History PeripheryDemographic / VideoGames

* The otherwise forgettable SNES game ''Speedy Gonzales: Los Gatos Banditos'' is popular among developers and testers of SNES emulators, since it features an obscure bug that only occurs on emulators and requires a perfectly accurate SNES emulator to work properly, and thus it is used as a test of emulator accuracy.

* ''VideoGame/YokaiWatch'' is a children's series, and indeed, it's very popular with kids in its homeland of Japan, to the point of baffling adults--indeed, Japanese kids have said they prefer it to the [[MonsSeries similar]] ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'' because Pokemon is too popular with adults, and ''Yokai Watch'' is uniquely "theirs." Once the series made it to the West, however, it quickly developed a fandom of the same Pokemon-loving young adults.

* There are two types of fans of the ''VideoGame/WWEVideoGames'' series. The first would obviously be wrestling fans, teen and preteen boys, older men and women, who enjoy the characters, the spectacle, even the athleticism as if it were a real sport. Then there are the second type of fan: the ones who see the [[Franchise/StarWars Stormtrooper]] helmet in {{CAW}} mode and think, "Hey let's see how well I can make this character up." These are the ones who see the matches and the booking and the writing and think they can do better and actually set out to do so. There are also the ones who just want to be able to play a real DreamMatchGame and instead of it being just sporting legends or just comic characters or just Nintendo icons, you can have Samus, Connor, Jon Snow, McCree, Ken, Scorpion, Leliana, Picard, Jin, Joel, Cloud, Gordon Ramsey, Kusanagi, Mal, Nemesis, Liara, Osama, Chloe, Joker, Sweetwater, Nightmare...

* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' is targeted at children, but has quite the community where most of the people on it are adults or teenagers. Some fans even remark that the reason Animal Crossing became popular with the community is because it's meant for children but has no violence, so kids shy away from it. Furthermore, an article showed that within a year in New Leaf's release, the game was mostly popular with women in their 20s.[[http://www.siliconera.com/2013/01/08/satoru-iwata-on-animal-crossing-sales-56-of-players-are-female/]]

* The rather... complicated storylines, the dozens of MrFanservice guys and the ''buttloads'' of ShipTease (either {{het}} or HoYay, as well as some bits of LesYay) has made ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' '''extremely''' popular among female players. It does help that it's among the LongRunners, therefore many of the ladies who play it now likely grew up watching other people playing the earlier games.

* Surprisingly, despite skimpy costumes and fanservice, ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'' has quite a few female fans in the west. After all, clothing or lack of it doesn't make a game good or bad - and women play games too, straight or [[LesYay not]].

* Believe it or not ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' was originally aimed at a male, or at least neutral, demographic. The first few titles didn't even have female protagonists, or they got shafted compared to the men (in that a game with a female player character would end after they got married). You wouldn't know this by the fandom, which consists mostly of (pre)teen girls and young women. The fact the games have increasingly have CastFullOfPrettyBoys you can marry doesn't help, along with the farming and animal aspects.

* The ''Franchise/NancyDrew'' computer games were developed with the intention of getting younger girls interested in gaming and technology ([=HerInteractive=], the company who makes them, originally had the slogan "For girls who aren't afraid of a mouse.") However, because the series is well-written, designed to be [[SceneryPorn aesthetically beautiful,]] and just plain good, they've developed several peripheries, including college-age and adult women (who've grown with the series over the past decade,) and a large number of boys and men (many of whom simply like point-and-click adventure games, a genre that's not currently booming.) [=HerInteractive=] quickly caught on and changed their slogan to "Dare to Play" in response.

* There are two types of fans of the ''VideoGame/WWEVideoGames'' series. The first would obviously be wrestling fans, teen and preteen boys, older men and women, who enjoy the characters, the spectacle, even the athleticism as if it were a real sport. Then there are the second type of fan: the ones who see the [[Franchise/StarWars Stormtrooper]] helmet in {{CAW}} mode and think, "Hey let's see how well I can make this character up." The ones who see the matches and the booking and the writing and think they can do better and actually set out to do so. The ones who just want to be able to play a real DreamMatchGame and instead of it being just sporting legends or just comic characters or just Nintendo icons you can have Samus, Connor, Jon Snow, McCree, Ken, Scorpion, Leliana, Picard, Jin, Joel, Cloud, Gordon Ramsey, Kusanagi, Mal, Nemesis, Liara, Osama, Chloe, Joker, Sweetwater, Nightmare...

* Creator/{{Nintendo}} is popular not only among much older players than the colorful characters generally are marketed at, but are also the most popular among P.C primarily gamers, who generally prefer it over the other consoles due to their exclusive games, as well as most of their games tending to run at 60 FPS, instead of the 30 FPS that most modern console games target and that PC gamers despise.

* ''VideoGame/TheCaligulaEffect'' was a UsefulNotes/PlaystationVita game aimed at people in their 30s, though it attracted quite a lot of younger fans as well, given the wide variety of deep and very personal subject matter that it tackles.
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* The ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series has many teenage and adult followers as well as child fans, due to nostalgia from the Genesis/Saturn/Dreamcast days, and for the odd bit of GettingCrapPastTheRadar (often concerning [[SpyCatsuit Rouge]]).
** Also, for some reason it's extremely popular among people on the autistic spectrum. And no, that's not a joke... the ''Sonic'' universe has a pretty heavy amount of WorldBuilding to it, and since many of its characters adhere to a homogenized character design (two circles for head and body; stick limbs; just pick a species, add a color and a special ability and you're done), it's easy for people to create their own personas and stick them into the world via fanfiction.

* The ''Franchise/SlyCooper'' franchise has many fans within the UsefulNotes/FurryFandom.

* ''VideoGame/TheCaligulaEffect'' was a [[UsefulNotes/PlaystationVita]] game aimed at people in their 30s, though it attracted quite a lot of younger fans as well, given the wide variety of deep and very personal subject matter that it tackles.

* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' is targeted at children, but has quite a few forums where most, if not all, of the people on it are mature adults or teenagers. Some fans even remark that the reason the community is mature is because it's meant for children but has no violence, so kids shy away from it.

* As a credit to the gameplay, let it be known that ''Franchise/DevilMayCry'', a series of ''single player'' action games, '''''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_DWmuXQ7Qk is tournament worthy.]]'''''

** ''[=SideM=]'' itself also has a bit of a male following, mainly for [[OtokoNoKo Saki]] and the nods to the mainline series, such as the [[TheBusCameBack return of Ryo]].

* ''VideoGame/TheIdolmaster'' is a pop star raising simulation game with an all female cast (That is, until [[WholesomeCrossdresser DS]] and ''THE iDOLM@STER 2'') that was intended for male otaku. However, due to it being very girly, with there being a focus on fashion and the VirtualPaperDoll aspect, songs about girl power, and well, the fact that the cast is all female, there is quite a lot of female fans, especially in the west. Namco even acknowledged this and added three {{bishonen}} male idols as rivals in ''THE iDOLM@STER 2''. Unfortunately, while the female fans were pleased, it provoked a massive backlash against the game from the male {{otaku}} audience, in part because some of the original cast didn't make it into the sequel and the {{Bishonen}} males were [[ReplacementScrappy seen to be "replacing" them]]. Due to the more casual nature, the two mobile games, Cinderella Girls and Million Live, received an even larger female fanbase. Eventually a mobile game called [[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterSideM Side M]] was made, targetted at a female audience. Side M ended up being so popular the servers couldn't handle the traffic at launch. Side M itself also has a bit of a male following, mainly for [[OtokoNoKo Saki]] and the nods to the mainline series, such as the [[TheBusCameBack return of Ryo]].

* ''VideoGame/PopNMusic'' was initially a game intended to be played for couples on dates. It ended up being as hardcore of a RhythmGame as its sister series ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX'' and ''VideoGame/Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing '', with most of its current fanbase playing it by themselves instead of with another person, all while retaining the cute and colorful graphics that may [[SurpriseDifficulty lead the uninitiated to believe that it's an easy game for kids]] (at least once you leave the "Easy"-labeled charts).

* ''VideoGame/TheIdolmaster'' is a pop star raising simulation game with an all female cast (That is, until [[WholesomeCrossdresser DS]] and ''THE iDOLM@STER 2'') that was intended for male otaku. However, due to it being very girly, with there being a focus on fashion and the VirtualPaperDoll aspect, songs about girl power, and well, the fact that the cast is all female, there is quite a lot of female fans, especially in the west. Namco even acknowledged this and added three {{bishonen}} male idols as rivals in ''THE iDOLM@STER 2''. Unfortunately, while the female fans were pleased, it provoked a massive backlash against the game from the male {{otaku}} audience, in part because some of the original cast didn't make it into the sequel and the {{Bishonen}} males were [[ReplacementScrappy seen to be "replacing" them]]. Due to the more casual nature, the two mobile games, Cinderella Girls and Million Live, received an even larger female fanbase. Eventually a mobile game called SideM was made, targetted at a female audience. SideM ended up being so popular the servers couldn't handle the traffic at launch. SideM itself also has a bit of a male following, mainly for [[OtokoNoKo Saki]] and the nods to the mainline series, such as the [[TheBusCameBack return of Ryo]].

* ''VideoGame/PopNMusic'' was initially a game intended to be played for couples on dates. It ended up being as hardcore of a RhythmGame as its sister series ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX'' and ''VideoGame/Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing'', with most of its current fanbase playing it by themselves instead of with another person, all while retaining the cute and colorful graphics that may [[SurpriseDifficulty lead the uninitiated to believe that it's an easy game for kids]] (at least once you leave the "Easy"-labeled charts).

* ''VideoGame/PopNMusic'' was initially a game intended to be played for couples on dates. It ended up being as hardcore of a RhythmGame as its sister series ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX'' and ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'', with most of its current fanbase playing it by themselves instead of with another person, all while retaining the cute and colorful graphics that may [[SurpriseDifficulty lead the uninitiated to believe that it's an easy game for kids]] (at least once you leave the "Easy"-labeled charts).

* Creator/BioWare games have a strong audience of adult women and non heterosexual gamers, and are very aware of it. David Gaider himself gave an epic dressing-down to a straight male gamer who was offended by the very ''idea'' of a GayOption in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' by reminding him that the gaming audience consisted of people who weren't straight, male, or under 35 and that there should be options that reflect that diversity.

* ''VideoGame/TheIdolmaster'' is a pop star raising simulation game with an all female cast (That is, until [[WholesomeCrossdresser DS]] and ''THE iDOLM@STER 2'') that was intended for male otaku. However, due to it being very girly, with there being a focus on fashion and the VirtualPaperDoll aspect, songs about girl power, and well, the fact that the cast is all female, there is quite a lot of female fans, especially in the west. Namco even acknowledged this and added three {{bishonen}} male idols as rivals in ''THE iDOLM@STER 2''. Unfortunately, while the female fans were pleased, it provoked a massive backlash against the game from the male {{otaku}} audience, in part because some of the original cast didn't make it into the sequel and the {{Bishonen}} males were [[ReplacementScrappy seen to be "replacing" them]]. Due to the more casual nature, the two mobile games, Cinderella Girls and Million Live, received an even larger female fanbase. Eventually a mobile game called SideM was made, targetted at a female audience. SideM ended up being so popular the servers couldn't handle the traffic at launch.

* ''Creator/Nintendo'' is popular not only among much older players than the colorful characters generally are marketed at, but are also the most popular among P.C primarily gamers, who generally prefer it over the other consoles due to their exclusive games, as well as most of their games tending to run at 60 FPS, instead of the 30 FPS that most modern console games target and that PC gamers despise.

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' seems to have a load of fans that are among the FurryFandom, and it shows. [[RuleThirtyFour A lot]]. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids It's also very popular with young children,]] since the gameplay is easy to grasp, the characters are distinctive and fairly endearing, and the content, while scary, isn't actually that violent (it's content to [[NothingIsScarier imply graphic violence]] rather than [[TorturePorn actually show it]]).