Good news folks, it looks like there might be a crackdown of sorts happening on the staggering amount of "hentai" puzzle games on the Nintendo Switch eShop, or at the very least a tactic that's helped give them such a platform.
If you've spent any time at all browsing the Switch eShop over the last few years, chances are that you'll have found a hentai game or five advertised in the new or upcoming release sections. They're the sort of games that promise intrepid players a glimpse of some scantily clad anime girls if they have the patience to sit through a puzzle or two first. Even though Nintendo has expanded beyond its classic "family-friendly" vibe a fair bit in more recent years, the blatant appearances of these games on the platform has always been rather shocking, even if it's obviously not Nintendo itself making them.
There is, however, a reason why these games and certain other Switch releases can be seen so prominently on the eShop, and that's due to the sheer volume of them. If you look closely, many games actually have multitudes of different "editions," titled things like Deluxe, Ultimate, and other creative adjectives, with the only actual difference between them generally being what DLC characters they come bundled with. This allows them to essentially reappear in the recent releases section, on sale pages when any of the different versions are given discounts, and more generally fill up search results.
Now though, it's some of these re-releases that appear to have disappeared from the eShop. As Automaton reports, it was first spotted by Twitter user @naetoru60 that multiple versions of "hentai" games from publisher RedDeer.Games – including Hentai World, Hentai Girls, and Hentai Golf – have been pulled. Automaton reports that Hentai Girls, for example, had a whopping 16 different editions beyond its standard version, which have now been removed (although the original is still intact, as is its DLC).
It's a similar story with Hentai Golf (which now has its original version and one "complete" edition on the Japanese eShop) and Hentai World, although curiously, the latter still has 20 versions (including the original) available in the UK. So, if action really is being taken, it doesn't appear to have been fully rolled out worldwide yet.
Importantly, it's not clear if this a result of Nintendo itself taking a stance against the games, or if developer RedDeer.Games has made the decision independently. However, like Automaton points out, other games from the same publisher, which notably don't promise players a peek at a selection of 2D girls in tight-fitting clothing, still exist with seemingly all their variations intact. It'd be the best-case scenario for Switch players if there was a widespread effort to cut down on the amount of these barely distinguishable different "editions" for games in general, hentai or not, if only to make looking for new games a bit easier.
Be sure to check out our roundup of the best Switch games to play right now.
