Bring On the Goods!

Tokimeki X'mas plate--for the Yukari Koshiki fans out there.

TokiMemo also proved to be a merchandising paradise for Konami's Creative Products Division, with keychains, mugs, posters, calendars, modeling kits, and so forth being snapped up by the game's legion of fans. In 1996 for instance, when the game had already been released on the PC Engine, Sony PlayStation, and Sega Saturn, the division recorded an increase of 21.9 per cent sales in its game-related merchandise, including impressive sales for a series of jigsaw puzzles based on themes from TokiMemo. The game also became a boon for the seiyuus (voice-actresses) in the game. A continuous stream of TokiMemo-related recordings-from song albums to voice dramas-came out of Konami's music entertainment division (KME). There were roadshows featuring the voice-actresses. And some of them, like Mami Kingetsu who provided the voice for Shiori Fujisaki (the game's red-haired heroine), were soon producing their own song albums. The success of TokiMemo lies undoubtedly it its marketing and merchandising as much as the game itself, and this continues to hold true even with the sequel which was released at the end of 1999.

Nijiiro no Seishun, the first of the TokiMemo drama series. >> movie clip (13.1MB) <<

Not Just The Love-Sim
In 1997, TokiMemo made the jump from love-simulation to the adventure genre. Nijiiro no Seishun (Youth the Colour of the Rainbow), featuring Saki Nijino, one of the female characters from TokiMemo, became the first of three 'drama series' to be based on the original game. Though the gameplay was more linear, the the game's characters could better express themselves in the new genre through the story-telling, and the TokiMemo series suddenly found the emotional intensity that the love-simulation lacked. These same elements in the drama series would later make their way into the love-simulation's sequel in 1999.

The company followed up its first drama series with Irodoi no Rabusongu (Colourful Lovesong) in 1998, and then penned the final chapter to the original TokiMemo with the third and last drama series, Tabitachi no Uta (Song for the Journey) that same year.

Toei's live-action movie, Tokimeki Memorial

Besides the three drama series, Konami also released puzzle games based on TokiMemo (like the Taisen Pazurudama); ported the original love-sim over to Windows (which, in 1998, was translated into Chinese by Waei) ; had a live action movie based on the TokiMemo world in 1997 titled Tokimeki Memorial (what else?); and in 1999 was finally made into an animated video series.

With the release of Tokimeki Memorial 2 in November 1999, the original TokiMemo finally came to a close (though the original characters would make cameo appearances later on ). After no less than nine TokiMemo-related titles have since been released for the Playstation (not counting the re-releases), seven for the Sega Saturn, eight for Windows, and two for the Gameboy Color, the original TokiMemo bowed out.

Since entering the gaming scene in Japan in 1994 and then forever changing it, Shiori Fujisaki and the other characters in the game finally graduated-undoubtedly with flying colors.