is a Japanese video game series originally developed by Masaya and published by NCS Corp. The first game was released in 1992 for the PC Engine system. The game's sequels and spin-offs later appeared on the Super Famicom, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, WonderSwan, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. Mainly consisting of side-scrolling shoot 'em ups in the vein of Gradius, the Cho Aniki series is best known for its homoerotic overtones, wacky humor and vivid, surreal imagery. Most of the games have never seen release outside Japan. For various reasons, the popularity of the Cho Aniki games has endured since the series' debut. Highlights of the various games include in-game music, innovative control schemes, or sheer kitsch value. In Japan, these games are examples of baka-ge, which literally means "idiot game" whose appeal lies in its campiness. The rights to the series are currently owned by Extreme Co., Ltd., which had obtained the rights of NCS Corp. and Masaya products and trademarks. Video games Cho Aniki Cho Aniki is the first game in the Cho Aniki series. Ai Cho Aniki was the sequel to Cho Aniki developed by Masaya and also released for the Super CD-ROM². In this game, players control Samson and Adon directly. A key difference in the control scheme of Ai Cho Aniki is that instead of rapidly pressing buttons as a means of firing at enemies, players now had to input intricate button combinations, Street Fighter-style. By and large, Cho Aniki and Ai Cho Aniki play very similarly. In this game, Bo Empress Conscious (Bo Tei Conscious, a pun for "body-conscious") raises the Neo Builder Army to fight Idaten and Benten. However, the two fall in love and elope. This leaves Samson and Adon to fight the new threat, Su Emperor Roid (SuTeiRoid, a pun on "steroid"). This time Taku Iwasaki scored the soundtrack. On release, Famicom Tsūshin scored the PC Engine version of the game a 24 out of 40, giving it a 7 out of 10 in their Reader Cross Review. The game was released on Nintendo's Virtual Console service in 2007 in Japan. Cho Aniki Bakuretsu Ranto-hen is a departure from the typical Cho Aniki formula has characters from previous games — heroes and villains alike — battling in one-on-one fights. Playable characters include the following: Idaten, a warrior with long spiked hair who uses a variety of attacks with his body. Benten, who