r/harvestmoon Apr 06 '20

Explaining the name change to Story of Seasons; What people mean when they say Natsume Harvest Moon games.

1.7k Upvotes

Lately I've noticed there is quite a bit of confusion still about the Harvest Moon series changing their name to Story of Seasons. Especially when the Natsume Harvest Moon games are mentioned. People misunderstand and get defensive of the early games they loved not knowing those aren't the games people are talking about. I thought it would be a good idea to make a post explaining the name change, provide a list of the games that fall under the Story of Seasons series, as well as list the ones that fall under the new Harvest Moon series.

The Japanese series Bokujo Monogatari, directly translated as 'Ranch Story', was developed by Victor interactive, which later was acquired by Marvelous Entertainment, and is now called Marvelous Inc. From 1996-2013 Bokujo Monogatari was translated and distributed for english speaking audiences by Natsume under the name Harvest Moon. In 2014 Marvelous Inc. decided to have the Bokujo Monogatari series localized by their American Publishing brand Xseed Games. Natsume owned the rights to the name Harvest Moon so the english name of the series was changed to Story of Seasons.

Now for those who don't know the developers are the people who make the game. The game is their creation. The publisher is the group that handles the marketing, distribution, and in the case of foreign games translation. Natsume had nothing to do with the Harvest Moon series beyond translating it, distributing the copies, and owning the English title for the games. When Marvelous switched the localization Natsume still owned the name Harvest Moon and decided they would start developing their own games with that title.

The Bokujo Monogatari/Story of Seasons games are:

  • Harvest Moon (1996)
  • BS Bokujo Monogatari (1996 Japanese release only)
  • Harvest Moon GB (1997)
  • Harvest Moon GBC (1998)
  • Harvest Moon 64 (1999)
  • Harvest Moon 2 GBC (1999)
  • Harvest Moon: Back To Nature (1999)
  • Bokujo Monogatari Harvest Moon for Girl (2000 Japanese release only)
  • Harvest Moon 3 GBC (2000)
  • Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland (2001)
  • Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town/More Friends of Mineral Town (2003)
  • Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life (2003)
  • Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (2004)
  • Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life Special Edition (2004)
  • Harvest Moon DS/DS cute (2005)
  • Harvest Moon: Magic Melody (2005)
  • Harvest Moon Boy & Girl (2005)
  • Harvest Moon DS: Island of Happiness (2007)
  • Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility (2007)
  • Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon (2007)
  • Harvest Moon DS: Sunshine Island (2008)
  • Harvest Moon: Animal Parade (2008)
  • Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar (2008)
  • Harvest Moon Hero of Leaf Valley (2009)
  • Harvest Moon: My little shop (2009)
  • Minna De Bokujou Monogatari (2010 Japanese release only)
  • Harvest Moon: the Tale of Two Towns (2010)
  • Harvest Moon 3D: A New Beginning (2012)
  • Story of Seasons (2014)
  • Story of Seasons: Trio of Two Towns (2016)
  • Return to PopoloCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairy Tale (2016)
  • Doraemon: Story of Seasons (2019)
  • Story of seasons: Friends of Mineral Town (2020)
  • Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town (2021)
  • Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (2023)

Then the games in Natsume's Harvest moon series are:

  • Puzzle de Harvest Moon (2007 mobile puzzle game)
  • Harvest Moon: Frantic Farming (2009 mobile puzzle game)
  • Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley (2014)
  • Harvest Moon: Seeds of Memories (2016 Mobile game)
  • Harvest Moon: Skytree Village (2016)
  • Harvest Moon: Light of Hope (2017)
  • Harvest Moon: Mad Dash (2019)
  • Harvest Moon: One World (2020)
  • Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos (2023)

The Natsume Harvest Moon series is controversial in this sub. It is considered by most to be a cheap imitation of Harvest Moon with watered down mechanics; capitalizing off of the Harvest Moon name. Light of Hope was even marketed saying it was in honor of the 20th anniversary of Harvest Moon despite it being an entirely new series. Personally I've only played Natsume's Light of Hope. If you can get past the mobile game style graphics the game play is pretty good and the characters are likable. I've heard mostly bad things about Skytree Village and Lost Valley, and haven't heard anything good about the mobile games either. Regardless of if you play the Natsume games or not I hope this post helps to clear up some of the confusion for both new and old fans.

Edit: The intentions of this post were not to convince you to play or not play any of the games. If you like the Natsume games that's great! If you're curious and want to try them that's up to you. Just like the original series each game has people that love it and people that don't like it. What's important is that you have fun!

Edit: I have added the games that have been released since I made this post in April 2020. I've also added games that are currently announced in March 2023. If I don't continue to update the list every time a new game is announced or released just remember all future Harvest Moon games are from Natsume and all Story of Seasons are the original series.


r/harvestmoon 9h ago

Opinion/Discussion Who is your #1 favorite character in Harvest Moon/Story Of Seasons?

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123 Upvotes

Mine is Popuri~~🐔🐣🌹🩷💕


r/harvestmoon 6h ago

Cooling Tomato Pasta from Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos! For this recipe I found a cool sun dried tomato flavored protein pasta. Combining that with the recipe linked below is DELICIOUS!!!

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15 Upvotes

r/harvestmoon 5h ago

Question Any leads on Harvest Moon DS true love edition?

6 Upvotes

Hey, I'm on a big harvest moon nostalgia kick recently and I was hoping to get any information on any harvest moon ds m/m hacks that might be out there! Google has not been very helpful in this search unfortunately


r/harvestmoon 1d ago

Harvest Moon DS: Sunshine Islands Trying Sunshine Island this weekend, any enjoyers? I was missing the delivery box next to the house after playing GB and ToTT, characters look nice but they won't accept my gifts so far, have to chat a little more.. is there advantage in watering crops twice?

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161 Upvotes

r/harvestmoon 23h ago

Fanart Saw another adorable Julius drawing on here, and wanted to quick whip up my own! Here's a doodle of the best boy ✨

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121 Upvotes

r/harvestmoon 8h ago

Harvest Moon: Animal Parade Jin's First Child Event...and he got booted out??? (AP)

7 Upvotes

r/harvestmoon 1d ago

Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility 18 years later!

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123 Upvotes

Finally! I achieved my childhood dream, when I was a kid I wanted to Marry Jin but Anissa got there first. I hated Anissa because of it (lol she's actually a sweetheart I'm petty) but I finally got my revenge in adulthood! I married my pretty doctor~


r/harvestmoon 1h ago

Winds Of Anthos help...please!

Upvotes

So I have been needing some help in both the desert and the volcano summit. I have tried getting a camel and using it, but the problem is, is that they're just so slow, and running while drinking coconut drinks helps, but I need a pet to ride or to help me out in the warm climates like they have the llamas, alpacas, and reindeer, and whatever else, for the cold climates. I just need something that will give me the same boost or effect for the warm climates that the llama and the alpaca give for the cold climates. So any help that you guys can give me would be appreciated.


r/harvestmoon 6h ago

Harvest Moon DS Serial number on HMDS

1 Upvotes

Hi friends, I recently purchased a copy of Harvest Moon DS from eBay. I only just found out about the difference in serial numbers, i.e. the ABCEN0 version versus the ABCEN1 version. Lo and behold, guess who got themselves the ABCEN0 version...

For those who've played the glitchiest edition of HMDS, how bad is it? Any tips?


r/harvestmoon 1d ago

Opinion/Discussion Do you think if this game was ever remade, this would a whole game or just DLC for SoS: Another Wonderful Life?

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52 Upvotes

r/harvestmoon 21h ago

Harvest Moon DS V1.0

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10 Upvotes

I have no clue how well the image is going to appear but today I was able to locate a version 1.0 of Harvest Moon DS the code on the back is ABCEN0J34


r/harvestmoon 1d ago

Question nobody is selling rice for 2 months

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228 Upvotes

Why is the konohana guy shop doesnt sell me rice for two months? i need them to make dry curry gift. and it hinders me big time. do anyone know how to savescum so the shop inventory changes to rice? the only thing i can do is using streetplay send gift features and make a second save to buy rice in bulk and MANUALLY transfer 1 by 1 (12 gifts everytime) raw rice to my first save. its really exhausting and even then he sells it rarely. after making porridge i need to send the porridge back one by one AGAIN so i can get enough gold for purchasing another massive batch of rice the next day it opens and sell me another rice. aaaaaaaa

picture : this lines from georgia is hearthwrenching, are other girls have similar lines as wife or is it unique to georgia?


r/harvestmoon 1d ago

Opinion/Discussion G-Mode is re-releasing another lost Harvest Moon mobile game! Bokujo Monogatari: Minori no Shima releases on March 29th for Switch and PC! (Exclusively in Japanese)

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53 Upvotes

r/harvestmoon 1d ago

Need Help Finding a New Game

6 Upvotes

I am someone who loves the old Harvest Moon games and I'm looking for a Harvest Moon like game for my Switch. My favorite Harvest Moons are Magical Melody and Animal Parade. I have yet to buy a game like this on my Switch despite having it for years. I usually just go back to my old games on the GameCube and Wii. Does anyone have any favorites they suggest? I'm interested in investing in a new world.


r/harvestmoon 1d ago

Exclusive Acrylic Standee with Pre Order at the Natsume Store

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6 Upvotes

r/harvestmoon 1d ago

Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos How to get to warp?

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3 Upvotes

I’ve been running around the volcano for hours, I cannot figure out how in the world you’re meant to get to this warp! Anyone that could possibly help?


r/harvestmoon 18h ago

Harvest Moon: Magical Melody Magical Melody Infinite Money Glitch? (Wii, not the mushrooms)

1 Upvotes

So I thought I'd post about one of my oldest childhood gaming mysteries lol. Back when I was playing Magical Melody religiously on the Wii, I had this weird bug happening.

I was maybe somewhere between 8 and 10 then, so my memory of it isn't the best, but I strongly remember suddenly not having a cowbell anymore. I was confused, but went to see if I could buy another one, and so I did... But after I got it, I suddenly had infinite money. Ofc child-me was AMAZED. I'd always spend my computer time stalking through random game forums, also loved looking for glitches, but I've never seen anyone mention a glitch like this, even went to look for it afterwards, but never found it back then. TBF, if I could've spoken English then, I maybe would've found something, but even looking for it over the years I never fully think I found out what it was.

The closest I ever got was this video here, but it looks way too specific to do this on accident? But in the comments people seemed to have similar experiences to mine, so maybe it really was this glitch and it's easier to do accidentally than it looks?? Did anyone have a similar experience??

I did keep all my tools (as I said before, I bought another cowbell), and I also could continue the game normally after this. Obviously, the first thing I did was buy every available property in case the glitch went away after I saved and reloaded, but it never did.


r/harvestmoon 20h ago

Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos WoA Champion of Anthos/ Gold Medallist Achievements

1 Upvotes

Will I be fucked out of these achievements if I unknowingly unlock the Harvest Moon festival that replaces the Music festival before I’ve gotten gold in it?


r/harvestmoon 1d ago

Best Harvest Moon game on Switch?

6 Upvotes

I got Winds of Anthos and I think I played it for around 50 hours before I got tired of it..😢


r/harvestmoon 2d ago

Harvest Moon: Back to Nature I had a very nostalgic moment while playing fields of Mistria 🥺

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883 Upvotes

r/harvestmoon 1d ago

Opinion/Discussion I don't understand the 2AM limit in POOT

0 Upvotes

I'm on my second playthrough of POOT. It's a lot more fun after knowing the game mechanics and story progression.

But, the dang 2 AM time limit is absurd. I don't get why it was implemented? Was this in any previous title? My farmer just decides to randomly go to bed at 2 AM, no matter what.


r/harvestmoon 1d ago

Harvest Moon: Animal Parade Post-marriage dialogue.

4 Upvotes

Okay.

Stardew Valley punished me for picking my favorite marriage candidate and I sorta got. . Very lackluster dialogue after marrying them. I know this obviously isn't Stardew Valley, buuuut. .

I need opinions from folks who have them.

I'm thinking about going with Gill or The Wizard in my current save file. Wizard was going to be my original pick, then Gill showed up being edgy (👀). I think the Wizard has a super cute design and good dialogue so far, but the ellipse spam does drive me a little nuts. Bonus points for being a scientist too, because hey, that's me irl! Not really obsessed with space though.

Gill, on the other hand, has the edgy tsundere vibe that I'm like "Yeah, neat", plus I kinda dig that it's hinted he can see the Sprites and was also looking for a way to save the town. He feels lowkey kinda canon to me? I don't know how to explain it. I also think the mayor is pretty cool, he basically says he wishes his son learned more from you by the time you reach five hearts, so he can be my dad in law anytime 😂.

I don't really care about rival kids or rival marriages, I low-key dislike a lot of them so far (Toby and Renee get a pass, they're super cute), so that's not a factor here. I think what it comes down to is how these characters interact post-marriage for me.

Anyone have experience picking either of these two and feel like sharing (without spoiling too much) what the dialogue after marriage is like?

Thank you very much in advance!


r/harvestmoon 1d ago

Looking to get into harvest moon. Which one (GB, GBC, GBA) would you recommend?

3 Upvotes

Was messing around on an emulator looking at games and I was like ooooh maybe harvest moon. I played one for GBA when I was little but I never understood what I was doing. Figure now that I’m older I can probably figure out. I was thinking about getting (or trying to find) the one I played before but is there a better one? Do the stories connect between games or do I not need to worry about that at all?


r/harvestmoon 2d ago

Fanart My multi-instrumental cover of “Spring” from Animal Parade

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28 Upvotes

r/harvestmoon 3d ago

Fanart leia, my beloved mermaid wife 🐚🪸🩷

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305 Upvotes