The limited edition of Tabitachi no Uta, for the Sega Saturn.

The phenomenal success of TokiMemo isn't just restricted to Japan alone. Even before the Chinese version of the original was released in Taiwan by Waei, fans of the series were already hailing from as far as across the Pacific, in the United States. While love-simulations are relatively unheard of in the U.S.--and Konami has no intention of changing that despite fans there desperately pleading for an English version--there is nevertheless a small following that has been carrying the torch for the series.

"I first found out about the game around 1994. At the time, I was more interested in the artwork than anything else. I like the story, and I think with the push for less violent games will help get the games here," says Chris Tobita, a fan and the owner of the TokiMemo fan site called the Manoaplace's Tokimeki Memorial. "PSM said that if a dating sim arrives, it will not be as successful as it is in Japan. But it will probably be more successful than Konami thinks. It is only a matter of time before a dating sim arrives, in my opinion. The [TokiMemo] engine is too old, so it is best to wait for Konami to finish the remake [on the PS2]."

In Asia, where gamers are more exposed to love-simulations and bishoujo (pretty-girl) games, there is naturally a bigger following-from Taiwan to Hongkong to Singapore, love-simulations don't quite enjoy the popularity of other genres like action-fighting or RPG, but they do have their fans here, and none more so than TokiMemo.

"TokiMemo isn't that popular here, possibly because it's in Japanese, and some people mistaken it to be just a 'charbor' (girl) game," says Donny Kwek, a TokiMemo fan since 1996. "They don't realise that the gameplay's very original, and the voice-acting is also a plus. It's actually good, clean fun, and with TokiMemo2 the gameplay and characters are even better than the first one." Among those who do play the game in Singapore, he acknowledges that not all of them are guys. On more than one occasion, he says, he has had girls asking him about the game.