Only a few adult visual novels (or eroge games) were localized from Japan to the U.S. during the 1990s. One of the most memorable included True Love Jun’ai Monogatari, which follows a 19-year-old college student’s romantic endeavors with his classmates and acquaintances. But after becoming abandonware during the 2000s, one American publisher is finally rereleasing True Love in English.
On Tuesday, FAKKU shared a trailer for True Love ’95, the adult visual novel’s first-ever English rerelease. The game will be “available soon” on the hentai distributor’s site, the announcement explains, in celebration of the game’s 25th anniversary. “Originally for MS-DOS, Windows 95, and PC-98, you’ll be able to find True Love once again,” FAKKU teased on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/FAKKU/status/1158900077546467329
I'm so happy we are releasing this game! True Love was one of the first dating sims I ever played and it honestly had such a big dumb impact on my life. I've been talking about this game in panels and at events for years, don't miss it! https://t.co/oqKm3xsZqp
— Jacob (@largehotcoffee) August 7, 2019
FAKKU is also offering a pair of limited-edition T-shirts inspired by True Love from the popular queer artist and “self-proclaimed glitch witch” DataErase. “It’s very surreal to actually get commissioned to do like glitch art for an actual official rerelease of an old pc98 game?” she tweeted.
https://twitter.com/FAKKU/status/1158900095028359168
Adult visual novel fans quickly fell in love.
This is sooo cool! Seeing old games get rescued like this is awesome and completely unexpected in a wonderful way!
— TrishaCat @trishacat.bsky.social (@WaywardKitt) August 7, 2019
https://twitter.com/666tiddystan/status/1159119848414121984
Now you can say that…
— Blick Winkel@AX⁉️(H. Anthony Israel) (@blockwonkel) August 7, 2019
you found True Love at Fakku. https://t.co/vL1LL4DSQs
Ah this game brings back memories. I still remember printing out a guide to help me with each girl😅
— Uncommoner (@Velocity_Eight) August 7, 2019
Others were pleasantly surprised.
Not the #DOSGaming re-release news I expected to see this morning, but okay. https://t.co/spphG2luxu
— 𝔸𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕠𝕝𝕪 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕤𝕙𝕜𝕚𝕟💾 (@dosnostalgic) August 7, 2019
https://twitter.com/MoeGamer/status/1159021187114160128
Goddamn Jacob, I know you love "True Love", but this is something else I did not expect. LOVE IT.
— Kai Kazuhiro (@kaimax61) August 7, 2019
True Love was developed by Japanese studio Software House Parsley and released in Japan for the NEC PC-98 computer line in 1995. Four years later, the game was localized for Windows 95 and released in the U.S. and Europe, where it became a cult classic. Despite its popularity in the U.S., the game seemed to be in licensing limbo and only available to play through pirated sources until this week.
Then writing for Paste magazine, Kotaku’s Gita Jackson broke down True Love’s complicated handle on love and sex by connecting it with her own coming-of-age online. “True Love was all about the emotional foreplay, the dates leading up to intimacy, the touches and signs, the gestures,” Jackson wrote. “The sex scenes in the game are brief, and it asks you to really fall in love with these women, to ask yourself, what kind of girl do I want?, in order to be satisfied by them.”
For more information, head over to FAKKU’s thread on True Love ’95. The Daily Dot reached out to FAKKU and founder Jacob Grady and is awaiting comment.
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