In one of the more curious cases of ‘a video game being banned’ in recent memory, the upcoming Hunter X Hunter Nen X Impact fighting game has been denied release in Australia due to it being “refused classification” by the national government’s own ratings board.
Based on the popular manga by Yoshihiro Togashi, Hunter x Hunter Nen x Impact is a 2.5D fighting game wherein two opponents battle it out using a team of three characters, à la Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Dragon Ball FighterZ, as chosen from a relatively small roster of fighters including the Chimera Ant King Meruem, ‘Greed Island’ antagonist Genthru, and of course, Gon himself.
Developed by Eighting Co. Ltd., whose past credits include the aforementioned crossover fighter and the sadly-long-dormant Bloody Roar series, and published in collaboration between Rear Sekai studio Bushiroad Games and Guilty Gear franchise steward Arc System Works, the game was originally slated to release sometime in 2024, but due to a late decision by its production team to add rollback netcode, is now on track to begin cracking heads worldwide sometime in 2025.
That is, everywhere but Australia, where rather than receiving a standard age rating from the country’s national Classification Board, Nen Impact has been “Refused Classification“.
As explained by the Board’s official website, this rating is given exclusively “to films, computer games and publications that cannot be sold, hired, advertised or legally imported in Australia” that “contains content that is outside generally-accepted community standards and exceeds what can be included in the R 18+ and X 18+ ratings.”
To this end, the Board has yet to specifically detail what specific content featured in Nen Impact they believe falls “outside generally-accepted community standards”, with even the ‘Reason for Refused Classification’ section of the game’s official classification page simply reading “For further information regarding the reason for this decision” to “please contact us”.
However, based on the “six classifiable elements” looked at when determining an age rating – “themes, violence, sex, language, drug use, and nudity” – one can speculate that it was either the “violence” of children duking it out (Gon and Killua’s ages range from 12-14 depending on where there game takes place relative to the series’ timeline) or the “drug use” related to the series’ fictional D² narcotic, a widely-used ‘superdrug’ whose manufacturing plant is visited (and has its guard staff trashed) by Gon, Killua, and Kite during the Chimera Ant Arc, that drew the ire of the Australian government.
While Aussie fans may have to sit this one out thanks to their government, as noted above, those living in other countries can enter the ring and test their Nen mastery when Hunter x Hunter Nen Impact hits the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and PC platforms sometime in the new year.
[UPDATE: In response to a request for details from Japanese media-centric news outlet Automaton, the Australian Classification Board revealed that the reason for the game’s ban was its featuring of “sexual violence against characters under the age of 18 by an adult male character.”
Though the government did not provide explicit details as to which specific characters or actions warranted this decision, it’s currently presumed that their issue stems from Hisoka, who in the series regularly makes suggestive comments and gestures towards both Killua and Gon.]