5 of the very best ecchi games for PlayStation Vita

Alas, poor Vita, we barely knew ye… actually, that’s not true at all, because despite everyone complaining about how little Sony supported its little wonder-handheld over the years, the damn thing has still managed to remain relevant to a devoted fanbase for ten years this December — which is not bad going.

Said devoted fanbase is a diverse bunch — but there’s a significant proportion of them who enjoy their ecchi, fanservice fare. And prior to the Nintendo Switch coming around — not to mention Sony doing… whatever they’ve been doing for the last few years — the Vita was the place to be if you enjoyed ecchi games.

So here’s five of the best!

Dungeon Travelers 2

For my money, this is not only the best ecchi game on the Vita, it’s the best game on the Vita, full stop. Dungeon Travelers 2 is a mechanically dense dungeon crawler developed by Sting and published by Aquaplus, Atlus and NIS in various territories around the world.

Don’t be too concerned about the “2” in the title — the game is the spiritual successor to a spin-off of an Aquaplus visual novel called “To Heart 2”, but otherwise has nothing to do with anything that came before, aside from some similarities in aesthetics and character designs.

Dungeon Travelers 2 is an enormous, sprawling game with a wide variety of interesting character classes and party constructions — plus a massive range of character events to discover. There are special events to mark pretty much every possible condition you can think of — from a squad member getting annoyed with you not having her in your active party lineup for a while to another party member being upset that you’re defeating too many enemies she thinks are “cute”.

The ecchi scenes throughout are fun and have a point to them — they represent both the growing intimacy between the protagonist Fried and the girls in his party, and also provide an interesting means of exploring different in-world cultures and their attitudes towards matters such as romance, sexuality and building a family. This is ecchi gaming done right, and should be part of every Vita owner’s library. Now, if only they’d localise that damn sequel…

Criminal Girls: Invite Only

While Criminal Girls: Invite Only saw some controversy from certain quarters due to the notorious “pink mist” being added in the western localisation, this is still a solid, enjoyable RPG with some unusual mechanics and some quality lewd content. And, in fact, in context the pink mist only serves to make some of those scenes look more lewd at times by temporarily obscuring certain details and leaving things to the imagination. (On top of that, when you beat the game, you can look at all the lewd images without anything being obscured — along with a bunch of bonus ones, too!)

For the unfamiliar, Criminal Girls: Invite Only casts you in the role of a caretaker in Hell, and you have been tasked with attempting to rehabilitate a number of delinquents who are being given a second chance at life. The reason for this is that their “delinquency” has an explanation — and in many cases, it wasn’t their fault. As you might expect from such a setup, Criminal Girls ends up dealing with some surprisingly heavy themes in its latter hours, so be prepared for some emotional revelations as you get to know these girls.

The ecchi content primarily comes in the form of the “motivation” sequences, in which you participate in a number of light BDSM-themed minigames in order to develop your bond with the girls and unlock their abilities. The game as a whole is strongly themed around the concept of trust, so the use of sequences inspired by BDSM is a masterstroke — because there are few ways of being intimate with another person that require more trust than BDSM.

The trust concept extends to the mechanics, too; at the outset of the game, none of the girls trust you at all, so it’s very difficult to make them do what you want in battle. But as you develop your relationships with them, they’ll become more and more willing to listen to your suggestions — and even come up with some ideas of their own. It’s a really nice way of making you feel involved with the party of playable characters — and the game as a whole is both enjoyable to play and a lot more thought-provoking than you might expect at first glance.

Monster Monpiece

Sadly only available in digital form in the west — so grab it before Sony shuts down the Vita storefront once and for all, since they’ve already removed it from the Web — Monster Monpiece is the first title in Compile Heart’s Genkai Tokki series, which subsequently gave us the rather fabulous ecchi titles Moero Chronicle and Moero Crystal.

Unlike the latter two games, which are ecchi dungeon crawlers, Monster Monpiece is more of a collectible card game. You’ll collect monster girls as you progress through the game, then battle them against various opponents using a tactical combat system that combines elements of card games and turn-based strategy.

You’ll also power up your cards with an ecchi “rubbing” minigame, which is something you’ll either love or hate, but it’s been a fixture in the Genkai Tokki series since the beginning so you might as well get used to it! This is also the main source of the game’s notoriety; while we’d had ecchi and erotic games prior to this, Monster Monpiece’s 2014 release was the first time a lot of people had come into contact with this sort of content — plus 2014 was a pretty volatile time for talking about games online generally.

The Vita version of Monster Monpiece features multiplayer, which the Windows PC release lacks — though good luck finding a random game these days. If you have a friend you can play with regularly, though, there’s some fun to be had in this regard even after you beat the main single player story.

Senran Kagura Bon Appetit

All the Senran Kagura games on Vita are well worth your time, but the Vita exclusive which stands out — and which is surely ripe for a Switch rerelease at some point — is Senran Kagura Bon Appetit, which provides, in its own words, a Hyper Busty Cooking Battle. In practice, that translates to a saucy rhythm game with some delightful visuals and animations, some fantastic pieces of music — and some quality ecchi content.

In Senran Kagura Bon Appetit, you take on the control of one of the girls from Hanzou, Hebijo, Gessen or Homura’s Crimson Squad and then challenge a series of opponents for cooking supremacy. Each opponent has their own theme song, and beating them in a cooking battle requires you to perform well in a rhythm game across three distinct rounds. And this being Senran Kagura, each round you win results in a layer of clothes exploding off your opponent.

The mechanics are simple but present a good challenge for both rhythm game newbies and veterans — though the people who play at the highest levels of difficulty on games like Project Diva and Groove Coaster may find the game a little easy on the whole — and the game provides plenty to do. Rather than providing nothing but context-free arcade action — which is an option if you so desire — each character also has their own story to follow, which in true Senran Kagura tradition often ends up being surprisingly poignant amid the silliness.

Plus if you absolutely decimate your opponent, you get to see them in a provocative pose covered in whipped cream and chocolate sauce. The perfect dessert.

Tokyo Tattoo Girls

One of the strangest games on Vita — and by far the most “acquired taste” on this list, Tokyo Tattoo Girls is a thoroughly interesting ecchi take on the “casual strategy” subgenre popularised by titles such as Plague Inc. and its numerous imitators.

In Tokyo Tattoo Girls, you’re attempting to take over the various districts of Tokyo, though your main influence on the ongoing conflicts is by applying tattoos to the female characters under your charge — these provide them with benefits and abilities. On the main tactical map screen, you don’t take direct control of the ongoing conflicts; you simply offer large-scale commands and choose the right moment to apply more tattoos, and from there you’ll either succeed or fail.

Tokyo Tattoo Girls is a challenging game that doesn’t explain itself very well, has a clunky interface and certainly doesn’t have the immediacy some of the other games on this list have. But the very fact we got this title in the west at all is worthy of note — and it’s a worthwhile title to have in your Vita library for that reason alone.

Get over the initial learning curve, though, and you’ll find a surprisingly addictive game to enjoy — and those with a thing for the inherent beauty of the female back will be in absolute heaven.

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What are your favourite ecchi games on the Vita? Let us know in the comments and via the usual social channels!

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