Editing Visual novel (section)

===Erotic content===
{{see also|Eroge|Sexual content in video games}}

Many visual novels also qualify as [[eroge]], an abbreviation of 'erotic game'. These games feature sexually explicit imagery that is accessed by completing certain routes in the game, most often depicting the game's protagonist having sex with one of the game's other characters. Like other pornographic media in Japan, scenes depicting genitalia are censored in their original Japanese releases, only becoming uncensored if the game is licensed outside Japan with all art assets intact. Certain eroge titles receive re-releases which exclude explicit content in order to be sold to a younger audience, such as ports to consoles or handheld systems where sexually explicit content is not allowed, and storylines referring to aforementioned sex scenes are often omitted from adaptations into other media, unless that media is also pornographic in nature, such as a [[hentai]] anime.

Traditionally, PC-based visual novels have contained risque scenes even if the overall focus is not erotic (similar to the "[[Sex in film|obligatory sex scene]]" in [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] [[action film]]s). However, the vast majority of console ports do not contain adult material, and a number of recent PC games have also been targeted at the all-age market; for example, all of [[Key (company)|Key]]'s titles come in censored versions, although the content might still not be appropriate for children, and three have never contained erotic content at all. Also, all of [[KID]]'s titles are made with general audiences in mind.

However, some of these games are later re-released with the addition of [[erotic]] scenes, or have a sequel with such. For example, ''[[Little Busters!]]'' was first released as an all-ages visual novel, but a version with erotic scenes titled ''[[Little Busters!|Little Busters! Ecstasy]]'' came out later, and though ''[[Clannad (video game)|Clannad]]'' is also all-ages, its spinoff ''[[Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life]]'' is not.

Often, the beginning of the eroge will be dedicated to introducing the characters and developing the protagonist's relationship with them, before the protagonist sexually interacts with other characters, for example, [[Lump of Sugar]] games such as ''[[Tayutama: Kiss on my Deity]]'' and ''Everlasting Summer'' do this. The effect it has on the reader is the H-scenes (sex scenes) will have a stronger emotional impact for the two (or possibly more) characters.

Some of Japan's earliest adventure games were erotic [[bishōjo game]]s developed by [[Koei]].<ref name=Pesimo/> In 1982, they released ''[[Night Life (video game)|Night Life]]'', the first commercial [[Adult video game|erotic computer game]].<ref name=Retro/> It was a [[Graphic adventure game|graphic adventure]],<ref name=Jones>{{cite journal|last1=Jones|first1=Matthew T.|date=December 2005|title=The Impact of Telepresence on Cultural Transmission through Bishoujo Games|journal=PsychNology Journal|volume=3|issue=3|pages=292–311|url=http://www.psychnology.org/File/PNJ3(3)/PSYCHNOLOGY_JOURNAL_3_3_JONES.pdf|issn=1720-7525|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060501201728/http://www.psychnology.org/File/PNJ3%283%29/PSYCHNOLOGY_JOURNAL_3_3_JONES.pdf|archive-date=1 May 2006|url-status=live}}</ref> with sexually explicit images.<ref name=Retro/> That same year, they released another erotic title, ''Danchi Tsuma no Yūwaku'' (''Seduction of the Condominium Wife''), which was an early adventure game with colour graphics, owing to the eight-color palette of the [[NEC PC-8001]] computer. It became a hit, helping Koei become a major software company.<ref name=Pesimo>{{cite book|author=Pesimo, Rudyard Contretas|chapter='Asianizing' Animation in Asia: Digital Content Identity Construction Within the Animation Landscapes of Japan and Thailand|title=Reflections on the Human Condition: Change, Conflict and Modernity – The Work of the 2004/2005 API Fellows|year=2007|publisher=The Nippon Foundation|pages=124–160|chapter-url=http://www.apimal.org/blogcms/media/13/File/Pesimo.pdf|url-status=dead|url=http://www.apimal.org/blogcms/media/13/File/Pesimo.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904050744/http://www.apimal.org/blogcms/media/13/File/Pesimo.pdf|archive-date=4 September 2011}}</ref> Other now-famous companies such as [[Enix]], [[Square (video game company)|Square]] and [[Nihon Falcom]] also produced similar erotic games in the early 1980s before they became famous for their [[role-playing video game]]s. While some early erotic games integrate the erotic content into a thoughtful and nuanced storylines, others often used it as a simplistic vehicle for fetishism, pleasure, an aid of the lightheaded themes that encourage stress relief or to portray nuances of sexuality.<ref name=Retro/> The Japanese game ''Pai Touch!'' involves the protagonist gaining the ability to change the size of girls' breasts, and the adventures that ensue in trying to choose which girl to use the power on the most.

Another subgenre is called {{nihongo|"nukige"|抜きゲー}}, in which sexual gratification of the player is the main focus of the game.<ref>{{Cite book|author=宮本直毅|date=2013-01-26|script-title=ja:エロゲー文化研究概論|publisher=総合科学出版|isbn=978-4-88181-829-9|chapter=泣きゲーのうねり}}</ref>