Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side 4th Heart Nintendo Switch English Game Review

As you may know from my blog, Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side is one of my favorite game series. I’ve played all 4 of them now – although none to 100% completion (meaning all routes). The fine folks in the fan translation community have translated all 3 of the first games and I have had the pleasure of playing each of them. I bought the 4th game as soon as it released and have been using Google Translate on my phone and aiming it at my Nintendo Switch.

I’ve used both a lazy neck holder and a snake like clamp holder with varying degrees of success. Both of which I bought on amazon. You just need to make sure the holder you buy does not cover the back camera of your phone because you need that camera to use the Google translation app.

The translation is not 100% accurate, but it is instantaneous and I’d say like 85% or more accurate. And that’s good enough for me, since we’ll likely never get any Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side games officially released in English.

Sprinkled in here are some screenshot’s from my phone’s translation. I said “Hey, Siri, Take a Screenshot” so many times I lost count lol. If you’re wondering how I purchased and translated this game, take a look at my review for Angelique which will go into detail how you can play any Nintendo Switch game in English.

Onto the review!

Overall: 65/80 81% B- “Very Good Game For Girls”

Geeky: 2/5 – unless you’re into stat raising simulations and visual novels – this is a pass – no combat etc – doesn’t bother me – but just a heads up for those unfamiliar with this type of game. The graphics are kinda hit or miss for me too… They tried a different artstyle I think, compared to the past 3 games. Probably new graphics engine, and it feels stiffer to me and not as cute and nice as the first several games. But your mileage may vary. Maybe you’ll prefer this newer art style.

Sweetie: 5/5 – of course 5 out of 5 – dates with cute anime boys, hundreds of dressup items, part time jobs, stat raising school simulation, yup a must play for shoujo fans.

Gameplay: 10/10 – As always – 10 out of 10. There’s just literally nothing else like this on the market anywhere! Dressup, go on dates, touch the boys, get good grades in school, part time jobs, female friends and rivals too. Holidays, school festivals, events around town – ah so much to do! Your love life and how you do in school and at jobs affect your endings you receive. Super high replay value. Crazy high replay value really. Simple fun relaxing cute gameplay. Definitely one of my favorite game series of all time just for how unique it truly is. You can join clubs, make valentines chocolate, run a 3 legged race, go to all kinds of date spots, and more. Truly unique wonderful amazing highly recommended game for girls. I do feel like the dressup system in this particular version is more complex and interesting and challenging. I enjoy dressing up according to season, my date’s preferences, style trends, etc. And this particular installment of Tokimeki lets you layer more tops and bottoms and outerwear and accessories in creative ways.

Story: 7/10 – EHHH I want to give this higher rank – but really can’t – Story isn’t really this series strong suit. It has a little bit of story – but largely is focused on allowing YOU to create and live out YOUR OWN story. There is some mystery always in every game with some characters and a legend about a church – this game too uses that same story more or less.

Characters: 8/10 – OMG Himuro became president of the highschool – He was a dateable boy in one of the last games (can’t remember if it was 2 or 3 now honestly) – and you can pet and poke him all you want to in a Skinship tutorial. And he has a super cute nephew as a datable boy in this game too. And in previous installments the principal is always a secret datable character – and in past installments – the principal is a fat creepy pedo like guy – I’m happy to see Himuro is now the principal lol. – All of that aside, there are so many cute boys I dunno my favorite. I’m torn between Honda and Kizuma but I also like Nana and the new Himuro (or even old Himuro lol). Plus there’s lots more boys I haven’t met or unlocked yet. I’m aiming for Kizuma the childhood friend cannon route on my first playthrough but I had Himuro and Honda confess feelings for me too. I deducted two points because there’s only the 2 girls for friends. All previous games had much more variety of female friends that would be your love rivals and I miss that aspect. Also they removed the little brother to help check for bombs. I don’t even know if bombs are a thing in this game. Bombs were jealous boys who you weren’t spending enough time with before. Now the two twin female friends can give you fashion advice or show you “flowers” which are the boys feelings for you. Meh. They like to invite you and 2 guys to the amusement park and create love triangle drama lol. But not between them and your crush, but between the 2 crushes and you. Little bit different than before.

Graphics: 8/10 – They’re not terrible but they do feel different from the last 3 games – and I dunno if it’s a change for the better to be honest…. lol.

Music: 5/10 – Not bad, not fantastic, just kinda there… nice appropriate background music, but nothing memorable.

Voice Acting: 10/10 – One of the best parts of these games is that they are 100% fully voiced – and the acting is fantastic. And I think they brought back Himuro’s voice actor – so kudos there!

Replay Value: 10/10 – If I could give it a million out of ten I would. I almost NEVER complete these to 100% because there’s soooooo many endings. There’s best friend endings, rival endings, single endings, true love endings, marriage endings, and different endings for careers, and more. SO MANY ENDINGS – I do think deep down that this 4th game probably has less endings than its predecessors because of getting rid of most of the rival girls and the girl “friends” or “rivals” endings that were in each of the previous games. Still this game does not disapoint in replay value.