Games - Harvest Moon series

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	Games - Harvest Moon series

Harvest Moon (牧場物語 in Japanese, pronounced Bokujō Monogatari) is the name of a series of farm simulation/role-playing video games produced by Victor Interactive Software (acquired by Marvelous Interactive in 2002). Yasuhiro Wada is considered the father of the Harvest Moon series. English translation and distribution of the game is done by Natsume. The object of the game is to maintain a farm over a period of time, tending the crops and livestock through the seasons, while befriending the nearby townsfolk and getting married in some games. The first game was Harvest Moon, released for the SNES in 1997. Games in the series have also been produced for Game Boy and GBA, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, GameCube, PSP, and Nintendo DS.

Most Harvest Moon games are permutations of a central formula. The game generally takes place over a set period of time (generally 3 years), in which the player is charged with the task of running a successful farm, getting married, having a child, and becoming friends with the townsfolk.

Most gameplay in the Harvest Moon games consists of planting seeds to grow fruits and vegetables in the spring, summer, and fall, and to collect items, make home improvements, and build personal relationships in the winter. A successful farmer must weigh the cost, selling price, number of harvests, and growth times of the various types of produce in order to pick the best product for each of the seasons.

The player must also balance their physical resources; if players over-exert themselves, they might not have the energy to perform needed activities, or might even get sick and miss a day of farming.

Activities

A number of activities are common to all Harvest Moon games.

Growing Produce

This is the central aspect to all the games, the player must find optimal planting, watering, and harvesting patterns. Find the most profitable plants, clear space for planting, and harvest the crops before winter rolls around.

Ranching Livestock

An increasingly larger part of the games is purchasing, caring for, and reaping the rewards of owning livestock. Livestock can put forth profits everyday, milking a cow daily, for example. The other end of this spectrum is caring for animals. If they are neglected, they can become sick and eventually die.

Gathering Materials

Many Harvest Moon games require the player to gather materials for home improvement, tool improvement, cooking, or simply selling. The most common resource at earlier stages of the game is wood; the player is able to chop up tree stumps to gather wood to add buildings to his or her farm. The various games also include materials collection by mining, foraging, and caring for animals.

Getting Married

The Harvest Moon games offer many choices for potential love interests. As the player spends time with the various potential love interests, he or she learns his or her likes and dislikes, showers him or her with gifts, and eventually proposes. No Harvest Moon game has yet allowed players to pursue homosexual relationships—in Save the Homeland if the player (a male) gives flowers to another male character, they get rebutted on this point. Although in Friends of Mineral Town, the sexuality of a certain character becomes some what of a joke (Gray for example).

Children

In many versions, it is possible to have children, but always a boy with the exception of Harvest Moon and Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life Special Edition, and Harvest Moon 3. This event occurs usually about a month after marriage. Harvest Moon and Harvest Moon 3 are also the only versions where the player can have multiple children.

Harvest Moon games

Harvest Moon (Super Nintendo Entertainment System
, 1997)
Harvest Moon GB (Game Boy, 1997)
Harvest Moon GBC (Game Boy Color
, 1998)
Harvest Moon 2 (Game Boy Color, 1999)
Harvest Moon 64 (Nintendo 64
, 1999)
Harvest Moon 3 (Game Boy Color, 2000)
Harvest Moon: Back to Nature (PlayStation
, 2000)
Harvest Moon for Girls
(PlayStation, 2001) (Japan only)
Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland (PlayStation 2
, 2001)
Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town (Game Boy Advance
, 2003)
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life (Nintendo GameCube
, 2004)
Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town (Game Boy Advance, 2005)
Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (Nintendo GameCube, 2005)
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life Special Edition (PlayStation 2, 2005)
Harvest Moon: Sprite Station (AKA Harvest Moon DS, Nintendo DS
, 2005)
Harvest Moon: Sprite Station for Girls
(Nintendo DS
, 2005)
Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (Nintendo GameCube
, 2005)
Harvest Moon: Boy & Girl
(PSP
, 2005)
Harvest Moon: Innocent Life
(PSP, 2006)
Rune Factory (Nintendo DS, 2006)

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