Custer's Revenge - video game 1982

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Published on October 6, 2022 8:43:27 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZuBVZRpOZg

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Custer's Revenge (also known as Mystique Presents Swedish Erotica: Custer's Revenge) is an adult action game published by American Multiple Industries for the Atari 2600, first released in November 1982. The game gained notoriety owing to its goal of raping a Native American woman.

The titular player character is based on Lieutenant Colonel and Brevet Major General George Armstrong Custer, a famous American cavalry commander who is most well known for his major defeat and death at the Battle of Little Bighorn.

Following the Christmas season of 1982, the rights to American Multiple Industries' games, including Custer's Revenge, were sold off to the adult video game company PlayAround. Under PlayAround's parent company, Castlespring Enterprises, Custer's Revenge was re-branded as Westward Ho for the European market and given slight modifications to its original gameplay. These alterations included simple aesthetic changes such as the darkening in color of the Native American woman's skin tone. PlayAround also made a gender-reversed version of Custer's Revenge named General Retreat. The game was universally panned by critics and has been described as one of the worst video games ever made.

Gameplay
In the game, the player controls the character of Custer, depicted as a man wearing nothing but a cavalry hat, gloves, boots, and a bandana, sporting a visible erection. Custer has to overcome arrow attacks to reach the other side of the screen. His goal is to rape a Native American woman tied to a pole.

In General Retreat, it is the woman who has to overcome various obstacles to have sex with Custer. Instead of arrows, cannonballs are fired at the woman.

Controversy
Custer's Revenge quickly gained notoriety upon its release. Sold in a sealed package labeled "NOT FOR SALE TO MINORS" and selling for $49.95 (equivalent to $140 in 2021), it acknowledged that children might nonetheless see the game. The game's literature stated "if the kids catch you and should ask, tell them Custer and the maiden are just dancing." The makers elected to preview the game for women's and Native American groups, an act that many thought was a publicity stunt.Women's rights groups criticized the game, stating that it was a simulation of rape; the back of the packaging states "she's not about to take it lying down, by George! Help is on the way. By God! He's coming." Other groups such as Women Against Pornography, Native American spokespersons, and critics of the adult video game industry in general protested about the content of the game. Activists pressured legislators to outlaw the game, with Suffolk County voting to ban all "X-rated" games within their jurisdiction,[9] and Los Angeles County voting 3-1 to ban Custer's Revenge alongside American Multiple Industries' other adult-only games Bachelor Party and Beat 'Em & Eat 'Em. Multiple Industries subsequently pursued an $11 million lawsuit against Suffolk County and legislator Philip Nolan "because of a resolution authorizing the county executive to take action to halt sales and distribution" of the game. Oklahoma City, home to a large Native American population, also unanimously passed a resolution condemning the game as "distasteful" and "not in the best interests of the community". While both Ward 1 Councilman Bob McCoy and city attorney Walter Powell sought to block distribution within the city, and Multiple Industries did briefly halt distribution there, it was never officially banned by the city as is sometimes erroneously reported.

Nevertheless, the focused media attention generated publicity for the game and its Streisand effect caused it to sell approximately 80,000 copies, twice as many copies as Bachelor Party and Beat 'Em & Eat 'Em. Atari received numerous complaints about the game however and responded by trying to sue the game's makers. Stuart Kesten, President of American Multiple Industries, stated "our object is not to arouse, our object is to entertain [...] When people play our games, we want them smiling, we want them laughing." The game's designer, Joel Miller, said Custer was "seducing" the maiden and that she was a "willing participant". By April 1983, the game was withdrawn from circulation.