There are several video games based on Tite Kubo's manga and anime series Bleach. The titles consist mostly of side-scrolling fighters, but also include other genres such as strategy role-playing games and action role-playing games. Most of the games retell the plot of the manga, following Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends. Some games, however, have veered from the source material and incorporated original stories and characters. The games have been released on a variety of home and handheld consoles.
The first game to be released based on the Bleach series was Bleach: Heat the Soul, which debuted on March 24, 2005, and the latest releases are Bleach: Soul Resurrección, which was released in North America on August 2, 2011 and Bleach: Bankai Batoru, a social network game which was released in Japan on April 14, 2014. There are 23 games bearing the "Bleach" name, not including the three crossover games—Jump Super Stars, Jump Ultimate Stars and J-Stars Victory VS—which feature characters from numerous other Weekly Shōnen Jump anime and manga series. Most Bleach games have been released only in Japan, though Sega has localized the first Wii game and the first three Nintendo DS games for North America, Australia, and Europe. Reception toward the games has been mixed, ranging from "the best fighter" for Bleach: The Blade of Fate, to "(not) a bad first effort, but the competition is leaving this one in the dust" for Bleach: Shattered Blade.