Konami's LovePlus was a breakaway hit in its native land of Japan, where girlfriend simulators are a dime a dozen. The 2009 Nintendo DS release managed to distinguish itself with an air of both innocence and sophistication (most dating sims tend to be rather juvenile and base), as well as bring a number of technical innovations on the table (because the game took advantage of the DS's built in clock, interactions essentially took place in real time).
The original version ended up selling a quarter of a million copies, which is huge numbers for the genre, and getting the attention of those across the ocean. Thought the story of that one guy who actually married his Love Plus girlfriend played a larger part in that. At any rate, all interested parties might want to know about the upcoming sequel, called LovePlus Collection according to Polygon, which is headed towards smartphones.
More and more Japanese game developers are turning towards iOS and Android to maximize profits and reach new audiences, since less and less are turning towards traditional game playing machines (with certain exceptions). One perfect example is Cave, producers of hardcore shumps, who has embraced the smartphone marketplace (some are willing to wager that it's the one thing keeping them alive these days).
One big advantage is how its much easier for Japanese smartphone games to make it to America than their console counterparts. Does that mean we might finally get LovePlus in America? Maybe.
Unfortunately, it won't be the game that we've all been eyeballing for the past number of years now. Instead of being a straightforward sim, it's a card trading game, with built in social elements. According to Akari Uchida, producer of the game:
"Our mission with LovePlus is to provide a casual story and characters that everyone can get close with… As we've proceeded with the series, though, aspects of it inevitably got more core-oriented and created hurdles for gamers to overcome, which is a regret of mine. So while we thought of ways to expand on the game's accessibility, we thought about the sort of social content that Konami is good at."
Uchida is referencing the various other card games that Konami produces in Japan, and which are all very popular. Uchida explains further:
"The biggest difference from the console version is that you're able to touch upon all the charms of the girls in a very easy manner… In a way, though the motifs of dating and school life, you're getting little bite-sized insights on their charms. You'll be working with your friends in-game to live with them, create assorted memories, and collect those in the form of cards; that's the main idea."
LovePlus Collection arrives on smartphones in Japan in the coming weeks. Fingers crossed that it eventually shows up in other regions, even if it's not the same LovePlus that we've all been waiting and hoping for.
