Genkai Tokki: Seven Pirates was first released back in 2016 on the PS Vita. Unfortunately, the game only launched in Japan with no localization—up until now, that is. Dropping its “Genkai Tokki” name and adding on an “H” at the end, eastasiasoft has brought Seven Pirates H to the Nintendo Switch for those who have never had the opportunity to play it on the PlayStation handheld.
Story
Seven Pirates H is a game about a pirate girl named Parute Kairi and a perverted pink otter-type monster called Otton. Keeping to the pirate theme, this duo head out on an adventure to hunt for lost treasure in the vast Monsupi Sea. Some of the monster girls they meet during their journey will tag along and join their cause. It’s no surprise the story is average in Seven Pirates H, but it gradually leads up to something sinister.
Gameplay
Slap fan service onto a traditional RPG with a pirate theme and Seven Pirates H might turn up as the outcome. Players traverse the Monsupi Sea by ship and explore its islands searching for event points. Suggestive-looking enemies lurk in the overworld of these islands and players must subdue them to secure their drop items to complete requests.
Exploration
Exploration in Seven Pirates H is divided into two parts: sailing the sea on a ship and exploring the islands. Frequent guessing games must be played with the smaller islands to randomly discover Booby Kin. More of the world map is revealed after completing events and obtaining key items.
Traversing the ocean is simplistic. There’s an option to zoom out and glimpse a larger piece of the map while speeding up the ship. Players will have to search through the ocean for either new islands or event points. Sometimes these event points may reside within requests, an area I mistakenly overlooked because a reward was marked as gold when the true reward was advancing in the game.
Players will find themselves exploring the several islands in the game when not traveling through the sea. Each island is small and it does not take too long to completely explore the entire area. Enemies lurk in the overworld similar to modern RPGs, despite the game’s age. There will be times the game insists you return to previously-explored islands either to finish requests or find hidden story event points.
The charm of Seven Pirates H doesn’t come from its straightforward exploitive gameplay; it comes from the motion of characters while moving in the overworld. There is great detail in the hip and jiggle physics. The player can interchange between characters in the overworld to see each of them advance in their glory. It can become annoying triggering the party leader’s voice each time the area map is opened, though—and it’s a map players are going to want to open regularly to see which parts they have not yet cleared.
Combat
What I feared when beginning to play Seven Pirates H was that fan service would be its only selling point and the combat gameplay wouldn’t provide a challenge. Playing the game has diminished both of these fears of mine. There won’t be anything extravagant in terms of combat mechanics, but the game still manages to offer a satisfactory combat system and a challenging difficulty level to prevent mindless gameplay where fan service is its only driving point.
Seven Pirates H keeps to the customary turn-based combat roots. There isn’t anything special about its combat. Characters learn skills that consume MP, increase their stats through booby training, and duke it out on the battlefield in a party of up to four. Launching an attack or receiving one increases the character’s MP. Gaining MP will often be a struggle. Battles against tougher opponents may take more time than some players may like. Yet, the combat can still be enjoyable if into the classic style.
While combat in this game is basic, the true motivator players may be seeking is the level of fan service during battles. There are unfortunately not many skills in the game, but some take advantage of their respective action scenes to flaunt cleavage and sometimes even underwear. Each “eye candy” character model will be seen on full display, especially at the end of battle. There is a pervy finisher for boss-tier enemies to boot.
Booby Training
While there’s no stripping off clothes in Seven Pirates H, the game still lets players inappropriately feel up the girls virtually and give them control of growing their boobs. This is why some players may prefer to play the game in handheld/tabletop mode for the full experience rather than docking the Nintendo Switch. Such an activity is not limited to only touch controls. The developers have also catered to players who prefer the big screen by substituting the touchscreen for stick controls. It feels weird at first and may take some muscle memory to remember it all, but it’s something that can be warmed up to.
The activity isn’t just for pleasure. Acquiring “training extract” and using it on the girls strengthens their base stats. There are various movement techniques to utilize, which I’m sure most will find desirable. Each of these techniques raises a specific attribute if done right. The girls don’t have any spicy positions while doing the deed, but they react with their voices. So it’s a game where headphones might become the player’s best friend if people are nearby. It’s also comical how the game’s egg mode, a mini game where you crack an egg open with a girl’s boobs to obtain the inner contents, censors what is to be assumed as a viler act.
One of the primary purposes of booby training in this game is to grow each playable character’s boobs. This training can eventually result in the character’s upper body looking unnatural, whether it be exceedingly oversized or longer than usual. The results also reflect on cutscenes and the overworld. If such a sight manages to displease one, know that booby training allows the player to reverse its actions and lower these attributes through the same means rather than lift them.
Post-Game Content
Finishing the main story campaign of Seven Pirates H takes 10-15 hours. Beating the game prompts players the option to choose between starting over from the beginning with partial data or continuing from where they left off with completion data. The latter makes a small amount of additional content accessible. Additionally, it allows the completion of the remaining requests. The additional content isn’t much, but it features a handful of strong enemies and some small-scale events.
Sound
The game’s soundtrack is full of joyful, tropical, and upbeat tunes ranging from average to melodious. The songs played are reminiscent of happy anime girls singing. It makes one feel as though these anime girls are in chibi form, dancing to the beat and singing along.
Some familiar sound effects have been brought over from Moero Crystal H and it’s welcoming to hear most of them again. There is one, in particular, that sounds weirder than the game itself. It’s a recycled sound all of the common enemies make, and it can eventually get tiresome listening to it on repeat.
Conclusion
Everyone loves a good cake with tasty coated icing. Seven Pirates H has all of the basic fundamentals to represent said cake while its fan service covers it in that sweet icing. It’s not a game that heavily relies on its fan service to pull through the gameplay. It does help make the game stand out from its simplistic mechanics but not enough to hide its imperfections.
Seven Pirates H gets a 7/10.
