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29-477: Following the 1994 hit success of Tokimeki Memorial , NEC Interchannel initiated a cooperation between Tabeta Toshio and the main staff of the Graduation series with game production house Marcus in an attempt to produce a "Tokimeki-like" game. While the six central characters were cast by Seiji Productions, the remaining six were considered unconventional for the time in that they were selected for public appeal. At

58-690: 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). A fan translation of this version into English, re-titled Heartthrob Memorial: Under the Tree of Legends , was released in March 2022. In 1999, the game was ported again to 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

87-539: A video essay by Tim Rogers gained attention, and a fan translation of the Super Famicom port was published. Dating sim Dating sims , or romance simulation games ( 恋愛シミュレーションゲーム , ren'ai shimyurēshon gēmu ) , are a video game subgenre of simulation games with romantic elements. While dating sims share a similar visual presentation with visual novels , they are distinct genres. Dating sims are largely dependent on statistical calculations to drive

116-461: A high school student has the ability to date a dozen different girls. The goal of the developers was to hearken back to high school days. Konami director Akihiko Nagata said "the person who created the game wanted to have experiences like this back in his high school days". The game was a strong hit in Japan, with 1.1 million copies by 1996. In general, simulation games (such as Tokimeki Memorial ) or

145-491: A selection of girls, attempting to increase their internal "love meter" through correct choices of dialogue. The game lasts for a fixed period of game time, such as one month or three years. When the game ends, the player either loses the game if he failed to properly win over any of the girls, or "finishes" one of the girls, often by having sex with her, marrying her (as in Magical Date ), and/or achieving eternal love. This gives

174-421: A short acquaintance, before moving away. This boy would have an influence over the girl's present life. The stories range widely from straightforward girl-gets-boy romance to friendships of various sorts and sometimes supernatural events. The first game focused on the relationship between a boy and the various girls he met throughout his life. The protagonist, Tanaka Ichirou, is a high school student who, prior to

203-691: Is a dating sim video game developed and published by Konami . The first game in the Tokimeki Memorial series, it was first released for the PC Engine 's Super CD-ROM² System on May 27, 1994. It was directed by Yoshiaki Nagata, with Koji Igarashi working on scenario writing. It later received ports to the PlayStation in 1995, Sega Saturn and Super Famicom in 1996, Windows in 1997, Game Boy Color in 1999, mobile phones in 2004, PlayStation Portable in 2006, and Nintendo Switch in 2025. The game

232-435: Is considered one of the major titles in the dating sim genre, and eschews the sexual content of other games in the genre. Tokimeki Memorial is a dating sim game in which the player controls a male freshman from Kirameki High School. The game 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

261-481: The train sim like Densha de Go! were more popular in Japan than in America which preferred more action orientated video games. Games such as Sakura Wars and Persona (both series started in 1996, the latter would add dating sim elements in 2006 ) are RPGs with dating sim elements. In a typical dating sim, the player controls a male avatar surrounded by female characters. The gameplay involves conversing with

290-413: The board. In the middle of the game, when the number of known girls is 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, these games considerably reduced its importance and the difficulty in avoiding it. Players pick options as responses when prompted by the characters in

319-492: The bulk of dating sims, other types of games exist. Games where the player character is female and potential objects of affection are male are known as GxB or otome games . Homosexual relationships are also possible, as there are games with no specific gender lines ("all pairings"). There are also girls' love games, which focus on female/female relationships, and boys' love games, which focus on male/male pairings. There are many variations on this theme: high-school romances are

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348-460: The characters between the two games and adding three new winnable characters, Patricia McGrath, 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. The game received a sequel the same year. A mobile game version of Tokimeki Memorial for the i-mode

377-466: The game received a positive reaction from fans, and copies became scarce. In the Sentimental Journey anime, each episode is presented like an epilogue to the game scenario, focusing on one of the girls and telling a short romantic story. The common thread among the stories is the presence of a nondescript boy (possibly not even the same boy) who used to be a childhood crush or best friend, or just

406-459: The game. The dating simulator genre was preceded by the raising simulation genre best codified by the Princess Maker series by Gainax , which focused on child raising rather than dating. Writer Koji Igarashi says when he was tasked with writing the story for the game, he got assistance from his girlfriend at the time, who would later become his wife. She gave him advice on how to write

435-553: The game. The Star Ocean series of RPGs also feature dating sim elements in a similar manner. Some Japanese dating sims may allow the player to have romantic or sexual relationships with characters in their teens. The degree of sexual content varies, but may often include intercourse. Sexually explicit dating sims may fall into the category of H Game or Eroge . Eroge only gets released to PC because large Japanese game companies do not want to release games with sexual content on their game consoles. Because of this, Eroge companies make

464-500: The games more replay value , since the player can focus on a different girl each time, trying to get a different ending. Dating sims often revolve almost entirely around relationship-building, usually featuring complex character interactions and branching dialogue trees , and often presenting the player's possible responses word-for-word as the player character would say them. Dating sims such as Tokimeki Memorial , and some role-playing games with similar relationship based mechanics to

493-529: The genre such as Persona , often give choices that have a different number of associated "mood points" which influence a player character's relationship and future conversations with a non-player character . These games often feature a day-night cycle with a time scheduling system that provides context and relevance to character interactions, allowing players to choose when and if to interact with certain characters, which in turn influences their responses during later conversations. While bishōjo games make up

522-594: The genre was flooded with similar games. In addition, the original scenario writer was not in charge of the second game, stating that even if he did wanted to, it was impossible for him to write such a continuation as to have the original protagonist die in such a way. Moreover, fans of the series were upset by the change in Taeko Adachi's voice actress, who was played by Arishima Moyu for the sequel. Tokimeki Memorial (video game) Tokimeki Memorial ( ときめきメモリアル , Tokimeki Memoriaru , lit. "Heartbeat Memorial")

551-425: The job of finding his own model for the photo exhibition at the upcoming school festival, and thus turns to one of the now emotionally scarred girls in hopes of convincing them to become his model. Sentimental Graffiti 2 was received on a much smaller scale than the first one. By this time, the momentum of the series had already been lost since three years had passed since the release of the original and by this time

580-507: The mobile game Tokimeki Idol was released. Tokimeki Memorial sold 1.1 million copies by 1996. The game, a classic of the dating sim genre, was voted as the 23rd favorite video game of all-time in a 2006 reader poll by Japanese magazine Famitsu . Tokimeki Memorial popularized the use of social statistics-raising mechanics in games for following decades. The game became more well-known in English-speaking communities after

609-447: The most common, but a dating sim may also take place in a fantasy setting and involve such challenges as defending one's girl from monsters. One game series that often includes dating, with the goal of marriage, is the farm life sim series Harvest Moon . The subplot of dating is more focused towards choosing one of several girls or guys (dependent on the player character's gender) and offering them presents or joining them on events in

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638-495: The plot, whilst visual novels focus on telling a branching story . Nevertheless, the term "dating sim" has become a generic term for romance-driven games ( 恋愛ゲーム , ren'ai games) in the West. Dating sims are often dialog-heavy and focus on time management: The player must befriend and carefully build and maintain a relationship with one or more characters. Statistics largely underlie the game mechanics . The dating simulator genre

667-400: The spring vacation of his third year, receives a letter simply stating "I want to meet you". During middle school, his frequent transferring of schools allowed him to form unique relationships with various girls. In order to search for the sender of the letter, he travels nationwide to various places, and meets the 12 girls of his memories once again. The Saturn version of Sentimental Graffiti

696-482: The story to the game, while he would play Castlevania: Rondo of Blood , the game she was working on at the time. Igarashi requested to not work on a sequel to the game, and instead was allowed to request to work on the next Castlevania game instead. The goal of the developers was to hearken back to high school days. Konami director Akihiko Nagata said "the person who created the game wanted to have experiences like this back in his high school days". The original

725-543: The time, many of the staff and cast were unknown by the general public, which spurred a large media sales campaign designed to widen the game's exposure and establish it as a new brand. Advertisements and articles were placed in many magazines such as Dengeki G's Magazine as well as the TBS radio show Sentimental Night which aired in 1997. A unit entitled "SG girls" was formed and numerous events and concert were held. The promotion paid off, as sales of various related goods took off,

754-405: Was preceded by the raising simulation genre best codified by the Princess Maker series by Gainax , which focused on child raising rather than dating. The first game that set the standard for the dating sim genre was Dōkyūsei (1992), which relied more on timed events than dialogue choices. However, Tokimeki Memorial (1994) truly popularized dating sims in Japan, in which the player,

783-595: Was released for the PC Engine in 1994. It was remade as Tokimeki Memorial: Forever With You on the PlayStation ( 1995 ), Sega Saturn ( 1996 ) and PC ( 1997 ) with a new opening video, improved graphics and sound, and new minigames. In 1996, it was ported to 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

812-672: Was released in 2004 for mobile phones in Japan, and in 2006, was ported to the PlayStation Portable portable system, which is virtually identical to the PlayStation version. In 2009, the PlayStation version of Tokimeki Memorial: Forever With You was released on the Japanese PlayStation Store to celebrate the franchise's 15th anniversary. The PlayStation version will be remastered for Nintendo Switch as Tokimeki Memorial: Forever With You Emotional in 2025. In 2017,

841-458: Was the top-selling game in Japan the week of its release. The second game takes place in a world in which the first protagonist died in a traffic accident during his journey. The game takes place in a college town in which the original 12 girls have gathered to attend. The protagonist, Shiina Kouhei, is a second-year college student and a member of the Photography Club. He has been tasked with

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