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Style Savvy (Nintendo presents: Style Boutique in Europe and Wagamama Fashion: Girls Mode in Japan, translated as Self-Indulgent Fashion: Girls Mode) is a simulation video game on the Nintendo DS. Its primary target is a younger female audience. It was first published in 2008 by Nintendo and developed by Syn Sophia and Nintendo Software Planning & Development. It is the first installment in the Style Savvy series.

Style Savvy has received three sequels for the Nintendo 3DS: Style Savvy: Trendsetters, Style Savvy: Fashion Forward, and Style Savvy: Styling Star. Additionally, it also received a Wii U release on the Virtual Console.

Gameplay[]

In Style Savvy, the player takes control of a female character who owns a women's clothing boutique, with the end goal being to work their way up the ranks by satisfying as many customers as possible. The other goal of the game is to become the best stylist in the world by competing against other stylists in varying levels of Contests.

Buying Clothes[]

In order to get clothing to sell in their boutique, the player has to buy it from the Buyer's Center using the shop's funds. Here, there are sixteen different brands to choose from, with the brands available for the day depending on a pre-determined schedule based on the internal calendar of the system. There are over 10,000 clothing items to collect and the garments available are inners, tops, outers, tunics, pants, skirts, dresses, overalls, glasses, headwear, scarves, necklaces, gloves, legwarmers, hosiery, and footwear. However, the player must choose which items they buy carefully because they have very limited stock space.

Serving Customers[]

When a customer comes to the player's boutique, they will usually request a specific type of clothing item. The chances of the customer buying the item(s) they are shown depends on her brand preference, her budget, the in-game season based on the system's date when the save file is launched, and sometimes the main color of an item. Once the player has picked an item, there are two options: "Take a look!" and "Try it on!" The first option will provoke a more mild response from the customer, but it can be used three times while serving a customer, allowing little to no punishment if she is shown an item she doesn't want to buy. The second option can only be used one time, but will provoke a more excited response from the customer. Despite these differences, there is no noticeable change in gameplay depending on which option is chosen. Additionally, the player can trigger unique dialogue if they show a customer an item she likes from Masquerade or a brand collaboration, with only Masquerade being acknowledged if she is shown both.

Shop Rank[]

Successful sales are mostly incentivized through the Shop Rank, a levelling system ranging from zero to five stars. This rank reflects how well-liked the player's boutique is by customers. It is Style Savvy's main method of giving milestone-based rewards, with many unlockable features being obtainable through raising the Shop Rank. A higher Shop Rank will unlock higher Contest levels, interior options for the boutique, a larger percentage of shop sales going into the player's personal funds, and more features.

Contests[]

Contests are Style Savvy's method of advancing the game's story progress. The player competes against three CPU opponents to make the best outfit based on a pre-determined theme. Each constestant makes an outfit based on the theme for a model to wear on the catwalk. If the player wins, they can receive clothing from Masquerade, or the clothes' worth in a monetary prize if they do not have enough stockroom space. The type of clothing the player will receive depends on what week of the month it is on the system date. If the player doesn't win, they also have a chance to receive an honorary mention, which will earn them a smaller monetary prize. Any losing outcome will prevent them from being able to enter that Contest again until the next day. Once the player beats every Contest, they will unlock a Bonus Face mode where they can create a separate character to play as like they would with their normal player character.

Contests vary in level and difficulty, with the player's choice of Contests to choose from being based on their Shop Rank. There are six different levels available based on each Shop Rank: the Beginner Contest for zero stars, the Bronze Contest for one star, the Silver contest for two stars, the Gold contest for three stars, the Platinum contest for four stars, and the International Contest for five stars. Unlike the other Contest Levels, the theme changes depending on the month, the player character gets to wear the outfit themselves, and a special Contest Crown headwear item is given to the player for winning alongside the usual Contest rewards. When they win a Contest, a reporter named Felicity will come to their shop with a model. They work for the Nuances magazine and want to conduct an interview to make a special edition featuring their boutique. If the player accepts, they will need to show Felicity two items that they want to feature in the magazine, then create an outfit for the model to wear on the cover. This edition of the Nuances magazine will be published the next day and customers will often visit the boutique specifically to buy one of the featured items for the next few days.

Photos[]

When a player is invited to an outing with a customer, a photographer named Libby will offer to take a photograph of their character. If they accept the offer, a photo will be sent to their apartment. Libby will also take two photos when the player wins a Contest: one of their model on the catwalk and another of the player character celebrating her victory. The player can keep up to fifty photos in their album and will have to manually delete photos if they want to save any new ones. These photos are part of the save file itself and cannot be exported to another device.

Hair & Makeup[]

In addition to dressing up the player character, her physical appearance can also be customized outside of the character creation process from the beginning of the game. The player can change her hairstyle, hair color, and eyebrow shape at the Hair Salon. Some hairstyles have an alternative style where they are worn up in some kind of ponytail or pigtails, but this can be changed at the player character's apartment and will not cost any extra when toggled at the Hair Salon. Additionally, the player can buy eyeshadow, mascara, eye contacts, and lipstick for her to wear at the Beautician's. Only one item can be bought at a time from each category, allowing the player to buy a maximum of four items at once before they have to return to the available selection of cosmetics. Both hair and makeup customization cost money taken from the player's personal funds, a portion of sales made at the boutique. Additionally, more customization options will unlock depending on how many visitors the boutique has received.

Collaborations[]

Players who frequently buy from specific brands will often be rewarded with a chance to collaborate with them. Once they have bought enough items from a brand, the brand representative will visit the boutique and ask if they want to do a collaboration. If they accept the opportunity, they have the ability to choose a new color palette for a pre-existing item. Each color swatch is unique to the options available in the Buyer's Center. The player has one week to finish the item or else the opportunity will expire. Once the player finishes the design, it will be sent to the brand representative and they will receive ten of the item the next day. A collaboration design cannot be sent or received if the player doesn't have enough stockroom space.

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection[]

Additionally, the DS release of Style Savvy was compatible with Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. By connecting to Wi-Fi, players could compete against real people in Contests, visit other players' stores through the Shopping Cities, and obtain designs from real-life fashion labels as free downloadable content. Players in Japan could download designs from three Japanese fashion brands: BLUECROSS girls, JILL by JILLSTEWART, and Girl is Girl by nicola. Outside of Japan, players could download designs from Charlotte Ronson and the Deréon collection by Beyoncé and Tina Knowles.

Brands[]

There are sixteen different brands available for purchase, each with its own unique style. These brands include:

  • Terra: A boho-chic brand.
  • Capsule: A retro brand inspired by fifties and sixties fashion.
  • Karamomo: A brand inspired by traditional fashion from various East Asian countries.
  • Dazies: A whimsical and quirky brand.
  • Marble Lily: A lolita brand.
  • Raven Candle: A gothic lolita brand.
  • Mad Jack: A punk rock brand.
  • April Bonbon: A lively, colorful, and childlike brand.
  • AZ-USA: A bold brand with a glitz and glam style.
  • GXS: An athletic wear brand.
  • Pure Cloth: A plain, yet cheap brand.
  • Sontana: An elegant and refined brand.
  • Epoque: A brand inspired by vintage fashion adorned with lace and frills.
  • Alvarado: A chic luxury brand.
  • Masquerade: A rare cosplay brand.
  • Penbridge: A preppy brand.

Additionally, clothing obtained as DLC will show up as its own brand that cannot be bought or sold in-game. There are a total of five brands obtained through DLC across all regions.

Characters[]

  • Grace: The manager of Strata, the boutique the player works at before obtaining her own shop. She offers advice to the player throughout the game.
  • Renée: An assistant at the player's boutique. She initially meets the player character when the two work together at Strata and is initially somewhat vain towards her. However, once she sees her abilities in action, she becomes much friendlier towards her.
  • Dominic: The owner of Strata and the player's boutique. He lives in a mansion that is accessible through the in-game map. It is heavily implied that he has a romantic interest in the player character.
  • Godfrey: A butler who works at Dominic's Mansion. He is usually the one who assists with unlocking content based on specific tasks given here.
  • Libby: Godfrey's granddaughter. An eccentric photographer who often takes photos of the player character when she is out and about.
  • Roccoco: An eccentric, world-renowned figure in the fashion world. She hosts Contests and writes articles for the Nuances magazine.
  • Didi: The owner of the Hair Salon. She has a bright, bubbly personality and versatile taste in fashion.
  • Olivia: The owner of the Beautician's. Unlike Didi, she is a very mature and refined woman with elegant tastes in fashion.

Reception[]

In 2008, Style Savvy was the best-selling game in Japan on any format. On the contrary, the first and second week sales weren't as high as Nintendo had initially hoped in North America. Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, said that most publishers would have looked at the sales and right then and there cut all marketing for the game. However, he said that on the third week, the game suddenly had a sales spike which continued to rise for several weeks in a similar manner to the release of the first Pokémon games.

Trivia[]

  • Style Savvy is the first and only game in its series to be played while holding the system sideways.
  • Due to the Nintendo DS's hardware limitations, this game only checks for date and time whenever a save file is created or loaded. This prohibits the game from being able to detect when the system date changes during gameplay.
  • During the localization process, Rococco's gender was changed from male to female and her facial hair was removed. This change was likely made due to concerns about having an effeminate male character in a Western release, similarly to how characters like Birdo, Vivian, and Gracie had their genders changed during localization.

External links[]

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