Feel the Sprouting #4: The Fight for Separation
(WARNING: Almost none of the links in this column are work-safe. Do not view them in front of co-workers, family members, or federal agents.)
As the tastefully named Richard Kim told you on Tuesday, the Gal-game genre tends to fall into three major categories, each filled with dozens upon dozens of very similar games. As with any overcrowded genre, each game company expends a great deal of effort trying to differentiate itself from its competitors.
From monopolizing popular artists (see: Unison Shift and Itou Noizi) to developing famous scenario writers (see: TYPE-MOON and Nasu Kinoko) and even planning word-of-mouth infamy (see: 0verflow and School Days), there are a huge number of ways that a company can carve out a niche and a fanbase (see: Alice Soft and their never-ending series of strategy/conquest/harem/kitchen sink games).
The most amusing method companies use to distinguish their works is through the genre title. There’s no such thing as a Simulation Life Game (SLG) these days, and most developers won’t stand to see their game called a simple Adventure Game (ADV). No, we have such wondrous things as Dies Irae ~Also Sprach Zarathustra~ from Light, which declares itself a 学園伝奇バトルオペラADV, or “School Romance Battle Opera Adventure.”
The hit parade doesn’t stop there, either. Henshi~n, a cult classic about a boy who turns into cylindrical household objects near girls, is a “Metamorph Dramatic Love Comedy AVG.” Propeller’s latest game, Bullet Butlers , gets even more ridiculous. The game’s genre is listed as 銃と魔法と執事と主のファンタジーＡＶＧ, or “An adventure fantasy of guns, magic, butlers, and masters.”
My absolute favorite, though, is from Zanma Taisei Demonbane, one of the most famous works from Nitro+ - you may have seen the cleaned-up anime version of it, Kishin Houkou Demonbane. In its original game form, the genre was listed as 荒唐無稽スーパーロボットADV. This translates to “Preposterous Super Robot Adventure.” I’m not even taking any liberties with the translation there, that’s literally what it means.
Beyond the cheap chuckles, though, these genre titles are pretty good at letting people know exactly what’s in the game. Skim through the Giga online catalog and you’ll find hard-boiled action-adventures, jealous twin adventures, and alternate universe school adventures. If you just lumped them all under “adventure game,” there’d be absolutely no way of knowing what you were in for. Just like RPGs have been separated into various categories - Massively Multiplayer, Tactical, and Sit There Pressing X In Between Cut Scenes, for example - Japanese gal games have made sure to label themselves in such a way that no fan of a particular genre or Sprouting archetype can possibly miss it.
So if you ever walk into one of the basements of Akihabara, where the gal games are sold, do yourself a favor and skim through the titles. Not only will you get a good laugh, but you’ll usually find out exactly what’s inside and whether or not you’ll like it.
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