Probably the worst console release of the original Tokimeki Memorial... is still pretty great! As I understand, this is a mostly-intact version of the original PC-Engine release, just with FMVs and voice acting stripped out, but the "Heartthrob Memorial" fan translation restores a lot of that anyway.
There's a playful innocence to TokiMemo that doesn't translate at all to the Western understanding of what dating sims are. Dating sims, as popular culture has it, are all about the romance; Tokimeki Memorial is less about that and more about capturing the highschool experience. Your goal is to win over the affections of your highschool crush, especially Shiori, but that plays out as more of a framing device for things like going to the movies, taking tests, joining a club, traveling abroad, etc. There is an entire RPG combat system as well as riffs on Konami's own Track & Field series, both of which only nominally play into the whole dating angle. I love how all-encompassing it is as a cute, larger-than-life simulation of the highschool experience rather than strictly about dating.
Also, a huge advantage to this game is how quickly time goes by. Later games are slowed waaaay down with more complicated animations, while this cycles through weeks at a breezy clip. This goes a loooooong way in making replays that much more appealing.
There's a playful innocence to TokiMemo that doesn't translate at all to the Western understanding of what dating sims are. Dating sims, as popular culture has it, are all about the romance; Tokimeki Memorial is less about that and more about capturing the highschool experience. Your goal is to win over the affections of your highschool crush, especially Shiori, but that plays out as more of a framing device for things like going to the movies, taking tests, joining a club, traveling abroad, etc. There is an entire RPG combat system as well as riffs on Konami's own Track & Field series, both of which only nominally play into the whole dating angle. I love how all-encompassing it is as a cute, larger-than-life simulation of the highschool experience rather than strictly about dating.
Also, a huge advantage to this game is how quickly time goes by. Later games are slowed waaaay down with more complicated animations, while this cycles through weeks at a breezy clip. This goes a loooooong way in making replays that much more appealing.