Shuttlecock-H is the most explicit sexy game on Switch – and actually worth playing
Several publishers have very much been pushing the boundaries of what they can get away with in terms of adult content on Nintendo Switch, to varying degrees of success. One of those publishers is eastasiasoft, who, among other things, have previously brought us the excellent Pretty Girls series from Zoo Corporation. Today, we take a look at Shuttlecock-H, which is, so far as I’m aware, one of the most explicit lewd games on the platform.
This is actually a little bit of a departure for eastasiasoft. Like several other titles in their recent history, Shuttlecock-H has its origins as a lewd game for Windows PC, but unlike previous ports such as Sofiya and the Ancient Clan (Sexcraft – Sofiya and the Lewd Clan on PC) and Plunderer’s Adventures (Plunderers Adventures: Sea of Whores on PC) the sexy content has been left intact.
For those who care about such things, it is worth noting that both the PC and Switch versions of Shuttlecock-H feature graphics that cover up genitals and there’s no visible penetration in the erotic scenes, but the Live2D-style animation leaves absolutely no question as to what is going on. And, to be clear, what is going on is sexual intercourse. Bonking. Banging. Boffing. Boning.
That’s probably enough to get some of you to rush off and buy Shuttlecock-H immediately, but for those of you who need a little more convincing, I’m pleased to report that unlike the aforementioned Sofiya and the Ancient Clan and Plunderer’s Adventures, both of which were kind of pump, Shuttlecock-H is actually an enormously entertaining game that you’ll have a lot of fun with while it lasts.
Essentially it’s a shoot ’em up without the shooting. You control a little ship and you have to dodge enemies and bullets for a series of self-contained levels, each of which have a fixed duration and a learnable (albeit in some cases semi-randomised) layout of enemies and bullets. Survive the stage and you can move on to the next, in which the girl standing at the side of the screen is wearing fewer clothes. Simple.
A little extra complexity is added to the mix by the present of heart pickups that appear throughout the level. Some of these appear in fixed locations, while others will bounce around the screen. There are 30 in each stage, and in order to truly master Shuttlecock-H, you’ll need to snag all of them.
Crucially for those who just want to get to the lewd, though, you don’t have to get all of them to progress. So long as you have 60 in total by the midpoint of each “world” (which marks a point at which they change their pose) and 150 by the final stage (which is where you get down and dirty), you’ll see everything. The additional hearts are there to provide some replay value and longevity to the game beyond simply seeing some steamy scenes.
Good job, too, because some of the hearts can be pretty tricky to grab — and if you take a hit, all on-screen hearts will disappear, meaning you can’t grab them on that playthrough of the level. Fortunately, you can make life slightly easier for yourself with your ship’s “boost” function, which also acts as a magnet that attracts the hearts. You can only use it for a short period at a time, but that brief window is often enough to bring one or more hearts within more easy reach.
It’s extremely simple and dumb, and the erotic content has precisely nothing to do with the actual gameplay, but that’s what makes Shuttlecock-H rather endearing.
Although presented with modern high-definition visuals, it reminds me very much of the sort of thing you’d play on a classic Japanese home computer like the PC-88 or PC-98; there were plenty of games there that also featured completely gratuitous erotic content that had absolutely nothing to do with the gameplay, and no-one complained then. Well, someone probably did, but the fact remains that games like Aya-chan World most certainly exist.
In fact, I’d go so far to say that I think Shuttlecock-H would have been even better if it had been deliberately designed in a low-resolution pixel art style to specifically pay homage to these classic home computers and the saucy delights they played host to.
There’s a lot of fondness for the distinctive visual style of these old platforms among erotic game enthusiasts, so it would be great to see more developers taking specific advantage of this by making “new PC-98 games”. We already see it in the non-lewd space with titles like the widely beloved VA-11 HALL-A, so why not in the 18+ space too? Food for thought.
Anyway, as stupid as it is, Shuttlecock-H is genuinely worth playing. Its levels are well-designed and balanced, and there’s a good escalation of difficulty as you progress through the three girls’ stages. The actual gameplay is smooth and responsive, and genuinely good training for those who want to get to grips with the “dodging” side of bullet hell games. There’s plenty of variety, too; it’s rare to see levels repeat the same gimmicks, as simply combining enemy types in different ways makes for a markedly different feel.
One peculiar thing is that after you beat the “main” game, you unlock what the game refers to as “CR Levels”. “CR” stands for “Covered Rematch” and refers to the original PC version’s separate all-ages rerelease, in which the girls do not strip at all and, by extension, there are no sex scenes. The levels that accompanied this version were different to the original game, too, so including them in this Switch port provides some extra longevity.
Given that the Switch version already features full nudity and erotic scenes, though, it’s strange that these unlockable levels persist with the “Covered” part of the all-ages release. After seeing full-on boning in the main game, it doesn’t feel like much of a reward for the bonus levels to completely lack erotic content; it surely wouldn’t have taken much to simply reuse the art and animations from the main game, and if the developers really wanted to go above and beyond they could have added some new outfits (or even a colour variation) for some variety.
Ultimately it doesn’t matter too much, but for a game that clearly wants to push the boundaries of erotic content on Switch, it seems peculiar that its unlockable content is so flaccid in comparison to the main event. Still, this aside, Shuttlecock-H is a great, genuinely enjoyable game. The gameplay is fun, the art is nice, the erotic animations are excellent and the soundtrack is an absolute banger. So I call that a win.
Shuttlecock-H is available now for Nintendo Switch.
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