Graduation (1994)

Developer: Headroom, Tenky Co.
Publisher: Japan Home Video Co., NEC Home Electronics, GameBank, Riverhillsoft
Platforms: PC-9800 Series, PC (Microsoft Windows), PC-FX, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Turbografx-16/PC Engine CD
Genres: Simulator

The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

Playing feels like methodically managing a handful of students' schedules and choices, with quiet, low-key routine rather than excitement.

slow-pacedmanagement-focusedlow-keynurturingstructuredmundanemodestwholesome

About

Graduation is a Japanese anime "life-sim" game published in America by Mixx Entertainment, the company that would later become Tokyopop. This was said to be "The First Anime Game to hit American Shores". You take the role of a homeroom teacher who is given the responsibility of teaching five girls for their last year of high school in the hopes of making them better people. You determine their class schedules, do guidance counseling, interfere with their weekend plans, and occasionally take to the streets to make sure they're not getting into trouble. Each of the girls has their own individual personality and problems, and the choices you make will determine whether they graduate from high school, what they do with their lives afterward, and whether or not they wind up hating your guts. Get them all into top colleges and your boss will praise your genius. If they all flunk or wind up wanting to marry you, you'll obviously be fired.

Screenshots

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This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.