Eiyu*Senki and the History of J-List and Ecchi Games
I’m sometimes asked about the history of J-List, and how this wonky, fun company got started, and how we got involved with publishing hentai games. The year was 1995, a year after the Netscape IPO but before anyone had heard of Google, and I was casting around for something unique to do that involved the Internet, in part to get out of the ESL teaching world (which is not a good place to stay for too long), but also because the world was changing. I happened across some fans raving about a hentai game which they would download and play in Japanese, clicking wildly on the screen hoping for tiddies to appear (though we didn’t call them tiddies back then) and got the idea of licensing these games for sale to fans in English.
I started contacting game companies, and the first one I had success with was JAST, which had made one of the first visual novels ever, called Tenshi-tachi no Gogo, or Afternoon of the Angels. This resulted in our first three hentai games, which amazingly are still in print, and set the stage for us to publish a huge number of fun R-18 PC games over the years with the warm support of our customers.
But it would take years for JAST USA to build any kind of critical mass, so to tide ourselves over we started J-List to sell anime goods directly from Japan “for a few years” while we waited for the game business to grow. I had been running J-List informally for a couple years, selling used JPOP CDs through USENET by uploading a big Excel list and asking people to tell me which CDs they wanted to claim. This “Japan list” is where we got our name from.
Eiyu*Senki – The World Conquest
All of which brings us to what some might consider the pinnacle of 18+ games from Japan, Eiyu*Senki – The World Conquest, a fabulous game that we’re shipping out of San Diego today. Here’s some info on the game!
Eiyu*Senki a rich game of combat, strategy, world conquest and harem building in which you assist Himiko, the ruler of Zipang (Japan) in conquering the other empires of the world so that you can create a lasting worldwide peace together. Eiyu*Senki is amazingly deep, with maps, lots of strategy and combat, magic items to find, and and tons of gameplay to enjoy!
As you proceed in your conquest, you’ll defeat various enemy nations, including each country’s “heroes,” who take the form of cute female versions of famous characters from history and legend, like Sir Francis Drake (above), Alexander the Great, King Arthur, Napoleon and Vlad the Impaler. As your harem grows, you can go on side quests with these characters, and by side quests we mean bow chicka wow wow. The game is 100% uncut and uncensored.
The game features amazing art by Oyari Ashito, who also created the amazing witch raising game Littlewitch Romanesque, which is getting a price drop today, and there are hundreds upon hundreds of amazing illustrations by this master artist to explore and enjoy.
We’ve got four versions of the game for you: the full download version (which you could be playing in 3 minutes!), the package edition on DVD-ROM + download code, the Limited Edition which adds a 2-disc soundtrack and character art cards, plus a Collector’s Edition, which adds a meticulously detailed artbook with info on the rich world and all characters, translated into English. An all-ages Steam version will be coming out in a few weeks, too, and the Limited and Collector’s editions include a Steam key free.
Order Eiyu*Senki – The World Conquest here, or read our blog post about it.
We’re just a few days from Halloween, which in Japan has become a huge event. We’re celebrating by holding a new Spooky Halloween contest, which gives us an excuse to give our awesome customers cool free stuff for entering! See Megumi’s Spooky Halloween Contest details here., and remember, you’ll get one of those awesome limited Megumi stickers if you order right now!
