Japanese publisher City Connection will bring the 1998 Sega Saturn vertical scroller Steam Heart's Saturn Tribute to Nintendo Switch on 28th May.
Giga's rather adult slice of retro hardcore-shooter action — first released for PC-98 in 1994 with the Saturn version (both Japan-only) arriving in 1998 — was also due to release on Xbox One at the same time but, as reported by our sister site, Time Extension, the game was blocked from release on that platform.
The official message from City Connections across its various social media channels was that Xbox requested "significant changes" to the game's content, which didn't quite gel with the publisher's desire to provide "a consistent gameplay experience across all platforms".
As per the title, this version of the game is based on the Saturn version - the older PC-98 version was even filthier. Fans should also note that this newer version has seen some changes, with cutscenes which have been "thoughtfully adapted for a modern revival, respecting the heroines' privacy while maintaining the essence of the classic." Thoughtful, indeed.
According to the game's official press release:
Players can obtain and power up two types of main shots and six types of sub-weapons. Utilize special techniques such as the "Weapon Crash", which temporarily boosts sub-weapons, and the "Boost" ability, which lets you momentarily accelerate to dodge enemy attacks.
Master these skills to suppress the oncoming enemies!
The game features multiple modes:
"Story Mode", which unfolds with full voice and visual scenes.
"Arcade Mode", focusing purely on shooting action.
"Score Attack Mode", where players compete for high scores within a time limit.
"Boss Rush Mode", where players battle against a series of bosses.
As far as the actual nature of the erotic, exotic, hypnotic (and all the rest of it) content here, well, the Wikipedia page goes into plot details if you're interested (viruses, catgirls, explosions of a personal nature). It's a Hentai/fan-servicey style of game in its cutscenes, so we'd expect the usual sort of, well, let's go for "titillating" fare here.
You should note, too, that the Saturn version removed some explicit imagery that may cause offence. It seems that some audio aspects (moaning) and dialogue are all that's left that you need to worry about, if you happen to be coming to this one as a new player. (Phrasing?)
Also of note is the announcement of another slightly less saucy Saturn Tribute, 2D fighter ADVANCED V.G., coming to Switch on the same day for £13.49 (Steam-Heart's is £17.99, although both games have a 10% discount available at the time of writing).
Have you played Steam Heart's Saturn Tribute or its older PC-98 version? Let us know?
[source nintendo.com, via timeextension.com]
Comments 44
Horny and mechs seem to quite often mix for some reason.
Your headline is possibly intentionally or unintentionally cheeky in the "oh la la", "Carry On Gaming" sense. Ha ha ha.
Vertical shooters can be erotic I suppose. ‘Horizontal shooters’ can be innuendo I suppose. It just depends on how badly you want them to be.
Does it have hard and soft core mode? Oh matron!
Unfortunate to hear that it won't be released on Xbox One anymore for those interested in getting it there and even more so because it's for such a reason, but on the other hand it's great to hear that Nintendo didn't block it and so it's still coming to Switch - another positive is that now we got to hear about this game here on Nintendo Life and so more people might eventually get it (me included)!
Im getting it for the artstyle alone. Seiso would be best, but from what I see in the screenshots, there is nothing wrong, so it cant be that bad
Shame its not may 1st
“ thoughtfully adapted for a modern revival, respecting the heroines' privacy while maintaining the essence of the classic.”
Dawg, they’re fictional characters, why are they censoring scenes to do this as if they’re real people? Was initially interested, but I might just emulate the original knowing it’s now censored
Yes, once completed, I think the happy ending has been censored!
Imagine children will play this ... Somebody should think of them !
I can’t believe you even included those screenshots in this article. None of those mechs has clothes on.
With the names we're getting nowadays, the subheading could pass as an actual game title.
My Saturn is still plugged on my OLED so I don’t really need a port.
Sad (and weird) for Xbox though. Nintendo used to be more prone to censorship than Microsoft in the past.
Fair play on microsoft refusing them, if they don't like it then they have every right to not include it.
@Expa0 yes
@LEGEND_MARIOID oui
Really strange, I played the Saturn versions years ago and they were already censored. Here they have adapted the cutscenes again, on the eshop I see PEGI 12 even, I don't understand Microsoft's refusal. Anyway the fighting game is not that great, but the shump is well done with several secondary weapons to upgrade.
Ideally played while listening to the Prince song, 'Sex Shooter' haha,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmTqS2IBkTc
How many clicks you had on this article within 2 minutes?? 🤣🤣🤣
Reminds me that Alice Gear on Switch is uncensored but censored on PS5.
@The-Chosen-one clicks or chick's?
@karatekid1612
🤐🤐🤐🤣
Digging into the series, I can see how some people can get confused. The original PC-98 version of Variable Geo does cross a line, where your winning character sexual assaults the losing female fighters.
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/variable-geo/
Man of culture here:Sold!
@PJOReilly are you contrasting with the many horizontal shooters that are basically a giant alien conception? lol
«Can vertical shooters be erotic, though?»
Not vertical, but we do have Parodius and Chyō Aniki series. 😏
@NinChocolate hahaha. Good point.
@PKDuckman That crosses a line but MK is somehow fine? I mean, you might not be saying it outright, but c'mon.
Can <arcade> shooters be erotic, though?
Have you ever heard of Go Go Burunyanman EXTACY? It's really high quality, practically up there with a lot of quality shmups and memorable eroge because of how cute n funny it is (no euphemism). Unfortunately, the only option to play the game is piracy because the Japanese PC store is region locked, and it still doesn't have a English fan patch, and the dev is really hard to get ahold of because they closed down/dormiented their studio. So the hopes of an official English release seems to be slim
Realistic Murder and violence ok
Cartoon skin is evil
Americans are hilarious
The PC-88 and PC-98 computers say shooters cannot be too erotic.
“Can vertical shooters be erotic, though?“
Dude. Have you seen the spicy credits images for Strikers 1945? Yes. Yes they very can be.
Dammit, this is JAPAN*. As staid and traditional as they seem outwardly, scratch the surface with a ¥1 coin and they are heckin f i l t h y when they wanna be. In fact you don’t even need to scratch - just look closer. Weekly manga anthologies thicker than a discount store forklift driver filled with some of the grossest content imaginable. Multiple comic market events stuffed to the gills with more of the same from amateur artists.
Then there’s the games. Gods bollock it, this is the country that has churned out strip pool, strip hanafuda, strip pachinko, hell, even strip QIX. And that’s before we get to the myriad strip mahjong games there’s been. Psikyo had to redo most of the character scenes for Hot Gimmick so they could get it on the Switch, and even Idol Janshi Su-chi-Pie got vanilla’d (but it’s still Kenichi Sonoda’s gorgeous art, so I’m good with it).
Even the more famous titles aren’t immune. Remember Cybernator? Character designs for the original version Assault Suits Valken were by Satoshi (Langrisser, Plastic Little) Urushihara, well noted for his NSFW work. Ghost In the Shell? Christ on Fire, have you seen what Shirow Masamune’s been up to since the 90s? There’s even some cayenne-laced pages in the GitS manga.
As for horizontal shooters - welp, just don’t look too closely at some of R•Type 1&2’s bosses, a’ight?
"As far as the actual nature of the erotic, exotic, hypnotic (and all the rest of it) content here, well, the Wikipedia page goes into plot details if you're interested (viruses, catgirls, explosions of a personal nature)"
(note: Wikipedia pages could be vulnerable to having false information at any time)
Hold up my man, have you somehow not heard of Oresama no Nyanchan ga Kawaisugite Bakuhatsushichatte Doushiyou?
Like, seriously? Have you seriously not heard of it? What’s with modern game journos these days like seriously. I mean, yes I made it up, but you still should have heard of it.
Seriously.
@Maxz Wait ‘til he finds out about Versatile Exploding Bishounen ZWEI…
As Steven Spielberg once said about when we know video games have become a storytelling art form:
"I think the real indicator will be when somebody confesses that they ***** at level 17."
That's what the 18+ rating is for. Above a certain rating it should be "anything goes".
Oh, that's interesting; I thought we'd miss the next two S-Tributes in the West as I'd only seen pre-release stuff for the Japanese versions. That's good though; now that City Connection has figured out the emulation, these are great. My favorite is Elevator Action Returns, but none of the ones I've played have let me down.
I actually found this game on Saturn for something like $15 once long ago. It wasn't very good. Or sexy. And the apostrophe in the title always bothered me. But owning a "yellow label" Saturn game was exciting as a dumb teenager! Then years later when I sold it I made something like $40. Sexy!
@kurtasbestos
(suggestion: never refer to thy self (or any self) as "dumb")
An XBOne comment was needed
@Mario500 I decided "dumb" sounded classier than most of the other adjectives that came to mind when discussing the teenage version of myself buying a game like this.
@MontyCircus
" 'I think the real indicator will be when somebody confesses that they ***** at level 17.' "
^(question: why the "*****" in this quotation)
@OwenGamer22 Dawg, they look teenagers.
@tobsesta99 They’re also not real.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...