"Hiei of the Makai! presents: A Yu Yu Hakusho game!": Memories of Early 2000s YYH Fan Content
Do any of the early 2000s fans (who also had internet) of YYH remember the "Hiei of the Makai" (H.o.t.M) dating game? Pretty sure it released in 2000-2001. Back when anime fan content was hosted on Angelfire/Geocities/Webspawner.
You'd choose your clothes and a date scenario, sometimes you'd end up on a date with Kurama or even Yusuke. It was all a choose your own adventure format and I played it SOOOOO much when I was in high school lol.
If you played it right, you ended up on a huge adventure into Demon World and even then you could end up on a date with pretty much anyone. I remember it making me laugh because the way to successfully push the story forward was to watch Titanic of all things with Hiei LOL. He'd walk out of any of the other movie choices, but with Titanic, he delighted in all the people dying at the end.
From there he'd get into a fight and both of you get pulled into Demon World and fight demons with him before being taken back home.
The third date is what takes the huge turn when Yukina ends up being killed, making Hiei seek vengeance. If you played it right, you ended up finding Yomi and getting trained in using your spirit energy. This training made you able to save the day in the final conflict, and the ultimate ending was the smut finish with Hiei.
After a while, I'd just explore the pages since it was all sequential and I'm pretty sure the person who made it compiled hundreds of pages for this. Thinking back, it really was a labor of love for whoever the author was - especially since web design was pretty new still. Unfortunately at this point, most of the pages are broken or aren't archived. The original site is gone.
I've tried to find this old game and finally was able to via the Wayback Machine. I also found plenty of references and even found a Mobile Suit Gundam Wing version that directly credits the creator for their game.
The person had a guest book set up for people to leave feedback and LOL weebs really haven't changed much in the last 20 years. I love it. This is their main website, and they had so much stuff on there! MP3 rips, doujinshi, fanfics, photo galleries, you name it!
If anyone knows who made that game, or if the creator somehow comes across this. I just wanna say, you rule and thank you for what you brought to the table. It truly was a unique piece of fan content and I really played it A LOT. Also would love to come across others who played this, too~
At this point, I actually have a file with a TON of old Angelfire anime sites that are still up and running because, for me, it's a nice piece of personal history. Finding these old sites has been a cool way to connect with my inner child.
For fun, here are some links to the kind of sites you'd have to browse in the early 2000s to get your anime content. It's not for everyone, but it's a cool bit of history and might be nostalgic for other folks who remember sites like these!
Outlaw Star
Yu Yu Hakusho
YYH 2
Fruits Basket
General Fan Site
"Sasami's Shrine of Cuteness" (Tenchi Muyo!)
Chobits
General Fan Site (Tenchi & Evangelion)
Web Archive of Planet Namek
DBZ
Berserk
.dot hack//sign RPG
General Fan Site (CardCaptors, OLS, etc)
Here's a list of links I found that go to other sites as well, not all of them work, but you get the idea.
andulkaphoto
jbbartram-illu
yousharknotpass
annaxmalina
pixelskylines
vaporwave
kianamaiart
blakekathryn
gummygunk