Tokimeki Memorial

Tokimeki Memorial (ときめきメモリアル, Tokimeki Memoriaru, lit. "Heartbeat Memorial") 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 numerous ports to the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Super Famicom, Game Boy Color, PlayStation Portable, and mobile platforms. Tokimeki Memorial popularised the use of social statistics-raising mechanics in games for following decades.[2]

For the series as a whole, including anime, see Tokimeki Memorial (series).
Tokimeki Memorial
Cover of the original PC Engine CD version
Developer(s)Konami
Publisher(s)Konami
Director(s)Yoshiaki Nagata
Producer(s)Tomikazu Kirita
Programmer(s)Asuty S.
Artist(s)Masashi Kokura
Writer(s)Koji Igarashi[1]
Composer(s)Mikio Saito
Seiya Murai
Miki Higashino
Hiro Noguchi
SeriesTokimeki Memorial
Platform(s)PC Engine CD, PlayStation, Super Famicom, Sega Saturn, Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Color, mobile phones, PlayStation Portable
Release
Genre(s)Dating sim
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay
Screenshot of the original PC Engine game showing the statistics integral to the gameplay.

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 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, these games considerably reduced its importance and the difficulty in avoiding it.

Release history

The original 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 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).

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 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.[3]

In 2004, the game was ported to 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.[4]

In 2017, the release of the mobile game Tokimeki Idol was announced.[5][6]

Reception

Tokimeki Memorial has sold 1.1 million copies by 1996.[7]

The game, a classic of the dating sim genre,[8] was voted as the 23rd best video game of all time in a 2006 reader poll by Japanese magazine Famitsu.[9]

References
  1. "ときめきメモリアル". 2.tok2.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2011-06-17.
  2. Kalata, Kurt (2019). "1994 – Tokimeki Memorial". Hardcore Gaming 101 Presents: Japanese Video Game Obscurities. Unbound Publishing. pp. 90–91 (90). ISBN 978-1-78352-765-6.
  3. Tanikawa, Miki (May 18, 2002). "BRIEFCASE: Gamers turn into investors". International Herald Tribune.
  4. "ときめきメモリアル～forever with you～". Konami.jp. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2011-06-17.
  5. "「ときめきメモリアル」シリーズに新展開 モバイルゲーム『ときめきアイドル』今冬配信！― 本日から事前登録を開始 － | 株式会社コナミデジタルエンタテインメント". www.konami.com (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2017-09-15. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  6. "『ときメモ』シリーズに新展開！『ときめきアイドル』発表─今度はアイドル候補生とコミュニケーション | インサイド". インサイド (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2017-09-15. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  7. Pollack, Andrew (November 25, 1996). "Japan's Newest Young Heartthrobs Are Sexy, Talented and Virtual". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on January 29, 2018. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  8. Kushner, David (March 22, 2001). "For Hard-Core Gamers, the Lure of the East". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
  9. "Japan Votes on All Time Top 100 - Edge Magazine". Next-gen.biz. 2006-03-03. Archived from the original on 2011-10-15. Retrieved 2011-06-17.
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