When I was little I wrote an actual fanfic for school flirting game and it was about the protagonist being jealous that the boy she like already had a girlfriend (the blonde dude and the blonde chick) and wanting all the boys to like her and one day she woke up with magical powers that let her make anyone fall in love with her. Yes it was as bad as you imagine.
Little Mistake in regards to the Flirting Game: You DON'T lose hearts by the teacher willy nilly. You'll only lose them if you run against her. That way you bump into her. You need to walk past her slowly. The mask is actually used as protection against the jealous Ghost Lady. Signed: An ex-obsessive fan
nah that’s false😭there’s no way to protect yourself against the teacher and the only way to get rid of the ghost lady is going into beauty mode, however u have to pay the price of losing the beauty mode but the ghost girl goes away:)
clear, vivid memory of me playing the school and festival flirting games WHILE MY OWN MOTHER WAS WATCHING and she was like "are you winning sweetie?" and would sit next to me and watch me play, thank you for this video, it reminded me of simpler times
Just wanted to add to the Tomie theory, Tomie was once a normal schoolgirl who was being used for her looks by a teacher into a false sense of love type of relationship. However due to the nature of their relationship, the teacher told her to keep it a secret, but Tomie didn't want to. A series of unfortunate events (I forgot how died but you can just look up the Tomie timeline for better answers) with the death of Tomie would lead to her becoming the monster we see her today. A monster who was so full of sorrow, wanting the love she longed for that wasn't real, only to turn into a monster who would ultimately inflect the same cruelty her "lover" teacher put her through. If we go by the Tomie theory for Romance Academy....yeah. Yeah I think that would be very messed up.
Oh please, Tomie doesn't wants love, remember Little Finger? You know, one of the guys who wasn't caught by her spell, tried to be decent towards her, only for her to manipulate him through his childhood trauma and break his heart because he didn't initially fell for her? She isn't filled with sorrow, she's an empty, selfish mean girl who fell victim to a vile scumbag (her teacher) which led to her demise. Why do you think, Tomie's powers always lead to her getting murdered? Because she is being punished as much as the men are, because she is like a Japanese revenge spirit, who died with evil in her heart.
@@inferiorinferno8859 I was referring to her at the beginning of her story back when she was just a normal school girl. At that time she only wanted attention as maybe she had something that happened within her own childhood that made her want to seek out attention and validation. However, just like that teacher who tricked her with the false promises of love, Tomie would later become the same monster to that little body. It's the classic case of victim becoming the abuser.
Tomie died when a boy in her class she was also in a relationship with overheard her telling the teacher she was sleeping with that she was pregnant, however it is implied this was a lie, and the three fight on a cliff which causes Tomie to slip and fall off of it after one of the guys shoves her away from them. Tomie is a much more complex character than I think a lot of people make her out to be. She may not be a nice person, she's selfish, narcissistic, vain, a liar, and in some stories even tries to rally up the men that have fallen for her to kill others, usually women that have done something to upset her (for example, one girl gets a photo of her that reveals her more monstrous nature and gets some of the boys at school to try and kill the girl). However, in most of the stories she features in (as it's implied she isn't the same Tomie nearly every story) she doesn't really do anything to deserve her fate. Like I said, she isn't a good person, never is, but she doesn't deserve to be brutally murdered in all of her stories. I've always had a theory that Tomie wants to be loved and adored by all, maybe she once even was a human, but has become so twisted and self-centered that it's become something else. I think Ito himself has mentioned that she has been used as a narrative against violence against women? Or something like that? I think there is a video here on TH-cam if you search up "junji ito tomie" about that. Might just be me remembering the video theory and not something he actually said. It's kind of evident in some of her featured stories and I think she gets more and more corrupted the more times she dies and is forced to multiply and come back to life. I actually love her, she's one of my favorite re-occuring Ito characters, if you couldn't tell lol. Very big fan. I should read all of her stories again.
I think the fact this is a genre that largely started in Japan makes a lot of sense culturally. Aside from it kinda playing into that old school Harenchi Gakuen or Urusei Yatsura-esque style love comedy variety of "ecchi", it also just kinda leans into the way kissing is seen in Japan vs. the US. The game "Chulip" on PS2 also leans into this for similar reasons. Kissing in public is kinda just more taboo in Japan for a number of reasons. Not that it doesn't happen, or that it's unheard of, it's just different. The comedy or gimmick comes from playing off that vibe to an extremely exaggerated and cartoonish extent. As for why so many of the later games are ugly: I'm convinced it's just because they're made in places for far cheaper and far less passion. Both the original Japanese flash games were probably made with genuine intent by good artists vs. joe schmoe in the US or elsewhere who wants that ad revenue without entirely getting why the original games were made or what the point was.
I was just about to explain the cultural dissonance + the natural fixation society has to everything that is perceived as "taboo/forbidden"! It's a great point, and one of the main reasons why the OG old games were good, as they were made with sincere intentions, meanwhile the later ones where made by people who didn't understand neither the context this games were made nor why they appealed to players in the first place.
there's actually a secret technique where you could just stop hold clicking for a few seconds and click again to prevent the other rival (school girls) from initiating a battle which can I mostly it used when the bar is almost full and initiate a battle with a rival to get more points from defeated rivals
My sisters would praise me for getting the supreme victory on both the school and festival games, beach one was impossible because the ugly ass lifeguard dude moved too fast 😭
I feel an embarrassing nostalgia for the Shopping Mall kiss game because I'm pretty sure that was the one you could customize the characters who kiss and I distinctly remember trying to make them look like myself and fictional characters I liked as a child 😭
this reminded me of a game where you were a girl and you could customize her, and choose locations to go to (ex: park, mall) you could also pick your date and gift them things? and the days of the week would pass I think? I swear it was on gggames but I can't remember the name 😢
The problem with office kiss, and other flash games like this, is that they used to work alongside the computers of the era. Older computer could somehow run flash elements slower, therefore making certain games seem easier. Nowadays, computers are way too fast for most flash games and they go out of sync. If you want to fix this and play certain flash games that you suspect might work under this, you need to use a program like "CPU Killer" that will temporarily slow down your computer with garbage RAM data so that it acts more akin to an older model.
The phrase "visibly heterosexual monkeys kissing" made me laugh harder than i think it should've. Also the fake Devilish kissing game screenshot was so cute! I love that Pandemonica from Helltaker was the Department Manager, cute touch!
I used to spend HOURS with my sister playing the school flirting game and it’s spin-offs! My favorite popular boy was the blue haired one and the summer festival ghost. We could never get the life guard on the beach one though. This video is so nostalgic !!
Romance Academy is probably my guiltiest pleasure and hardcore phase as an elementary school student As a self-proclaimed ex-pro of the game, I'm not ashamed to admit I memorized the flooring and layout for each game (There's the school setting, festival setting, etc...) By doing that I knew EXACTLY where the handsome guys were, my army only had handsome guys and some "extras" This is probably one of the reason why I'm pretty good at spamming now, I didn't care if the guy was surrounded by 5+ girls, he was my prey and I spammed like no tmr Honestly miss playing those games and whole-heartedly enjoying them, this one in particular was a huge part of my childhood (and probably a reason why back then I found all boys ugly, as they weren't as good as my 2d hard earned handsome high schooler with a sparkly aura)
Lmao I remember always having to be on guard whenever playing these games and those naughty games where you'd have to take pictures of poor women in sussy situations. Man games back then used to be really crazy but nothing compares to the weird disney princess surgery and pregnancy games...
I’m surprised you didn’t talk about the cheating aspect of these games or the games where you were paid to get proof of partner’s cheating by taking photos at scandalous times. Full black bar censorship in those games. Great video, unlocked a lot of memories 😂
Can you talk about point and click and escape the room games? They were my whole childhood. The vibes were immaculate. Also, I can't tell you how much I love that this channel exists to remind me that other kids actually played flash games and it wasn't just a fever dream xD
This!! It actually upsets me so much that most people enjoying the mainstream real life escape room genre don’t know it originated from a flash game trend, they think I’m making it up! The puzzles and tropes are usually the same, and it’s stupid easy if you’ve been playing flash games for a very long time, but people will look at you like you’re nuts if you bring it up :(
God I LOVED Romance Academy, Charming Girls and Queen of Flirting as a kid 😭😭😭 Hearing you refer to the blonde rival as having the same "power level" as a group of other rivals made me laugh my ass off 😂😂😂
the tomie theory for romance academy?? is actually really cool?? like i feel like with that lore for the game you can actually make a really good modern spinoff that is more mature with a story. it would be so nice.
Does anyone remember the girl game where you discovered a cavewoman trapped in ice and you had to very carefully use a laser to melt her out then when she was free you had to bathe and shave her in order to kiss her??? It feels like a fever dream
I can't believe other people remember this!!! I'm so relieved I'm not insane 🤣 I was looking for it months ago and not finding it made me feel so crazy
Hey queen! Girl, you have done it again. Constantly raising the bar for us all and doing it flawlessly. I'd say I'm surprised, but I know who you are. I've seen it up close and personal. Girl, you make me so proud, and I love you.
I can't express how happy I was to hear Li comparing the romance academy "lore" to that of Junji Ito's Tomie. So happy I'm not the only person who grew up playing girlsgogames who turned out to be a horror fan, I really feel like I've found my people here lol. Great vid as always! :) Also: my fav flirting game as a kid was called married & flirting, and it was also about horses, it was weird but so fun to play somehow
I would 100% watch a movie adaptation of Romance Academy with one of your supernatural storylines. Actually, now that I think of it, I have...it sounds like Jennifer's Body. But I don't think I would get tired of another variation on that theme.
No Joke. This _would_ actually make a very dope surreal Anime. You just need some more plot, maybe a form Ouran Host Club vibe: The MC was rejected by a boy. Hurt and mocked, her 16/18th birthday gets her a visit by the Hatsune spirit -the symbol of her family. It reveals to her that in this world, certain girls can laserbeam men into loving them. Being betrayed by true love, MC just wants to build a senseless harem. Both to get back at the boy, but also the other popular girls. However, she can't just run around and is often restricted from doing so by teachers & co. After her awakening, there are also strange characters that show up: It turns out that MC is supposed to user her powers to fight in the spiritual family feud of the 4 big families! Will MC be able to get her calm, big Harem? Will she survive & maybe beat the war? And what's with this strange boy who seems to be unaffected by her beam? Is true love maybe not lost after all??
As a kid I must have wanted drama, plus unable to read at the time I thought the office lady was cheating on the boss with the guy 💀 The flirting game series were so fun to me, I remember wanting all of the good endings. I've satisfied my inner child by reaching that goal last year.
I just found a secret at the end of the Moko spin-off! There's a scene at the school where Moko is talking with a friend, and then the usual protagonist shows up, and she and Moko face off. Then it says "To be continued."
Something I found out about Romance Academy: different versions change gameplay a bit. In the English version (which I found at Yandex) it's a lot harder to fight, and you will probably fail to get popular boys without beauty time, also, popular boys change floors and they can spawn or not. This actually means it's impossible to get the blond guy on the 1st floor (instead he spawns at the rooftop and is pretty much guaranteed) so it is impossible to get total victory. I recommend playing the Japanese version, not only it's easier, but you can actually achieve total victory. Edit: to get the blond guy to spawn you only have to get beauty time, this applies to every game
i remember the naruto/sasuke kissing game! man there used to be so many naruto-themed flash animations and games. they were all really cringe, but i look back on that time fondly. shoutout to there being like whole dating sims on deviantart back then, too.
the use of one winged angel while scrolling through all the kissing games truly spoke to me and how i felt as a kid looking at just... how many goddamn games there were. it intimidated me
I love how four months ago li just shows up with crazy high quality videos. She already feels like a youtuber I've been watching for ages. Love the videos!
I loved girls go games and this category was always so scandalous feeling. I only played them when I was home alone just incase 😂 Thanks for bringing back this nostalgia
I used to spend so much time on the high school kissing game! Specifically the festival and the school settings, I even managed to have a strategy for the festival where I would leave the ghost boy as the VERY last one so I could get him with little to no interruption of the ghost girl. I think this is where I was able to master my super fast clicking speed to out beat the other girls lol.
I found this channel recently after extensive reminiscing on barbiegirls and tore through all your videos. Your work is incredibly comprehensive, both about the content and in capturing the joy these franchises produced in us as kids. You’re doing really amazing work and I can’t wait for what’s to come!
I'm so happy someone finally talked about the romance academy series! They were my absolute favorite growing up but always seemed to have little or no information on who made the games. I think romance academy series was a favorite for those of us with a shojou filled childhood lol I'm just so grateful I have some more answers and information on the series, as it was so near and dear to my heart. Thank you!
perfect timing, was needing a bit of nostalgia, and youre like the librarian of our childhood oddities along with izzyzz. Keep it up please (also youre looking fabulous
romance academy will never not remind me of the vocaloid song "im sorry for loving you" by utata-p where a shy girl buys some sketchy high-tech contact lenses that are meant to help her convey her feelings with a glance, but they actually convert her passion into beams of pink light shooting from her eyes.... i have to wonder if the song was somehow inspired by the game, or if maybe this idea of 'eye beams of love' is just like A Thing in japan???
I absolutely loved and still love the flirting games, they're so cute, simple and fun! Your theories are also very interesting and I'm very into the kitsune one
Honestly I learn so much from your videos. The videos and your voice 100% cure my anxiety and if I'm having a panic attack also I'm a 32 year old gay man so definitely not in a creepy way lol! You just have a calm soothing energy and kind voice and the way you explain things along with your visuals is a secret weapon for me and always helps me so thank you so much you have saved me in anxious situations many times. Also I work at a dog daycare and if a dog has separation anxiety or home sick I play 1 of ur videos and both me and the dog relax lol I don't know what that means but I thought you would like to know LOL
When I saw your first video, I thought it was really cool but I honestly wasn't expecting you to stick around since I've seen so many video essayists quit after two or three videos. But now you've got a Discord and a Patreon and a full blown audience! I'm really glad because every video has been such excellent quality and I'm always looking forward to the next one. Keep up the great work!
I LOVE your dedication to the lore for Romance Academy. I've always been so fascinated by these games and the dark implications. My personal theory that I had as a kid was this was just...some kinda world where girls shot lasers from their eyes and that's how romance works for them.
Point and click games were my go-to flash game genre back then which eventually led me to the ‘naughty’ series where you are a ‘bored prankster’ boy whose objective is to pull these so-called pranks that usually leads to putting pretty girls in provocative situations like stripping them of their clothes or tripping into kissing the prankster himself. Each game was a different setting that ranged from a house party, car wash, fashion show and god forbid even a school? Years later I’m convinced these were made to cater to a particular fantasy😅. They were pretty much one of my first kinds of exposures to things I shouldn’t be indulging in as a kid and I understand why my parents scolded me a few times. But curiosity got the best of little me so I kept going, it’s a slacking game in of itself irl lol, the og fnaf if you will. Looking back on it now, it does make me uncomfortable of how sexualised the women in the games were
Oh my god, I remember one of those. The one I played was set at home with the pretty girl babysitting the player character and his baby sibling. And yep, you could mess with her in such a way she’d take off her shirt-and maybe her skirt too? Pretty inappropriate for me to be playing at like, 11-12, but I was fascinated at the time!
can i just say your fake devilish kissing screenshots were so sweet they made me squeal irl?? what!! theyre so cute!!! also wanted to say, funnily enough kissing/flirting games never rly attracted me as a kid and i never got the hype, but now as an adult i kinda get it, not only i imagine kids would get interested in the fact it feels taboo, but also the arcade/high score quality to them does seem incredibly engaging, specially for romance academy. i can imagine any kid playing would find it fun to watch the numbers go up and find new and better endings where they are rewarded for higher scores
god i have been DYING for someone to talk about these games, i was absolutely obsessed with the rewarding challenge of romance academy. thank you for doing the work!
I'm only a couple minutes into the video but I want to say, the narrative voice is perfectly on point. I can have trouble with youtube voiceovers sometimes, but here I understand every word just fine, the pace is measured, and it's overall very pleasant to listen to. Obviously it's all just set dressing for the topic of the video, but it helps to listen and understand what's going on better. I'll definitively be checking out other videos of this channel when I'm done with this one.
this video was suggested to me and OH MAN IM SO GLAD IT WAS 😭 this is a blast from the past, what a memory!! thank you for documenting this, honestly i know this is something ingrained in a lot of our memories but it also makes me sad to think about how flash games had a relatively short life span (like their main era of popularity) and if it were not for efforts to preserve them (largely being done by gamers themselves by creating archives and emulators), they would be completely lost. flash games (as funny and unserious as games like these seem to be) are a unique internet artifact. thanks for making this cool vid on them!!
I remember very vividly, around the time I was eight my brother confronted me about me playing these kinda games on the family computer. Basically admonished me and finished it off with "just don't look at anything bad". I had never been made to feel so ashamed about anything before. It's been 10 years, and I haven't been the same since. I still play romance games, but now only at night because I am paranoid about my laptop accidentally connecting to the TV or some shit and I couldn't bear to be confronted about shit like this again.
The work kissing game and the 3 flirting games were my childhood! Me and my cousin used to play them all the time! I remember just searching “kissing games” and they would show up (along with some others we would sometimes play) but the ones I mentioned were for sure the favorites. They were just so fun and had great replayability
You talked about that feeling of "I shouldn't be seen playing this" we had as a kid. My mom came in when I was watching this video and I flinched...I'm 26.
I remember playing Office Kissing as a kid side by side with a friend during a sleepover, on our own set-up computers. It was hard but I remember clearing the game after many attempts. Romance Academy I remember playing a few times, it was fun, I loved the artstyle and effects, plus the concept of a girl going around collectinh boys for unknown reasons but seemingly for her own amusement appealed to me as a kid for some reason.
i remember one strangely smoking-themed game that was simar to both of these on girlgogames. you played one of three(?) girls in a shopping centre trying to kiss as many boys as possible, while avoiding kissing smokers. but the thing was, the kissing involved a whole minigame up close in the mouth where you had to trace your mouse along a pattern, implying this was the course your tongue was taking inside this man's mouth. if you caught a smoker, the mouth would be disgusting, covered in sores and coughing during the act. i have to wonder if it was made as an anti-smoking campaign because it was very effective, those smokers' mouths were extremely disturbing
this is unrelated, but your voice is so soothing!! i loved listening to this video especially because it touched on a piece of nostalgia that i don't think any other youtuber has talked about
I always felt like I shouldnt play these when I was a kid lol Thank you for these videos they give me a lot of nostalgia, AND OMG I PLAYED SO MUCH ROMANCE ACADEMY AAAAA
I think it's funny having experienced GirlsGoGames as a European kid, because namely in France we don't nearly have as many taboos about flirting or kissing as Americans apparently do. Add to that the fact that neither of my parents was really the Helicopter type (though I still specifically wasn't allowed to watch the Witches of Eastwick for some reason, and I still haven't seen it) which meant that playing these games never gave me the impression that I was doing something I shouldn't be doing. And then I discovered fanfiction and it all went to hell.
Pls make a video about “adults” flash game, like there was one that you had to take an embarrassing picture of a celebrity however the “embarrassing picture” was actually a censored nood of her 😳
I was actually forbidden from playing the school flirting game. My parents thought, correctly, that it sent a bad message about romantic relationships It did not stop me.
Does anyone remember that one series of flash games where it had a purple bunny (could've been a dog too) and i think his name was Mack? It also had a kissing game where you are sitting outside at night with a female counterpart of the character but had to avoid getting seen by a girl from a window of a house nearby
God, the romance academy series was me and my sister's favorite flash game as kids. Nothing compares to the feeling of total victory when I finally managed to get the ghost guy in my adoring posse. Anyways we 100% considered the player character to have some sort of supernatural evil brainwashing power, that was like half the fun.
Every video I watch of yours unlocks a memory I had forgotten about my childhood. Like that demon barbershop game? I played the hell out of that game as a kid and I had totally forgotten about it until now. Same with romance academy o(-(
I really appreciate how much research and time you're putting into these videos! They are so amazing to watch from the perspective of being over 20 now and missing those days when you used to came back from school to play these games 🥺💗
I remember not playing many of these because I felt so guilty akjahskdahkaja it's so weird that our child brains connected the bad-end state of the games with the real world. I do remember the game assets getting very, hmm grabby? haha like you said, it's certainly odd and must have been clickbait, but it is uncomfy to look back on today. I never played the two you looked most in depth at here, but I really do like the way Office Kissing looks! It's like, the creators understood the Flash engine and it's limitations and designed around that. And yeah, the fact that each click is just a cute little peck helps it not feel as scandalous, vs the mashing face that my child brain only ever connected to the like, early scenes in CSI episodes before the lovers get killed LOL
I devoured Flash games as a kid, and I played Office Kissing all the time. The threat of getting caught gave me anxiety (same with the Devilish games), but for some reason I kept playing anyway. I think I have a memory of the losing screen, but never the winning screen, lol.
During the middle part of this video, when you said "If it exists, there's kissing games of it" I was thinking "Does that mean there's gonna be a Friday Night Funkin' version?" as a joke. But then 23:33 came and it caught me off guard XD
The art style in that narusasu kissing game kind of reminds me of a touhou kissing game I played once. It was also pretty different from the traditional kissing game as instead of clicking, you had to type in a name, which would initiate a non-interactive pocky game scene between Marisa and an "anon" type character. Most names would result in Marisa breaking the pocky stick early, except... アリス (Alice) and some other name that was most likely the dev's name or one of their friends. Entering アリス actually turns the anon into Alice, so technically there is another non-het kissing game out there, if this even counts.
whoa, idk how I've never found your channel before now! It's really refreshing to see someone talk about a genre of gaming that is often overlooked. It seems like flash games, especially ones with adolescent girls as the target audience, are often ignored or are not seen as "serious" gaming.
I have been LOOKING for Romance Academy for EVER BECAUSE I COULDN'T REMEMBER THE GAME!!! Thank you for this historical archives, they really help me find the games i, a gamer girl, should have never stopped playing
gosh i loved romance academy! to be honest i never saw the romance aspect - i thought i was playing as a girl who killed boys (because they floated, therefore they had to be ghosts). totally normal for a 10 year old, right...? i think these games sparked my love for fighting games lol
i always felt so scandalous playing these as a child on girlsgogames
and watching lets plays was even worse for some reason
I whack my mouse pad 😢not sure how it stayed alive for so long.
That's kinda the point ngl.
Even in Japan when they first took off, the comedy/gimmick comes from something kinda taboo being taken so lightly.
literally and i would be so scared to get caught by my parent LMAOO 😭
SAME DUDE
When I was little I wrote an actual fanfic for school flirting game and it was about the protagonist being jealous that the boy she like already had a girlfriend (the blonde dude and the blonde chick) and wanting all the boys to like her and one day she woke up with magical powers that let her make anyone fall in love with her. Yes it was as bad as you imagine.
I would love to have read that!
Bro that's actually rlly cool lol
that sounds amazing lmao
I really wish my old computer wasn't broken I would have loved to post it and have people make fun of me.
I just wonder why it wasn't the story of the ghostboy
i remember playing some of these games as a kid, gotta love having unrestricted internet access as a child 😅
i played the highschool romance hypnosis game SO MUCH as a kid
unrestricted internet access led me to bestgore..
@@punkisdead2662 damm unrestricted internet access led me to fanfic
@@punkisdead2662 I, unfortunately, can relate.
@@helenabrincker811 unrestricted access to the internet lead me to both lmao
i always felt so powerful making the boys love me with my eye beams. i was like 7 dreaming that i would be that supernaturally alluring one day
Did that happen
I could have sworn I dreamed up that game from my childhood until I saw it appear in this video and the comments like this talking about it lol
Crazy how im a gay guy, but when i was a kid id go around and play games about enchanting boys without even thinking of the implications lol
@@Matheus_Brazsame 😂
If the genders are reversed, then this could pass as a harem game.
Little Mistake in regards to the Flirting Game: You DON'T lose hearts by the teacher willy nilly.
You'll only lose them if you run against her. That way you bump into her. You need to walk past her slowly.
The mask is actually used as protection against the jealous Ghost Lady.
Signed: An ex-obsessive fan
What does the snorkel do then
@@ghastlygavinI'm guessing an extra life if you bump into a teacher
This, out of context, sounds so crazy ahah
Thanks for the additional infos!
Are you kidding me?! How did I not know about this?
nah that’s false😭there’s no way to protect yourself against the teacher and the only way to get rid of the ghost lady is going into beauty mode, however u have to pay the price of losing the beauty mode but the ghost girl goes away:)
clear, vivid memory of me playing the school and festival flirting games WHILE MY OWN MOTHER WAS WATCHING and she was like "are you winning sweetie?" and would sit next to me and watch me play, thank you for this video, it reminded me of simpler times
The most wholesome version of “are ya winning son?” I’ve ever seen
That's so cute ngl 😭
@@alyssamcdevitt1778 equal and opposite energies
I actually played both of those again last year 🤣 still fun
awwww that's so adorable :D
Fun story: i played these games in secret for fear of my mom finding out and disowning me... I was a dramatic child.
Not the only dramatic child here as I thought the same, when I was younger LOL!
I thought that if someone catches me, I would be grounded for the rest of my life
And here I thought having my computer taken away forever and ever was high stakes!
Sameee I wasn't allowed to play them 😭
I think everyone felt the way like we were all so dramatic for no reason 😂
The Romance Academy series is PEAK gaming, the games and the music are permanently engraved in my brain
No yeah, you're right about the Romance Academy games. That's 1000% supernatural. That girl is a creature beyond mortal ken.
Yeah I think she is a Succubus. Why else would she be so obsessed with making romantic mind slaves?
Brilliant pun and brilliant buildup
Romance Academy is exactly the kind of heterosexual nonsense I love. Good for kitsune-chan.
It is a cult leader simulator
thank you li for documenting all the most iconic internet nostalgia
Just wanted to add to the Tomie theory, Tomie was once a normal schoolgirl who was being used for her looks by a teacher into a false sense of love type of relationship. However due to the nature of their relationship, the teacher told her to keep it a secret, but Tomie didn't want to. A series of unfortunate events (I forgot how died but you can just look up the Tomie timeline for better answers) with the death of Tomie would lead to her becoming the monster we see her today. A monster who was so full of sorrow, wanting the love she longed for that wasn't real, only to turn into a monster who would ultimately inflect the same cruelty her "lover" teacher put her through.
If we go by the Tomie theory for Romance Academy....yeah. Yeah I think that would be very messed up.
Oh please, Tomie doesn't wants love, remember Little Finger? You know, one of the guys who wasn't caught by her spell, tried to be decent towards her, only for her to manipulate him through his childhood trauma and break his heart because he didn't initially fell for her? She isn't filled with sorrow, she's an empty, selfish mean girl who fell victim to a vile scumbag (her teacher) which led to her demise. Why do you think, Tomie's powers always lead to her getting murdered? Because she is being punished as much as the men are, because she is like a Japanese revenge spirit, who died with evil in her heart.
@@inferiorinferno8859 I was referring to her at the beginning of her story back when she was just a normal school girl. At that time she only wanted attention as maybe she had something that happened within her own childhood that made her want to seek out attention and validation. However, just like that teacher who tricked her with the false promises of love, Tomie would later become the same monster to that little body. It's the classic case of victim becoming the abuser.
Tomie died when a boy in her class she was also in a relationship with overheard her telling the teacher she was sleeping with that she was pregnant, however it is implied this was a lie, and the three fight on a cliff which causes Tomie to slip and fall off of it after one of the guys shoves her away from them.
Tomie is a much more complex character than I think a lot of people make her out to be. She may not be a nice person, she's selfish, narcissistic, vain, a liar, and in some stories even tries to rally up the men that have fallen for her to kill others, usually women that have done something to upset her (for example, one girl gets a photo of her that reveals her more monstrous nature and gets some of the boys at school to try and kill the girl). However, in most of the stories she features in (as it's implied she isn't the same Tomie nearly every story) she doesn't really do anything to deserve her fate. Like I said, she isn't a good person, never is, but she doesn't deserve to be brutally murdered in all of her stories. I've always had a theory that Tomie wants to be loved and adored by all, maybe she once even was a human, but has become so twisted and self-centered that it's become something else.
I think Ito himself has mentioned that she has been used as a narrative against violence against women? Or something like that? I think there is a video here on TH-cam if you search up "junji ito tomie" about that. Might just be me remembering the video theory and not something he actually said.
It's kind of evident in some of her featured stories and I think she gets more and more corrupted the more times she dies and is forced to multiply and come back to life. I actually love her, she's one of my favorite re-occuring Ito characters, if you couldn't tell lol. Very big fan. I should read all of her stories again.
I think the fact this is a genre that largely started in Japan makes a lot of sense culturally. Aside from it kinda playing into that old school Harenchi Gakuen or Urusei Yatsura-esque style love comedy variety of "ecchi", it also just kinda leans into the way kissing is seen in Japan vs. the US. The game "Chulip" on PS2 also leans into this for similar reasons.
Kissing in public is kinda just more taboo in Japan for a number of reasons. Not that it doesn't happen, or that it's unheard of, it's just different. The comedy or gimmick comes from playing off that vibe to an extremely exaggerated and cartoonish extent.
As for why so many of the later games are ugly: I'm convinced it's just because they're made in places for far cheaper and far less passion. Both the original Japanese flash games were probably made with genuine intent by good artists vs. joe schmoe in the US or elsewhere who wants that ad revenue without entirely getting why the original games were made or what the point was.
I was just about to explain the cultural dissonance + the natural fixation society has to everything that is perceived as "taboo/forbidden"! It's a great point, and one of the main reasons why the OG old games were good, as they were made with sincere intentions, meanwhile the later ones where made by people who didn't understand neither the context this games were made nor why they appealed to players in the first place.
chulip mentioned :D
Does anyone remember that kissing game where you had to avoid the smokers? You had to trace a pattern to properly kiss whoever you picked lol
YES!!!!! that one was so weird, looking back in hindsight now 😭
I remember that one, it was so gross!
oh wow i didnt even remember that until now!!
I remember that one, honestly thought I hallucinated it for a good while lmao
Yes!!!
Romance Academy made me into the man I am today 💪
I actually cheated and used an auto clicker.
there's actually a secret technique where you could just stop hold clicking for a few seconds and click again to prevent the other rival (school girls) from initiating a battle which can I mostly it used when the bar is almost full and initiate a battle with a rival to get more points from defeated rivals
@@woebegoneclown Sometimes in life you need to cheat to get forward 🐍
My sisters would praise me for getting the supreme victory on both the school and festival games, beach one was impossible because the ugly ass lifeguard dude moved too fast 😭
@@emperorliz sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty indeed.
I feel an embarrassing nostalgia for the Shopping Mall kiss game because I'm pretty sure that was the one you could customize the characters who kiss and I distinctly remember trying to make them look like myself and fictional characters I liked as a child 😭
this reminded me of a game where you were a girl and you could customize her, and choose locations to go to (ex: park, mall) you could also pick your date and gift them things? and the days of the week would pass I think? I swear it was on gggames but I can't remember the name 😢
@@ant1crist0 wasnt this one of the Avata Star Sue games ?
Omg!! I loved that one because I kept trying to make the “boy character” look like a girl…this is before I even knew I was gay lol
@@ant1crist0 sounds similar to the series of flash games "_____ Days Sim Date" theres a whole bunch of them in different themes and locations
The problem with office kiss, and other flash games like this, is that they used to work alongside the computers of the era. Older computer could somehow run flash elements slower, therefore making certain games seem easier. Nowadays, computers are way too fast for most flash games and they go out of sync. If you want to fix this and play certain flash games that you suspect might work under this, you need to use a program like "CPU Killer" that will temporarily slow down your computer with garbage RAM data so that it acts more akin to an older model.
There’s a website where i played the school flirting games and they worked fine
@@Lv-sg4zp can u tell me what site you used?
@@Lv-sg4zp i think it depends when/how they made, considering li was using a 2011 version of girlsgogames they might be worse off
A few years ago I went on a Neopets games binge and would deliberately try to slow down the games for faster levels, so I get this.
So, kind of like the reason computer manufacturers used to put “Turbo” buttons into their computers to slow down the cpu?
The phrase "visibly heterosexual monkeys kissing" made me laugh harder than i think it should've. Also the fake Devilish kissing game screenshot was so cute! I love that Pandemonica from Helltaker was the Department Manager, cute touch!
I used to spend HOURS with my sister playing the school flirting game and it’s spin-offs! My favorite popular boy was the blue haired one and the summer festival ghost. We could never get the life guard on the beach one though. This video is so nostalgic !!
I would love to see Li cover the Papa's series, they were a huge part of my childhood and have lore that I feel like is overlooked.
Someone did a video of the papa game lore. Try searching it up!
@@hye2354 thanks!
Girlsgogames kissing games were a big part of my childhood ! I used to imgine they were my imaginary relationships.
MEMORY UNLOCKED, i did that too and completely forgot about it until now 😂
These games fueled my comphet, I was convinced flirting was a competitive sport based on nothing but how many and what quality boys you could get
Romance Academy is probably my guiltiest pleasure and hardcore phase as an elementary school student
As a self-proclaimed ex-pro of the game, I'm not ashamed to admit I memorized the flooring and layout for each game (There's the school setting, festival setting, etc...)
By doing that I knew EXACTLY where the handsome guys were, my army only had handsome guys and some "extras"
This is probably one of the reason why I'm pretty good at spamming now, I didn't care if the guy was surrounded by 5+ girls, he was my prey and I spammed like no tmr
Honestly miss playing those games and whole-heartedly enjoying them, this one in particular was a huge part of my childhood (and probably a reason why back then I found all boys ugly, as they weren't as good as my 2d hard earned handsome high schooler with a sparkly aura)
Lmao I remember always having to be on guard whenever playing these games and those naughty games where you'd have to take pictures of poor women in sussy situations. Man games back then used to be really crazy but nothing compares to the weird disney princess surgery and pregnancy games...
Oh god I totally forgot those, like where you try to take pictures of women’s underwear when the wind blows, god why did I never question that
@@djungelsoda Omgggg yesss XD man games were so weird back then but no one ever questioned it 🤣
Those naughty games were the first thing that made me come to terms with my sexuality💀
@@queendiamond770 looking back yeah that my enjoyment of those games was a clue i was not straight
That’s a whole another video 🤣😭especially those princess Bella pregnant dress up 🤦🏽♀️
someone needs to make a slacking type game where you’re a kid playing a kissing game on the family computer
I’m surprised you didn’t talk about the cheating aspect of these games or the games where you were paid to get proof of partner’s cheating by taking photos at scandalous times. Full black bar censorship in those games.
Great video, unlocked a lot of memories 😂
Can you talk about point and click and escape the room games? They were my whole childhood. The vibes were immaculate. Also, I can't tell you how much I love that this channel exists to remind me that other kids actually played flash games and it wasn't just a fever dream xD
Escape games were my favorite games as a kid!
Ah the escape the room games.. i still love them dearly
Were my lifeee 😩 but there's one I was obsessed with called 'the proposal'
This!! It actually upsets me so much that most people enjoying the mainstream real life escape room genre don’t know it originated from a flash game trend, they think I’m making it up! The puzzles and tropes are usually the same, and it’s stupid easy if you’ve been playing flash games for a very long time, but people will look at you like you’re nuts if you bring it up :(
The horse escape game was my jam when I was little
God I LOVED Romance Academy, Charming Girls and Queen of Flirting as a kid 😭😭😭 Hearing you refer to the blonde rival as having the same "power level" as a group of other rivals made me laugh my ass off 😂😂😂
the tomie theory for romance academy?? is actually really cool?? like i feel like with that lore for the game you can actually make a really good modern spinoff that is more mature with a story. it would be so nice.
Does anyone remember the girl game where you discovered a cavewoman trapped in ice and you had to very carefully use a laser to melt her out then when she was free you had to bathe and shave her in order to kiss her??? It feels like a fever dream
Oh my god yes I do remember that!!!
OMG you just awakened an old memory 💀
I can't believe other people remember this!!! I'm so relieved I'm not insane 🤣 I was looking for it months ago and not finding it made me feel so crazy
Hey queen! Girl, you have done it again. Constantly raising the bar for us all and doing it flawlessly. I'd say I'm surprised, but I know who you are. I've seen it up close and personal. Girl, you make me so proud, and I love you.
I can't express how happy I was to hear Li comparing the romance academy "lore" to that of Junji Ito's Tomie. So happy I'm not the only person who grew up playing girlsgogames who turned out to be a horror fan, I really feel like I've found my people here lol. Great vid as always! :)
Also: my fav flirting game as a kid was called married & flirting, and it was also about horses, it was weird but so fun to play somehow
Romance Academy and it's sequels was one of my favorite ways to have fun in girlsgogames land! THANK YOU for making such nostalgic videos
omg, γεια :D
@@marsoulini γειααα :D! χεχε είσαι και omori fan
@@_lemony_tart ω ναι!!
I would 100% watch a movie adaptation of Romance Academy with one of your supernatural storylines.
Actually, now that I think of it, I have...it sounds like Jennifer's Body. But I don't think I would get tired of another variation on that theme.
No Joke. This _would_ actually make a very dope surreal Anime. You just need some more plot, maybe a form Ouran Host Club vibe:
The MC was rejected by a boy. Hurt and mocked, her 16/18th birthday gets her a visit by the Hatsune spirit -the symbol of her family. It reveals to her that in this world, certain girls can laserbeam men into loving them.
Being betrayed by true love, MC just wants to build a senseless harem. Both to get back at the boy, but also the other popular girls. However, she can't just run around and is often restricted from doing so by teachers & co. After her awakening, there are also strange characters that show up: It turns out that MC is supposed to user her powers to fight in the spiritual family feud of the 4 big families!
Will MC be able to get her calm, big Harem? Will she survive & maybe beat the war? And what's with this strange boy who seems to be unaffected by her beam? Is true love maybe not lost after all??
@@katziliaf THIS.
As a kid I must have wanted drama, plus unable to read at the time I thought the office lady was cheating on the boss with the guy 💀
The flirting game series were so fun to me, I remember wanting all of the good endings. I've satisfied my inner child by reaching that goal last year.
I just found a secret at the end of the Moko spin-off! There's a scene at the school where Moko is talking with a friend, and then the usual protagonist shows up, and she and Moko face off. Then it says "To be continued."
I got busted playing these and had no idea why it was such a big deal hahaha I was so stoked for this video!!!
Something I found out about Romance Academy: different versions change gameplay a bit. In the English version (which I found at Yandex) it's a lot harder to fight, and you will probably fail to get popular boys without beauty time, also, popular boys change floors and they can spawn or not. This actually means it's impossible to get the blond guy on the 1st floor (instead he spawns at the rooftop and is pretty much guaranteed) so it is impossible to get total victory.
I recommend playing the Japanese version, not only it's easier, but you can actually achieve total victory.
Edit: to get the blond guy to spawn you only have to get beauty time, this applies to every game
i remember the naruto/sasuke kissing game! man there used to be so many naruto-themed flash animations and games. they were all really cringe, but i look back on that time fondly. shoutout to there being like whole dating sims on deviantart back then, too.
the use of one winged angel while scrolling through all the kissing games truly spoke to me and how i felt as a kid looking at just... how many goddamn games there were. it intimidated me
I love how four months ago li just shows up with crazy high quality videos. She already feels like a youtuber I've been watching for ages. Love the videos!
when i was a kid i cried to my mom confessing i played a kissing game and she was so confused … so i showed her and she laughed
Romance Academy and Office Kissing were my favorite games on girlsgogames , they were both so well made that I kept coming back to them.
The dude in that kissing game reminds me of Jim Halpert.
@@roxassora2706 Now i can’t unsee it lol!
@@potatooctopus2382 Same
16:05 I was not expecting Junji Ito to come up in a video about kissing and flirting flash games, but here we are. Thank you, I love it 😂
I loved girls go games and this category was always so scandalous feeling. I only played them when I was home alone just incase 😂 Thanks for bringing back this nostalgia
I used to spend so much time on the high school kissing game! Specifically the festival and the school settings, I even managed to have a strategy for the festival where I would leave the ghost boy as the VERY last one so I could get him with little to no interruption of the ghost girl. I think this is where I was able to master my super fast clicking speed to out beat the other girls lol.
I found this channel recently after extensive reminiscing on barbiegirls and tore through all your videos. Your work is incredibly comprehensive, both about the content and in capturing the joy these franchises produced in us as kids. You’re doing really amazing work and I can’t wait for what’s to come!
I'm so happy someone finally talked about the romance academy series! They were my absolute favorite growing up but always seemed to have little or no information on who made the games. I think romance academy series was a favorite for those of us with a shojou filled childhood lol
I'm just so grateful I have some more answers and information on the series, as it was so near and dear to my heart. Thank you!
perfect timing, was needing a bit of nostalgia, and youre like the librarian of our childhood oddities along with izzyzz. Keep it up please
(also youre looking fabulous
romance academy will never not remind me of the vocaloid song "im sorry for loving you" by utata-p where a shy girl buys some sketchy high-tech contact lenses that are meant to help her convey her feelings with a glance, but they actually convert her passion into beams of pink light shooting from her eyes.... i have to wonder if the song was somehow inspired by the game, or if maybe this idea of 'eye beams of love' is just like A Thing in japan???
I absolutely loved and still love the flirting games, they're so cute, simple and fun! Your theories are also very interesting and I'm very into the kitsune one
MY THEORY WAS ALSO THAT SHE WAS A KITSUNE
21:47 I love how Sebastian is just MORTIFIED
He's never recovering
Honestly I learn so much from your videos. The videos and your voice 100% cure my anxiety and if I'm having a panic attack also I'm a 32 year old gay man so definitely not in a creepy way lol! You just have a calm soothing energy and kind voice and the way you explain things along with your visuals is a secret weapon for me and always helps me so thank you so much you have saved me in anxious situations many times. Also I work at a dog daycare and if a dog has separation anxiety or home sick I play 1 of ur videos and both me and the dog relax lol I don't know what that means but I thought you would like to know LOL
The way the school girl flirting game had me in a chokehold, I would play that game so much also the beach one
Omg I totally remember the festival game. The jealous ghost girl always creeped me out a little bit
obligatory plug for Flashpoint for anyone who wants to play these kinds of games again, they have a ton of flash games saved and playable
You have quickly become one of my favorite channels😭💖
Really scratches the itch of girl game nostalgia and deep dives
I used to love these games! your whole channel gives me so much nostalgia
When I saw your first video, I thought it was really cool but I honestly wasn't expecting you to stick around since I've seen so many video essayists quit after two or three videos. But now you've got a Discord and a Patreon and a full blown audience! I'm really glad because every video has been such excellent quality and I'm always looking forward to the next one. Keep up the great work!
I LOVE your dedication to the lore for Romance Academy. I've always been so fascinated by these games and the dark implications. My personal theory that I had as a kid was this was just...some kinda world where girls shot lasers from their eyes and that's how romance works for them.
Point and click games were my go-to flash game genre back then which eventually led me to the ‘naughty’ series where you are a ‘bored prankster’ boy whose objective is to pull these so-called pranks that usually leads to putting pretty girls in provocative situations like stripping them of their clothes or tripping into kissing the prankster himself. Each game was a different setting that ranged from a house party, car wash, fashion show and god forbid even a school? Years later I’m convinced these were made to cater to a particular fantasy😅.
They were pretty much one of my first kinds of exposures to things I shouldn’t be indulging in as a kid and I understand why my parents scolded me a few times. But curiosity got the best of little me so I kept going, it’s a slacking game in of itself irl lol, the og fnaf if you will. Looking back on it now, it does make me uncomfortable of how sexualised the women in the games were
Oh my god, I remember one of those. The one I played was set at home with the pretty girl babysitting the player character and his baby sibling. And yep, you could mess with her in such a way she’d take off her shirt-and maybe her skirt too?
Pretty inappropriate for me to be playing at like, 11-12, but I was fascinated at the time!
I’m surprised that so many other kids/girls played these games too. We really shouldn’t have been on the internet lol
nobody is talking about how CUTE your outfit is and I am more than mildly perturbed by that
The chef dude in the Oprah kissing game isn't actually trying to catch them kissing he's just concerned about her caressing his hamburger
theres something so funny abt sasuke & naruto kissing and right on top of them written "YOU WIN!"
by the way great video
can i just say your fake devilish kissing screenshots were so sweet they made me squeal irl?? what!! theyre so cute!!!
also wanted to say, funnily enough kissing/flirting games never rly attracted me as a kid and i never got the hype, but now as an adult i kinda get it, not only i imagine kids would get interested in the fact it feels taboo, but also the arcade/high score quality to them does seem incredibly engaging, specially for romance academy. i can imagine any kid playing would find it fun to watch the numbers go up and find new and better endings where they are rewarded for higher scores
these were so important to my childhood. not because of the themes, but because i loved grinding them. i found out i was aroace 5 years later
god i have been DYING for someone to talk about these games, i was absolutely obsessed with the rewarding challenge of romance academy. thank you for doing the work!
I'm only a couple minutes into the video but I want to say, the narrative voice is perfectly on point. I can have trouble with youtube voiceovers sometimes, but here I understand every word just fine, the pace is measured, and it's overall very pleasant to listen to. Obviously it's all just set dressing for the topic of the video, but it helps to listen and understand what's going on better. I'll definitively be checking out other videos of this channel when I'm done with this one.
this video was suggested to me and OH MAN IM SO GLAD IT WAS 😭 this is a blast from the past, what a memory!! thank you for documenting this, honestly i know this is something ingrained in a lot of our memories but it also makes me sad to think about how flash games had a relatively short life span (like their main era of popularity) and if it were not for efforts to preserve them (largely being done by gamers themselves by creating archives and emulators), they would be completely lost. flash games (as funny and unserious as games like these seem to be) are a unique internet artifact. thanks for making this cool vid on them!!
I remember very vividly, around the time I was eight my brother confronted me about me playing these kinda games on the family computer. Basically admonished me and finished it off with "just don't look at anything bad". I had never been made to feel so ashamed about anything before.
It's been 10 years, and I haven't been the same since. I still play romance games, but now only at night because I am paranoid about my laptop accidentally connecting to the TV or some shit and I couldn't bear to be confronted about shit like this again.
Dont live in fear, Fuck the patriarchy
The work kissing game and the 3 flirting games were my childhood! Me and my cousin used to play them all the time! I remember just searching “kissing games” and they would show up (along with some others we would sometimes play) but the ones I mentioned were for sure the favorites. They were just so fun and had great replayability
ive always wanted to dress up as the office kissing game characters i feel like that would be such a good couples halloween costume
I feel like we could have been best friends in middle school. None of my friends understand these flash games! I love your channel ❤️
You talked about that feeling of "I shouldn't be seen playing this" we had as a kid. My mom came in when I was watching this video and I flinched...I'm 26.
I remember playing Office Kissing as a kid side by side with a friend during a sleepover, on our own set-up computers. It was hard but I remember clearing the game after many attempts. Romance Academy I remember playing a few times, it was fun, I loved the artstyle and effects, plus the concept of a girl going around collectinh boys for unknown reasons but seemingly for her own amusement appealed to me as a kid for some reason.
i remember one strangely smoking-themed game that was simar to both of these on girlgogames. you played one of three(?) girls in a shopping centre trying to kiss as many boys as possible, while avoiding kissing smokers. but the thing was, the kissing involved a whole minigame up close in the mouth where you had to trace your mouse along a pattern, implying this was the course your tongue was taking inside this man's mouth. if you caught a smoker, the mouth would be disgusting, covered in sores and coughing during the act. i have to wonder if it was made as an anti-smoking campaign because it was very effective, those smokers' mouths were extremely disturbing
i remember this!! that game was so weird lol
LOL BECAUSE I FELT SO NAUGHTY DOING THIS. It was the start of me becoming a sneaky child.
this is unrelated, but your voice is so soothing!! i loved listening to this video especially because it touched on a piece of nostalgia that i don't think any other youtuber has talked about
I always felt like I shouldnt play these when I was a kid lol Thank you for these videos they give me a lot of nostalgia, AND OMG I PLAYED SO MUCH ROMANCE ACADEMY AAAAA
I think it's funny having experienced GirlsGoGames as a European kid, because namely in France we don't nearly have as many taboos about flirting or kissing as Americans apparently do. Add to that the fact that neither of my parents was really the Helicopter type (though I still specifically wasn't allowed to watch the Witches of Eastwick for some reason, and I still haven't seen it) which meant that playing these games never gave me the impression that I was doing something I shouldn't be doing. And then I discovered fanfiction and it all went to hell.
Pls make a video about “adults” flash game, like there was one that you had to take an embarrassing picture of a celebrity however the “embarrassing picture” was actually a censored nood of her 😳
I was actually forbidden from playing the school flirting game. My parents thought, correctly, that it sent a bad message about romantic relationships
It did not stop me.
Romance academy is absolutely legendary. I will never forget the feeling of getting the highest score for the first time.
Does anyone remember that one series of flash games where it had a purple bunny (could've been a dog too) and i think his name was Mack? It also had a kissing game where you are sitting outside at night with a female counterpart of the character but had to avoid getting seen by a girl from a window of a house nearby
God, the romance academy series was me and my sister's favorite flash game as kids. Nothing compares to the feeling of total victory when I finally managed to get the ghost guy in my adoring posse. Anyways we 100% considered the player character to have some sort of supernatural evil brainwashing power, that was like half the fun.
Every video I watch of yours unlocks a memory I had forgotten about my childhood. Like that demon barbershop game? I played the hell out of that game as a kid and I had totally forgotten about it until now. Same with romance academy o(-(
It’s crazy the point of the game is making sure you don’t get caught while also trying to not get caught in real life as a kid 🤣😭😭
I really appreciate how much research and time you're putting into these videos! They are so amazing to watch from the perspective of being over 20 now and missing those days when you used to came back from school to play these games 🥺💗
I remember not playing many of these because I felt so guilty akjahskdahkaja it's so weird that our child brains connected the bad-end state of the games with the real world. I do remember the game assets getting very, hmm grabby? haha like you said, it's certainly odd and must have been clickbait, but it is uncomfy to look back on today. I never played the two you looked most in depth at here, but I really do like the way Office Kissing looks! It's like, the creators understood the Flash engine and it's limitations and designed around that. And yeah, the fact that each click is just a cute little peck helps it not feel as scandalous, vs the mashing face that my child brain only ever connected to the like, early scenes in CSI episodes before the lovers get killed LOL
omg you should totally make a video on the papa louie games lore
you knocked it out of the park this time too li!! keep up the amazing content girl!! 💕
I devoured Flash games as a kid, and I played Office Kissing all the time. The threat of getting caught gave me anxiety (same with the Devilish games), but for some reason I kept playing anyway. I think I have a memory of the losing screen, but never the winning screen, lol.
During the middle part of this video, when you said "If it exists, there's kissing games of it" I was thinking "Does that mean there's gonna be a Friday Night Funkin' version?" as a joke. But then 23:33 came and it caught me off guard XD
the chulip music was very very fitting
The art style in that narusasu kissing game kind of reminds me of a touhou kissing game I played once. It was also pretty different from the traditional kissing game as instead of clicking, you had to type in a name, which would initiate a non-interactive pocky game scene between Marisa and an "anon" type character. Most names would result in Marisa breaking the pocky stick early, except... アリス (Alice) and some other name that was most likely the dev's name or one of their friends. Entering アリス actually turns the anon into Alice, so technically there is another non-het kissing game out there, if this even counts.
using the chulip soundtrack as background music for this video is such a genius idea!!
whoa, idk how I've never found your channel before now! It's really refreshing to see someone talk about a genre of gaming that is often overlooked. It seems like flash games, especially ones with adolescent girls as the target audience, are often ignored or are not seen as "serious" gaming.
Oh my gosh, I used to be OBSESSED with the Romance Academy series !! You unlocked a memory there 🤭
Edit : THE MUSIC-
I have been LOOKING for Romance Academy for EVER BECAUSE I COULDN'T REMEMBER THE GAME!!!
Thank you for this historical archives, they really help me find the games i, a gamer girl, should have never stopped playing
gosh i loved romance academy! to be honest i never saw the romance aspect - i thought i was playing as a girl who killed boys (because they floated, therefore they had to be ghosts). totally normal for a 10 year old, right...? i think these games sparked my love for fighting games lol