The first games in the series chiefly follow the young Oliver, and his journey to another world to save his mother and stop the beckoning evil.

Conceived as a project for Level-5's tenth anniversary, the first game in the series, Ni no Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn, was released in Japan in December 2010 for the Nintendo DS.

An enhanced version of the game for the PlayStation 3, Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, was released in Japan in November 2011; it was developed separately, retaining a similar story, but featuring significant artwork, graphics and specification changes.

The animated sequences for Dominion of the Dark Djinn and Wrath of the White Witch were produced by Studio Ghibli, and the original score was composed by Joe Hisaishi and Rei Kondoh [ja].

After retrieving three magical stones to complete a wand to defeat Jabou, Oliver discovers that he cannot save his mother, but vows to protect the world regardless.

It follows the story of Oliver and his friend, who create a custom car by finding parts around Hotroit, eventually making their way to an abandoned factory and encountering creatures.

[1][2][3] Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch was released for the PlayStation 3 in Japan on November 17, 2011, and published in Western regions by Namco Bandai Games in January 2013.

[17] Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds was released for Android and iOS in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan on June 10, 2021,[18] and worldwide on May 25, 2022.

[21] Hotroit Stories is the only installment to feature an overhead perspective,[1] while Daibouken Monsters is played as a card game, with no character movement.

[26] Like other role-playing games, the series have players complete quests, which are linear scenarios with set objectives, to progress through the story.

Familiars level up and evolve alongside the human characters; each have unique statistics and capabilities, and can be guided through their upgrades with treats and equipped with items.

[10] Conceived as a project for Level-5's tenth anniversary,[32] Ni no Kuni: The Another World was announced in the September 2008 issue of Famitsu, as a title for the Nintendo DS.

[35] Both versions were revealed to be in development separately, only retaining the same "story axle", while features such as artwork, graphics and specifications all received significant changes.

At the time, Studio Ghibli had completed work on Ponyo (2008), and the animation team had no ongoing projects, which influenced Suzuki's decision to collaborate with Level-5.

[42] Hino wished Dominion of the Dark Djinn and Wrath of the White Witch to have a heartwarming feel;[43] the artwork and character movements was greatly inspired by Studio Ghibli's work,[45] particularly due to their attention to detail, as well as their talent in creating storyboards and utilizing camera control.

[53] Level-5 worked with localization company Shloc to translate Wrath of the White Witch for Western regions; the two studios collaborated for many weeks.

[54] The team found great difficulty when localizing the game for Western regions, particularly due to the large amounts of text and audio that required translation.

[59] The game was released for the Nintendo Switch on September 20, 2019, alongside a remastered version for the PlayStation 4 and Windows, featuring enhanced graphical capabilities.

[62] A third mobile game, titled Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds, was released for Android and iOS in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan on June 10, 2021, developed by Netmarble.

[18] Hino approached Netmarble in early 2018 with a proposal for an MMORPG based on Ni no Kuni, having been impressed with its previous game Lineage 2: Revolution.

Netmarble general producer Bum-jin Park felt that the artistic style of the series would work well on mobile devices, though noted that it caused some trouble as the development team wanted to preserve its value.

[64] When Studio Ghibli agreed to produce the animated sequences of Ni no Kuni, they contacted Joe Hisaishi to work on the game's music.

[54] For the orchestral music to fit onto the Nintendo DS at a high quality, Ni no Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn was shipped on a 4-gigabit game card.

An album titled Ni no Kuni: Shikkoku no Madoushi Original Soundtrack was released in Japan on February 9, 2011, featuring music from Dominion of the Dark Djinn.

[68] An animated film adaptation, simply titled NiNoKuni, premiered in Japan on August 23, 2019, and was localized in English and released via Netflix on January 16, 2020.

Dominion of the Dark Djinn scored 38/40 from Japanese publication Famitsu, who felt that the game's elements are effectively utilized to maintain excitement.

[74][75] Colin Moriarty of IGN named it "one of the best RPGs", and among the best PlayStation 3 exclusives,[30] and Kevin VanOrd of GameSpot wrote that it joins "that elite group of games providing such an enticing world that you can't imagine never having visited".