Pokémon Ecchi Version

This week, I found a game that proved difficult to actually obtain, but I had heard much of it.  If any game is proof that someone needs to do showcase reviews to help others safely find and download these games, then let this one be the one.  Much of the sources I found to obtain the game were sketchy at best, others were pure vile.  It took hours to find (more on that later) a legitimate means to obtain it.  However, the game is pretty much fully functional with new content being teased and updated via Twitter and Discord. Difficulty of obtaining it aside, however, it's a good game, even if you are more interested in just new Pokémon romhacks (Note: This game is standalone, not a romhack, so it uses a .exe to play).  So let me introduce to you, Pokémon Ecchi Version.

This game is Pokémon, plain and simple.  If you like Pokémon, it's got the mechanics in place and is fully playable.  In terms of inclusiveness, you don't get to choose your gender or your starter, instead being Allie (you can name her) and having your Cyndaquil you brought from Johto. But this does limit the mechanics quite a bit as you can only currently "take advantage" of other females, both via a Strap-on key item and the male Pokémon currently on the field when you KO the last trainers Pokémon.  This means male trainers cannot be taken advantage of and female Pokémon are entirely useless in terms of sexual content as far as I can tell.  This may change in the future as the dev seems more interested in making the Pokémon aspect before focusing on the Ecchi aspect.  What is there will certainly get the job done, just don't expect it to be Oscar worthy performances.  The biggest issue currently is the general sex scenes which are a bit boring, being just a single plain (yet well drawn) set of images with a simple animation (the sprite just moves left and right) with boob physics accompanied with slapping sound effects, although the field scenes look good (triggered via "Fuck" option in the party or activated after key battles like Gym Leaders and Rival battles).  There are other scenes you can come across with fully written out story as well as pictures, and some of which provide money or items (like blowing a breeder to get a Lucky Egg).  Of course, this game is still being worked on, new features like a Dating mechanic and new animations are being showcased via the devs Twitter account, but I think she's doing a fine job focusing on the strong foundation of a functional game before trying to pretty things up.  I saw a mention as well that this is only the first half with an intention to flip the script with a male counterpart that has a whole new adventure in a new region, leading to both characters being able to go to the next region as an end-game content similar to Gold and Silver going to Kanto after clearing Johto.

That said, I don't want to give the impression that the game is bad in its current state.  Far from it.  What this game lacks in the sex animation, they made up for with actual gameplay elements.  Normally, a dev would opt for "You lose, you get raped" and call it a day.  But Hinoarashi actually made it one of the key features of this game from NPC's reacting differently based on whether you are clothed or naked both positively (some shops give discounts) or negatively (unable to face some gym leaders) or if you run around in the wild like a wild child, you will face stronger wild male Pokémon.  While I haven't seen much level difference in testing, I've noticed the level ranges seem to spawn closer to the upper levels, so an area that has 4-8's will opt to spawn 6-8 more, but it seems that this effect is more noticeable on static Pokémon.  I did a quest where I had to stop a Pikachu which was repeatable, fought the first one naked and it was level 25 and caught it, then did the sex option (still naked, but no battle) which captured it at level 20.  The biggest event to beware of though is the Alpha Pokémon, which are certain Pokémon that spawn on the overworld and chase after you.  This took me by total surprise when my little team of ~6's walked into the right hand route from the starting town where we got jumped by a level 12 Mightyena that proceeded to tear my team apart before he had his way with me.  These Pokémon are extremely powerful, packing moves you don't expect.  I barely managed to catch a Tauros who came at me at level 18 and he was packing the Sheer Force ability (buffs moves with additional effects but negates those effects) and the moves Rock Climb (can confuse), Rock Slide and Zen Headbutt (can flinch) and then just Earthquake.  And their level isn't tied to route, but they seem to scale to your team.  So if you want a challenge or to get some god-tier Pokémon, run around naked for a while, you'll get something.

Still, that's just the beginning, as the game has even more features, new and old.  Every Pokémon Center has a Quest counter where you can take and complete quests for money.  Some actually grant you access to unique Pokémon like a Pikachu with Volt Tackle.  You'll also see some old features brought back such as mining from Diamond and Pearl where you can get items like fossils and evolution stones, or the movie making "battles" from Black2/White2 (how else are you going to become a porn actress playing the part of Flannery as she gets railed by a Charizard?).  And for those who loved decorating their rooms in Gold/Silver, you can buy various furniture around the world for your room.  Although one I was unaware of until I discovered the game comes with an actual manual PDF (which looks VERY official, definitely load that up if you like reading the manuals of games) was "Flirting" which if you hold CTRL before talking to certain male NPC's, you can sometimes be given items like Potions, Pokéballs, Repels, etc.  This game is honestly packed with features that I feel even after this review, I may still be missing or forgetting something.  Not only that, but this review is only being written when I have just lost to the 3rd gym, so likely there is way more content, probably even breeding, that I've yet to unlock.  In fact, playing even more, I came across an actual day event where the Breeder who offers you the Lucky Egg is apparently busy on Tuesdays, as is a girl who is normally in a Pokémon Center (she tells you about the Lucky Egg) and her boyfriend who seems quite lonely without her.  Stuff like that makes the world feel more alive, so if you do play, make sure to check out different areas at different times and different days.

As for the rest of the game, it's got a whole new open region (the starting town is actually in the middle of the map), the music is remixed and original while maintaining the same Pokémon themes we all know.  The story and graphics are reminiscent of Ruby/Sapphire, you and your family moved to Midara from Johto as your father takes over one of the gyms when his old mentor passed away.  Your old friend and rival (granddaughter of said mentor) also came along with you and the two of you decide to take on the gym challenge with your starters, you and your Cyndaquil and your rival and her Charmander.  Oh, and I'm not sure if it's just me, but I feel like the difficulty is actually much higher than your typical Pokémon game.  I've done Nuzlocke's, even randomized, without wiping, yet I've legit whited out on wild Pokémon and trainers in this game.  Of course, I do run around naked, so it could just be that buff being applied.  Either way, it's certainly a challenging game if you want Pokémon but tougher.

So would I recommend it?  Of course, and if not for the 18+ nature of the game, I'd even recommend it to Pokémon fans in general.  It's a great Pokémon game in it's own right and scouring the Twitter of the creator, she's still actively working on the game and adding a dating feature in a future update that was teased as "Soon" as of 6/3/21.

But now that you want to play it, where to get it?  In a moment, but first I'd like to address another one of the main reasons why I started this blog.  There's lots of good games out there, but some shady sites like to post their own links to capitalize on traffic or suckers they can weasel an extra little "bonus" in on.  Because of this, many sites will end up ruining a good, fun game by trying to sell you on their own packager programs or a million ads for random crap trying to impersonate the actual download link but being something entirely different.  So when you try to search for Pokémon Ecchi Version via Google, you'll see lots of articles and sites offering you links to download from, but the actual devs original distribution method is nowhere to be seen.  This happens a lot and if you aren't careful, you could end up being taken for a ride.  Originally when I wrote the rough draft of this review, I intended to give step-by-step instructions on how I ended up getting it and even that was a minefield of nonsense.  So I spent 2 days actually researching the game and dev to see if I could find where it was officially uploaded and I found the devs actual Twitter account. I spent about 6 hours scouring through it to see if there was any mention of "Pick the game up here!" and eventually found their posts about the release and updates where they have just the link unceremoniously dumped.  So I'll be posting the links to both the main game as well as the latest updates here.  I actually enjoyed this game a lot and will be watching this game personally, so whenever there is an update, I'll make sure to pop in here and add/replace links for the game to keep it on the most recent version, but if you want to keep the most up to date yourself, I'd recommend following Hinoarashi's Twitter or Discord.

I would also recommend that you do both updates.  Initially I only did the main game and the 12.24 update, but began seeing errors during battles.  After doing both updates in order, the issues seem to have stopped.  Either way, better to be safe than sorry.

Main Game: Pokemon Ecchi Version

Current Updates:

 12.22.20: Ecchi 12.22 Update

 12.24.20: Ecchi 12.24 Update

If you'd like to follow or support the dev, the best places I could find were Patreon and Twitter.  The dev also has their own Discord server as well where they post about the updates (had to scour their Twitter for that one as well)

Patreon: Hinoarashi's Patreon

Twitter: Hinoarashi's Twitter

Discord: Hinoarashi's Discord Server