Video games - Tokimeki Memorial

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	Video games - Tokimeki Memorial

Tokimeki Memorial is a popular dating simulation series by Konami. It consists of 6 main games, Tokimeki Memorial, Tokimeki Memorial 2, Tokimeki Memorial 3 ~ Yakusoku no Ano Basho de ~ (At the Place we Promised), Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side, Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 2nd Kiss, and Tokimeki Memorial Online, in addition to a large number of spinoffs. The games are notable in the dating sim genre for being highly nonlinear. Their nickname amongst their fans is the contraction TokiMemo.

Tokimeki Memorial's relatively high degree of exposure in the West is probably the reason why the term "dating sim" became used to refer to all romantic anime games.

The gameplay in Tokimeki Memorial focuses on scheduling, dating and stat-building. The player must organize his time between asking out members of the opposite sex and developing his abilities at school and sport (with the long-term goal of becoming more seductive, not out of any intrinsic value). Dates are frequent but very brief, with usually only one multiple-choice question to determine whether your partner's love meter will increase or decrease. One playthrough lasts for a fixed period of 3 years of high school (on the order of 5-10 hours of play), at the end of which the character with the highest love meter confesses their love. None of the games in the series contain erotic elements.

Tokimeki Memorial was first released for the PC Engine in 1994. It became unexpectedly successful, due to its good graphics and voice acting, and was released again as Tokimeki Memorial ~ forever with you ~ on the PlayStation and the Sega Saturn in 1995 with a new opening video, improved graphics and sound, and new minigames. In 1996 it was released again on the Super Famicom as Tokimeki Memorial ~ Densetsu no Ki no Shita de ~, and although drastically reduced in graphic and sound quality (the only voice clips were available during loading,) included an exclusive CD with a radio drama and new arrangement of the ending theme, Futari no Toki this time sung by the majority of the girls instead of just Shiori Fujisaki (the heroine of the first game). Again, in 1999 the game was re-released on the Game Boy Color in two versions, Tokimeki Memorial Sports Version ~ Kotei no Photograph ~ and Tokimeki Memorial Culture Version ~ Komorebi no Melody ~, dividing 10 of the characters between the two games and adding three new winnable characters, Patricia McGlass, Naomi Munakata, and Kyoko Izumi. The Game Boy Color versions also featured a Beatmania mini-game, compatibility with the Super Game Boy, a screen saver mode, and a two-player versus minigame. In 2004, the game was released once again on mobile phones in Japan, and in 2006 will be remade for the PlayStation Portable portable system. The first game in the series is particularly notable for its "bomb" feature, where neglected, infrequently-dated girls would eventually become angry and gossip to their friends, severely reducing love meters across the board. In the middle of the game, when the number of known girls was high, these "bombs" became the primary concern of the player, forcing careful planning and strategies like round-robin dating. Although the feature was still present in the later games, it was considerably reduced in importance and the difficulty in avoiding it.

SCHOOL: Kirameki High, MAIN CHARACTER: Shiori Fujisaki

Tokimeki Memorial 2 was released for the PlayStation in 1999. It came on 5 CDs, featuring unmatched graphics and voice acting and a groundbreaking "Emotional Voice System (EVS)" where the girls could pronounce the player's name. It also became a big hit in Japan. Its gameplay followed the same template as the first, but with lesser emphasis on bombs and a greater emphasis on solving unique challenges specific to each girl. As a result, a different strategy had to be devised for every playthrough.

SCHOOL: Hibikino High, MAIN CHARACTER: Hikari Hinomoto

Tokimeki Memorial 3, released in 2001 for the PlayStation 2, further pushed the technical limits for dating sims, being the first game to have fully 3-D animated cel-shaded girls. However, many fans were disappointed by the appearance of the girls, which although well-animated did not look as polished as 2d art, as well as by the simplified gameplay system. The game did not sell as well as expected.

SCHOOL: Moegino High, MAIN CHARACTER: Yukiko Makihara

Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side, released in 2002 for the PlayStation 2, is often mistaken by Western gamers to be the first serious attempt by a major industry player to expand the market for ren'ai games to female players, though other games and even entire series existed long beforehand, including Arubarea no Otome, McKenzie & Co
, and most notably KOEI's Angelique (which Konami was most likely attempting to compete with). It reversed the traditional formula, featuring a cast of bishounen. It also had several "girl-oriented" features like choosing fashion accessories and decorating your room.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Tokimeki Memorial ]

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Video games - Tokimeki Memorial

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