I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, nostalgia is one of the biggest selling points in today’s entertainment industry. Despite modern technology continuing to develop, game companies are revisiting older popular titles for modern audiences.

But Konami localising a remaster of 20-year-old The Prince of Tennis otome games? Definitely NOT on my bingo list but I can proudly say I am a part of the target audience and could not be happier.

And let me tell you why.

What is The Prince of Tennis?

But in addition to this, the series also developed a passionate female fanbase drawn to its lovable cast that that they come to love throughout the story. Its popularity soon expanded into drama CDs, character songs and even Valentines events where fans sent hundreds of thousands of chocolates/gifts to Shueisha as part of a yearly ‘chocolate ranking’. There are long-running stage musicals (known as TeniMyu) which have been ongoing since 2003 and it is one of the franchises often credited with helping to popularise the modern 2.5D theatre scene (bringing fictional worlds into ‘real life’ through plays, musicals, etc.).

While there were traditional tennis video games in the earlier years, the growing popularity with its female audience led Konami to experiment (successfully) with romance-based games.

Well that was for the Japanese audience anyway.

My experience of TeniPuri began as a teenager lurking on the internet during a time when 144p, 12-part anime episodes on YouTube were the gold-star standard. There was only so much anime you could find but TeniPuri was one of them, and not only did I enjoy the intense matches, the comedy and the character dynamics – but I even had a (very) short interest in real life tennis. But then I finished all the episodes and the stage musicals I could find… and then stopped. Because outside of the media I could consume, everything else, including the games, was Japanese-only.

Sure I did want to try out the tennis-based games but really in my soul, what I wanted to do was play a fictional teen in a fictional world where I could date Syusuke Fuji!

BUT LO AND BEHOLD, while I went on my bi-annual scroll across Steam to find some sort of an RPG/romance/dating sim video game cross-breed that would whet my appetite, I stumbled upon The Prince of Tennis Sweet School Festival ♡-40 and more… (Sweet School Festival) and The Prince of Tennis Doki Doki Survival eternal passion! Tie break ♡ game (Doki Doki Survival) and I am immediately transported into my 13 year old self.

And I can only imagine that’s how many Japanese fans feel as well.

But what are the games about?

This article is based on publicly available information from official sources, credited references, and my own experience as a long-time fan.

As mentioned previously, both games, which are releasing on 30 July 2026 for PC, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, are remasters of older titles on the PlayStation and DS, neither of which were ever localised for the West. Both games are typical dating sim visual novels with branching romance routes, but the 2026 remasters include redrawn illustrations (with an option to toggle to the old ones), updated user interface and although the audio is still in Japanese, there are now subtitles available in English.

According to the official website, there are also additional enhancements specifically for the Switch 2 version:

The Nintendo Switch 2 Edition comes equipped with new features that take full advantage of the console’s enhanced performance.

• Full-screen high-resolution display
• Shorter load times
• Mouse support
• Game Share (watch mini-dramas created by others)

But with two games releasing side by side, which one should you actually buy?

From what I can gather, the base gameplay and mechanics stay the same with a different plot and slightly different character romance options.

But let’s see if we can take a deeper dive and decide which one (if any) is better.

The Prince of Tennis Sweet School Festival ♡-40 and more…

The Prince of Tennis Sweet School Festival ♡-40 and more…, is a remaster of Motto School Festival -More Sweet Edition- (2010). This version focuses on you, a second-year student, who is selected to be part of the organising committee for a ‘grand youth festival’ to encourage students from different schools to interact and “foster” relations (okay it doesn’t mean that, I saw the word foster and my mind went wild….) between one another. It is while preparing for the event that you end up working alongside and cultivating a blossoming romance with one of the ‘Princes’.

The Prince of Tennis Doki Doki Survival eternal passion! Tie break ♡ game

The Prince of Tennis Doki Doki Survival eternal passion! Tie break ♡ game however, originally two separate games called “Mystic of the Mountain” (2006) and “Secret of the Seaside” (2007) which then combined for the Nintendo DS enhanced edition Gyutto! Doki Doki Survival: Sea and Mountain Love Passion (2011). This plot is more of your standard beach episode where the tennis club members who, on their way to a training camp, get caught in a storm and end up on a desert island. Coincidentally, you and your friend were also on the same boat (apparently you or your friend was the captain’s daughter) and also end up on the same island. Together, you end up having to work with the other characters to gather supplies and survive. And we all know that nothing is more romantic than facing a life-or-death situation together.

What about the romances?

Now onto the available romances, this is where things become a little more interesting.

You can choose from a selection of characters from the main schools that we see throughout the series and both games do have a lot of the same characters, however in Sweet School Festival , you can choose 38 characters from 7 schools, while in Doki Doki Survival , there are 44 characters from 8 schools.

The additional characters in Doki Doki Survival are likely a result of the game combining two older titles, although how that affects the story, whether they merge the two storylines or opt for one over the another, is unclear.

But hold up, I hear you say, if there are only 38 characters then why does Sweet School Festival have 40 in the title?

Well on their official X account, they announced back in December that they will be releasing exclusive DLC characters.

For Sweet School Festival edition, players will get Ryoga Echizen, Ryoma’s older but equally as talented half-brother.

Doki Doki Survival players will get Hikaru Zaizen, a second-year at Shitenhouji, one of the rival schools.

#テニスの王子様
『学園祭の王子様』『ドキドキサバイバル』リマスター版に、新しい王子様が登場！？

DLCをご購入いただくと、#学プリ には「越前リョーガ」が、#ドキサバ には「財前光」が追加されます🎾

配信時期など詳細は続報をお待ちください👀 pic.twitter.com/I1BVBnUhk4

— KONAMI：『学プリ』『ドキサバ』公式 (@Prince_KONAMI) December 21, 2025

These characters are exclusive to the remastered versions and offer never-before-seen romances. I found these choices interesting, not because of Ryoga as I would say he is a good choice as Ryoma’s older brother and has a limited appearance in the series, but of Hikaru. He appears quite late into the story and doesn’t appear until the later chapters/OVAs, making him a surprising choice compared to some of the series’ more recognisable characters.

Part of me also wonders if this suggests that it could be the first wave of other upcoming DLC characters, as Sweet School Festival would still only have 39 characters, just short of the title 40. (although this is purely speculation.)

Ultimately while I am tempted for Ryoga’s DLC, I will probably be getting Doki Doki Survival because I prefer a more ‘serious’ plot outside of the high school setting and am a fan of the survival theme.

But where are the overseas fans?

As I was researching for more information about this game, I noticed that there was quite little fanfare surrounding it. And if I were to be completely honest, I am baffled by the intended audience. They advertise the game with the fanfare of a “remaster of a classic game” and yet, the original game was never released outside of Japan. In addition to this, apart from a small section of the trailer where it shows a scene that has English/Chinese subtitles, the rest of the trailer is entirely in Japanese so I feel it fails to really advertise itself to a new audience. The game is being released as a celebration of its 20th anniversary, yet the localisation suggests that Konami are aware that there is an overseas fanbase.

If you look at the comments on the trailer, you can see a lot of happy Japanese fans talking about their excitement or reminiscing about how much they’ve grown since playing the original game. Even in spite of having an English and Japanese website separately, the official X account is only in Japanese (although that may be due to their automatic translations.)

I can’t help but feel that while they are bringing it to the West, they aren’t doing all they can to appeal to the niche of those who grew up with it. While it was understandable that they didn’t release a physical edition or special merchandise out of Japan, I was hoping that a little access for western fans would be nice.

Although as I’ve made it clear, this series is very near and dear to my heart and I hope that it has good sales, both in Japan but especially in the West so that they can localise future games to us, regardless if it is a romance or an actual tennis game.

Even if you’ve never experienced or seen a single episode, the games still resemble classic school-life otome titles but with an impressive number of colourful cast to choose from. This in itself I feel is a big taste of otome-culture that both new and old fans alike will enjoy.

Both titles will release on 30th July 2026 and will be available on PC, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.

But any fellow TeniPuri fans reading this? Can you relate to my plight or do you think maybe I’m thinking about this the wrong way? I’d love to hear about what you think!