Nintendo Switch “hentai” game influx shocks Japanese users 

Japanese My Nintendo Store users have been noticing an influx of 17+ rated Switch games that have the word “Hentai” at the start of their title and appear to be using AI-generated graphics. Many users are taken aback by the jarring use of the word “hentai” (which rings quite differently in Japan than in the West) and are questioning how these games are making their way to Nintendo’s eShop. 

“Hentai Party,” “Hentai Girls: College Crush,” “Hentai Golf,” “Hentai Girls: Office Romance” – this is just a handful of the offending games that people have been coming across. Many of the titles appear to be puzzle games in which clearing increasingly difficult puzzles unlocks increasingly suggestive images of the female characters in various poses.  

These games (referred to as “The Hentai Series” by users online) are not of Japanese origin, and can be found on the US My Nintendo Store as well. The publisher’s description of the game “Hentai Girls” lists “Hand-drawn Hentai art” as one of its key features, along with the all-caps exclamation “HENTAI IS ART.” However, users, some of which have tried playing the games, have been commenting that the anime-style graphics look suspiciously AI-generated, spotting some typical signs of AI art such as disfigured hands. Judging from past titles, it would seem the series switched from hand-drawn art to AI-generated art at a certain point. 

Most people seem to be coming across the games due to their price – the Hentai Series titles are often heavily discounted, with games normally costing $13 or so being available for little over a dollar. Judging from Japanese users’ reactions, it seems that the game titles are what’s shocking people, rather than the suggestive content, as the word “hentai” doesn’t have the same meaning in English and Japanese.  

Among English-speaking online users, the Japanese word “hentai” has come to refer to anime-style mature content in the general sense, whereas in Japan, “hentai” is a lot more directly associated with sexual deviance and sexual inclinations outside of societal norms, which could be why Japanese Nintendo store users were taken aback by the games in question.