One of the biggest surprises for me at the Tokyo Games Show was found in SNK’s booth. No I am not talking about the huge number of booth babes SNK employed but rather 3 posters that were hanging in the booth. They were advertising 3 new DS games. 2 RPGs and one “Simulation”(I know from previous experience that “Simulation” games are usually dating simulations). I was determined to find out more about the titles. Once I got home I fired up the press kit CD that SNK had given me and found a lot of nice high-resolution screen shots and character artwork. But still no description of what the games might be.

Than while reading Kotaku this morning I found out about one of the RPG titles called “Doki Doki Majo Saiban”. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised about the game’s objective, but.. well.. Decide for yourselves.

Brian Ashcraft of Kotaku writes:

Called Doki Doki Majo Saiban, this adventure title has players search for witches hiding on earth. They may look human, but these sorceresses ain’t. How do you find out if they are? You touch them. Duh.

Makes perfect sense to me. But here’s the question. Is such a family friendly game system like the Nintendo DS really ready for games like this?

True, there was a sexy DS game in the past called “Touch de Rakushou! Pachislo Sengen: Rio de Carnival”. It was made by Tecmo and contained a bunch of gambling mini-games with bikini girls. This 15+ rated game failed to generate any real sales and was mostly ignored.

Japan is no stranger to provocative video games. The Sega Saturn, PC-Engine and 3DO all had their share of smut. And SNK had already released a naughty portable game for the failed Neo-Geo Pocket Color (it was a strip Mahjong game in case you were curious). But Nintendo, even Nintendo of Japan, has historically always shyed away from this type of game. Are they really trying to enter the “mature” market?

I would be lying if I said I was shocked that someone would consider making an adult game on a system that has a slogan of “Touch!” but I am surprised that Nintendo would license it. Perhaps it is much less explicit than the description makes it out to be but in any case if this game does well it could set a precedent for more of this type of software.

So what do you think of all this? Is this just Nintendo expanding its market share to a new demographic? Is this a savvy business move or a PR mistake? And would Salem, Massachusetts be remembered differently if they had known about this new “witch test”?

SNK Making Dirty DS Game [Kotaku]
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