Eroge

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Anime games
Distribution
AnimePlay
Dojin soft
Genres
Dating sims
Visual novels
Ren'ai games
Erotic games
Gender target
Bishōjo games
BL games
GxB
All pairings

An eroge (エロゲー erogē?, erotic game) is a Japanese video or computer game that features erotic content, usually in the form of anime-style artwork.

In English, eroge are mistakenly called hentai games in keeping with the English slang definition of hentai. This is sometimes shortened to H game, which is also never used in Japan.

HCG (H CG artwork) refers to the anime-style artwork commonly used in these games, which is often distributed separately from the game itself via the Internet to people who just want to look at the artwork without playing the game itself.

Contents

[edit] History of eroge

In the 1980s, Japanese companies introduced their own brands of microcomputer to compete with the United States. The competing models included Sharp's X1 series, Fujitsu's FM-7 series, and NEC's PC-88 series. NEC was behind its competitors in terms of hardware (with only 16 colors and no sound support) and needed a way to regain control of the market. From these roots, the erotic game was invented.

These original eroge had a single, simplistic storyline, usually involving rape. It made the PC-88 popular, but customers quickly tired of paying 8800 yen ($85) for such a simple game. Soon, new genres were invented: ASCII's Chaos Angels, a role-playing-based eroge, inspired Dragon Knight by Elf and Rance by AliceSoft. However, these games still had weak storylines.

In 1992, Elf released Dōkyūsei. The main innovation of Dōkyūsei was that instead of being simple pornography, the user had to first win the affection of one of a number of female characters, making the story into an interactive romance novel. Thus, the dating simulation genre was invented.

Soon afterwards, the video game Otogirisou on the Super Famicom attracted the attention of many Japanese gamers. Otogirisou was a standard adventure game, but had multiple endings. This concept was called a "sound novel".

In 1996, the new software publisher Leaf expanded on this idea, calling it a visual novel and releasing their first successful game, Shizuku. Shizuku was a typical rape game, but in 1997 they released To Heart, a story of high school love which set the standard for modern eroge. To Heart featured high-quality music that was so popular it was added to karaoke machines throughout Japan—a first for eroge.

In 1999, the new software house Key, which had split from Tactics over the question of how much storyline an eroge needed, released Kanon with much fanfare. Kanon nearly eliminated the erotic part of the eroge (in fact, an all-ages version was released), instead focusing on the storyline of the visual novel. It was an instant hit, in 2002 a 13 episode anime series was produced, as well as another 24 episode anime series in 2006, a first for an eroge. Kanon is still the standard for modern eroge and is referred to as a "baptism" for young otaku in Japan.

[edit] Types of eroge

All game genres generally have some sort of eroge variety. Frequently, eroge are also dating sims in the form of visual novels. However, eroge also come in a variety of other categories:

  • Strip versions of traditional games, including but not limited to mahjong, pachinko, poker, chess and blackjack. Many adult arcade games fall under this category.
  • Regular video game genres such as RPGs with an H element of the storyline.
  • Conditioning game which, by performing different types of sexual activities, changes the female's stats which unlocks additional types of play.
  • Interactive video, which is essentially nothing more than an eroge that plays in a DVD player (also known as a "DVDPG"—"DVD Player Game").
  • Sex simulators, often in 3D.
  • Puzzle games with erotic background images

Eroge may be bishōjo games, GxB, or BL games, although girl games are the most popular.

[edit] Western perceptions

Eroge are seen among many Internet-using Westerners as focusing on perversion and kinks (see Pornography in Japan). But unlike the majority of American adult games, eroge often portray characters with individual personalities, quirks, and daily concerns. Many games focus on the immersion of a specific setting or environment, and the social relationships between characters.

As the amount of interactive game play is limited for most of these translated games, they are sometimes considered better as visual novels (and sometimes even interactive) for the PC rather than computer games in the usual sense of the word.

For the most part, Western exposure to the genre has been limited due to the small number of companies willing to localize eroge, a lack of market penetration, and non-existent support from magazines, game review sites, and adult stores. Eroge typically lack advertising, and rely on a dedicated fanbase. In a few cases games have been translated and adapted to Western versions of Windows by fans, but this is much less common than with anime films, due to technical difficulty. There are also a few companies, like Peach Princess, that specialize in translating eroge into English for North American audiences.

[edit] Well-known eroge

See List of ero-games for a more complete listing.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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