the one that started it all. i have a distinct memory of the winter of my third or fourth grade, around the time a blizzard was going in new york. i remember being curled up in my bed and playing harvest moon sunshine islands and style savvy all night. when 5 am rolled around, i heard my dad get up to shovel the walk, as the snow was starting to cease. i knew i couldn't contribute anything, but i got up to go outside with him and help shovel (really, it was just pushing snow around).
"why were you up?" my dad asked.
"i was playing style savvy" i said. "the clothing game."
my dad was shoveling in front of me as i was kicking snow away with my boots. "all night?"
"yeah. all night"
"must be fun"
"yeah, it's so good. and it never ends either. you can keep having customers forever."
in the freezing cold weather i began to tell my dad all about my style savvy (and harvest moon) escapades that night. i don't think he cared. it doesn't really matter that he didn't care. but the point is i rambled on and on and by the time i was mainly done, most of the walk was shoveled.
i went back upstairs and played a little more and then fell asleep, and then woke up around noon. instead of notifying my family i decided to play more style savvy while in bed and everyone left me alone thinking i was catching up on my sleep until dinner time that day.

style savvy, the original, will always make me think of that winter feeling, even though i played it literally everywhere. in school. in the car. at a funeral once i think. it has a cozy vibe to me that most ds games cannot match.
is it the nostalgia? maybe. the game isn't perfect. it looks like nintendo 64 and the story is pretty barebones, also i swear that last fashion show is rigged. but still. i love it. i love you style savvy. i wish i coulda dated dominic

I had a lot more fun with this than I expected.
Ofcourse its just a basic & short JRPG with a lot of grinding and minimal story but what was there was just so much fun.
The story did surprise me in the end with the timetravel elements, even if it was still really simple, it was cool to see something like this in such an old game.
It was also just really interesting to see where this massive franchise started.

Glad that I played this and this remaster is a great way to experience this game!