I wanted Konami’s first big localized otome game to be a Tokimeki Memorial: Girl’s Side Switch game. We did get all those ports, after all. Instead, it went with a pair of The Prince of Tennis otome games for multiple platforms. Totally fine. Understandable even, since it could be banking on the anime and manga’s name to garner more attention and bolster sales. The Prince of Tennis Sweet School Festival ~♡-40 and more…~ is interesting as something of an otome game period piece and history lesson, though it also feels geared more toward beginners and could use a few patches.
As expected from a game steeped in The Prince of Tennis lore and geared toward younger players, its story isn’t terribly complex. Seven schools from the series are all taking part in a joint festival over the summer break. You’re on the committee and choose which of the seven schools you work with, getting a chance to romance the tennis player students participating over about a two week period. It’s a fairly traditional visual novel affair, with you selecting where to go each day to interact with someone and choose responses that bolster your relationship and that faction’s chance of having the best booth at the event, thus winning the fair.
The Prince of Tennis Sweet School Festival is an otome game banking on quantity in many ways, rather than quality. There are nine possible love interests from Seishun Gakuen Junior High School, seven from Hyotei Gakuen Junior High School, seven from Rikkai University Junior High School, three from Fudomine Junior High School, three from Rokkaku Junior High School, three from St. Rudolph Gakuin Junior High School, three from Shitenhoji Junior High School, and three from Yamabuki Junior High School. That’s almost 40 dudes to date. It’s great in terms of variety, sure. And nice for folks who do enjoy the anime and manga and know who these guys are.
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However, that does come at a cost. The Prince of Tennis Sweet School Festival is not a meaty, multi-hour otome game. The routes don’t feature a lot of depth. You’re essentially spending time alongside the chosen guy alongside festival duties ahead of the event and the Nationals. If you choose to talk to someone every day, he will like you. It doesn’t really matter if you go to the Indoor Court, Main Building, Pool, Square, Stage, or Stall area each day with your three Action Points. It’s more about going where you see that character’s icon each time so end up on his route. And, after spending about two hours reading through his part, it will be over. That does add up if you do every storyline, but it also gets a little tedious. Especially since, while this is a very dedicated romance route that does feature lovey dovey moments, it also feels very middle school in many ways.
Which makes sense, given these are all junior high school students. That sort of also makes it feel a little weird. In the case of Konami’s Tokimeki Memorial: Girl’s Side otome game series, we see our characters go through all three years of high school and end up as 18-year-olds at the end with the relationship gradually developing into them being “in love” with the guy they pursue at the end. Our protagonist is the same age as these fellow 13-ish-year-old guys, so at least there’s no in-story major gap.
Images via Konami
But it’s really something of a “lite” take on Tokimeki Memorial: Girl’s Side in some way. When you choose to visit an area, you can Look or Chat with someone. Chatting will bring up Topics and Special (SP) Topics. The UI also brings up the idea of choosing what you do to “plan,” in a way. But since the only standard topics are festival, homework, weather, friends, and dreams, and they might not always respond, it can feel more bland and engaging than Konami’s other otome game series.
The handling of this rerelease is also handled well in some ways, but a bit poorly executed in others. The new CGs look great in HD and still fit the tone of the game. The UI is easy to parse, with the text all easy to read. However, I noticed a lot of localization issues. Spelling and grammatical errors come up. Also, there are a lot of awkwardly phrased lines. Like when you first meet Ryoma, he says, “I’ve been wondering… why there’s someone not from the team here.” It still works and isn’t too bad, but some things didn’t come across like I’d expect a natural English speaker to phrase them.
I’m glad Konami took a chance on releasing The Prince of Tennis Sweet School Festival ~♡-40 and more…~, and it isn’t a bad “lite” otome game. It isn’t as intensive and detailed as the company’s Tokimeki Memorial: Girl’s Side series or other visual novels from companies like Idea Factory. Also, if you don’t know anything about The Prince of Tennis, it might be difficult to find a favorite character since it relies heavily on existing knowledge of who these folks are. Frankly, I hope it sells well enough so the company takes a chance on those Switch ports of its other otome series.
The Prince of Tennis Sweet School Festival ~♡-40 and more…~ is available on the Switch, Switch 2, and PC.