The Virtual Console Closet: Harvest Moon

Today, we dig into storage and blow off this dusty old title in the first entry of this Virtual Console highlights series. Let's dive into the world of Harvest Moon for the Wii/Wii U Virtual Console service.

Original Box Art

Originally released in 1996 and 1997 for the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Harvest Moon was one of the earliest farming simulators (way before the whole Farmville craze). However, HM aimed for more of the fun factor, rather than the realism. Crops only took a few days to grow. Livestock only needed to be cared for and fed once every day. Each year was divided up into four months/seasons, each containing only thirty days. Each day is only few minutes long (in real time), leaving the player to rush around in order to complete daily tasks. You can also woo the local bachelorettes by giving them copious amounts of their favorite items and eventually ask them for their hand in marriage (if only it were that easy in real life). The list of simplified and routine tasks goes on.

However, there is a certain charm to the game that keeps the player coming back for more. When I played the original title for the SNES, it was one of the first games that I ever became addicted to. I must have played through the original HM at least three times, often going on binges every time that I played it. There is something about a simulated farm life that can be quite addicting.

The player starts with the inheritance of his dead grandfather's farm. Everything is in rough shape. All the livestock are gone. The land has become riddled with weeds and rocks. And the house has some room for improvement (house upgrades are necessary for marriage). The player's objective is to bring the farm back to its prime, while working towards settling down and starting a family (both a necessary for achieving the "good" ending to the game).

The player has two and a half years to achieve that goal. In that time, you will be tasked with rebuilding your farm by collecting money and investing it towards livestock and crops.

The game is divided up into three sections: the farm, the town, and the woods/mountains. The player can tend to their farm, visit the townspeople and woo their potential wife, and gather supplies from the mountains, such as wood necessary for fencing and house upgrades and wild plants that can be sold to earn money.

Much of the beginning of the game requires you to gather berries from the wild and use the money to buy crop seeds. Next, you will find yourself tilling soil and planting crops that are appropriate for the season. Once they are fully grown, you will harvest those crops in order to earn more money to purchase other necessary items.

This will eventually lead up to purchasing your two livestock options: cows and chickens. Chickens are easy to take care of and breed, but cows take a little more to keep them happy. However, a happy cow will result in better quality milk, which can be sold for more money.

Basically, the game is a wash, rinse, repeat formula that revolves around building your farm life while earning money to go towards the cause. Despite the repetitive gameplay, there always seems to be new surprises that keep the player coming back. Even to the very end, there are new tasks, such as keeping your wife happy (if you play your cards right with the ladies), helping the harvest sprites (little elvish people that live under your farm), and eventually preparing and caring for your child. To the very end, there are surprises and new challenges awaiting the player.

In fact, the only downside that I noticed was the inability to keep going after you reach your two and a half year evaluation. It seems rather disappointing that you worked so hard to build your farm only to have it end so abruptly. And once the game ends, it ends. If you want to keep playing, you have to literally start a new game and start completely from scratch. While future titles in the series let you continue on after you accomplish your task of restoring your farm, the first HM title only laid out the framework for future titles, such as the excellent Harvest Moon: Back to Nature and the story-driven Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life.

Despite its slight downfall, Harvest Moon was still an excellent title for its time and has aged well. Whether you are a newcomer to the series or somebody who is looking for a bit of nostalgia, Harvest Moon is still worth a play-through. The game is available through the Virtual Console service for the Wii, and has been recently released on the Nintendo Wii U eShop.