Tokimeki Memorial 2

The gameplay is much the same as the original; study, do club activities, raise stats, get the girl. New to TokiMemo2 are the following features:

• E.V.S - "Emotion Voice System" or somesuch. Basically, you can teach the game how to pronounce your (Japanese) name, and one of two girls will use it in her dialogue throughout the game. In the original game, when a line of dialogue required the girl to speak your character's name (which you define), it would just be skipped, and only inserted in the caption below. Now, certain girls actually speak your name. It sounds really convincing to my non-native Japanese ears, and is less of a gimmick than it might seem - it adds a certain amount of disbelief suspension that's quite seductive in a game like this. Too bad saving the voiceprint takes up 11 blocks of memory card space. Also, expansion discs were released that allowed you to have any girl (not just the two main characters) use the EVS sytem. Compelling.
• Childhood System - before attending high school, you play your character as a second grader for one week. It's possible to meet every girl in the game during that one week, but very difficult - mostly you just hang out with the main character, then you move away and it's all sad. When high school starts, you move back to your hometown, and are reunited with your childhood friend, who turns out to be a real cutie.
• Weather - In TokiMemo, to schedule a date, you just picked a slot on the calendar that was indicated as open, picked the location, and called the girl. Boom, date. In TokiMemo 2, There's weather to consider - the forecast (which appears to be always accurate) is indicated by a little icon in the calendar, and if you go someplace that's outside and a day with bad weather, the date will be ruined. Annoying, to say the least. It took me a couple of ditched maintenance dates before I figured this out.
• Generally - the graphics are improved, and the character designs are nicer, more detailed and crisp. There appear to be more special events, as well.