Anime game
Encyclopedia : A : AN : ANI : Anime game
| Anime games |
|---|
| Formats |
| Visual novels |
| Dojin soft |
| AnimePlay |
| Genres |
| Dating sims |
| Erotic games |
| Ren'ai games |
| Gender-specific |
| Bishōjo games |
| BL games |
| GxB |
| All pairings |
Anime games may be grouped in several different ways.
- The sexual content level of anime games can be erotic or "clean".
- The romance level of anime games can be romantic (ren'ai), little romance ("light"), rape (kichiku), or no romance.
- The gender focus of anime games can be none in particular, all pairings, a bishōjo game, GxG, GxB, or a BL game.
- The interactivity of anime games can be a regular game of any genre, a visual novel, or a kinetic novel.
Anime games in the United States
Anime-style video games (as opposed to those based on anime) have generally struggled to find a market in the United States. The first eroge to be imported to the United States were created by Megatech Software, a small, possibly unincorporated firm which translated and released games from 1992 to 1995 and then folded without notice sometime afterwards. Jast USA also began making games in 1992, and Himeya Soft began releasing games in 1996, but neither one was noticed by mainstream gamers. Meanwhile, a start-up called SoftEgg acquired the license to Princess Maker 2 and completed a translation, but because of the lack of a known market for the game, SoftEgg had to work with a small production company which eventually went bankrupt. The first self-dubbed "anime game", Graduation, was released by Mixx in 1997 to much fanfare, but it failed to find a market. These endeavours made American licensors wary about anime games, and halted the progress of the genre for roughly five years, preventing an English version of Tokimeki Memorial (which would have likely been more popular among gamers).Around 1999, an alliance of small licensing houses, Jast USA, G-Collections and Peach Princess, began to approach the anime game market from the more traditional eroge side. Eventually, they were able to translate the beloved eroge Kana Imōto, as well as producing some cult pornography titles such as X-Change and Do You Like Horny Bunnies?.
In 2003, Hirameki International approached the anime game market from the interactive fiction side, removing erotic content from many dating sims and porting them to their AnimePlay technology. In 2005, Hirameki began producing these all-ages games for the PC as well.
Fan translations have recently become a major factor for anime-style simulations in the United States, as anime itself becomes more popular in the United States. Translation projects for Kanon and Tsukihime promise English versions of the most popular Japanese titles, as the small eroge producers do not have enough money to license these games. As of 2005, it remains to be seen whether anime games will become widely popular.
See also
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