Updated on October 20 by Mark Sammut: I've decided to shake up this article by ranking the AO-rated games, along with adding new images, a fresh intro, and other changes.

AO-rated games are weird. They are rare and mostly consist of not-so-great titles, but they still kind of feel like a strange holy grail. Packed with extreme violence and other inappropriate content for younger age groups, Adult Only games go where few console releases dare to tread; consequently, whenever one comes around, we get a bit excited to learn how they might have pushed the envelope (before they were edited down to an M).

There hasn't been an actual AO game in a long time, as modern projects that would qualify tend to stick to PC and Steam, where an ESRB rating isn't required. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if more R-rated games are being released right now than ever, even if none of them are officially labeled as such. Still, let's go through all the major Rated A Games, ranking them based on quality while diving a bit into their history.

Technically, the following games didn't officially receive an AO rating, but I'm including them as they were going to receive one:

The Entertainment Software Rating Board was formed in 1994 following a media blitz criticizing a few controversial games like Night Trap . Its goal is to review and rate games, granting them one of 5 scores: Everyone, Everyone 10+, Teen, Mature 17+, and Adults Only 18+.

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