Pocket Love

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Pocket Love
Developer(s)	KID
Publisher(s)	KID
Director(s)	Masaki Nakamura
Designer(s)	Kusho Ichikawa Takaaki Hosoda Hideyuki Sato Masao Kawai Kazue Nakajima
Programmer(s)	Kenji Shimizu Kazutaka Komiya
Artist(s)	Masao Kawai Kazue Nakajima Momoko Sapporo
Writer(s)	Momoko Sapporo
Composer(s)	Nobuyuki Shioda
Series	Pocket Love
Engine
Platform(s)	Game Boy
Release	JP: July 18, 1997
Genre(s)	Dating sim
Mode(s)	Single-player
Cabinet
Arcade system
CPU
Sound
Display

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Pocket Love is a 1997 Game Boy dating simulator game developed and released by KID on July 18, 1997.

The player controls the main character, a high school boy, whose main goal is to receive a confession of love from one of seven girls. It was the first dating simulator released for the Game Boy, predating the release of Konami's Tokimeki Memorial for the Game Boy Color. A bundle containing a CD with dialogue of the characters on it was released alongside the normal release.

The game was developed by KID, designed by Kusho Ichikawa, who worked on Taito's "Kick Master" in 1992, and scripted by Momoko Sapporo, who also created the character designs. The game's music was composed by Nobuyuki Shioda, who also composed for the 1992 scrolling shooter Recca.

Gameplay

At the beginning of the game, the player inputs their name, birthday, and blood type. A combination of the latter two are used to calculate the player's initial parameters and personality. The players starts the game on April 14th as a sophomore at Koigahara High School, with the main goal being to receive a confession from a girl on December 25th (Christmas) of the same year.

Statistics

One of the most important elements in the game are the player's statistics. It's important to keep these balanced out, as if you don't, many of the girls will begin to lose interest in you. Different statistics the player has are as follows:

• Academics: How well you are doing academically.
• Style: Your sense of fashion.
• Fitness: Your athletic ability.
• Skill: Your adeptness.
• Health: Your mental stability. If you do too much at a time and forget to rest, this statistic will get very low and you will be forced to rest for a while.
• Sense: Your reflexes and awareness of your surroundings.

Actions

At the beginning of each week, the action (called a "command" in-game) for each day of the week is decided. The player can choose to either "work hard" or just "work" at each action, and then the game proceeds. If there is a holiday on any specific day, the morning and afternoon actions are decided separately; this process is repeated until December 25th, as you raise the parameters of the hero and deepen the friendship and affection with the girl at the same time. Each girl is automatically met while playing the game, and fairly detailed information about each girl is recorded as soon as they are first encountered by the player. Each action is listed as follows:

• Study: Mostly increases academic ability.
• Grooming: Mainly improves appearance.
• Club: Do club activities. The parameters affected will vary depending on which club you choose to join. This can only be done on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and holidays. The player cannot work and do club activities at the same time.
• Karaoke: Do karaoke with your friends. This action increases fitness, style, and sense.
• Game: Increases fitness, skill, and sense.
• Part-time job: Increases your money. Can only be done on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and holidays.
• Relax: Restores health. It will lower some parameters, but if you deplete your health without relaxing, you will get sick and only be able to use it for a certain amount of time. It is necessary to use this action only in moderation.

These actions, unlike the former ones, will not change the player's statistics:

• Companionship: Displays your relationship with each girl.
• Information: View magazines, check your belongings, and display information about the girls.
• Appointments: Displays a calendar with appointments.

Other actions are only available to be picked on holidays:

• Go out: You can visit various different places.
• Contact: You can invite a girl on a date or give her a gift. This action is very easily abused, and was highly restricted in the sequel, Pocket Love 2.

Characters

Main

Voice actors are referenced from the bundled CD's booklet.

Ruruna Saeki (佐伯 るるな, Saeki Ruruna, Voiced by: Mariko Kouda)

Birthday: June 14th

Blood type: A

She's in the same class as the main character, and is his childhood friend. She's very attractive and popular among the other boys in class. She's a member of the handicraft club and likes knitting. She also enjoys shopping. She's not very good in academics and at many times has failed to answer the teacher's questions or forgotten her lines in a school festival performance. It's very difficult to get a true happy ending where she confesses her love to you.

Mizuki Takao (高尾 水樹, Takao Mizuki, Voiced by: Junko Iwao)

Birthday: October 10th

Blood type: O

She is in the same class as the main character. She is a tomboy who's very athletic and a member of the track and field club. Outside of sports, she enjoys astronomy. She's not used to talking with boys, so when they're not close to her, she tends to not be very friendly towards them.

Yumi Matsuda (松田 由美, Matsuda Yumi, Voiced by: Yūko Miyamura)

Birthday: September 21st

Blood type: A

She is a third-year student, one level above the main character. She is not involved in any club activities, but she works part-time at a hamburger store. Because of her position as a senior, she is considered to be a caring older sister type, and enjoys walking and chatting.

Misato Morizono (森薗 美里以, Morizono Misato, Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue)

Birthday: September 21st

Blood type: A

She's a transfer student and is the same year and class as the main character. She's a hard worker with high academic ability, and is always in the top class in exams. She has an identical twin sister named Mari Morizono, who looks just like Miri when she takes off her glasses and unbinds her hair. One of her hobbies is Go, and she is a member of the Go club. She is a fairly serious person, while also loving video games and being quite skilled at them.

Mari Morizono (森薗 麻里以, Morizono Mari, Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue)

Birthday: September 21st

Blood type: A

She is Misato Morizono's twin sister. She transferred to the school at the same time as her sister, but it takes some time before the player meets her. She is a relatively unserious girl who is the complete opposite of her older sister in personality, as she's always playing around. Naturally, she hates studying. Her hobby is doing karaoke. She is always checking fashion magazines and sometimes runs into the main character at bookstores. Like her older sister, she also likes to play video games.

Suzune Aikawa (愛川 涼音, Aikawa Suzune, Voiced by: Kyoko Hikami)

Birthday: November 30th

Blood type: B

She is an underclassman, only a first year student. She's very slumberous, enjoys daydreaming, and has a strong shyness towards people, therefore she only likes talking to her pet turtle. She is also physically weak and hates gym class.

Momoyo Shinozawa (篠沢 ももよ, Shinozawa Momoyo, Voiced by: Chisa Yokoyama)

Birthday: July 19th

Blood type: AB

She has a cheerful personality and loves to talk, so she has many friends and often hangs with the Morizono sisters. On the other hand, she has a unique character that sets her apart from the other girls. She loves computers and video games, and her favorite drink is milk. Her appearance and voice are modeled after Tomoe Shinohara.

Supporting

Shiro Maeno (前野 四郎, Maeno Shiro)

He is the main character's bad friend. He has a liking for Saeki, and depending on the progression of the game, he and the protagonist may come into an argument.

Takuya Hara (原 拓也, Hara Takuya)

He is a character whose name is just merely spoken, but he never actually appears in the game.

Music

There is a theme song included on the bundled CD.

"I Thought I'd Meet You ~Pocket Love~" (逢えると思ってた～ポケットラブ～, Aeru to omotteta ~Pokettorabu~).

• Lyrics: [[Yasushi Akimoto|Yasushi Akimoto (秋元 康, Akimoto Yasushi)]]
• Composition/Arrangement: [[:ja:辻陽|You Tsuji (辻陽, Tsuji You)]]
• Vocals: Junko Iwao, Yūko Miyamura, Kyoko Hikami

Reception

The gaming magazine Famitsu rated the game a total score of 20/40 in their "cross review"., and the game was rated 20.1/30 in the "Game News Letter" by readers of Family Computer Magazine, as follows:

Items	Character	Music	Affordability	Operability	Enthusiasm	Originality	Overall
Score	3.5	3.4	2.9	3.5	3.5	3.3	20.1

In popular culture

• In episode 6 of the anime adaptation of Slow Start, a parody of Pocket Love ("Bocket Love") is seen being played by the main cast.

Sequels

• Pocket Love 2 - Released on March 13, 1998, Pocket Love 2 is an unusual sequel. In addition to the setting, the main character and many of the original girls transfer over to the new game. Just like the first game, there were two versions: one with optional CDs, and one without it.
• Pocket Love ~if~ - Released on October 21, 1999 for the Neo Geo Pocket Color. Unlike the previous two games, this game acts as a prequel and is a separate story that takes place one year before the first game. The basic flow of the story remains the same, but new elements were added, as well as two new girls. Note that the Morizono sisters, Ryone Aikawa, and the additional characters from "Pocket Love 2" do not appear in this game. One distinct feature of this game that sets it out from the other two is that the Pocket Color's clock function may change the outcome of different events depending on the time of day.

References

This article "Pocket Love" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Pocket Love. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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