Today's entry into my Controversial Classics series is heavy on the "Controversial" and light on the "Classic." I'll go ahead and say it's not a game worth defending by any means, but that above must be the best box art ever.It's not a belated April Fools' Joke, no, "Custer's Revenge" is an actual 1982 game for the Atari 2600. There are a surprising number of pornographic games from that period, when you consider just how terrible the games look, sound, and play. There are very few now, (unless you count Japan, like the still-controversial "RapeLay"), which probably has more to do with the high cost of making a serious game now, rather than the presence of a market for this sort of thing. A gameplay video is embedded below, which I must warn you is crude in every sense of the word (well, it's not oil, but--).
If you don't want to see the video, or if you're not very good at charades, "Custer's Revenge" lets you play as a pantsless, erection-sporting General Custer as he evades arrows to rape/maybe-have-consensual-sex-with an Indian woman. That last distinction is important, for this vague depiction of... whatever was most controversial for depicting rape, even though maybe it's not, who can tell with so few pixels?
Wikipedia is a very entertaining source for this story. One cited source from Wikipedia claims that this game "generated many gang rapes of Native American women," following that quote up with a story about a Native American woman who was attacked by two white men, who apparently suggested that she play "Custer's Last Stand" [sic, I guess?] with them while assaulting and I assume raping her. I find many parts of that story bewildering, but let's move right along...
The game went through a number of other versions, including name changes to "Westward Ho," (heh, real funny) "The White Man Came," (dear lord) and a version called "General Retreat" in which the Indian woman apparently chases down Custer to have sex with him (empowering?). Trying to find the right gameplay video on YouTube, I found so many different versions of the same game, I can't even begin to count. The Indian woman was even made to beckon for Custer in later editions of the game, to guard against rape allegations.
As is usual with these controversial classics, the hoopla over the game's content actually served as a boon for those who made it. This was the best-selling game by far made by the porn game developer Mystique (they wouldn't last through the mid-80's game crash, though). I'm kind of sad for everyone involved in this game, including those who protested it so vehemently.
