From the beginnings of adult games all the way up to the present. Off the top of my head the following come to mind, but I can update the list with your suggestions:
* Softporn Adventure (1981): A significant early adult game and possibly the first known Western one, made by Roberta Williams herself and the rest of the team that would become Sierra On-Line.
* Custer's Revenge (1982): One of the earliest video games is also probably one of the most controversial and negatively received ones.
* Lolita Yakyūken (1982): The first Japanese eroge, it's a strip rock-paper-scissors game. I don't know if it was controversially received in Japan.
* Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards (1987): Probably the first mainstream adult game in the West. The series itself would become the mainstream face of softcore adult games in the West for the following decade or so.
* Rance: The Quest for Hikari (1989): One of the earliest RPG eroges, it established the Rance series which is both very popular and also foundational to Japanese adult games and adult RPGs in general.
* Dōkyūsei (1992): An erotic dating sim visual novel. It created the dating sim genre and it's also one of the first overall video games with a focus on romance. It also probably was a big influence in establishing the high-school setting in adult games.
* Lula: The Sexy Empire (1997): A German business sim game that revolves around building a multimillion-dollar pornography and erotica industry. It's one of the first notable adult business sim games and probably a big influence on the many (usually brothel-themed) that would come later.
* Kanon (1999): A VN low on the erotic content and high on the prose count and sentimentality, it was massively popular and contributed to story-focused (rather than sex-focused) VNs becoming the norm. It's also possibly one of the biggest historical influences in the spreading of the cutesy, big-eyed, almost chibi-like artstyle both in adult games but especially outside of them in anime and anime-style media.
* Utawarerumono (2002): One of the earliest significant adult VNs with tactical combat, a genre that would become more and more established. It was quite popular in Japan and it spawned a number of sequels with no sexual content and anime adaptations to this day.
* Saya no Uta ~ The Song of Saya (2003): The most played adult VN of all time, according to VNDB stats. It's a horror eroge inspired by Lovecraft and by the creator of the Madoka Magica anime series. Also a big influence on many subsequent adult horror games.
* Fate/stay night (2004): One of the most popular visual novels in history also includes sexual content. It's late in the game, it's low compared to most eroge VNs (though higher than the similar example of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, which only featured non-explicit nudity but was also a VN that achieved a -smaller- level of worldwide popularity a couple years earlier) but still the impact of Fate in VNs, adult games and anime is sizeable.
* RapeLay (2006): The double whammy of being one of the significant early 3D adult games and one of the most controversial ones that made international news and got banned in several countries.
* Muv-Luv Alternative (2006): The highest critically rated adult VN and also one of the most played ones, according to VNDB stats. The most well known representative of the long-running Muv-Luv series.
* Slave Maker (2008): Browser game that started the trainer genre and also spawned its own series (though I'm not sure if by the same devs). The Slave Maker games were based on the non-eroge Princess Maker games from Japan.
* Kamidori Alchemy Meister (2011): An eroge with tactical gameplay, praised for its polish in both aspects. Though Japan had been making adult games where the non-adult gameplay part was also highly polished for years, this is the first globally sucessful example as far as I know.
* Katawa Shoujo (2012): The first mainstream Western adult VN, its unique setting (a disable protagonist in a school for disabled teens) and the novelty of its origin (4chan) combined with its unexpectedly heartfelt (and according to some, high quality) writing probably helped it to gain the amount of notoriety and players it did.
* Princess Trainer (2014): Akabur games like this one and Witch Trainer have been since they came out a common mainstream introduction to the trainer genre. Princess Trainer also happened to release around the time Patreon-funded adult games development really kicked off and was one of the biggest examples for Western devs that it was possible to profit off making adult indie games.
* The Last Sovereign (2014): A modern darling among Western adult RPG fans, I'd say this is one of those that have managed to break into semi-mainstream discourse due to the amount of times I've seen it recommended in social media like Reddit and Twitter both when the topic of discussion is adult games or indie RPGs.
* HuniePop (2015): Possibly the biggest representative of the adult puzzle games but one that managed to get positive mainstream reception due to its level of polish and content.
* Honey Select (2016): Made by Illusion, the same Japanese company that made RapeLay, basically a sex simulator created for VR (though playable without) that had a big influence in the adult game market. A successor also by Illusion called Koikatsu Party serves a similar purpose and has also had a similar impact.
* Corruption of Champions (2016): A text-based RPG with turn-based combat (winnable by either depleting HP or raising lust) and a large focus on customization and body modification. A standout at the time and even to this day due to its level of interactivity and narrative
* Big Brother (2017): A Russian sandbox game with pre-rendered 3D art that is possibly one of the most widely played incest games ever. Its development was also abandoned, like a significant number of games of the current era that follow an early access model or similar.
* Summertime Saga (2019): Probably the mainstream adult game, one of the most known and played ones, maybe even the face of the industry at least in the West. And that's coming from someone that's not a fan (not into milfs or scrawny protags). One of the more successful games in Patreon which gives it big production values and a more wholesome story than the average darker adult game.
* Being a DIK (2019): The other big mainstream one I can think of in the West, choice-driven multiple route story set in the world of college and fraternities that has been praised for its writing.
I also noticed I don't have any Western adult games between 1987 and 2008. It's a gap in my knowledge. Were games like X-Tetris, BoneTown or Playboy: The Mansion significant enough? Also I don't have Japanese games after 2016.
Which other games I'm forgetting? I'm sure a lot of them. Let me know!
* Softporn Adventure (1981): A significant early adult game and possibly the first known Western one, made by Roberta Williams herself and the rest of the team that would become Sierra On-Line.
* Custer's Revenge (1982): One of the earliest video games is also probably one of the most controversial and negatively received ones.
* Lolita Yakyūken (1982): The first Japanese eroge, it's a strip rock-paper-scissors game. I don't know if it was controversially received in Japan.
* Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards (1987): Probably the first mainstream adult game in the West. The series itself would become the mainstream face of softcore adult games in the West for the following decade or so.
* Rance: The Quest for Hikari (1989): One of the earliest RPG eroges, it established the Rance series which is both very popular and also foundational to Japanese adult games and adult RPGs in general.
* Dōkyūsei (1992): An erotic dating sim visual novel. It created the dating sim genre and it's also one of the first overall video games with a focus on romance. It also probably was a big influence in establishing the high-school setting in adult games.
* Lula: The Sexy Empire (1997): A German business sim game that revolves around building a multimillion-dollar pornography and erotica industry. It's one of the first notable adult business sim games and probably a big influence on the many (usually brothel-themed) that would come later.
* Kanon (1999): A VN low on the erotic content and high on the prose count and sentimentality, it was massively popular and contributed to story-focused (rather than sex-focused) VNs becoming the norm. It's also possibly one of the biggest historical influences in the spreading of the cutesy, big-eyed, almost chibi-like artstyle both in adult games but especially outside of them in anime and anime-style media.
* Utawarerumono (2002): One of the earliest significant adult VNs with tactical combat, a genre that would become more and more established. It was quite popular in Japan and it spawned a number of sequels with no sexual content and anime adaptations to this day.
* Saya no Uta ~ The Song of Saya (2003): The most played adult VN of all time, according to VNDB stats. It's a horror eroge inspired by Lovecraft and by the creator of the Madoka Magica anime series. Also a big influence on many subsequent adult horror games.
* Fate/stay night (2004): One of the most popular visual novels in history also includes sexual content. It's late in the game, it's low compared to most eroge VNs (though higher than the similar example of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, which only featured non-explicit nudity but was also a VN that achieved a -smaller- level of worldwide popularity a couple years earlier) but still the impact of Fate in VNs, adult games and anime is sizeable.
* RapeLay (2006): The double whammy of being one of the significant early 3D adult games and one of the most controversial ones that made international news and got banned in several countries.
* Muv-Luv Alternative (2006): The highest critically rated adult VN and also one of the most played ones, according to VNDB stats. The most well known representative of the long-running Muv-Luv series.
* Slave Maker (2008): Browser game that started the trainer genre and also spawned its own series (though I'm not sure if by the same devs). The Slave Maker games were based on the non-eroge Princess Maker games from Japan.
* Kamidori Alchemy Meister (2011): An eroge with tactical gameplay, praised for its polish in both aspects. Though Japan had been making adult games where the non-adult gameplay part was also highly polished for years, this is the first globally sucessful example as far as I know.
* Katawa Shoujo (2012): The first mainstream Western adult VN, its unique setting (a disable protagonist in a school for disabled teens) and the novelty of its origin (4chan) combined with its unexpectedly heartfelt (and according to some, high quality) writing probably helped it to gain the amount of notoriety and players it did.
* Princess Trainer (2014): Akabur games like this one and Witch Trainer have been since they came out a common mainstream introduction to the trainer genre. Princess Trainer also happened to release around the time Patreon-funded adult games development really kicked off and was one of the biggest examples for Western devs that it was possible to profit off making adult indie games.
* The Last Sovereign (2014): A modern darling among Western adult RPG fans, I'd say this is one of those that have managed to break into semi-mainstream discourse due to the amount of times I've seen it recommended in social media like Reddit and Twitter both when the topic of discussion is adult games or indie RPGs.
* HuniePop (2015): Possibly the biggest representative of the adult puzzle games but one that managed to get positive mainstream reception due to its level of polish and content.
* Honey Select (2016): Made by Illusion, the same Japanese company that made RapeLay, basically a sex simulator created for VR (though playable without) that had a big influence in the adult game market. A successor also by Illusion called Koikatsu Party serves a similar purpose and has also had a similar impact.
* Corruption of Champions (2016): A text-based RPG with turn-based combat (winnable by either depleting HP or raising lust) and a large focus on customization and body modification. A standout at the time and even to this day due to its level of interactivity and narrative
* Big Brother (2017): A Russian sandbox game with pre-rendered 3D art that is possibly one of the most widely played incest games ever. Its development was also abandoned, like a significant number of games of the current era that follow an early access model or similar.
* Summertime Saga (2019): Probably the mainstream adult game, one of the most known and played ones, maybe even the face of the industry at least in the West. And that's coming from someone that's not a fan (not into milfs or scrawny protags). One of the more successful games in Patreon which gives it big production values and a more wholesome story than the average darker adult game.
* Being a DIK (2019): The other big mainstream one I can think of in the West, choice-driven multiple route story set in the world of college and fraternities that has been praised for its writing.
I also noticed I don't have any Western adult games between 1987 and 2008. It's a gap in my knowledge. Were games like X-Tetris, BoneTown or Playboy: The Mansion significant enough? Also I don't have Japanese games after 2016.
Which other games I'm forgetting? I'm sure a lot of them. Let me know!
Last edited:
