Cho Aniki (超兄貴 Chō Aniki?, lit. "Super Big Brother") is a Japanese video game series originally developed by Masaya and published by NCS Corp. The first game debuted in 1992 for the PC Engine system. The game's sequels and spin-offs later appeared on the Super Famicom, Wonderswan, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and PlayStation 2. Mainly consisting of side-scrolling shoot 'em up 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, a type of kuso-ge. "Baka-ge" literally means "idiot game" while "kuso-ge" literally means "shitty game" or "shit game". Baka-ge's appeal lies in its campness. Indisputably, the game's aesthetic sense — semi-nude muscular men in suggestive homoerotic poses — is a unique one, certainly a quality that has given the series a cult popularity among Western gamers. Though the graphics are more risqué than pornographic, the series references homosexuality and gay sex more directly and more often than perhaps any other video game series in history.Occasionally, the title is transliterated as "Choaniki", "Chou Aniki", or (erroneously) "Cho Eniki". 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.