Variable Geo

Japanese 2D fighting game/eroge series

Variable Geo (ヴァリアブル・ジオ), also known as V. G., is a Japanese 2D fighting game / eroge series developed and published by TGL under their Giga brand. Their Giga brand was used for their home computer games while their TGL brand was used for their console games. The game series focuses on an all female martial arts competition where participants are required to promote various family restaurants by acting as waitresses when not fighting. Takahiro Kimura was responsible for designing the characters in V. G. and V. G. II.

Set in a near future version of Japan, the games tell the story of a martial arts tournament created to determine the country's strongest woman. The tournaments are sponsored by a number of family restaurants, who in exchange for their sponsorship, are given promotion in the form of having a tournament entry work as a waitress. As a result of the popularity of the tournaments, the restaurants experience a boom in patronage. The winner of the tournament is awarded the title "Virgin Goddess", as well as a large cash prize of ten billion yen, and a house erected anywhere on the planet she should choose. However, when a given waitress is defeated, she will be forced to publicly strip herself of her own clothing (self fondling and public masturbation may be forced upon the loser, and in the most extreme cases, the loser is raped/gang raped, either in private or in front of an audience), in order to teach the so called "true" shame of defeat. In spite of such humiliation, the tournaments often draw many competitors, each placing her pride and her dreams on the line as she battles for the top.

Gameplay in the Variable Geo fighting games utilizes a four button layout (two button layout in V. G. MAX), with two buttons each for punches and kicks of differing strength and speed. Special moves are initiated by keying in various movements using the control pad or joystick and punctuated with the press of one of the punch or kick buttons. Later games would add a special meter (identical to the system that was standardized by Super Street Fighter II Turbo) that would fill as the player inflicts or receives damage. Filling the bar would result in a stock of "Energy" being acquired, which could either be used for one of a number of enhanced super special attacks, or saved for later use in the match. Some moves also require more than one Special Stock to be acquired before being able to use them. Both characters begin any given fight with a full health bar that is depleted as they take damage from attacks. The first character to have her health completely depleted is the loser. In a single player game, defeating a CPU controlled character yields a reward, showcasing the defeated character in an imaginary situation where she is either forced to commit an embarrassing (usually sexual) act in public or private, or is raped by an unseen assailant or assailants. This feature is present only in the PC 98 and Windows PC titles, as well in the Sega Saturn version of Advanced V. G. (although toned down compared to the computer versions) and can be switched off in the games' settings menu.

Writing in Viz Media's online magazine, J pop, Ted Thomas reviewed Advanced V. G. and recommended that the game is not worth importing. Another review from the same publication for the first OVA noted that the series includes various lesbian characters, along with themes about "DNA manipulation, demonic possession, mind control, and body altering drugs." The review also said that the animation is sparse and said that while they enjoyed the series, it is "full of all the guilty pleasures only anime can provide." Advanced V. G. 2 in particular have received competitive support from the fighting game community, being featured at Evo Japan 2020.