Game:

Ai Sensei no Oshiete: Watashi no Hoshi (1993)

Duration: 9:31

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Ai Sensei no Oshiete: Watashi no Hoshi (or "Love Teacher's Teachings: My Star") is a "Horoscope Fortelling Simulation Game" developed by Irem late in the Famicom's lifetime, in 1993. For some reason, quite a few of these "games" were developed for the NES/FC in the form of simple predictions, full-blown horoscopes, or astrological readings or Tarot readings, (most of which were not appreciated at all) whether they be "Taboo: The Sixth Sense", "Chuugoku Senseijutsu", or others. Even lesser-known platforms like Game Gear have "House of Tarot", SFC has titles like "Res Arcana", Sega Saturn titles like "Ginga Ojousama Densetsu Yuna: Mika Akitaka Illust Works 2" have the ability to predict fortunes, and even NeoGeo Pockets had the ability to predict horoscopes built into the hardware. Were random predictions that anyone could conjur up really that popular in Japan? Guess so.

Of the various games like this released, Ai Sensei no Oshiete is one of the few that doesn't come off as lazy, but appeals specifically to the Japanese as you cannot even make predictions in areas outside of Japanese prefectures. Being given advice by Ai (The Male Correspondent and Teacher of Love) and Rem (The Female Lunar expert of astrology and fortune-telling, who also acts as Ai's partner to help depict events for both sexs), you input data from your date of birth, gender, and place of birth, at which point your general horoscope is presented in accordance to the zodiac signs. While it's not "super strict" in terms of life and birth origins, the game still presents a surprisingly broad range of views given the hardware. Afterwards, you can save your profile (and store up to seven others) and then dig deeper, which is where this game "shines".

You have the option of getting up to eight additional readings by entering the current date on any of the profiles you have stored (on the menu with ten, though two options are not modes of play) ranging from an indepth analysis of your horoscope for the given day, detailed readings on your love life, who the right type of significant other is for you, your "Destiny", whether or not you'll find happiness, and other factors. What really enriches these readings is the personalities of Ai and Rem, who talk casually, interject with humurous bits, and showcase different slideshows and graphics for events. For this type of software, it's certainly appreciated. The game has pretty good audio/visuals, especially for this type of game.

This is a video showing some of the game in action with the prefecture selected being Okinawa. Enjoy.