| Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developers | Square[1][2] Nintendo R&D1 |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| Director | Yoshio Sakamoto |
| Producer | Gunpei Yokoi |
| Designers |
|
| Programmers | |
| Artist | Takashi Tokita[4] |
| Writer | Yoshio Sakamoto |
| Composers |
|
| Platform | Family Computer Disk System |
| Release |
|
| Genres | Adventure,Dating sim |
| Mode | Single-player |
Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School[a] is a 1987adventure game developed bySquare andNintendo R&D1, and published byNintendo exclusively in Japan for theFamily Computer Disk System. The game was released on December 1, 1987. It is one of the firstdating sim video games.[5] It was designed byHironobu Sakaguchi, who also created theFinal Fantasy series, andYoshio Sakamoto, who co-createdMetroid. The music for the game was composed byNobuo Uematsu[3] and Toshiaki Imai.[4] Pop idolMiho Nakayama contributed her name and likeness andvoice-acted tie-in segments that could be accessed by calling toll-free phone numbers revealed during the progress of gameplay.[6]
The game's protagonist enters Tokimeki High School and runs into a girl wearing glasses who looks identical to Miho Nakayama.[5] Though the game is a standard text command-styleadventure game similar to the laterFamicom Detective Club series, in important scenes, the player is required to select a facial expression in addition to a verbal response. The four expressions (straight face, laughter, sadness, anger) must match the content of the response being given, and any incorrect responses immediately lead to the "game over" screen. This increased the game's difficulty considerably in comparison to othertext adventure games where there were fewer incorrect choices. Some scenes specifically require that the dialogue not match with the expression. For instance, choosing a dialogue expressing joy with a straight face may be the correct choice in a certain situation because it represents a deeper level of emotion and thought on the part of the protagonist.[5] This system allowed the game to simulate a level of complexity resembling actual love relationships, leading to its classification as adating sim. The game has two different endings, depending on the choices made during the game, and the prizes receivable via the Disk Fax network differed for each ending.
Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School was the firstbishōjo game featuring aJapanese idol.Miho Nakayama, a popular actress and singer in Japan during the 1980s, is featured on the game's cover and makes acameo appearance in the game itself.[3] It was created through a collaboration betweenNintendo andSquare Co., the later of which had just finishedFinal Fantasy.[7] The game was developed byHironobu Sakaguchi (creator ofFinal Fantasy), and Yoshio Sakamoto (producer ofMetroid).[7] Sakamoto, then in his fifth year at Nintendo, was excited at the prospect of making an adventure game, but came up with an idea of using a real life celebrity instead of creating a new character, to make the game feel like an "event" or a "kind of festival".[2] The game was developed over the course of three months, with Sakaguchi and several others from Square travelling from Tokyo down to the Nintendo offices in Kyoto for a two-week crunch period at the end to finish off the project.[8]
It was the third game compatible with the Disk Fax network of the Disk System, and uses a blue floppy disk instead of the regular yellow disk.[5] In 1987 Square wanted to make a Disk Fax adventure game, and Nintendo suggested that the game includes an idol, as it would interest players.[3] Though most compatible games used the Disk Fax network to uploadhigh scores ortime trials onto the official rankings system,Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School was the only game where players used the network to register that they had completed the game to receiveprizes. The game also contained a phone number which players could call to hear hints concerning the gameplay or listen to a personal message voiced by Miho Nakayama herself.[5] This phone service ended shortly after the release of the game, and the messages and hints are displayed in text form in subsequent versions of the game. The Disk Fax service was used for a contest from December 19, 1987, to February 29, 1988, in which 8000 winners received an autographed phonecard (for those who finished the game with the "normal" ending) and 8000 received a special VHS tape (for those who finished with the "best" ending).[5]
The game topped the bi-weekly JapaneseFamitsu sales chart in December 1987.[9]
In reader votes of JapaneseFamily Computer Magazine, the game received a 17.40 out of 25.[10]
1UP.com called it the 10th "Sorta Significant Famicom Games", citing it status as a forerunner of thedating simulation game that would later become popular in Japan.[11]GamesRadar listed the Japanese television commercial as one of the best and strangestNintendo Entertainment System commercials.[12]
