Tokimeki Memorial ときめきメモリアル (sometimes translated as Heartthrob Memorial) is a game series by Konami, cited as a pioneer of the dating simulation genre. Since it's inception in 1994, there have been four mainline games, four otome spin-offs, and a multitude of spin-offs in other genres including visual novels and puzzle games. As of this writing, the most recent new release is Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side: 4th Heart (2021) and the most recent release overall is Tokimeki Memorial ~forever with you~ Emotional (2025).
Despite popularizing dating sims and paving the way for many major franchises' success (including the likes of Persona and Fire Emblem), the franchise never saw an official English release. Only a few of the games have complete fan translations - most notably are the SNES version of 1, the DS versions of Girl's Side 1 & Girl's Side 2, and both the DS and PSP versions of Girl's Side 3. Information in English is fairly spotty as a result, making it difficult to play the full series or alternate versions of certain games. Because of this, I've been making my own translation guides for personal use, and on this page I'm sharing them in hopes that someone else can get use out of them.
I'm still a complete novice at Japanese. I've taken no formal study, merely learning through brute force by looking at one character at a time and looking into patterns to figure out grammar conventions. So there may be things that are wrong, but my hope is that it is "right enough" for you to play the games as smoothly as possible. I'm also including little notes on kanji and grammar so YOU TOO can notice patterns and perhaps eventually get by without needing to reference this guide! If you have any corrections, send me a message on social media!
Most importantly: this is NOT meant to be a comprehensive translation of the entire game. The aim is to only translate information relating to player input or important notices, such as menus, dialog/date choices, and the seasonal digest that informs you of events and new locations. I'll also teach you how to recognize a bomb warning, whether or not a character agrees to your date, and other important dialogue. If you're looking on information on game mechanics or how to get certain endings, I'd recommend looking for other guides first. Or you can send me a message directly! I would be happy to give you advice if I can. :) Maybe one day I'll add that kind of help to this, but for now I want to stick to the basics.