|
Post by dr_st on Nov 10, 2023 6:28:23 GMT -5
Every once in a while, I will encounter a really good adventure game on the PC98—but when I go to look for more by the developer, they are all porn. Names! Names to the studio now! developers build up a whole bunch of non-porn ideas That's not possible. There are no "non-porn ideas". Anywhere.
|
|
|
Post by Woody Alien 2 on Nov 10, 2023 18:25:55 GMT -5
Tv Tropes shows me that Berzerk Studio, the creators of Infernax, were already used to make action games with loads of blood and violence, but they also made the abstract and minimalistic Just Shapes & Beats, a rhythm game/bullet hell hybrid.
By the way this topic seems something that Phediuk could contribute to, given his many topics centered on obscure gaming trivia... anyone know what happened to him?
|
|
grad
Full Member
Enlarge my avatar, yea or nay?
Posts: 129
|
Post by grad on Nov 12, 2023 8:25:29 GMT -5
Every once in a while, I will encounter a really good adventure game on the PC98—but when I go to look for more by the developer, they are all porn. Names! Names to the studio now! First, the game: Ash. It is a real, unassuming treat—a fantastic adventure in which your actions have real and interesting consequences. I enjoyed it so much, I decided to check out the developer, Himeya Soft (姫屋ソフト). And wouldn't you know it? While many of their titles sounded promising, they were ALL PORN—even Story of the Seven Heroes!! Can you freakin' believe it???
|
|
|
Post by JDarkside on Nov 12, 2023 10:53:54 GMT -5
Yeah, because this was a common thing in the Japanese PC scene up until a collection of events that sort of hit a pinnacle of political intensity with a case dealing with an otaku killer that ended up pushing harsh restrictions on sexual content in Japan. There was a completely different evolution of PC gaming over there compared to the states. Also worth mentioning that some games in the eroge or adult banner still had serious writing that the porn elements would sometimes compliment, like Necronomicon, a Lovecraftian themed adventure game based on the Call of Cthulhu tabletop game (which was huge in Japan, even more so then D&D). I mean obviously some stuff is just porn, but there was sometimes more to it, even today with studios like Black Alice making REALLY out there stuff, but often from a woman's viewpoint or a queer lens. It's a pretty fascinating world. I highly recommend this youtube channel, run by a transwoman who talks about all sorts of eroge she comes across, but talks about them from an actual critical lens that's really rare to see. I would also recommend you check out her video on the 3DO's Japanese dev scene (it's bonkers). Videos censor everything (obviously) but it's a channel mostly dedicated to talking about eroge games so, you know, maybe don't watch around people. www.youtube.com/@ameliedoree
|
|
|
Post by dr_st on Nov 12, 2023 11:51:55 GMT -5
grad Nice! Thanks for sharing. I suppose that if I don't speak Japanese, I will not be able to enjoy these titles to the fullest, porn or not...
|
|
|
Post by dsparil on Nov 12, 2023 13:00:32 GMT -5
I don't think a lot of those developers wanted to make eroge, but they turned to it for economic necessity. If you poke around the libraries of smaller developers a whole lot of eroge will come up especially for arcade developers because of arcade curfew laws keeping kids out at night. Even Enix has some games they hope people have forgotten about.
Himeya Soft is definitely a name recognizable to people of a certain age since a lot of their games got released in the US as translated eroge via Jast in the late 90s. In the US, all the attempts at cleaning up eroge VNs didn't really pan out so they stayed niche, but their EVE Burst Error did manage to hit the mainstream in Japan.
Edit: I meant to add that there are some browser based "ports" of their games. Some of it is just 100% adult content, but there is some that rises well above that. EVE is probably the best one overall; it's still getting remakes to this day! Divi-Dead is pretty good too, and the concept of a horror themed game set in a boarding school is a bit easy to get a handle on. At the same time, World End Syndrome did the general concept better since it didn't have to wedge in adult content.
|
|
|
Post by JDarkside on Nov 12, 2023 17:24:32 GMT -5
It's a pretty complicated topic. There's definitely some studios who were doing it for monetary reasons, but some others just wanted to make games like that. The ones who just wanted to make games like that are still around, and the ones who didn't created clean versions of some works and created franchises or studio styles around those (ie Type Moon).
That said, I also think there were some people involved in the latter who were just horny. I somehow doubt the sex scenes in Fate/stay night were ENTIRELY for commercial appeal, what with how in-depth they get with concept to the point some of those scenes still kind of get nods or visual representation in modern, clean adaptations. Saber's capture in UBW's anime, for example. Writing visual novels and adventure games requires some passion, after all, so you have to like the scenario on some level to stick with it and write it well, at least with working in a long running studio.
|
|
grad
Full Member
Enlarge my avatar, yea or nay?
Posts: 129
|
Post by grad on Nov 12, 2023 18:45:17 GMT -5
That is some fascinating history. I had no idea that Himeya Soft was relatively well known nor that Call of Cthulhu was big in Japan. Also, I take it Tsutomu Miyazaki is the murderer? grad Nice! Thanks for sharing. I suppose that if I don't speak Japanese, I will not be able to enjoy these titles to the fullest, porn or not... Check out the final screenshot of the first post in this thread. Perhaps that utility can help.
|
|
|
Post by dsparil on Nov 12, 2023 19:10:43 GMT -5
JDarkside Oh, I'm sure there are companies that want to include adult content, and there's definitely famous artists like Masamune Shirow that seem to prefer doing it. I was thinking of companies like Key that made some (Kanon, Air) before moving away from that (Clannad). Not that there's a firm line either e.g. Key dabbled for a few years before dropping it entirely. dr_st Without going all in on a complicated set up using OCR, the mobile version of Google Translate using a camera works okay-ish for getting a general gist.
|
|
|
Post by JDarkside on Nov 12, 2023 19:46:55 GMT -5
btw since it's semi-related to the old Japanese PC game market, I'd figure I'd throw out this channel that goes over a lot of these. The SACOM video is particularly interesting for a surprise appearance by someone familiar to anyone who knows the Mother series, and for the really unique virtual novel thing the company was doing in the 80s and tackling some really hard sci-fi stuff we don't really see much of in games these days. www.youtube.com/@f_t_b2238
|
|
|
Post by Woody Alien 2 on Dec 12, 2023 12:21:42 GMT -5
I guess that Psikyo's Space Bomber whose article has been recently published on the site sort of counts, since, where they are mostly known for their shooters, none of them were single-screen like this one and none of them were so overtly comical and "cute" in every single aspect but the barrage of bullets. Also I'm reading that IO Interactive, the makers of the Hitman franchise, also made Mini Ninjas, a 3D action platformer for all ages.
|
|
|
Post by Snake on Dec 18, 2023 11:13:16 GMT -5
Koji Igarashi. While very much being famous for Castlevania from Symphony of the Night onwards, one of the reasons he was allowed to pick Castlevania as a series to work on was following his success off establishing Tokimeki Memorial. And even prior to Tokimeki Memorial, he work as programmer for shooters: Gradius 2 and Detana! Twinbee.
|
|
|
Post by blackdrazon on Dec 27, 2023 13:41:08 GMT -5
Koji Igarashi. While very much being famous for Castlevania from Symphony of the Night onwards, one of the reasons he was allowed to pick Castlevania as a series to work on was following his success off establishing Tokimeki Memorial. And even prior to Tokimeki Memorial, he work as programmer for shooters: Gradius 2 and Detana! Twinbee. Hideo Kojima also worked on some of the Tokimeki spinoff games, but from what I've heard from people who can play them, once you play them, you eventually realize... oh yeah, this is totally a Hideo Kojima game.
|
|