Tokimeki Memorial: Densetsu no Ki no Shita de

"A fun game with a couple of laughs along the way"

Tokimeki Memorial is a game that has you trying to improve your stats through various activiteis, just like Tamagotchi. Unlike Tamagotchi though, you have more activities to do and more stats to worry about(ie sports will raise strength but lower intellect). So what's the point of raising stats and doing activities? Girls of course! You have 3 years to charm and get a girl to fall in love with you, you can check in your phone book how they feel about you before you call them(I wish all phone books were like that). The storyline(well if you can call it that) is basically this: You're in high school and you and two of your friends have a bet in which you see if you guys can get a girl to fall in love with you. You are given 3 years and you must skillfully build up your stats to charm a certain girl and perform one activity enough so that you actually meet a girl who has an interest in you. At the end of 3 years, if a girl loves you(and you pick her) you win the game and can start over to try and get another girl otherwise it's game over man.

Likes:

Variety of activities - It's like a grown up version of Tamagotchi with a lot more activities and even strategy(ie figuring out which girl likes to shop, which one likes sports etc).

Mini-games - There are a lot of these but sadly, some can only be accessed if you become proficient enough in a particular stat.

Mature game - Nintendo probably looked at this game and frowned severely since it probably wouldn't sell in N.America and you get to go out with girls. Not all games have plumbers in overalls fighting turtles you know. Still, it's refreshing to see that there are games like this out there.

Dislikes:

Monotonus gameplay - The only other thing you do besides go on dates and play mini-games is planning your schedule full of activities, each and every week...for 3 years...

Tamagotchi-style gameplay - I hate tamagotchi!

Language - Can you read Japanese? It's a miracle I finished this game...

Other stuff

Ummm...Konami released this game way back in the days of good SNES games and there are numerous remakes of it(and spinoffs) for the PSX, Saturn and Gameboy(sorry there's not much else to this game).

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99