Behind the first Japanese erotic games was the married couple -apkrig

In vidcast # 123 we talked about the first erotic text game Softporn Adventure, which came from the USA, and even then we touched at least briefly on Japanese production, which is very significant in this field. From the land of the rising sun, the first ticklish titles began to flow to us in the early 1980s, and Koei was responsible for the initial batch, which might surprise you quite a bit. These were the games Night Life and Danči cuma no juwaku.

They laid the foundations of future production and became the first Japanese hits of digital creation for adults. Perhaps at that moment, for the first time, gamers and computer users realized what additional entertainment the electronic helper could provide. But it certainly wouldn’t have occurred to them how long these titles would go in the next 40 years. Although, as I look at early erotic production, the purely gaming side may not have made such a significant leap in the end, unlike technology.

Because the game was presented as an aid to the sexual life of couples, it also contained a menstrual calendar or an encyclopedia of sexual positions.

Even more interesting is that Koei was founded by a married couple – Joichi Erikawa and Keiko Erikawa. And erotics dedicated their first games at all. Night Life was an erotic simulation for PC-8800 series computers from NEC. It was one of the first games with explicit nudity and is considered the forerunner of video games, which are now referred to by the collective term Eroge.

Unlike Softporn Adventure, Night Life has already brought graphics, which has taken the experience to a new level, but so far only in the form of very simple monochrome drawings of a passionate couple. It was basically a kind of generator of erotic situations, which appeared on the basis of answered questions. Nothing complicated. Because the game was presented as an aid to the sexual life of couples, it also contained a menstrual calendar or an encyclopedia of sexual positions. From today’s point of view, you could almost say that it was educational software.

In the same year, however, the aforementioned adventure Danči cuma no juwaku (Seduction of the Condominium Wife) also arrived on the market, which was much more reminiscent of a classic game and contained RPG elements. It also brought more distinctive graphics and more imaginative gameplay. As the name suggests, it was a seduction of wives. The main character is a condom seller from Kawasaki, who must enchant all women in one apartment building without falling away from exhaustion.

Statistics are generated randomly for each game and consist of health, intelligence and stamina. Coincidence also decides the amount of your initial capital. You can then strengthen your condition with some items that can be bought and found at random, and at the same time you earn more money. From that you are the seller. Every woman has different needs than she really is, and you can also come across opponents in the form of ghosts and mobsters.

You move in a pseudo three-dimensional environment and the game works as a mixture of adventure and dating simulation. But right in the action, the players did not see anything so shocking. After all, you don’t have to try to get women to have sex at all, it can only be a nice bonus. Your primary task is to sell them the condoms mentioned.

The title was also released on NEC as Night Life and eventually reached other platforms. However, it never received official English localization or publication in the West. This is true for both games. However, if you have enough courage, you can try them with the help of an emulator.

Do Dutch wives dream of electric eels?

Both titles are, similar to the game Oranda cuma wa denkiunagi no jume wo miruka? (Do Dutch wives dream of an electric eel?), Part of a series of adult titles named Strawberry Porn. However, the company later gave up this production altogether. By the way, when we have already touched on the mentioned third game, its name is really not a joke. Is this a link to the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.

The protagonist of this erotic simulation is a private detective who searches for a Dutch wife in a screaming neighborhood of Tokyo, a term also used for an inflatable virgin. But you can seduce different women along the way, and your success is again conditioned by randomly generated statistics. You move around the square map and visit restaurants and hotels. You can even end up in jail if you overdo it by “courting”.

While prostitutes only sleep with the protagonist for money, you have to persuade other women to have sex. In action, you have the opportunity to influence how well you do. You will no longer encounter ghosts in the game, but mobsters or the police may cross your path again. The title was released in 1984.

As you can see, in terms of content and game mechanisms, modern erotic games are not so different from the first ones. They are just nicer and maybe a little more sophisticated. It is remarkable that not only Koei, but also other prestigious Japanese companies flirted with similar erotic games of their time. Enix, Nihon Falcom or Hudson Soft have ticklish titles. Every pioneer sometimes comes across a dead end, it seems. Joichi Erikawa himself remarked in 2008: “You have to try everything in life.”