Sweet Girlfriend 1 is a tough nut to crack—pick one wrong branch and you're looking at replaying ten hours. Took me three all-nighters back in the day to figure out the full CG pattern. This guide cuts straight to the chase from a practical combat perspective, laying bare the game's inner workings. Follow it, and you'll collect all recollections in one go—no need for a painful second playthrough.

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1. Core Strategy for Unlocking All CGs

The biggest pitfall in this game is that some CGs require you to stay on specific dialogue without clicking the mouse, waiting for the hidden timer in the bottom-right corner to finish. There are 23 CGs total, with 4 being hidden timed CGs and 7 requiring special options as prerequisites.

Focus on two key values: affection thresholds (65/85) and event completion rate. You need affection above 65 to enter a character route, and above 85 to unlock the final recollection. Don't randomly click unrelated options—they dilute event completion rates.

Specific locations for timed CGs:

1. Misaki's cultural festival preparation dialogue—wait 30 seconds when the ellipsis appears for the third time

2. After Rino's pool event, choose "Keep watching her" and wait 15 seconds

3. Yui at the night park—wait 20 seconds after choosing "Remain silent"

4. In Makoto's route final chapter, during the confession scene, click cancel when the heart icon flashes in the bottom-right corner, then wait 10 seconds

2. Route Selection Without Falling into Traps

First playthrough forces you onto the common route. After chapter 5, the branching option "Who do you want to understand more?" directly determines which route you enter. For full CG collection, you MUST follow the order: Misaki → Rino → Yui → Makoto, because some of Makoto's recollections require clear data from the first three routes.

Each completed route adds a star to the title screen. You need all four stars to unlock Makoto's hidden options. Don't even think about skipping—jumping ahead locks you out of the true ending.

Options affect two categories:

1. Affection-fluctuating options: These usually have a ♪ symbol—correct choice gives +5, wrong choice gives -3

2. Event-locking options: These have no symbol but permanently shut down subsequent event triggers. For example, choosing "Go straight home" in Rino's chapter 2 makes the pool event disappear forever

3. Number of Endings and Trigger Conditions

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Six endings total: 4 individual Good Ends (GE), 1 True End (TE), and 1 hidden Normal End (NE). Individual GE requires affection 85+ and all events cleared. TE needs four title screen stars + select "Don't change the past" in the final chapter. Hidden NE requires choosing "Accept reality" in Makoto's final option with event completion below 70%.

TE is the real ending—don't be fooled by the hidden NE. That ending's CG is unique but isn't collected in the recollection library.

4. Character Order and Hidden Conditions

Misaki's route is the simplest—just pick positive options throughout. But note that in chapter 3, the part-time job event must be attended three times, otherwise the night park CG won't trigger.

Rino's route has the fastest pace but two time-sensitive points: the pool event must be triggered before July 15, and the after-festival invitation requires affection above 65.

Yui's route is the most annoying—five hidden events require manually clicking her avatar on the map interface, not auto-triggered. Click when the avatar flashes, or you're screwed if you miss it.

Makoto's route must be played last. Each previous route cleared gives Makoto's route a +5 starting affection, up to +15 total. These 15 points directly determine whether you can skip the tedious grinding phase.

Hidden dialogue trigger: If you stay at affection critical points for 2+ turns without progressing, special complaint dialogues will trigger—these are also part of the recollection collection.

5. Save File Locations and How to Use Perfect Saves

Save files are located at C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Roaming\Sweetheart\save. If there's no AppData folder, enable hidden files view. Save files are in .dat format—don't open them with Notepad or they'll get corrupted.

For perfect saves, just extract and overwrite this folder. In the game title screen, hold Shift and click Continue to access full recollection Debug mode for single CG spot-checking. But don't rely on Debug—some achievements only unlock through manual play.

When backing up saves, remember to copy system.sav together. Backing up individual character saves only will cause data misalignment.

6. Clear Time and Common Screw-up Points

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Full CG collection takes 10-12 hours in one go, can be compressed to 8 hours with skip-read-text. The three most common screw-ups:

1. Rino's timed CG—most people don't have the patience and click through it

2. Yui's mandatory avatar-clicking—people assume it's auto-triggered, resulting in insufficient event completion

3. Makoto's final option selection error—entering hidden NE and thinking it's the true clear

Just follow the order honestly, don't skip any dialogue with the ♪ symbol, and you basically won't screw up.

TL;DR: This game's core principle is three words—don't get click-happy. Read options carefully, wait patiently for timed CGs, and backup saves frequently. Save Makoto's route for last, only touch it after collecting all stars. That's the guide—run through it once following this, and full recollections are guaranteed.