Custer's Revenge

Platform: Atari 2600
Publisher: Mystique, 1983
Developer: Mystique/American Multiple Images

There's little to defend in Custer's Revenge, other than the fact that it serves as a remarkable example of just how early video game controversies existed and how controversy alone can sometimes make a game--but not always. The Atari 2600 game shipped in the early '80s and pushed all the wrong (or possibly right) buttons. The gameplay, graphics, and technical merit of the game were so bad, that were it not for the explicit nature of the game, it's doubtful anyone would even remember it.

In the game, you played as a comic facsimile of General George Armstrong Custer, the infamous 19th-century military officer who contributed to a seedier side of American history until he met his (and his entire unit's) death at Little Big Horn in 1876 at the hands of Native Americans. As the game version of Custer, you embarked on little more than a rape romp, as you ran literally across the screen from "enemy" arrows toward a Native American woman strapped to a pole. Once there, Custer would get it on with (or, according to many critics, "rape") the woman for points. Game over.

This screenshot speaks for itself.

Author Tom Moriarty reported in the October 1983 issue of Videogaming and Computergaming Illustrated ("Uncensored Videogames: Are Adults Ruining It For The Rest Of Us?") that in October 1982, outside the New York Hilton, where retailers and the press were gathered to see Custer's Revenge, "250 women and men gathered to protest that activity." Kristen Reilly, a leading member of Women Against Pornography, organized the protesters, with help form the National Organization for Women (NOW) and the American Indian Community House. Reilly told Moriarty, "The game features an enactment of a white male, General Custer, ravishing an Indian Woman who is tied to a post. Once there was a lot of furor over the game, the company (American Multiple Industries) denied that it was rape. They claimed that it was mutually consenting visual images, which is really asinine."

Being that console games were so new to the public, angry protesters and disenchanted parents weren't entirely sure where to point their fingers in the case of Custer's Revenge. Many pointed at Atari, holding the console maker responsible. According to Moriarty's article, Atari filed a lawsuit against AMI/Mystique for "wrongful association" of Custer's Revenge to the Atari 2600.

While Custer's Revenge sat in court and (if it sold at all in retail venues) sat behind the counter, Mystique released two additional "X"-rated games. One was Beat 'Em and Eat 'Em, somewhat styled after Kaboom, only giving way to another sexual-antics-for-scoring play motif. Bachelor Party was the other, involving hitting on women in mass quantities. Mystique closed its operations shortly after the release of Bachelor Party.

Castle Wolfenstein and Wolfenstein 3D

Platforms: Apple ii, Commodore 64, Atari 800, PC, Mac, Xbox, PlayStation 2
Publisher: Muse, 1981; Apogee 1992; Activision 2001
Developer: Muse, id Software, Grey Matter Studios

Where it all began.

The first appearance of Castle Wolfenstein was as an 8-bit game in which you worked your way through "rooms" of the castle killing Nazis or fleeing from them, when possible. In the DOS version, the Nazis wore yellowish uniforms with swastikas on their chests. It was rudimentary, but it established the storyline and tone that would remain with the game through its lifetime.

Wolfenstein 3D was created by id software in the early 90s, influenced by the old Muse game. It is credited by many as a game that launched first-person shooters into what they are today. In the game, as William "BJ" Blascowicz, your goal was to shoot Nazis--as many as you could--and this was fun and well executed. But it was also extremely violent. The Nazis would emote violently (in German) when hit by your bullets. Also note that the PC version of Wolfenstein 3D came out around the same time that Mortal Kombat was being scrutinized by congress (1993)--perhaps violence critics were too busy with MK to note the level of violence in Wolfenstein. Germany did ban the game entirely, but because of the Nazi symbols, not the level of violence.

In November 2001, to the excitement of fans who had anticipated a sequel for years, Activision released Return to Castle Wolfenstein, built on the Quake III engine on the PC. The game was later released on PS2 and Xbox. Germany banned the subsequent releases of Wolfenstein as well.