What exactly is a "hentai game"?

[Spectre_15]

Someone told me that Kurovadis counts as a hentai game, because you can get raped for damage, and the game over screen is a hentai picture.  I was thinking about this, and I dont see the line here.  There are tons of games with nudity.  First one that comes to mind:

 

Anyone who recognizes that will know it's from Duke Nukem Forever.  This has nudity in it, does that make it a hentai game?  Not that i know of.  How about this game:

 

This is the ending of Far Cry 3, when you are viewing from a first person point of view while you fuck Citra.  Is this a hentai game?  Not only does it have tits, but it's also got fucking.  Neither of these have vagina or penis, so are those whats required to have a hentai game?  The last example is from a game I've never played, but I've heard that there's a lot of nudity and sex in it, so this may or may not be modded.

 

Yea... if this is un modded, Witcher 2 has everything that you can have in a sex scene here.  So, what exactly is the definition of a hentai game?

[bloodyrose35]

in im opinion, a hentai game is a game where the primary (and usually only focus) is fucking someone, no plot, no build up (most of the time) just plain fucking, tho there r "sub-genres" such as hentai rpg or date simulator that results in graphic sex scenes, but if i hear someone say "hentai game" i picture a pure sex game, not like the other genres i mentioned

[narach]

None of the games listed in the opening post are pornographic. Hentai games are what Western fans call pornographic games from Japan; in Japan they are called eroge, a portmanteau of erotic and game.

Thus, what makes a game a "hentai game" or not is whether it's A ) pornographic and B ) from Japan, although the B criteria can be relaxed in this new and exciting digital age.

[myuhinny]

Hentai is a Japanese style of sexually explicit cartoons, usually drawn in an exaggerated style and often featuring taboo themes.

[bloodyrose35]

None of the games listed in the opening post are pornographic. Hentai games are what Western fans call pornographic games from Japan; in Japan they are called eroge, a portmanteau of erotic and game.

 

Thus, what makes a game a "hentai game" or not is whether it's A ) pornographic and B ) from Japan, although the B criteria can be relaxed in this new and exciting digital age.

the "from japan" critieria is definitely relaxed considering only about 40% of eroge games can actually find American publishers because of "morally questionably" content in most of them, those ones u'd need to find someone to torrent rip one and hope either u can read japanese or someone else has a online translation for u lol

[narach]

40%? That's a highly optimistic number. It would be closer to zero than one.

[bloodyrose35]

40%? That's a highly optimistic number. It would be closer to zero than one.

 

there are more then people think, i own several eroge games that gained american publication such as the Da Capo series and Moero Downhill Night series, among others, its the ones with known "loli" content that usually dont make it to american shores legally such as Guri Guri (Green Green) and Popotan, despite the fact that the anime versions of both games made it here lol

[Nonsense667]

It's the art style/other styles of the game. For example: is it made in rpg maker? Then that gives "points" toward it being a hentai game, though if it's still just made to be a "lol sex" game with clearly "western" style art, then it's more likely to not really be necessarily a "hentai" game. It's about the overall "attitude" of the game. Like say, "3D sexvilla" is not a hentai game. And no, the "hentai" version of it isn't a hentai game either. But yet something like Artificial Girl is, due to the "attitude" or "feel" of how it is. In at least some way, "Hentai" could also simply be translated to "eastern."
 

Someone told me that Kurovadis counts as a hentai game, because you can get raped for damage, and the game over screen is a hentai picture.  I was thinking about this, and I dont see the line here.  There are tons of games with nudity.

"Hentai" does not equal nudity. "Hentai," in the sense of a "hentai" picture, is referring to the style of art. Saying that because a game has nudity makes it hentai, is like saying that because a game has a gun, it's an FPS. On a similar note, just having sexual content does not make a game a hentai game.

 

Is it hard to define? Yes and no. You can't just say "this is what a hentai game is" because there definitely can be some blurred lines. But if one will look around in hentai game focused places, like the hentai game section of ULMF, you can form a reasonable understanding of just what makes a "hentai game" a hentai game, which separates them from things like a modded Skyrim, or other adult flash games that simply don't have that same "attitude," or style.

 

Edit:

(Unfortunately, "attitude" is a bit harder to capture in simple screen shots, as opposed to actually playing the game. I also apologize about the size disparity in the images.)

 

This is a hentai game:

 

 

 

This is not a hentai game:

 

 

 

This is a hentai game:

 

 

 

This is not a hentai game:

 

 

 

These are hentai games:

 

 

 

This is not a hentai game:

 

 

 

Are there some blurred lines there? Definitely. Some individual's interpretations of those might be different than mine, even, and they aren't wrong. But that's at least my perspective.

[Kamen Rider Kuuga]

If it has fucking but its primary source is not Japan, it ain't a hentai game. Hence, Super Deep Throat is NOT a hentai game.

 

Even if it is translated/localized for another country, if its source is Japanese and it has fucking then it's a hentai game.

[bloodyrose35]

to be honest, its only english speaking countries that restrict the term Hentai to mean anime porn when in fact in japan, its hardly used to describe animated pornography, its usually described with terms such as Eroge, so if you go by the definition of the word, any game with perverse sexual desire can be described as hentai, heres the definition itself:

 

Hentai (変態 or へんたい^?)  listen (help·info) English /ˈhɛntaɪ/ is a word of Japanese origin which is a short for (変態性欲^?, hentai seiyoku); a perverse sexual desire.

In Japanese, the term describes any type of perverse or bizarre sexual desire or act; it does not represent a genre of work. Internationally, hentai is a catch-all term to describe a genre of anime and manga pornography. English adopts and uses hentai as a genre of pornography by the commercial sale and marketing of explicit works under this label.

 

its english speaking countries that take the word and adapt their own interpetation of it, another classic example is "Otaku" which in japan was a derogatory term used to describe people overly obsessed with anime and games that they have no lives and spend all day locked in their rooms, it was Americans and other such countries that turned that term into a badge of honor. We tend to take terms from other cultures and adapt them to what we want them to be, even to the point of changing how they are pronounced, "Karaoke" is a prime example of that, how its said in america is vastly different how its pronounced in japan

 

there really is no right or wrong answer to this question, its all how people interpet it based on cultural differences and upbringings.

[CoxcombCornking]

Hentai.

Usually centered around schools, academies, or doctors' offices. May also involve seafood.

First feature: Extremely submissive females with colossal eyes on diamond shaped heads and trash can sized breasts, making "sexy noises" which actually sound like a newborns' cooing.

Second feature: Incomprehensible story and/or dialogue.

Third feature: Rape, possibly followed by urination and/or lactation.

Although at first shamed by the humiliating ordeal of the rape, the female quickly becomes appreciative of her attacker.

The End

[freedomismine]

I would say that,  in order to describe hentai games, you have to go to the origin of the source.

As bloodyrose stated, it comes out of a calligraphy. We all know manga, and we know why it looks a lot like hentai is because it's actually name is eroge-manga. Yet two Otakus sat down one day and decided to call it something that would not been so obviously related to eroticism, hence the word hentai. I am not Japanese, thus don't know what it means, but none of the games you showed above are considered to be hentai as they are 3D drawn pictures.

Know arises the discussion if things like Umemaro or Violated Heroine are hentai or 3D. And art can evolve during a period of time. So my advice to you is, these all are porn that we keep secret of other people. Whatever you call it, there is no right or wrong, as jargon is not governed by a dictionary, but the people.

[afa]

I thought it is as simple as, would you consider the style anime? If yes and does it have sexual content? If it does then it is hentai.

If it isn't what you consider anime then it isn't hentai even if it has sexual content

 

Isn't it just the same difference as

comic book and manga

anime and cartoon?

[Kaldor Draigo]

whats spoiler 2?