r/harvestmoon • • Apr 06 '20

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

1.9k 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 • • 11h ago

[SPOILERS] So Echos of Teradea is interesting so far.

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57 Upvotes

Havent played much only like my 2nd week in game, but so far my pet fox is stuck, the apples are floating in mid air and the great wolf doesn't spawn for me to continue the quest 😀

Spoilers cause for quests in top corner.


r/harvestmoon • • 12h ago

Got copy of Echoes of Teradea.....

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38 Upvotes

... they used UPS labels to print the Post Office label and they used priority mail envelope to wrap the game, which is illegal. Isn't this a big company?? You'd think they could afford bubble wrap, anyways, excited to start the game! and the wolf is so cute 🥰

Also we need a Echoes of Teradea flair option!


r/harvestmoon • • 3h ago

Question Anybody else Amazon say October 26th delivery pre order

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4 Upvotes

r/harvestmoon • • 6h ago

Question How much longer 'til the digital version of EoT drops?

5 Upvotes

Just wondering.


r/harvestmoon • • 5h ago

Opinion/Discussion They made seeds purchasable

4 Upvotes

Thank God y'all, was the reason I put anthos down


r/harvestmoon • • 1d ago

how i imagine my farmer character in the hm fomt style

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194 Upvotes

just a sketch, so she's a bit rough. but drawing in this style is so fun, definitely a style i'd like to draw more in


r/harvestmoon • • 1d ago

I got HM Echoes of Terradea early for Switch 2, AMA

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96 Upvotes

So I got the new HM since Yesterday and already played a Ton of it, I can answer many questions. What do you all want to know?

I will Try to Not Spoiler anything big.

My First impressions:

Graphics: A huge step Up from Winds of Anthos, cute and sprawling with lovely Details

Gameplay: Takes the foundation of Winds of Anthos but enrichens it with meaningful Exploration, the biggest one being the rescue of Animals and their ability to follow you through your adventure and Help you by fending Off wild animals.

Performance: Not good. Has a Ton of frame pace issues and stuttering, I Hope this gets fixed in a day one Patch.

Social Stuff: the Characters are OK. They are Not over the top weirdos Like the Mayor or other Characters in Grand Bazar, they feel very down to earth and grounded in reality rather then showing a certain stereotype or typical Anime Character Like Marvelous tends to do.


r/harvestmoon • • 18h ago

NOVEDADES NOVEDADES

11 Upvotes

https://reddit.com/link/1x5tw7f/video/8a91hfav8gvh1/player

Mas Avances, A la Izquierda Rom Modificada, a la derecha Rom original


r/harvestmoon • • 1d ago

[SPOILERS] Echoes of Teradea Review

92 Upvotes

So HM Echoes of Teradea was delivered to my door 2 days before the release date. I was hopeful that this game would be better than the last Natsume game I tried (Light of Hope).

Well, folks, I'm not even through the first day tutorial and here's my thoughts. There really won't be any spoilers here because I'm going to be talking more about controls and mechanics than actual game content.

The very first thing I noticed is how long every. Single. Loading. Screen. Is. And they put a loading screen on EVERYTHING. I feel like I'm playing Tree of Tranquility again it's so bad. Like you finish a dialogue? Loading screen. Walk through a door? Loading screen. Attempt to walk into a locked area? Loading screen. Genuinely nearly unplayable.

The second thing I noticed is that, while the character art is better than Light of Hope, the characters are doing the same stupid facial expressions and repetitive movements that I absolutely DESPISED in Light of Hope.

The world from what I've seen is essentially empty. The controls are slow and dragging. It takes forever for the camera to pan.

I've talked to a couple of townsfolk and while I can see that they're setting the stage for the story, it feels lifeless and unemotional. None of the characters stick out to me as intriguing in any capacity.

I will be the first to say, I'm a tough crowd to please, but my god even the worst SOS title is better than this based on controls and loading screens alone.

My recommendation? Stick with Marvelous. I regret my pre-order and I honestly doubt I'll play this game for more than a couple hours.

ETA: Playing on the switch - maybe controls are better on different systems!


r/harvestmoon • • 1d ago

Harvest Moon: Back to Nature is now 100% decompiled

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169 Upvotes

r/harvestmoon • • 16h ago

Question Pre-order Cow

2 Upvotes

Do we get the pink cow later in game or is it a limited item for those that buy the game early.


r/harvestmoon • • 13h ago

Anime like Story of Seasons / Harvest Moon

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1 Upvotes

What anime have you watched that give you the same feeling as your favorite cozy farm sims?


r/harvestmoon • • 1d ago

Grilled Tilapia from Harvest Moon: Skytree Village, Light of Hope, and One World! Very much looking forward to my completion of the grilled fish recipes eventually, as they make up a large chunk of the recipes unfortunately.

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18 Upvotes

r/harvestmoon • • 23h ago

How can I play Harvest Moon 64 on Windows 11? I'm a complete beginner

6 Upvotes

I’m trying to play Harvest Moon 64 on my Windows 11 laptop, but I’m completely lost when it comes to emulators and ROMs. I played this game on my family’s computer about 15 years ago when I was a child. We had it on a CD, and I have such fond memories of playing it. I don’t really play video games anymore, but I randomly thought about this one recently and got hit with a wave of nostalgia.

I’ve already downloaded Harvest Moon 64 Recompiled, but I realized I need a ROM to actually play the game. The problem is that I have absolutely no idea how to get one. Is there a legitimate place where I can purchase or download it? Or is there another way to get the game running on Windows 11?

I’m not very tech-savvy when it comes to gaming, so I’d really appreciate a simple, step-by-step explanation. I don’t mind paying for the game, but I’m not sure where to get it digitally.


r/harvestmoon • • 1d ago

THE LAST UPDATE IS COMING

9 Upvotes

Enlgish

Hey guys, I've been working really hard on this latest update and it's coming soon. The map module is almost finished—I just need to tweak a few minor details and it'll be ready, hahaha. In the meantime, here's a demo. Seriously, having the game decompiled into C saves me so many headaches and speeds up this kind of work by 10,000,000%.

Español

Hola a todos: he estado trabajando muy duro en esta última actualización y llegará pronto. El módulo del mapa está casi terminado; solo me falta ajustar algunos detalles menores y estará listo, jajaja. Mientras tanto, aquí tienen una demo. En serio, tener el juego descompilado en C me ahorra muchísimos dolores de cabeza y acelera este tipo de trabajo un 10 000 000 %.

https://reddit.com/link/1x5jno9/video/841nv96didvh1/player


r/harvestmoon • • 1d ago

FOMT STUDIO FINAL UPDATE

27 Upvotes

English
Hey guys, I wanted to share some progress I've made on this project. First, I managed to fully decompile the game into C—the universal decompiler is up and running. I know this is a bit off-topic, but I compared the output and achieved a 100% match with the insanely precise *Pokémon Emerald* decompilation from PRET. Anyway, now that the game is decompiled, a lot of things are coming to light incredibly fast. I also managed to ditch that annoying Unicorn library and unpack the maps natively using Python code, and I'm making great strides with the route editor. Here’s an example of what the editor will look like; I’m still working out the logic before finalizing the menu design—don't worry, this isn't the final look.

Español
Hola a todos, quería compartir algunos avances que he logrado en este proyecto. Primero, conseguí descompilar el juego por completo a C; el descompilador universal ya está operativo. Sé que esto se sale un poco del tema, pero comparé el resultado y logré una coincidencia del 100 % con la descompilación increíblemente precisa de *Pokémon Esmeralda* realizada por PRET. En fin, ahora que el juego está descompilado, están surgiendo muchísimas cosas a una velocidad increíble. También logré deshacerme de esa molesta librería Unicorn y extraer los mapas de forma nativa usando código Python, y estoy avanzando a buen ritmo con el editor de rutas. Aquí tienen un ejemplo de cómo se verá el editor; todavía estoy definiendo la lógica antes de finalizar el diseño del menú; no se preocupen, este no es el aspecto definitivo.

LINKS
HM FOMT FULL DECOMP
MY GLOBAL DECOMPILER "FIO DECOMPILER"


r/harvestmoon • • 1d ago

Change Supermarket Building in Harvest moon FOMT with FOMT studio's

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19 Upvotes

Hello, I'm new here, I want to change Supermarket building in Harvest moon FOMT with FOMT Studio'. It's can possible to change map building from picture 1 to picture 2, if can how to change it please explain me.


r/harvestmoon • • 1d ago

Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos Replaying Winds of Anthos while waiting

8 Upvotes

I forgot that one of the most annoying things about this was that the harvest wisps are so stingy with seeds given the amount you need to unlock being able to buy them in stores or in larger amounts. Needing to get to 250 harvested crops when the regular wisp gives you one seed and the rare ones usually only vend three just sucks. they could've at least done it so that regular sprites give three and rare give six. Plus no 'seedmaker' until endgame and then it taking three freaking days for one seed is horrible.


r/harvestmoon • • 1d ago

Opinion/Discussion Which has best harvest Moon psp is best for you and recommend for me?

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79 Upvotes

I'm shock psp can harvest Moon l went what best version of game it can actually first time playing haverst moon what Do you recommend Should play?


r/harvestmoon • • 1d ago

Harvest Moon back to nature walkthrough walls Gameshark

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113 Upvotes

To anyone that's been as curious as I have to look out of bounds of the game I was able to find a gameshark code using Claude and a recently uploaded (5 hours ago) decompilation to make a walkthrough walls code. I'm using duckstation and the NTSC-U version. Apparently it's a debug flag, an on / off switch.

Here's the code to turn it on 8006C84A 4000

Here's the code to turn it off 8006C84A 0000


r/harvestmoon • • 1d ago

Harvest Moon 64 Someone do a Female Protagonist Mod for Harvest Moon 64 Recompiled already!

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21 Upvotes

Just use Claire's Sprites from Bokujo Monogatari Harvest Moon for Girls/Back to Nature for Girl! Alas why are Claire's Sprites missing here? : https://www.spriters-resource.com/playstation/harvestmoongirl/


r/harvestmoon • • 1d ago

Opinion/Discussion Analog seasons

4 Upvotes

The changing of the seasons has always been digital; ie instant change from Summer to fall.

Wouldn't it be more realistic and interesting if the seasons were analog and overlap, crops had a peak season and grow slower the further away from it.


r/harvestmoon • • 1d ago

Opinion/Discussion Echoes of Teradea

0 Upvotes

Hello, I got wind of the news for Echoes of Teradea. I got myself into farming sims lately and the last Harvest Moon game I played was Friends of Mineral Town (Which was fantastic back in the day). I'm a big fan of the marriage system so I try to see if it's good.

Would you say it's worth buying? Most say it's some form of cash grab. I like the bachelor line up but when I saw Winds of Anthos and the heart events I felt it was a bit lackluster.


r/harvestmoon • • 2d ago

HM: Echoes of Teradea will soon be playable!!! Can't wait!!!

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54 Upvotes

I loved Wind of Anthos very much. I got and unlocked every achievements there (yeah, including taming all pets and all crop variants)...

Although, kinda skeptical after seeing the low data size downloaded... Is it OK to expect this to be improved version of WoA???