Source: Bushiroad Co., Ltd.
Hunter x Hunter, the first full-fledged fighting game, has no age restriction in Australia and was effectively banned before its release.
On November 18, 2024, the Australian Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts rejected the age restriction for the fighting game adaptation of the popular anime Hunter Future releases of the game were banned in the country.
According to Australia’s official classification website, if a product is refused classification in Australia, it cannot be sold, employed, advertised or legally imported. As such, material that is denied classification may contain content that “deviates from generally accepted community standards” and may also include content that “deviates from generally accepted community standards” and “includes R 18+ and X 18+ ratings.” It may also contain content that goes beyond the scope of the content.
The website doesn’t say why HunterxHunter NenxImpact was given Rejected Status, but a spokesperson for the Australian Classification Board said the game “contains scenes of visual depictions of implicit sexual violence.” Adult males will not expose themselves to anyone under the age of 18.
The adult male mentioned by the spokesperson could be a reference to Hisoka Morrow, the polarizing character from Hunter Hunter. Hisoka Morrow has quite a problematic characterization thanks to his role as one of the series’ antagonists. Hisoka isn’t exactly known for his ethics, and is an overall creepy character due to his sadomasochistic tendencies.
The reference to adult men “exposing themselves” refers to the episode in the Greed Island arc of Hunter Hunter where the main characters Killua and Gon (whose legal age in the movie is 12 years old) are carried to a lake where Hisoka is naked. Maybe there is. The person you face when you are bathing and when called. Maybe this scene is also included in the game.
Australia is famous for its strict classification and censorship laws regarding media and games that may contain potentially offensive content. Notable titles that received Classification Refusal ratings include Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, South Park: The Stick of Truth, and even Silent Hill: Homecoming ” and so on. These games were later censored and re-released to comply with Australian classification standards.
On that note, HunterxHunter NenxImpact was just pushed back from its original 2024 release date in September of this year, so there’s still time to fix the banned scenes. HunterxHunter NenxImpact is scheduled to be released in 2025 for PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
