C's Ware: The Forgotten Developer of Hentai Visual Novels (18+ ADULTS ONLY) - DetroitOtaku Discussions

*AGE WARNING: This article contains NSFW images as well as links to some NSFW images, as this is an article about Hentai games. Only read if you are 18 years or older. 

C's Ware and the games they've made have always interested me ever since I got a Sega Saturn. I happened to come across a couple of them while I was building up my Saturn library. 

The Tokyo-based company has been putting out erotic-themed visual novels since the early 90s, and they’ve released games on the PC, Sega Saturn, PS1, PS2, PC-98, and Sega Dreamcast. And if you’re wondering, yes, their PC releases are filled with explicit adults-only content, such as sex and nudity, and even deliberate depictions of sex acts. However, for their console releases, most notably the PS1, the sexual content present in those games were removed to comply with Sony and Sega’s policies. 

However, there were erotic games with explicit sex scenes that were released on the Saturn in Japan, and they will have rating labels such as a Yellow 18+ rating and an 18-X rating. This didn't carry over to Dreamcast as content restrictions got stricter, not to mention the formation of Japan's CERO rating board. 

Anyway, now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the two games that C’s Ware is known for:

Desire, a 1994 PC-98 release that was eventually ported to Windows 95, Windows 98, Sega Saturn and PS2

and what is probably their most famous game, EVE: Burst Error, which came out in 1995 for the PC-98, Windows 95 (?), and was ported to the Saturn in 1997.

I also have these two games, both for the Saturn:

EVE: Burst Error (1995)

The plot of EVE: Burst Error follows two separate investigations that have two separate main characters – Marina Hojo, a government agent who has been assigned to protect the daughter of a Japanese embassy official, and Kojiro Amagi, a washed-up private investigator who has been hired by a Chinese professor to track down a missing piece of art. Though it may not seem like it, the two cases are eventually connected to each other, and the main characters get caught up in something huge.

If you want to read more about the game, check out RPG Fan’s review of the game here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20150907214951/https://www.rpgfan.com/reviews/EVE_Burst_Error/index.html 

And here’s a short summary of the game from GiantBomb:

https://www.giantbomb.com/eve/3025-2290/ 

EVE: Burst Error was originally localized by JAST USA back in the late 90s, but I recently found out that it was localized AGAIN by a company called MangaGamer back in 2012, and is available as a digital download on MangaGamer’s site. You can also play it for free on the Asenheim Project's web site.

Here's some gameplay footage from a walkthrough of the game on YouTube:

Desire (1994)

Now, moving onto Desire. This game was the first C's Ware game I played back in December 2019 as well as my first time playing a hentai game. The story follows the story of Albert Macdgul, who is a journalist that is planning to write a story about a research institute, called “Desire”, which is located on a remote island. While exploring the island, Albert meets a girl named Tina, who washed up on the shore near the facility and suffers from severe amnesia. Little does he know what kind of strange and dangerous adventures she will involve him in. The second playable character of the game is Makoto Izumi, Albert’s girlfriend, who works at “Desire” as their technical manager, and she finds out that someone from an outside organization is planning to interfere with her research.

Here's gameplay footage of the PC version:

Thanks to JAST USA, Desire was released in the U.S. for Windows 98 in 1999. However, the JAST USA team hasn't seemed to re-release it along with their recently released JAST USA Classics collection, and I can't find any places online that have original disc copies of the game for sale. Though I did manage to get a ROM of the game from one of my followers a long time ago. 

Thankfully, Desire can be played via the Asenheim Project's website. 

And if you're wondering, YES, the U.S. release on PC was indeed released uncensored. Though I will say the games' sex scenes can be rather cryptic to understand. 

Here are some clips of what you'd expect from the sex scenes (WARNING: TOTALLY 18+ NSFW):

The rest of the images can be found here: https://www.giantbomb.com/desire/3030-4285/images/ 

And if you think the sex scenes shown during Albert's story path are pretty intense, just wait until you play as Makoto. Her sex scenes are really fucking nuts. Here's a minor spoiler, as you can see that the game's sex story dives into NTR/cheating territory:

Source for images: https://sonictoad.medium.com/what-desire-haitoku-no-rasen-showed-me-about-storytelling-game-design-and-myself-f62de9ceb403 

I can't find any pictures of Makoto's sex scenes online, but believe me, these two images should tell you everything about how crazy it gets. 

https://www.giantbomb.com/desire/3030-4285/images/

Both EVE: Burst Error and Desire were created by the late Hiroyuki Kanno, a big detective/mystery novel fan who is considered to be one of the most influential Japanese game designers and scenario writers. He is also famous for the 1996 PC and Sega Saturn game YU-NO, a visual novel that once had the longest script ever written for a video game with 100,000 dialogue lines (if you're wondering, YES, the Saturn version of YU-NO appears to be mostly uncensored). Kanno passed away in 2011 at the young age of 43 from a cerebral infarction and a brain hemorrhage. 

Though Desire did not get any sequels, EVE: Burst Error did, as EVE became the signature franchise of C’s ware and has had 5 new entries since it’s 1995 debut:

EVE: The Lost One, which came out in 1998 for the Sega Saturn and PC

ADAM: The Double Factor, a 1999 PC-only release

EVE Zero: Ark of the Matter, which came out in 2000 for the PS1 and Sega Dreamcast (the only game in the series to have a Dreamcast release)

EVE: The Fatal Attraction, which came out in 2001 for the PS1 and PC

EVE: New Generation, which came out for the PS2 and PC in 2006.

EVE: Rebirth Terror, a direct sequel to EVE: Burst Error that takes place one year after the events of it, which came out in 2019 for the PS4, Vita, and Nintendo Switch - the first time the series has ever come out on a Nintendo platform (not sure if it's been released in English though)

And most recently, EVE: Ghost Enemies, which will come out on the PS4 and Switch on April 22, 2022.

EVE: Burst Error did recently get an HD remake on the PC, PS Vita and Switch known as EVE: Burst Error R:

Believe it or not, even Desire got the HD remake treatment as well, for the PC, Vita, and Switch:

I've heard the PC versions of these remakes are supposed to have all the raunchy hentai scenes like in the originals. Though I seriously doubt we'll ever see these localized for the west. Plus I don't think there are English patches for them either. If anyone knows of any English patches for the remakes please let me know. 

I am unable to find any more information on these games besides info from Asenheim Project and the following sites I listed in the article. Hell, just finding information on C’s ware and their games was quite a chore because these games don’t have a big following here in the States. I LITERALLY had to scrape the BOTTOM OF THE BARREL for what I am telling you here. Nonetheless, it is a pretty interesting topic, and I would like to play more of the EVE games if they ever get fan-translated.

If anyone else here is a fan of C's Ware's games, or if they know any more useful information about these games, please let me know in the comments below. I'm always interested to know more so I can spread the word to other interested parties.