If you have a certain understanding of the history of the game, you will know that the "fifth generation" in the history of game consoles was dominated by the PlayStation (PS or PS1) launched by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). PS1 consoles sold 102.45 million units worldwide, and a total of 7,918 games were launched, bringing the total sales volume to 962 million. In Japan, 4,324 games were launched, with a total of 286 million copies sold. Such a strong software lineup is the main factor for PS1 to dominate the next generation.
But after more than two decades, when I go back to discussing this history from the perspective of nostalgic games, most of it focuses on SEGA SATURN, N64, and even the mining of 3DO and PC-FX. For PS1, most people's impression is nothing more than that they have many classic masterpieces, such as "FF", "DQ", "Resident Evil" and so on. Sometimes it is forgotten that in the huge number of games on PS1, there are still many good games that are not known.
When the Nintendo Empire gradually disintegrated in the face of the next-generation trend, the PS platform produced many small-cost and challenging games due to its friendly development environment and relaxed third-party vendor policies. These games may not be suitable for everyone's appetite, nor do they have the pattern of millions of masterpieces, but there are still many characteristics of the ancients and the last, and the fearless pioneering spirit.
"Heartbeat Memories" is one such work, this game by Konami's "love simulation game", its high degree of gameplay, humor and experience similar to school life, among players, acclaimed among players, and rapidly rising, can be said to be the establishment of "love simulation strategy game" this game type of classic work. At that time, Hideo Kojima was a genius producer of Konami, in addition to the "Metal Gear Solid" series on the early MSX platform, the cyberpunk science fiction AVG "Snatcher" and "Policenauts" designed, supervised and produced by him were excellent works that successfully combined the elements of the film with the interactivity of the game and brought them into the game.
So what would it be like if Hideo Kojima and his Kojima Studio were asked to make an AVG for Heartbeat Memories? I don't know who came up with the idea, but I don't think anyone would have thought that one day Hideo Kojima would be involved in "Heartbeat Memories", right? Some people may worry that the work will be like Quentin's "Kill a Dawn", like tearing the scripts of two movies in half and sticking them together, and the bull's head is not right. But worrying is superfluous, but kojima does bring us three excellent works: "Heartbeat Memories: Theater Series".
Story composition
The theater trilogy is an original story made from "Heartbeat Memories" and pulled out four popular female characters, namely: Shashi Hongno in "Rainbow Youth", Kata kiri kiriko in "Rainbow Love", Shiori Fujisaki and Miharu Tatebayashi in "The Poetry of Travel".
Unlike the average beautiful girl game, this series does not have any elements of cuteness in it, but focuses on the experience of school life and the description of interpersonal relationships. Compared to the meat strip elements that can be seen in the previous works of "Interceptor" and "Cosmic Mounted Police" supervised by Kojima, the elements of this series in this regard can also be said to be close to zero; not to mention the color, there is no scene connecting the kiss! The relationship between men and women in this series focuses on the psychological level, allowing players to experience the process from friends, ambiguity to heart-to-heart communication, the sweet and sour taste of youth, as if taking the route of campus youth drama, the plot structure is solid and reflective.
Unlike the three years of high school life in Heartbeat Memories, the Theater Series focuses on the two to three weeks that are condensed in it, and the production team cleverly combines excellent scripts, wonderful soundtracks, and wonderful acting skills of voice actors, allowing players to unconsciously invest emotions, with the plot either laughing or crying. Although the game is not particularly long, it provides a strong and engaging campus life experience in the course of day by day.
Solid game spindle
In many beautiful girl AVG games, the player can intervene in the part of the game, which is nothing more than an option in the plot, and most of the other times is to look at the game article and press "confirm". But "Heartbeat Memories: Theater Series" is not like this, its game system is mainly based on Hideo Kojima's famous "Cosmic Mounted Police", using a detective type AVG system, you can use the cursor on the game screen, the characters, backgrounds freely click to "observe", "investigate" or "dialogue", etc., increase the player's initiative in interaction with the game, promote the player's sense of engagement.
Players are free to choose topics and investigate all corners of the screen, the game has good interactivity, and many of the ingenuity of the production team can be seen everywhere. Continuing the spirit of Konami's exquisite mini-game from "The Great Thief Wu Right Guard Gate" to "Heartbeat Memory", "Theater Series" makes mini-games the main axis of the game. The trilogy matches the plot, each with its own major game themes to overcome in order to achieve Happy Ending: "Rainbow Youth" free-ball shooting; "Colored Love" composing and playing guitar; "Journey Of Poetry" graduation publication editor and marathon practice.
These well-made mini-games not only increase the fun of the game, but also promote the player's sense of engagement. The use of these mini-games to bring about the daily sense of campus life, coupled with the rapid change of the plot, it will be combined into a wonderful game feast.
In addition, in the "Theater Series", dating is also one of the important main plots, and in the dating of the original "Heartbeat Memories", the simple three options determine the quality of the outcome, and the dating of the theater series is a more complete experience. For example, before the movie starts, you can choose to go to the clothing store or go to the playground first, and you can also find a shop to sit and eat and chat, during which you can discuss with the heroine what she is wearing today and how the store is? What is this person doing? Is this movie good?
Players mess around on the screen, sometimes there will be many interesting discoveries, and some content will also produce interaction with the heroine. It really feels like you are dating, by understanding everything about the heroine bit by bit, cultivating feelings, and allowing players to be more involved in the future plot.
Interesting feeders
In addition to the main story, there will be a period of free activity after each day after class, during which players can choose to hang out on campus and have the opportunity to meet other female characters, in addition to some small plots, there will also be opportunities to chat with them, more or less to meet the needs of players who love other female characters in the original "Heartbeat Memories".
Starting with Vol.2", almost every side line of the female character has its own side game to challenge, and most of them are quite interesting, I personally recommend Yukiko Asahina's "Double CrossTalk" and the shooting game "CONQUER" developed by Yuna New, while friends who are confident in Japanese proficiency can challenge Mikihara's "Teach Crows to Learn to Speak", which is a small game that even many Japanese people find difficult.
Beautiful and just right soundtrack
The soundtrack of "Heartbeat Memories: Theater Series" is also a must, in addition to the three theater series four female protagonists each have a tailor-made one or two exclusive songs, using a lot of "Heartbeat Memories" music remix or piano version of the album version of the music. These individually launched songs are quite good, and players can also freely choose albums from the sound in the room to listen to during the game, which is the sincerity of the production team to the players.
With the game soundtrack that Konami has been talking about since before, coupled with the excellent directing skills of the Kojima group, the background music will disappear when it should disappear, and it will sound at the right time to sound, so that players can more integrate into the atmosphere of the whole game, and in the touching plot of "Heartbeat Memories: Theater Series", the excellent sound and sound design is definitely one of the heroes.
So, what about the downsides?
Overall, Heartbeat Memories: Theater Series is a game that was produced with considerable care and attention to detail. But perhaps limited by the production budget and time schedule, the length of the plot is not long, a game time, a round of slow play within about 10 hours can be passed, perhaps some people will feel that it is not enough. Moreover, the two- to three-week process within each story may also make the player feel that the relationship between people is progressing too quickly, the growth rate of the protagonist is too exaggerated, and so on.
The game's operation interface is more outdated from the current point of view, and it is to give people a slow and leisurely feeling, in the daily "campus daily life" process, some more acute players may easily lose patience, so it is more suitable for players who like to taste slowly.
In addition, Heartbeat Memories: Theater Series does not have the overly delusional plot common to beautiful girl games, but it may not be suitable for players who will have rashes when they hear "Beautiful Girl". Most of the characters on the scene are characters of the "Heartbeat Memories" biography, and players who have not played Heartbeat Memories may have difficulty grasping the personality and characteristics of the characters at the beginning. In addition, for players who do not know Japanese, language barriers are also difficult to avoid.
Released on both the PlayStation and SEGA Saturn, Heartbeat Memories: The Theater Series is common in the current second-hand market, but few people pay attention to it. In fact, as long as you actually play it, you will find that it is a series of games that have been made with great care, and its humor can still be seen everywhere in the touching story plot, and I also loved it very much. And if you can get some of the games about Konami' memes, you know that this work is not just a "beautiful girl game"!