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The game is classified as an Otome Game, but to get the sol relationships with the boys, you may need help from. This game is actually the first in a series, which is fortunate dating anyone who wants to explore the area beyond the confines of the local clinic. As both a game and a thing that exists in the world, Katawa Shoujo teaches an invaluable lesson: never be too quick to judge. If you're partial to collecting and playing Japanese imports, then LovePlus should definitely be on your wishlist. The most common objective of dating sims is to english dating sims pc a date or achieve a romantic realationship between the for character and another character. It's very effective storytelling if you see it through to the very end. It sounds like a recipe for demeaning fetishism, but the final product is anything but. Developer has since gone on to make a fully-voiced commercial visual novel calledwhich is anon up on.
This article has an unclear citation style. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of and. Quotes within footnotes are unnecessarily long, and most are taken from the same few sources. These games are a subgenre of dating sims targeted towards a heterosexual male audience. Bishōjo games are similar to books in the way of narrative, in which the game tells a story but the player may make choices to change how the story flows. Bishōjo games are a uniquely Japanese phenomenon. The first bishōjo game commercialized in Japan appeared in 1982 as by. The first bishōjo games were not too popular, being limited to graphics of 16 colors or less. A notable landmark was 's 1985 , a precursor to the modern. Among early bishōjo it had a degree of polish that previous games lacked. It was also the first to have recognizably modern -style artwork: its characters had very large eyes and a tiny nose and mouth but were otherwise basically normally proportioned, characteristics which today are found in virtually all bishōjo games. Prior to 1985, girls were generally drawn either as normally proportioned adults or children. Some games involved elements of force and brutality. These came to national attention in Japan in 1986 with the release by dB-soft of , a game where the player takes the role of a rapist. The game's title originates from the number of the criminalizing rape. The game caused debate in the and was eventually recalled and re-released with the most controversial scenes removed. Throughout the nineties, bishōjo games underwent an evolution from being one of the most technologically demanding types of games because their detailed 2D graphics required a large amount of storage space by the standards of early computers to one of the least they rarely use 3D graphics. Thus, more than regular games, the main employees required by bishōjo game companies today are not programmers but artists and writers. In the early nineties the atmosphere in Japan became more and more hostile towards bishōjo games. In 1989 was arrested and was revealed to be a consumer of , causing widespread opposition to pornographic manga, and anything similar. In November 1991 there was an incident where a middle-schooler shoplifted an adult bishōjo game , resulting in increased police scrutiny for makers and retailers. Several prefectures began classifying games as obscene and pulling them off the shelves. Thus free from controversy and fueled by continuing improvement in technology, in the 1990s the bishōjo game industry underwent a decade-long boom. The first major title of the 1990s was. Released in 1994 by who was on the verge of bankruptcy, the dating sim becoming the first major Bishojo game since Koei's release of Night Life. A turning point was 's 1992. Dōkyūsei, whose gameplay focused on meeting girls and seducing them, established the standard conventions of the dating simulation genre. Tokimeki Memorial, the first dating sim, featured good graphics, full voice acting, and a -like gameplay system. However, it was unique in that it contained not only adventure-game elements but also a combat system borrowed from tactical combat games such as. Since the late nineties, there has been a trend towards better storytelling in mainstream bishōjo games. Particularly notable in this respect are 's 1997 , and 's 1999. Even though their gameplay involved little more than scrolling through text, they became hits largely due to the quality of their writing and characterization. Both were first released on the PC with erotic scenes, which were subsequently removed in their console ports. In 2001 became the first bishojo game to break this trend. However, low sales make it likely that other companies will stick with the traditional. Today the industry has grown, with most publishers making releases for , including download only files. Some of the least pornographic and most successful also branching off into the market. The main consoles used for bishōjo games in the nineties were the and. More recently the has been the console of choice with a growing number of games for the and handhelds. Games ported to consoles usually have adult content removed. The industry of bishōjo games is closely related to the industry of and Japanese. While many of the games are pornographic, the majority feature romantic situations with suggestive material. Some groups produce bishōjo games, many with the objective to later form a real company or to be contracted by one of the great companies in the industry. Due to the short programming time and relatively small amount of content required in a bishōjo game, barriers to enter this industry is somewhat low, and is the reason why every year dozens of new companies emerge. A substantial part of the revenue of the industry comes from merchandising. Fans are often dedicated to particular characters within their favorite games, and are willing to pay premium prices for goods like , and accessories representing them. Several conventions also exist where articles oriented to bishōjo fans are sold, like the popular dōjinshi market Comiket in , Japan. Due to the representation of female characters in the majority of bishōjo games, a great majority of the market is males. Nevertheless, from the year 2000 some developers began to expand their market creating games directed to girls and presented attractive young men in their cast. The most well-known and commercial of these titles is 's experiment 2002. There have even appeared a small amount of erotic games that present man-man homosexual relations , which take their bases from the parallel subculture of anime and manga. Games targeted specifically at female players are not referred to as bishōjo games, but categorized under the broader genre of adventure or simulation by publishers, and commonly referred to as or by fans and reviewers. Gameplay A depicition of a type bishōjo game. There are still some basic formula that defines the genre. The basic characteristics of bishojo games resemble those of books. The basic appearance of bishojo games in the West, as of 2005 , consisted of an image in the upper portion, a text box in the lower portion and a static background that occasionally changes extending to the edge behind both of the other two areas. The background images are often reused for various scenes and text descriptors are used to help distinguish differences in the surrounding. In most of the games the player does not see their and instead see the game from a perspective. In addition, some games use various techniques, such as the screen shaking, flashing or going black, to give further immersion by demonstrating various conditions. The games' range of are also used to represent the avatar's eardrums. The characters of these games are less realistic and often limited to only several static facial expression, gestures and occasional eye blinks of which the former two coincide with the text displayed at the bottom of the scene and are constantly reused. The basic storylines for these games center around a male protagonist whom the player controls who interacts with various characters, notably females. Interaction occurs at several points where choices—seemingly trivial—are given to the player while life-altering choices are generally not. These choices eventually lead to various good or bad endings with or without for some bad endings one or more female characters. Beating these games does not mean just getting various good endings, but also in some cases bad endings as the goal is to. This makes the way to lose such games by getting the same ending twice and not unlocking any new content. For example, is a variant of the classic game where the objective is to uncover 75% or more of a picture of a girl. In some cases, images of girls are used as prizes for skilled play, as is the case in. This type of game resembles or. Many are very linear and are essentially interactive romance novels for men sometimes called. The main reason is that bishōjo games are centered mainly on characters instead of landscapes, and for this intention, 2D continue to look better than 3D models which tend to be blocky when seen up close. The main advantage of 3D models in this context is smoother and more realistic animation, although this is usually discarded by the unpolished look of the 3D characters, in addition to the additional cost of production for this type of work. Many bishōjo games nowadays are essentially a slideshow of 2D pictures plus voice and text. Pornographic content Explicit images are normally censored, showing mosaics or bars on the genital areas. While there are a number of bishōjo games entirely focused on hardcore pornography, many of the most popular titles, including all those available for , do not contain pornographic material, and many others only contain a small amount in relation to the story as a whole. In Japan, they are usually called ero-games, or frequently. Representation of girls Nayuki Minase from pictured in her. The representation of girl in bishōjo games varies, but two generalizations can be made. First, most of the girls are portrayed as , meaning beautiful, attractive or cute. Two particularly common settings exist: Japanese and medieval-atmosphered, pseudo-European fantasy lands. In secondary education settings, characters wear idealized ; whereas fantasy setting outfits range from witch robes to princess dresses, and Fantastic creatures like and may be found as well. When the game takes place in some other setting, it tends to explore other fashion possibilities, for example, the game is located in a restaurant, in which the girls wear elaborate waitress uniforms. The reasons for this characteristic are not always merely sexual: sometimes it is used to present a pretty and affectionate character who is beloved and supported by the player. A very popular game that emphasizes the characteristic of moe is , based on the premise of the player acquiring no fewer than 12 little sisters. The majority of bishōjo games involve girls and not pictures of real-life girls. Since characters in bishōjo games are minors, the use of anime allows the studios of bishōjo games with adult content to avoid the penalty of Japanese laws, which prohibit the simulated representation of characters under 20 years of age. Even so, it is common to find the packages of these games stating that, the characters do not exceed 19 years old. Representation of men The main male character in bishōjo games is often rendered as someone the player can identify with, thus experiencing the story as he would live an episode of his own life. Often the game is viewed in a view of the main character. Since bishōjo games focus on female characters and the player's interaction with them, male characters often receive less time on-screen and the character that represents the player rarely appears; when this happens, his face is usually hidden outside the screen or otherwise, and he might not even be voiced. Sometimes the only male appearance in sex scenes is reduced to a penis entering from the side of the screen, with no other visible parts. The genre is extremely popular in Japan. It was estimated as late as 2005 that bishōjo game sales totaled a quarter of all software produced in Japan. It is estimated that an average 50 new titles are released each month or about 500 annually. Bishōjo games for personal computers are usually sold in special stores or sections reserved for clients more than 18 years old. Nevertheless, console bishōjo games, which are generally less explicit, are sold next to other video games. At the present time, dozens of bishōjo games are released every month, and practically all the video game stores in Japan maintain a sizable stock of these. The English localization of , which was never officially released. While bishojo games are produced in Japan for console market, that is largely not the case in the West where enthusiasm for the subgenre is lukewarm. What success these games have had has historically been dependent on the related industries of anime and manga. The common visual novel format that make up the majority of translations has been criticized as boring and not actually games. In addition the genre has been associated exclusively with poorly written eroge. The popular discussion of bishōjo games is widely plagued by disagreement and disapproval of pornography. The debate tends to be remarkably divided: on one hand, critics condemn the genre as totally pornographic, while on the other hand, enthusiasts deny this generalization. This question does not cause as much controversy in Japan. The attempts to massively trade bishōjo games in the West have caused a certain degree of public controversy. An example of this is the attempt to release the PC game in the United States. Though it was never officially released, a few newspapers critically accused the game of sexism. Adding to the uproar was a pre-release screen-capture containing nudity. However, the game is not pornographic; there was some nudity which was already censored by American localizer , and the only way to see any real nudity is through an Easter egg cheat code. Princess Maker attracted negative attention due to the fact it was widely promoted as a mainstream video game, unlike other translated games which had been kept in adult-only channels as pornography. The dōjinshi , popular among Western followers of , especially in the United States, was inspired in a large extent by dating sims. Megatokyo idealizes bishōjo games while simultaneously expresses another criticism commonly used in the West against them: that players resort to them as a form of escapism because they are socially inept This type of criticism is also found in Japan, though in a quite different form: see. While translations of bishōjo games in English remain a relatively niche market confined mostly to the adult genre, elements of the gameplay do exist in a lot of games. However, such games also offer much more social ties, even if the gameplay may favor social interaction with females. Cultural transmission Western players can use bishōjo games to help orient themselves to the Japanese culture through aspects of. However, because bishōjo games rely heavily on iconic nature, their level of is diminished in comparison to mediums like. Instead, they rely on. These games are constructed around popular culture and other social phenomena of Japan which then combined with immersion and telepresence allows a Western player get better idea of what it is like living in Japan. According to Mathew T. By using a first person avatar with Japanese identity, bishojo games offer an unprecedented means of cultural immersion that, according to Jones, travel and live cannot. This is done by taking on the Japanese identity that allows for an intimate perspective of the Japanese culture while maintaining the ability to make choices throughout the game. In addition, some English translations offer or in-game text to explain certain Japanese idiosyncrasies. The knowledge can be broken into five main categories: language; cultural events; stories; media; and sexual culture. In the former, language, common Japanese words become a part of the player's vocabulary. In addition, games with Japanese voicing adds an additional level of understanding to the player about the language's structure. In addition, major culture events, such as Japanese holidays, are portrayed. The player also comes to understand what stories and legends are known in Japan, both traditional ones and Western ones and how the latter are seen from a Japanese perspective. Manga titles popular in Japan are frequently referenced in these games and those likely playing the games read many of those manga referenced. Finally, Japanese sexual culture is referenced through the usage of various institutes like , pubs and erotic. There is no clear consensus on the precise meaning of many of the terms below. The naming difficulties reflect the fluid boundaries of the genre, as well as embarrassment caused by the pornographic nature of some of these games. Here are the most common terms currently in use: Bishōjo game, girl game, gal game This term designates any game involving pretty anime girls. Most such games are visual novels see below. Otome games will occasionally contain lesbian romance as well. In Japan, eroges are almost always sold for the PC, because console manufacturers such as and generally refuse to license pornographic games for their systems. This resembles except that the goal is to improve another character rather than yourself, not unlike a. The classic example is , where the player's task is to raise a girl into a queen. Another is the game with an orphaned robot girl. A variation of the raising sim genre involves the recruitment and training of pop in the guise of a. One popular series of this genre is. This term is generally used to describe games which have little or no pornography, or for which erotic content is not the main focus of the game. To describe hardcore pornographic games, eroge is preferred. Strictly speaking, this term designates focused on dating, the most famous being. However, this term is frequently used by English speakers to describe any romance-driven game, regardless of game mechanics used. This is used to designate a type of game which is particularly story-focused, or containing novel-like narration in its writing. Examples of visual novels include , , and. Also, note that many Japanese games which are not strictly bishōjo games contain elements of the genre. Many mainstream Japanese role-playing or fighting games feature attractive anime girls such as 's or many of the girls in the , but they are usually not considered bishōjo games unless this is a central aspect of the game. However, bishoujo gaming did not come to fruition until the late nineties when Widows 95 and CD-ROM technology were able to support vastly improved sound, imagery and storage capacity Yukino, 2000. With no sex at all, it became the next best-selling Bishojo game and put Konami on the map. In the game, the player meets five girls in a snowy small town and experiences tragic love affairs with them. Naturally, Kanon was a sex game, which initially attracted male consumers. Kanon was then released for the PlayStation minus the explicit sex. It sold even better than the dirty PC version did. One reason is the focus in dating-sim games on characters. Three-dimensional characters, however, tend to look blocky and distorted when seen up close. Thus bishōjo games remain a slideshow of two-dimensional images plus voice and text. Retrieved June 5, 2010. Archived from on July 17, 2010. Retrieved May 26, 2010. Retrieved May 29, 2010. For example, if the character is in a classroom when other students are around, the room appears empty so it can be reused for scenes in which the character is alone. In cases such as these, text-based descriptions of the surroundings, rather than the images on the screen, establish whether others are present. Clearly, dating-sim games require the player to use his or her 10 imagination much more than do typical video games. Similarly, a black screen is used to indicate covered eyes Runaway City , sleep Season of the Sakura , and unconsciousness Little My Maid, Nocturnal Illusion In terms of sound perception, perhaps speakers can be considered external eardrums. For one thing, the bishoujo characters with whom the player interacts are less realistic representations than they are iconic signs. Furthermore, character movement is limited to the occasional eye blink, changing facial expression or gesture. In other words, the iconic image presented onscreen requires the player to mentally reconfigure the depiction in the service of imagining events as they occur and are described in the text at the bottom of the screen. The gamer plays a male character who interacts with various female characters as well as secondary characters such as family members, neighbors, and teachers. These options occur sporadically and often involve seemingly trivial choices, such as whether to go to a movie or art museum. Interestingly, any life-changing decisions in the game, such as whether the main character will donate a kidney, are often not decided by the game player. Some are 'good endings,' in which the main character ends up with one or more of the female characters and lives happily with her, usually entailing marriage; others are 'bad endings,' which vary widely but may involve the death of a female character, one of the characters moving away, or the male and female characters living together unhappily. Usually, each female character has the potential to bring about both a good ending and a bad ending; the player must select the options carefully to get the one he wants. After playing through the game, players can go to the main menu and check their 'status,' which shows how much of the game is finished. To reach a status of 100 percent, signaling completion of the game, all endings must be reached. Essentially, the only way to 'lose' when playing a dating-sim game is not to get a bad ending but to get the same ending twice, since doing so prevents players from making any progress toward game completion. Thus, unlike most video games, dating-sim games are not particularly competitive; they have no final 'bosses' whom the players try to defeat. After getting through all the endings, extra scenes or characters may be unlocked, including, occasionally, 'harem endings,' which allow the main character to end up living with all the female characters. Bishoujo Gaming News n. It has also been estimated that approximately fifty new bishoujo titles are released every month in Japan Peach Princess, 2004. A new Otaku industry was created where a small crew consisting of an illustrator, a scriptwriter, and a programmer could churn out a product that could sell as many as 30,000 copies. With some 500 new Bishojo titles debuting annually, this genre is estimated to account for 25% of all software sales in Japan. Such popular enthusiasm has not been the case in the United States where bishoujo games are unavailable to consoles and the influx of games has been lukewarm even for the PC market. Despite this, however, companies such as JAST USA, Peach Princess, G-Collections and Himeya Soft have persevered in distributing these games to the West and, as a result, 2003 and 2004 were relatively prosperous years for bishoujo game translators and distributors in the United States. This success is in part do to the popularity and acceptance of other Japanese entertainment products such as anime and manga TheFreeDictionary. Aspects of telepresence that include transportation and immersion are considered toward the end of offering the player a degree of access to some aspects of modern Japanese culture. It is suggested that, by experiencing a sense of telepresence through inhabiting a Japanese avatar, the non-Japanese player has the potential to obtain a heightened level of competence in negotiating Japanese culture. An alternative approach to understanding how these games immerse the user is psychological immersion. Especially relevant to this discussion is the experience of international and intercultural encounters. Stepping into a Japanese identity, but retaining the ability to make decisions permits a sense of belonging and identification that would be impossible in the flesh. For example, JAST USA occasionally provides parenthetical notes that explain certain cultural differences to players. In one instance in Season of the Sakura the class stands up to greet the teacher. Linear notes explain in detail the cultural references and nuances found in the game, and the J-List listserv sends out periodic emails that offer interesting facts and news events related to Japan. An even more advanced understanding of language can be gained from games that make use of character voices. In such games, the Japanese speech presented in conjunction with translated subtitles in the dialog box serves as a tutorial for both vocabulary and pronunciation. In one game in particular Season of the Sakura , the player experiences one full year of Japanese secondary school where various holidays such as Golden Week and events such as the Sakura Dance, White Day and the Christmas party are played out. Often, to situate action within the game, common narratives are referenced to provide context. These narratives, however, are drawn from both Japanese and Western culture. This phenomenon provides non-Japanese players with a sense of expanded cultural understanding and commonality because those who play bishoujo are also particularly likely to read manga. This should come as no surprise given the erotic content of many bishoujo games.
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