The Xbox One versions of Advanced V.G. and Steam Heart’s (sic), both part of City Connection’s Saturn Tribute line, have been canceled, the publisher announced Tuesday.
In a statement on the official website as well as on social media, City Connection insinuated that the Xbox versions were canceled over concerns that the games’ lurid content couldn’t be censored enough for Microsoft to permit their release.
The statement in full, as machine translated from Japanese by DeepL, is as follows:
We would like to announce that the Xbox One versions of “Steam Hearts Saturn Tribute” and “Advanced Variable Geo Saturn Tribute”, which were in development and scheduled for release on Thursday, May 29, will not be available on the Xbox One. We would like to announce that we have decided to cancel the Xbox versions of “Steam Hearts Saturn Tribute” and “Advanced Variable Geo Saturn Tribute”, which were under development and scheduled for release on Thursday, May 29.
Due to the nature of the game being a revival of an exciting and controversial work, we have been developing this title with the goal of providing a common gaming experience across multiple platforms.
While each platform has its own standards, and we have made many adjustments to the content of the game, we have recognized the need to make significant changes to the expression of the game on the
Xbox version.We apologize to everyone who has been looking forward to the release of the Xbox version.
We will continue to deliver our products to you on the Xbox as well as on other platforms.
Thank you for your understanding.
Please refer to the official website for the final platform support for this title.
The statement also seems to indicate that content in the games on other platforms has been adjusted from what originally appeared in them when were published on the Saturn in Japan only in March 1997 (Advanced V.G.) and September 1998 (Steam Heart’s).
Steam Heart’s and Advanced V.G. — the V.G. stands for Variable Geo — are a vertical shoot-em-up and a 2D fighting game, respectively, that both feature sexual content. Steam Heart’s is particularly infamous for voice acting that depicts the protagonists sexually assaulting each stage’s boss after the player has defeated her, although the accompanying still-frame imagery is somewhat censored in the Saturn version — the original release on the PC-98 in 1994 was uncensored but had no voice acting.
Advanced V.G. isn’t as lurid, but it does depict each of its all-girl cast’s clothes being shredded after losing a fight. The Saturn version is also toned down from its 1993 PC-98 predecessor, Variable Geo, which showed uncensored breasts.
City Connection announced in January its intention to release the games as part of its Saturn Tribute line on Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC via Steam. It appears that the games will be sold individually on digital storefronts but will be packaged together in physical printings for the Switch and PS5. The official website now lists just the Switch, PS5, PS4 and Steam for digital release.
No Western release has been mentioned, but judging by previous Saturn Tribute launches, they likely will be available for purchase outside Japan on Steam, at the very least, when they go live in Japan.
Saturn Tribute games are the Saturn originals running on what City Connection calls the Zebra Engine, which dataminers have found appears to be a modified version of the SSF emulator. City Connection uses the “S-Tribute” label for the Saturn games that are only released digitally, while games like Cotton 2 and Suchie-Pie have gotten physical printings — at least in Japan — so they sport the “Saturn Tribute” label. The publisher uses a “Saturn Tribute Boosted” label to denote extra features that aren’t in their other Saturn efforts.
That emulator gives players features like rewind, quick save and quick load.
So far, 17 games have been released under the three labels: Cotton 2, Cotton Boomerang and Guardian Force, which came out in 2021; Layer Section & Galactic Attack, Cleopatra Fortune, Elevator Action Returns and the four games in the Suchie-Pai collection, which came out 2022; Metal Black, Bust-a-Move 2: Arcade Edition & Bust-a-Move 3 and Batsugun, which came out in 2023; and Assault Suit Leynos 2, Wolf Fang and Skull Fang last year.
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