itself. Love Live! School Idol Festival belongs to Bushiroad and was developed by KLab Games.

Animal Crossing: Mimicry
The only game I have categorised under just one title is Animal Crossing, which I view as pure mimicry. The player takes on the role of a new villager (or mayor, or home designer in the newer games) and must live their life in a town full of cute animal characters as well as designing their own home, having a job, paying off their mortgages and the like. This game typically does not feature any competitive aspects and is all about creating a town that suits the player and allowing the player to live their virtual life. The game even mimics real-life passage of time using the internal clock and calendar.

Animal Crossing belongs to Nintendo.


Pokémon: Agon and Mimicry

The well-loved Pokémon series combines agonistic and mimetic aspects. The main aspect of the game is agonistic, with the player commanding their Pokémon in battles against other trainers. Even contest aspects can be considered agonistic, since the player's performance is judged at the end and their overall goal is to win each contest. However, the game also falls under the category of mimicry. The player takes on the role of a Pokémon trainer in the main series games, and locations within the game are based on real places. The player can change their team as they wish. In some games, such as X and Y, the player also has the option to change their outfit.

Pokemon was developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo. Screenshot is from the game.


Dreaming Mary: Mimicry and Ilinx
Dreaming Mary is a game revolving around the protagonist, Mary, as she investigates the world of her dreams and converses with her animal friends. As the player takes on the role of Mary in this game, it can be classed as a mimetic game. However, the game quickly takes a dark turn and the player is forced to run from monsters with the capacity to instantly kill Mary in a panic, which is why I have also classified it as Ilinx. The entire game is highly disorienting, with the dream world both hiding a dark and dangerous side and Mary's disturbing real life as Mari.

Dreaming Mary is made by Dreaming Games. Both screenshots are from the game.