20 the main focus of the game is growing crops and raising animals, Harvest Moon offers a life experience beyond just that. The usual mountain, river, and beach surrounding the town are available for animal-watching, picking fruit and wild flowers, fishing, mining, and even encountering Harvest fairies( the most magical aspect of the game). In the town, you can go out to bars, befriend and flirt with other villagers( sadly, only heterosexual romances are available), and participate in the many festivals throughout the year. On top of all this, uplifting melodies play through Spring and Summer while more soothing and calm ones accompany Fall and Winter.
By Brandon Torres
Before the first release of Nintendo’ s beloved
Animal Crossing or even Facebook’ s dreaded Farmville- with its constant game invitations- there was Harvest Moon. Originally released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System( or, SNES) in 1996, Harvest Moon has continued to thrive through the years from platform to platform, making it all the way up to today’ s 3DS. But unlike The Legend of Zelda series- another iconic staple to Nintendo’ s platforms- not much has changed as the series continued. Rather than brand new experiences with each entry, the pleasure of creating and maintaining a productive, calm life has held my interest through the years.
Each game presents the player with a new opportunity to start from scratch. Through various circumstances( being found shipwrecked, grandfather’ s inheritance, etc.) the character takes ownership of a farm and from there, the adventure is up to the player. While
20 the main focus of the game is growing crops and raising animals, Harvest Moon offers a life experience beyond just that. The usual mountain, river, and beach surrounding the town are available for animal-watching, picking fruit and wild flowers, fishing, mining, and even encountering Harvest fairies( the most magical aspect of the game). In the town, you can go out to bars, befriend and flirt with other villagers( sadly, only heterosexual romances are available), and participate in the many festivals throughout the year. On top of all this, uplifting melodies play through Spring and Summer while more soothing and calm ones accompany Fall and Winter.
“ I would love to have my own ranch,” I told my father one day, years ago while playing Harvest Moon on my GameCube. Having grown up on a ranch himself, he was fascinated by the idea of a game about farming and ranching. Even as young as a middle school student, before