After bringing up my favourite hentai visual novel in Princess Waltz, I thought I’d have my next 18+ game to be featured on our weekly Sexy Games article be the visual novel that really got me into playing these games. And that without a shadow of a doubt was The Sagara Family.
There is nothing particularly special about The Sagara Family, I will fully admit this. It’s a very basic setting, you’re a young male being sent to live with a friend of your parents and her four lovely daughters who are each a year apart. So for mama Maria here, she was popping out a new sexy girl every year for four straight years. Sheesh! But yeah, that’s essentially the setting, you live with four hot teenagers and their hot mother. What could possibly happen?!
Maria Sagara
For a visual novel that is over 10 years old now, the art still holds up pretty well. I can still look at various CG art from the visual novel (yes including the pornographic ones) and they hold up pretty well. That’s the beauty of most visual novels nowadays, the art holds up pretty well. Go back to the 90s and then it can get a little rougher, but anything in the new millennium so far for the most part still looks pretty good today. The backgrounds are really nice and the character art is pretty solid. Each of the girls look unique, albeit a few tropes here and there like the oldest has the biggest breasts, the youngest has the smallest. Granted, another trope to separate the girls is giving them each a unique hair colour, but for the most part it works with all of them.
I have a few problems with the design however, albeit small. Some of the design choices for clothing are very bland and boring, for example Arisa’s pink pajamas look more like a nurse’s uniform than anything else. Ruruka white pajama dress just looks weird on her. Actually you know what? Pajamas aren’t The Sagara Family’s strong suit. In terms of the more naughty stuff, some of the choices for the girls are arguably a little too sexy for their age, but it’s easy to pass off given it’s meant to be pornographic material. But for me, Sanae’s see-through super sexy lacy underwear didn’t fit well to me.
Sanae’s see-through lingerie *edited to remove nipples and pubic hair*
Personality-wise, each girl has something to offer though some caught my attention far more than others. Sanae was always the standout for me, again she the more tomboyish of the five, already a plus. Then she’s got red hair, another plus. And she’s a sweetheart once you get past all her barriers, ding ding ding! After her, Emiru being a shy cosplayer caught my attention and then oddly enough (it’s even more a thing for me now at my current age) Maria has a soft spot with me, which is weird given that back when I was in my late teens, I wasn’t so keen on older women, especially past the age of 30. As for the other two, Arisa’s kind of boring to be honest, she’s beautiful, but too sweet. And Ruruka well…she’s 14 in the game. She’s all right, but the age thing’s an issue. Yes, I’m aware the other girls are between 15-17 (not counting Maria), but in my head especially when I first played this game, the line I had drawn was 15. Anything below that was too young, which brings up the whole underage conversation, but that’s one for another day. But speaking of conversations…
Yeah there’s moments of incest in the game. That’s the one part I can’t let this game get away with. Traditionally with visual novels, if you play your cards right, you might get a threesome or even more than that. Well in a game where the only available girls are all related to each other…yeah…there’s no avoiding that, is there? So there are several pairings over the course of the game that you can come across and to make matters worse, some of them even include strap-ons. Yeah, I love this game, but this stuff’s a bit much, I will admit.
The player and Sanae getting caught in the act
In terms of your average run-of-the-mill visual novel, The Sagara Family was a pretty good entry point for me when I was in my teens. Looking back on it now, the art holds up pretty well, the characters are still interesting to me, but the game’s not without its flaws. The game crosses a few lines, but at the very least they’re lines that aren’t overly disgusting for me. Yes, there’s incest in the game, but honestly things like rape, violence, gore and kinks involving bodily functions are still higher on the wanted list for me. I can deal with fictional sisters playing with each other.
I’m not sure I should suggest this game though. It’s not bad though, so if you’re looking for something a little more basic, maybe this is one you try. But I’d be more likely to push you onto other Zyx visual novels like Amorous Professor Cherry. Cause y’know, not incest.
(left to right) Shizuka, Liesel, Chris, Liliana, Suzushiro, Angela
Come on now, you didn’t think I’d have a weekly article devoted to sex in games without having a few 18+ visual novels in there, did you? Especially after yesterday’s article on visual novels. So what better way to kick off the first visual novel in these weekly editions, than with my personal favourite, Princess Waltz.
Princess Waltz on paper seems like a standard fantasy visual novel. It actually reminds me a lot of the basic plot Queen’s Blade employs, the idea that several women battle each other in an extravagant tournament to gain the hand of the Prince and in the end, have full reign of the kingdom of Eldhiland. The entire story as a whole, is actually pretty decent all things considered. But when it comes to this game, the story is not what really got me and made this my favourite visual novel I’ve ever played. It’s the phenomenally well-drawn artwork and the cast of characters.
Chris
Putting Arata aside, since he’s your standard male protagonist, we start off with what storywise is his likely love interest by the end of the game, Chris. She falls into that group of characters I always tell you how much I enjoy them, she’s a girl who spends the first portion of the game dressed as a male to disguise her gender. There’s a much more in-depth reason for it, so without spoiling it, let’s just say it goes a little further than just being looked at differently as a girl. Chris as a character though has the best transformation over the course of the game. She starts off super perfect, super innocent and a little snobby. The longer she and Arata are around each other (for special reasons), you begin to see her slowly drop all those perfections and eventually drops the regal act and in a rather “surprising” wake up call, she’s almost forced to drop it as well. When she lowers her shields so to speak, she’s a wonderful girl, comes off like a best friend. Though I will admit, she’s at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to pure attractiveness. Either that or her scenes (in terms of the artwork) just weren’t as good as the rest, could be that. Also, I could talk about Iris, who’s the transformation between Arata and Chris, but it’s too weird to explain so long story short, a boy and a relatively small-breasted girl, both with short hair combine to form a blonde warrior with long hair and big tits. Told you it’s a weird one to explain.
Suzushiro
Suzushiro is purely adorable, there’s nothing more to it. And yet she’s probably the most dangerous of the all the girls once you get her riled up. Yes, the picture is pretty much her going Super Saiyan, it’s badass! And strangely sexy. When she’s not fighting, there’s no one more reserved and quiet as her. At the beginning of the game, if you’re not Chris, Suzushiro has zero time for you, you’re lucky to get a hello from her. But as the picture suggests, you don’t ever piss this tiny girl off, because once you get her angry, there’s no stopping her. She’s got a temper on her when you cross that line, but the other 90% of the time, she’s your perfect wife kind of character, if she’s interested in you of course, otherwise you’re not even aware she exists.
Angela
I swear, it’s the crazy ones I like the most. Angela is my easy #1 choice in this game for the simple reason that if you can somehow find a way to get close to her (without her skewering you with that lance and that’s a 99.9% chance of happening with you), she seems like a super cool girl to be around. And come on, she’s smoking hot! Her scenes were easily the hottest, her outfit’s actually the most elegant for someone who’s definitely the most sadistic and because it’s a Sexy Games article, she’s definitely the hottest when their Princess attire is gone, as seen here from her battle with Iris. Angela is just absolutely stunning and a case where I’d risk my own safety trying to get near her. Of course I’d approach her when she isn’t holding that giant lance. I like not having holes in my chest.
Liliana
That picture pretty much describes Liliana to a tee. She’s the super bubbly girl who happens to be a pirate Princess. Her weapons are pistols, she has a mini killer whale mascot floating around (its voice is super cute) and she herself is super freaking cute. She’s admittedly a bit much at times, but when she’s not on a sugar-fused hyper trip, she’s actually a very nice girl, a lot of insecurities behind that bubbly personality of hers. Her scenes are very good, I’d easily put it second, behind Angela’s. And in battle, she’s no slouch, although regardless I’d still put her as the least dangerous of the six fighting Princesses. Although being 6th in this case doesn’t exactly mean she couldn’t whip your ass from the Pacific to the Atlantic.
Liesel
The only non-Princess in the Princess Waltz (she’s the one who made the armor and the Princess intended for it was disqualified), Liesel until the sixth Princess is revealed is the odd one out of the group. It’s mostly her own choice, she comes off as a bit of a loner and when you know who she actually is behind the cold exterior, it makes further sense. In terms of her looks, she’s in the bottom half for me, though again that’s not a bad thing, just such good competition. She’s got the biggest breasts of the series, though they’re not too big, unlike the usual girls of a series who share that award. Although her scenes, like Chris’ are not nearly as good as say Angela’s and Liliana’s, they pretty much just serve to accentuate her chest, which is a shame cause there’s a lot more to her than just her bust. Regardless, she like the majority of these girls is a really nice girl once you get her outside of the tense situation that is the Princess Waltz. Alone with Arata, she’s very shy, most likely due to her loner nature, but she comes off like a real sweetheart.
Shizuka
Shizuka is the odd one out here, due to a multitude of reasons. She doesn’t show herself as the sixth Princess until the very end of the game, you have to choice a very specific set of circumstances to even have her acknowledged by the end, let alone access to her scenes. It’s also a bit of an odd pairing if you end up going that route, as Shizuka (can’t remember if by blood) is Arata’s sister. But that aside, she is a very gorgeous woman, she kind of gives off a Chifuyu (Infinite Stratos) vibe with me, which considering Chifuyu’s high on my list is good for her. You have to put her Princess character aside though as her character there is very beast-like, otherwise she’s super attractive. The only problem is she suffers through something in hentai visual novels that I don’t like at all, ripped pantyhose. I prefer bare legs or just socks on, never understood the whole ripping pantyhose to reach your objective thing.
So just for the sake of having fun, here’s my personal order of the six girls you can choose from in this game:
Angela
Suzushiro
Liliana
Shizuka
Liesel
Chris
(left to right) Suzushiro, Liesel, Iris, Angela, Liliana
Another thing I love about this series, is that while the in-game artwork is fantastic, there’s an even more amazing set of artwork created along with the game. Whether it’s Angela in a cute nightgown, Suzushiro at the hot spring, or Shizuka and Chris hanging out by the pool, the official artwork is absolutely stunning and shows off these beautiful women even more than the game already does, which is incredible and seemed impossible to me at the time I found these pictures after playing through the game. I find the artwork as close to perfect as I can ask for. Nothing’s really over-exaggerated, over-sexualized (compared to your average series) and the art has a perfect balance between being cute, being sexy and being beautiful. And like I said, there isn’t a girl with gigantic breasts, the girl with the biggest bust, Liesel is probably equal to your average anime girl’s bust size. They’re more realistic, plausible if you will.
The story like I said isn’t anything crazy to go for, it’s no Snow Sakura for me. But it’s enough to stay interesting and when the cast of characters are all as interesting as they are, an okay story becomes a good story. I didn’t talk about the gameplay much, because it’s a really basic card game and honestly, I played it on Easy so I’d get through it quickly, I would’ve turned it off if I could have.
If you are old enough, and I mean to handle it, I can’t say you can’t play until you’re 18, cause I didn’t wait, Princess Waltz is actually a pretty decent game. Obviously for me, the characters and the artwork struck a chord and it’s been my favourite eroge visual novel for almost 10 years now. Granted, I haven’t played a crazy amount of them since I played Princess Waltz, but to still be fresh in my head all these years later is a pretty big accomplishment. So check it out if you’re interested!
Now because of the rules WordPress sets for pornographic material, there will be no pictures either in the article or linked to from the article that contain any sexual acts in them. I’m also going to avoid any pictures that show any genitalia or bare breasts (that include nipples), but you might get a bare butt or two in this article. Just so you all have a heads up.
from Shuffle!
It’s very likely that anyone (male or female) who have consumed a decent amount of anime has played a visual novel of some form. It’s also very likely they’ve played an 18+ visual novel containing sexual content. I’m also willing to bet a lot of those people were not even 18 when they first played one.
I can remember playing the really shitty visual novels on Newgrounds while I was 16, just for the chance to see some bare breasts, real or not. We all did it when we were younger, whether it was hiding dirty magazines under the bed, or sneakily looking up naked pictures online. It wasn’t until I was 17 that I was actually aware and using torrents more often (having better internet helped) and I began to go deeper down the rabbit hole, finding various English-translated Japanese pornographic visual novels. My first visual novels were all made by Zyx, the first one being The Sagara Family, which in turn introduced me to other works of theirs like Amorous Professor Cherry and the wonderfully named Do You Like Horny Bunnies?. Admittedly in the early going, my exposure to these kinds of visual novels was purely for the sexual content, which sounds obvious to those who scoff at the mention of the word “pornography”. But there are actually a ton of games out there that not only have sexual content, but offer far more than just a ton of blowjobs and window banging.
from Snow Sakura
Snow Sakura changed all that for me, specifically the Saki storyline. Taking her away, the game is a pretty typical sex visual novel, but the Saki arc is miles ahead of most visual novels’ storylines. While it does get a little weird with her and Yuuji being cousins, the story itself is super heavy. While the family is accepting of their relationship, after Saki makes advances on Yuuji during school, the school itself takes action against it (I’m not sure how they have the ability to do this) and force the two of them to be apart and if I remember correctly it was beyond just at school. Regardless, the moment everything gets fixed and they get to see each other again, it’s a very meaningful moment, the crying Saki does is really powerful and makes that tender moment between the two of them that much more meaningful. Again, the whole cousins part may turn a lot of people off, but honestly I completely ignored it at the time I played it, after all while the character I’m playing is Saki’s cousin, I am the one controlling him and since I can’t be the cousin to a fictional character, I passed that piece of information aside.
from Lightning Warrior Raidy
And not every one of these games is a simple click and choose the girl you sex up type of game, some of them do actually employ game mechanics and RPG elements into them. Some of the ones I’ve come across include Lightning Warrior Raidy, Princess Waltz and Muv-Luv. Generally speaking the mechanics in those games are pretty barebones, there’s nothing too unique about them. They can range from a card game, to a Final Fantasy Tactics kind of system. One of the more notable recent releases, HuniePop is literally just a match-3 game. The general consensus with hentai games, especially of a visual novel nature is that it’s more about the story and the sexual content than anything else, the gameplay added in only really serves to slow down the game and prolong it’s lifespan a little longer, at least to me. I haven’t really found a visual novel with game elements that actually kept me playing. I don’t really play many of these anymore, but when I was playing them far more often in my late teens, I wasn’t looking for gameplay when I started one of these up.
from Aokana: Four Rhythm Across The Blue
So aside from the gameplay, of course we have to talk about the various amounts and degrees of amount of sexual content contained in these games. It’s the one reason that I semi-understand why people get into a tizzy about the graphic content contained in visual novels. However it’s not your basic content of course, I’ve said it before that no one should be getting triggered over a fictional drawn character’s naked body or when that same body is getting drilled in whatever hole he/she wants. It’s when you get to the more extreme stuff and I take that word very literally.
Obviously there won’t be pictures to describe it, so if you don’t know what these themes are or haven’t seen how they’re done, you may research this on your own, but at your own discretion, a lot of these games that employ the themes I’m about to talk about are super disgusting and violent and have made me sick to my stomach before.
Please note that I’ve never intentionally consumed or even looked for this content, a lot of these things were pieces I either accidentally came across or just happen to be a part of photo albums or tags that I looked through for something far tamer. Themes like vore, beastiality, excessive gore (and I’m not talking gunshot wounds) and death, really anything else that goes beyond extreme when compared to your average porn scene. I understand that there are people out there with interests different than my own, but when those interests include some of the things I’ve listed, especially the truly disgusting and fucked up ones, I have a really difficult time just replying with “Well, that’s your opinion.” and not freaking out.
from Megachu! (the classic train molestation cliché)
The one theme that bothers me the most, while isn’t the most extreme, can be the most damaging. That of course, is rape. If there’s one thing I don’t cannot stand in any kind of hentai, whether images, videos or games, it’s the use of rape in their content. It’s disgusting, a criminal offense and it’s just plain lazy writing. The use of rape a lot of the time is to easily write a way into making a “hard to get” girl have intercourse early on in the story. It’s also used as a plot device for the main character to get back at the villain of the story, whether it’s just stripping the love interest, molesting her, or straight up having intercourse with her, often taking her virginity as well, which is just deplorable. Lastly, it’s sometimes simply just used to add one more sex scene with that character, especially in case you don’t choose that specific girl, that way you still get a little more nudity out of that character while you’re sexing up the one you chose, unless the game let’s you go after everyone simultaneously of course.
I don’t quite understand the over-usage of rape in Japanese pornographic content. I have my thoughts on why it could be, perhaps it’s due to the hard-working lifestyle where most guys have little free time to work with, thus reducing the time to spend with a loved one? A lot of males now are reverting to fictional characters as their significant other through dating simulators and such. Could it just be because since they either don’t have the time to or simply can’t get a woman that rape fantasies in their mind is the only way they’d get laid? Either way, it’s still just plain lazy writing and disgusting, why can’t they just add another scene with the protagonist? Hell, better yet, most visual novels have more than 3 girls to choose from, you can’t have pairings between them and get some lesbian action in there instead, or even just masturbation if you really want to keep it simple. There’s so many other options a lot of these visual novels could be doing, instead of a fucked up crime that damages the victim both physically and mentally.
from Walkure Romanze
When visual novels aren’t crossing the line though, they can be some of the most beautiful pieces of artwork around. I don’t know if I’ve said it in any of my articles, but I’m not a fan of traditional art, in fact I cannot stand most of it. But when you have anime drawn artwork, you have my full undivided attention. I absolutely love anime artwork, I think there’s nothing more beautiful out there than this. There’s an infinite amount of beauty you can give a character, yet no matter how you draw her (or him if you’re into guys of course), as long as you stick to the anime style, you cannot cross into the uncanny valley with the artwork, so it’s never creepy just how realistic it is, because anime is not. It’s very easy for me to decide, you put the hottest girl from Dead or Alive with full jiggle physics next to any decently (not even the best) drawn anime girl, I’ll pick the anime girl. That style of art just makes everything ten times prettier than any other style.
The same translates into the sexual content of these games. You put a still frame of a real-life girl having sex next to an anime drawn girl in a similar pose with a similar look, I’ll pick the anime one over it each and every time. With anime art, you can have zero imperfections on the character, he/she can be literally flawless in terms of her body. And especially when you can get the odd game that’s uncensored (usually meaning it’s been released outside of Japan), it’s even better, there’s nothing to hide, all is there to see. I’m not very thrilled when I’m playing these sort of games and it’s censored, it kind of distracts the mind. It’s another one of those things that I don’t fully understand with Japan but regardless, the work is still there and if it ever gets de-censored, it’s fantastic.
from Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo: Anata to Koibito Tsunagi
The best part about the massive collection of visual novels, is that there’s something for everyone, albeit some of them cross certain lines. But in terms of gender matchups, there is something for everyone. If the plain ol’ guy/girl visual novels aren’t for you, there’s a plethora of yuri (girl/girl), yaoi (boy/boy) and even transgender specific visual novels or characters for players to access. There’s games set in a medieval fantasy world, while there’s some set in outer space. There’s games solely focused on military soldiers, while there’s some specifically set only at the beach. There’s some about school, some about work, literally anything you can think of, there’s probably a visual novel that does it. And given the sheer variety of games out there, you’re pretty much being told that whatever you may like, you’re not alone (regardless of how I personally feel about some of these “tastes”).
And the best part? You can enjoy them in the comfort of your own home, you don’t have to go out to a specific place to buy them now either, you can order online, download them, whatever you can do so no one else has to know. Not that it really matters.
from Princess Waltz
So the last thing I want to talk about has to do with the perceptions of those outside of the ones who plays these types of games. Look, I get it, you probably think it’s really weird that people play games where it’s literally just text and pornographic images and I half-understand your train of thought. But if you think it’s any different than the boys (and probably some girls) who kept and hid issues of dirty magazines where it was nothing but naked women, then you’re clearly not open to reason. But if you’re the type who thinks any and all sexual content is harmful, A, how are you even on my page? And B, get the fuck outta here! If you truly believe that anyone of any age, and yes I mean the tons and tons of boys and girls under the age of 18 who do watch porn and yes, actually have sex, I know that’s tough to accept, folks. If you you truly believe that none of those people should watch any pornographic material because it’s damaging to their brains, I may have to lean with the opposite, you’re the one with the brain damage here. Also, you probably need to get laid as well.
Is it possible someone could rape someone because of watching porn, especially porn that has rape in it? Of course, it’s possible! But that goes for something that the majority of society accepts and consumes. Y’know…alcohol! I’m willing to bet a lot of these people who are against porn because it incites the desire to rape in people have zero issue with the same people chugging beer after beer. It’s just like the video game incites violence discussion, it’s possible (albeit studies have shown there’s no correlation between the two), but the same could go for a goddamn McDonalds burger that didn’t have extra fucking pickles like I fucking ordered! Ahem, what I mean is that those who are already walking around with pre-existing mental issues can be triggered by essentially anything. I’m pretty sure a rapist didn’t just watch porn and suddenly decided to pick up his/her new hobby, there’s a lot more going on for an extended period of time before ever consuming any pornographic material.
from Mecha-Mimi
There’s really nothing inherently wrong with hentai visual novels, it’s a matter of perspective more or less. Some people’s lines are drawn far closer or further away than myself, it’s really up to what you can accept. But when done right and in your comfort zone, visual novels can be a very enjoyable experience in terms of a good story, interesting characters and well…sexy characters as well. There’s nothing wrong with watching or playing any content to help you supress some sexual tension you’ve been having lately and anyone who truly thinks so I feel terrible for. Their life, especially growing up must’ve sucked super hard!
Cause if you have a problem with pretty fictional girls and/or guys getting naked and getting it on, there’s clearly no pleasing you. Pun fully intended!
CSRadical 