After 35 years, Idol Hotline: Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School has finally received an English patch. Why is this important? Well, it was designed by Hironobu Sakaguchi and Yoshio Sakamoto, who are the creators of Final Fantasy and Metroid respectively. The music was also composed by Nobuo Uematsu and Toshiaki Imai. Talk about a team of all-stars, eh?
What's so important about Idol Hotline: Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School?
Apparently it's possibly the first traditional dating simulator ever made, so it's not only a curiosity from the '80s from some important people, but a legitimately groundbreaking title made by some important people back in the '80s. It honestly doesn't look like much, but hey, it was published back in 1987 for the Family Computer Disk System, so don't go in expecting too much.
Where can you download the Idol Hotline: Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School English patch?
The download from Romhacking.net comes with a 45-page manual and 2 pages of the phone hints and transcriptions from 1988. This might be a strange release, but it definitely isn't a half-hearted one. The manual is so 80's I almost OD'ed, and even if you don't want to play the game, it's worth a download to get some sweet 80's nostalgia.
Even for those who aren't interested in playing an ancient dating sim, the chance of hearing some early Nobuo Uematsu music and playing a game from the Metroid and Final Fantasy creators is interesting. Final Fantasy came out in 1987 as well, which is the same year that Idol Hotline: Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School was released. Is it a good game? Who knows! There are no user reviews on its Romhacking,.net page or anywhere else I can find, so if you do play the game and have some thoughts, be sure to let the world know.
For more information on old weird games that my editor makes me cover, stay tuned to TechRaptor.
