[kokoro-cafe]

Get the Double Pack on YesAsia
Get the Double Pack on Play-Asia

***Note: English version of this game is fan translated and not sold by any retailer***


Description:
Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 1st Love is a console game developed for PS2 and Nintendo DS.  The DS version is titled Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 1st Love Plus and includes several new features and changes including an extra hidden character for the game.  The heroine of the game is a new high school student at Habataki High School. During her three years in high school, she attends classes, events, clubs, part-time work as well as become friendly with guys along the way.


Price:

Standard Edition

Out of Print

Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side Double Pack (1st Love Plus & 2nd Season) *alternative

$42.99 YesAsia
$51.99 Play-Asia


The Guys:


Kei Hazuki (?? ?)
Birthday: October 16th
Height: 178 cm
Weight: 63 kg
Blood Type: A
Job: Model
Club: None
Information: Likes making accessories and seems to love animals


Sakuya Morimura (?? ??)
Birthday: July 2nd
Height: 163 cm
Weight: 49 kg
Blood Type: O
Job: None
Club: Gardening
Information: Can act awkward when nervous. Very shy.


Shiki Mihara (?? ?)
Birthday: January 15th
Height: 163 cm
Weight: 60 kg
Blood Type: AB
Job: None
Club: Art
Information: "The best piece of art is myself"


Madoka Kijyo (?? ???)
Birthday: June 18th
Height: 185 cm
Weight: 67 kg
Blood Type: A
Job: Gas Station Attendant
Club: None
Information: Loves coffee and seems to have a drivers license.


Kazuma Suzuka (?? ??)
Birthday: December 4th
Height: 171 cm
Weight: -- kg
Blood Type: B
Job: --
Club: Basketball
Information: Dreams of going to America on a basketball scholarship.


Wataru Hibiya (??? ?)
Birthday: September 4th
Height: 163 cm
Weight: 53 kg
Blood Type: O
Job: None
Club: Baseball
Information: Habataki High Freshman.  Hopes to be a professional baseball player and married to a female announcer.


Reiichi Himuro (?? ??)
Birthday: November 6th
Height: 188 cm
Weight: 70 kg
Blood Type: A
Job: Teacher
Club: Band Advisor
Information: Very skilled at driving. Very stubborn and inflexible but also very popular.


Ikkaku Amanohashi (??? ??)
Birthday: February 5th
Height: 182 cm
Weight: -- kg
Blood Type: B
Job: Chairman of the board of trustees (Principal)
Club: --
Information: Wealthy chairman of the board of trustees of Habataki High School.


Chiharu Aoki (?? ??)
Birthday: August 18th
Height: 170 cm
Weight: -- kg
Blood Type: A
Job: None
Club: Computer club at Kirameki High School
Information: American-born exchange student that speaks very little Japanese.  Attends Kirameki High School.


Jin Tendo (?? ?)
Birthday: March 15th
Height: 178 cm
Weight: -- kg
Blood Type: O
Job: None
Club: None
Information: Top student in junior high but grades have severely declined in high school.  Attends Hanegasaki High School.


Game Play:

Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side is a very, very complex game, especially for an otome game.  The player plays the role of a girl who just started attending Habataki High School.  By increasing certain stats (Intelligence, Fitness, Style, Arts, Social and Charm) the player can meet certain guys in the story.  Hazuki Kei is a default character that the player will meet at the beginning of the game.  He is the prince of the game who excels at everything.  Other default characters are Reiichi Himuro who is the teacher for the heroine's class and Wataru Hibiya who the heroine meets at the beginning of the second year.  

At the beginning of the game the player gets to set their name, birthday, blood type and select a stye for their room.  Birth date is used for when guys bring the heroine a present on her birthday.  Style of the room will determine the heroine's first friend in game.

To be successful in the game the player has to be able to raise their stats in correlation to what kind of girl each guy likes, answer the questions correctly during dates, raise compatibility with skinship (DS version), and pick the right date outfits.  There are 3 possible endings for each character with the exception of Aoki Chiharu and Tendou Jin in the DS version, regular, best friend and bad endings.  The game is also a mix of keeping each guy the heroine knows happy and fending off the rage of jealous girlfriends of the heroine.  There are also several mini games that help increase stats such as the Valentines Day mini game.

Personal Review and Tips:

Review-

Pros:
wonderful characters, cute storylines, wonderful music, voiced, complex game, nice artwork, several mini games

Cons:
mini game sometimes a bit hard to play (Valentines Day)

This was the first otome game I ever played back when I wondered what the appeal of otome games were.  I was extremely impressed by the game and this is still my favorite otome game series of all time.  It's a solidly made, very complex game (perhaps the most complex otome game ever made) that includes many things girls tend to love such as shopping and dressing up.  This game is not just a visual novel like many otome games that are out but an actual game in which the player is fully immersed in the story.  How the player decides to spend each day of the three years of high school will make a major impact on the ending of the game.  This game also has high re-playability value where the player can pursue different endings in the DS version or choose a different guy to pursue.

I have very few complaints in terms of the game, perhaps the only one I can think of is the Valentines mini game that I found incredibly frustrating because it was so difficult to make the perfect chocolate being the perfectionist I am.   Other than that, this is a close to perfect otome game that I recommend everyone try.  There has been two other Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side games made and each one is just as well made as the others.

Rating:         /5

Share your review of Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 1st Love here.

Linkback: https://kokoro-cafe.net/index.php?topic=41.0

[ichigokage]

Can I order this from somewhere? Hear a lot if people talking about this game.

[kokoro-cafe]

Can I order this from somewhere? Hear a lot if people talking about this game.

unfortunately the first game of the series is already out of print plus there is no official English version, but there are fan translations online for the DS version of the game. wish they would localize this series~~ would make bank on it~

[kirona168]

wait does that mean that there is none out?

[kokoro-cafe]

there are no longer new copies being sold in stores, only way to get the game is buying old ones

[streetpunkhowell8360]

Can I order this from somewhere? Hear a lot if people talking about this game.

You can buy this game new on Amazon.jp. I don't know the shipping price for people outside Japan, but the price for the game itself is reasonable. I buy almost all of my games from Amazon.jp. They have really fast shipping and you can choose to pay at the convinience store or at your door with the mail man arrives, if you don't own a credit card. After that... playasia.com is your best bet. They specialize in overseas exchanages. I think Amazon might have some rules about what they can and can't ship, but please look that information up for yourself if your interested.

[alogado]

Ahhh... I have a love hate relationship with this game. :<

Like you, this game was the first proper otome game I played and I *always* wanted to play a dating sim for girls but couldn't find one in english and I was sooo happy when I stumbled upon this. Everything I hoped for.

....but, of course I picked Hazuki's route first and since I didn't follow a walkthrough... seeing the closed doors of the church over and over and over and over and over again made it a bit frustrating. After I finally got his ending I dropped this game and played the 2nd one. Much easier. >.>
I picked it up again after a while for Kazuma and Himuro (because everybody seemed to like him and I was curious), but, yeah, haven't played it much after that. Since I played the 2nd one a lot and even the 3rd one the guys in this game look.. odd.. and very.. 14 years old with their small bodies. I don't know.  

But great game! And Hazuki was the first fictionl character that made me heart broken. Good old memories.  

[kokoro-cafe]

Can I order this from somewhere? Hear a lot if people talking about this game.

You can buy this game new on Amazon.jp. I don't know the shipping price for people outside Japan, but the price for the game itself is reasonable. I buy almost all of my games from Amazon.jp. They have really fast shipping and you can choose to pay at the convinience store or at your door with the mail man arrives, if you don't own a credit card. After that... playasia.com is your best bet. They specialize in overseas exchanages. I think Amazon might have some rules about what they can and can't ship, but please look that information up for yourself if your interested.

Yea, I tried to buy a book on amazon.jp and the shipping cost to the states was way more than the book itself, it's just cheaper to get it off of a place that targets worldwide customers.

Ahhh... I have a love hate relationship with this game. :<

Like you, this game was the first proper otome game I played and I *always* wanted to play a dating sim for girls but couldn't find one in english and I was sooo happy when I stumbled upon this. Everything I hoped for.

....but, of course I picked Hazuki's route first and since I didn't follow a walkthrough... seeing the closed doors of the church over and over and over and over and over again made it a bit frustrating. After I finally got his ending I dropped this game and played the 2nd one. Much easier. >.>
I picked it up again after a while for Kazuma and Himuro (because everybody seemed to like him and I was curious), but, yeah, haven't played it much after that. Since I played the 2nd one a lot and even the 3rd one the guys in this game look.. odd.. and very.. 14 years old with their small bodies. I don't know.  

But great game! And Hazuki was the first fictionl character that made me heart broken. Good old memories.  

Haha Hazuki was the hardest, after him everyone was pretty easy. I got my best friends hooked to this game. One of them absolutely hated Hazuki and thought Himuro was just creepy along with the principal.   I have to say though the principal was creepy!

[alogado]

Haha Hazuki was the hardest, after him everyone was pretty easy. I got my best friends hooked to this game. One of them absolutely hated Hazuki and thought Himuro was just creepy along with the principal.   I have to say though the principal was creepy!

I was absolutely terrified everytime I saw the principal... and it doesn't really help that he appears in the 3rd game aswell. But thankfully he is not hitting on you.  
Yepyep, Hazuki's route is definitely the most difficult in all of the games. That stupid perfect prince model honored student guy argh. :(

[kokoro-cafe]

lol while attempting Hazuki's route I got every other guy in game in love with the MC. So much so I hard to start being mean to all of them to lower their love meter. x.x

[alogado]

Haha I know what you mean! I did the same, especially to the little kid. He would threaten to bomb me, I would invite him to a date and never show up, muhahahaha. Got rid of the bomb and he liked me less. That was fun. :D

[kokoro-cafe]

lol! i hated the bombs in game sooo much!

[alogado]

Yeah, which is what I like A LOT about the 3rd game: If you have never gone to a date with a guy he won't bomb you!
That always confused me in the first 2 games.. why is some guy I never spend time with (never went on dates with him, never went to a cafe, walked home together, heck and only talked to him like 2 times in 3 years!) is pissed at me because I.. don't spend time with him? That really didn't make any sense whatsover.

[kokoro-cafe]

haha they made the 3rd on sooo much easier. although i think i dislike the valentine mini game more.

[alogado]

Really? I like the new "just decorate your chocolate cutely" more than the "buggy stirring left and right" stuff. I always failed at it even though I was stirring in the right direction, stupid game... grml.. I am really not the type of person who can do stuff that requires the.. uh.. motor skills..