Developer(s) Mystique Platform(s) Atari 2600 Genre(s) Adult, Western | Publisher(s) Mystique Release date(s) NA: September 23, 1982 Mode(s) Single-player | |
Custer's Revenge (also known as Westward Ho and The White Man Came) is an adult video game produced by Mystique for the Atari 2600. First released on September 23, 1982, the game gained significant notoriety for its explicit portrayal of the rape of a Native American woman.
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The titular player character is based on famous American Civil War commander General George Armstrong Custer, who is most well known for his major defeat at the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Following the North American video game crash of 1983, Mystique was unable to stay in business. As a result, many of Mystique's intellectual properties, including Custer's Revenge, were sold off to the adult video game company Playaround. Under the ownership of Playaround, Custer's Revenge was re-branded as Westward Ho and given slight modifications to its original game-play. These alterations included simple aesthetic changes such as the darkening in color of the Native American woman's skin tone. Playaround also made a version of Custer's Revenge named General Retreat.
Gameplay
In the game, the player controls the character of Custer, depicted as a man wearing nothing but a cavalry hat, 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 naked Native American woman tied to a pole.
In General Retreat, it is the woman who has to overcome various obstacles to rape 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 (the most expensive Atari 2600 game in the market), 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 which some 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 video game industry in general protested about the game. Activists tried pressuring legislators to outlaw the game, which Oklahoma City, Oklahoma did. Multiple Industries pursued an $11 million lawsuit against Suffolk County, New York and legislator Philip Nolan "because of a resolution authorizing the county executive to take action to halt sales and distribution" of the game.
Nevertheless, the focused media attention caused the game to sell approximately 80,000 copies, twice as many copies as Mystique's other adult-only games, 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 (Mystique), 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." Ultimately, the game was withdrawn from circulation.
In 2008, the University of Calgary professor Tom Keenan cited "the hideous Custer's Revenge game", 26 years after its release, in an op-ed piece about current video game violence issues for the Calgary Herald. That same year, the game was credited by Australian PC Magazine as being one of the worst games ever made, while Games.net ranked Custer's victim as fifth on the list of top ten "disturbingly sexual" game characters. In 2010, Custer placed eighth on machinima.com's list of the top perverts in gaming. UGO.com ranked it as tenth on the list of the most racist video games in history in 2010, also ranking the game's General Custer as the second most unsexy video game character of all time in 2012.
Legacy
In the South Park episode "You're Getting Old" (season 15), an arcade machine for Custer's Revenge appears in the background during Randy's musical performance at the bowling alley.