Sexual content causes Steam-Heart's & Advanced Variable Geo Saturn Tribute to be cancelled for Xbox

Re-releases in the gaming world are something that seems to be getting more and more common, but often they tend to be rather unmotivated productions that are dismissed by gamers as milking franchises. But in between, there are re-releases that feel all the more justified, like Japanese publisher City Connection's upcoming Saturn collection Steam-Heart's & Advanced Variable Geo Saturn Tribute.

The Sega Saturn is a console that had countless hardcore classics that too many unfortunately missed due to the console's commercial failure. A few of the games have been released later (such as Radiant Silvergun for Xbox Live Arcade), but there's a hefty treasure trove of top games we never got to play.

The collection includes both the shoot 'em up title Steam-Heart's (originally released for the NEC PC-98 in 1994, but had its breakthrough with the Saturn version in 1998) and the fighting game Advanced Variable Geo (originally released for the PC Engine in 1994, but had its breakthrough for the Saturn in 1997), and it promises to have modern features like rewind and "Save & Load" to make it easier and save us from restarting every time.

It was supposed to be released for PC, PlayStation, Switch, and Xbox on May 29, but now City Connection has announced a change of plans. It turns out that the game is completely cancelled for Xbox as a result of sex-oriented content. Other versions are not affected, and the publisher writes (translated by Automaton):

"Due to the nature of these games being revivals of works that contain provocative content, we have continued developing them to deliver a common gaming experience across multiple platforms. Although we have repeatedly been adjusting the games' content to meet the various standards of each platform, we've come to the realization that some significant changes to the content of the Xbox version are necessary."

They regret this and still hope to release the game for Xbox in the future if Microsoft decides to relax their regulations, but until then it seems that Xbox players will have to buy other formats if they want to check out Steam-Heart's & Advanced Variable Geo Saturn Tribute.