Dating Sim

Overview

The most basic definition of the dating sim is a game where the protagonist must choose between multiple potential romantic partners and attempt to woo them. Unlike with Visual Novels, Dating Sims place a lot of emphasis on rpg type elements, such as statistics, shown by keeping a girl's affection levels up and boosting up stats (intelligence, strength, etc.) through taking classes. Dating sims are almost exclusively Japanese, to the point where popular media can recognizably parody aspects of the dating sim genre. In the West, dating sims are still seen as a niche market.

History of the Genre

While they started in the 1980s, arguably the first dating sim to make it big is Tokimeki Memorial, first released for the PC in 1994. Tokimeki made it big thanks to word of mouth. Due to its popularity, the game been remade multiple times (Tokimeki Memorial: Forever With You, Tokimeki Memorial: Densetsu no Ki no Shita de, etc.) and has been ported to multiple systems (Game Boy Color, PlayStation, Super Famicom, mobile phones, PSP). There have been multiple spin-offs (such as puzzle games) and multiple adaptations (such as an anime, Tokimeki Memorial Only Love.)

Aspects of dating sims have been transferred into modern non-dating sim games. Modern games have optional "social link" features, where you can build up relationships between supporting characters granting different benefits. For example: in Fire Emblem: Awakening, pairing up two units in battle improves their relationship, which can grant "rank" upgrades in the Social menu. A higher social rank means that characters will give each other better benefits (higher dodge rate and higher attack skill, for example), with the S rank as the highest. Through cut-scenes, their relationships improve as the characters climb up ranks, culminating in S rank, which is only unlockable with two characters of the opposite sex and which enables them to marry.

Because of the fact that they're relatively easy to make, dating sims have been created by many indie designers. Visual novel creation platforms such as Ren'Py and Novelty exist, designed for people with minimal experience coding. Others are flash games, less focused on characterization, and are hosted on websites such as Newgrounds. Newgrounds has two main dating sim pages: an all ages one and a page for adult games, found under the "Adult Features" collection instead of the "Games" tab. The adult games page is easily more popular, with some games reaching views in the millions. With titles such as "AchingDreams2 Hentai Game," "Meet'N'Fuck Road Trip," and "Orgasm Girl," it's pretty obvious what sort of direction these games are heading into.

Examples of the Genre

Tokimeki Memorial

LET'S FIND A LET'S PLAY

Hatoful Boyfriend

One of your potential pigeon boyfriends

Hatoful Boyfriend is a parody of the dating sim genre. While Hatoful Boyfriend uses many typical dating sim characteristics and many character archetypes featured in dating sims, it is notable for one parodic option: all of your suitors are birds. The cheap price of the game helped spread it to the popular consciousness. Popularized by a Let's Play on the website Quarter to Three, Hatoful Boyfriend took the Internet by storm, as shown by a massive amount of fanart and fanblogs on sites such as Tumblr and Pixiv, and helped bring dating sims back into the public consciousness.