Supply and demand
Hacker International (previously) established By music producer Satoru Hagiwara in 1986. Initially, the company published a Hacker magazine for fans of personal computers, which are becoming increasingly popular in Japan.
The publication rather quickly gathered video game fans who bombarded the editorial office with modifications for the Famicom console and ideas for games for it. Hagiwara decided to give some of them the green light.
Hacker International’s first product was Hacker Junior, a modified version of the Famicom. It differed from the original in the presence of “turbo controllers” with more advanced buttons, as well as a composite video output that improves sound and image quality. The company then released Disk Hacker, a firmware for the Famicom Disk System (a version of Famicom that uses 3.5-inch floppy disks instead of cartridges – ed.), and removed copy protection from floppy disks with 8-bit games.
Having thoroughly studied the software and hardware components of the Nintendo console, Hacker International moved on to creating special cartridges that allow you to run unlicensed games of your own design on the game system.
“Many of these amateur hackers were otaku nerds. They reviewed the Famicom and its software in their bedrooms at night, and went to the Hacker International office the next morning with the results. There was no chance these games weren’t erotic… They were adult in nature.” Wrote Gamasutra reporter Kevin Gifford in 2005 after an interview with Satoru Hagiwara.
Hagiwara explained the “nature” of adult games in that he and his colleagues did not have any guidelines and experience at the time. They were skilled technicians but bad game designers. Therefore, according to him, Hacker International took the path of least resistance and began to make uninteresting but attractive games due to eroticism.
Hagiwara calls Hacker International’s projects “half-adults.” A clear line has always been drawn between porn and erotica in Japanese legislation, and hackers have not gone beyond that to avoid trouble.
“It was very important that we never crossed that line. If we had allowed ourselves more, it would have been over,” he said in an interview with Gifford.
First step
First Famicom games from Hacker International released in 1990. These were AV Poker, Idol Shisen Mahjong, AV Pachi Slot: Big Chance and Pyramid Cleopatra Kiki Ippatsu. These were poker, mahjong, slot machine and strip tetris. After each victory, a girl appeared on the screen. The more the player wins, the fewer outfits left. Usually it was possible to remove everything except underwear.
Sexy Invaders
ShiryuGL/YouTube
But he later rose to fame when Hacker International began creating porn parodies of popular games for the Famicom and the Famicom Disc System.
For example, Super Mario World developers have redesigned Miss Peach World. In it, the actor played not as a plumber with a mustache, but as a female character. At the end of each level, a nude awaited the player. The classic arcade game Space Invaders has been hacked into Sexy Invaders. In it, after clearing the screen of enemy spaceships, the actor was rewarded with a picture of a scantily clad girl and words of gratitude from her. The cult jRPG Dragon Quest evolved into Body Conquest after being processed by Hacker International. The fake was a clone of the original in which all the characters were replaced with women with bare shoulders, legs, breasts and other body parts.
Miss Peach World
ShiryuGL/YouTube
As the video game industry developed, not only Nintendo but also other platforms began to attract Hacker International’s attention. In 1992, “pirates” broke into the 16-bit PC-Engine console (the predecessor of the Sega Mega Drive – ed.) and were completely gone.
The enhanced graphics capabilities of the new consoles were used by Hacker International to create games with clearer and more detailed content.
PC-Engine for “hackers” released Strip Fighter II is a clone of Street Fighter II, the fighting game where everything—male fighters and female protagonists are undressed. After each victory, the actor saw detailed pictures of girls, drawn very realistically from anime style.
Another “masterpiece” for the PC Engine was a parody of jRPG Final Fantasy called Hi-Leg Fantasy (“Long-legged fantasy”). In it, the developers replaced the monsters with mutant girls, witches, robbers and demons. Instead of health, he had clothes – the more damage the player deals, the less he has left.
Stripper II
bunkergamer82/YouTube
Problems and shutdown
From 1990 to 1994, Hacker International released 16 Famicom games, 22 Famicom Disc System games, and 16 PC Engine games. The vast majority used the theme of eroticism in some way. According to Kevin Gifford of Gamasutra, “pirates” demonstrated enviable productivity, even by professional developers’ standards.
Hacker International cartridges and floppy disks were never sold in stores due to the threat of persecution from Nintendo and NEC / Hudson (developers of PC Engine – ed.).
However, each hacker game has sold between 30,000 and 50,000 copies in Japan alone (these were distributed by mail order). However, some games have been officially released for the Famicom in the USA. At least one Poker AV project – or rather its westernized counterpart – was later published on Dendy.
Hello Leg Fantasy
GameLog/YouTube
The gray distribution model did not spare Hacker International from Nintendo’s legal action. The company was angry not at porn games, but at hardware and software changes like Hacker Junior and Hacker Disc. As a result, the conflict was resolved peacefully in the late 90s. Neither Hagiwara nor Nintendo have yet said exactly what the parties agreed on.
In 2001, Hacker International, already an all-white Map Japan company, announced its closure. In an interview with Kevin Gifford, Hagiwara attributed his decision to the strong competition and loss of interest in the gaming market.
Regardless, Hacker International left a small but very noticeable mark on video game history as the main supplier of erotic content for consoles in the ’80s and ’90s. Various sources, such as Super Pig and MIMI Pro, talk about such “pirate” associations obsessed with erotic subjects. However, researchers in the history of the game believe that the same Satoru Hagiwara was behind their creation.
Source: Gazeta
Jackson Ruhl is a tech and sci-fi expert, who writes for “Social Bites”. He brings his readers the latest news and developments from the world of technology and science fiction.