Retro Gaming Australia

In celebration of Harvest Moon’s 15 years in North America, Natsume is releasing Harvest Moon: A New Beginning for Nintendo 3DS.

North America first saw the farm simulation RPG series in June 1997 with the release of Harvest Moon for the Super Nintendo. Since then, Harvest Moon has appeared on numerous consoles and handhelds and spurred various spin-off titles such as Puzzle de Harvest Moon and the Rune Factory series.

Harvest Moon: A New Beginning, titled Harvest Moon: The Land of Origin in Japan, sees players rebuild an abandoned rural town in an effort to win back its inhabitants and return the town to its former glory. This instalment in the series features more customisation than previous Harvest Moon games, with players able to determine their character’s appearance and make changes to both their farm and town at large. There are also some new farm animals and crops to tend to, and the farmer can now go on family vacation – cute!

Expect to see Harvest Moon: A New Beginning released later this year.

Japanese trailer:

My favourite iteration of this series.

Harvest Moon 64 puts you in control of a young farmer who is tasked with rebuilding and maintaining a farm, raising animals and starting a family. It seems a ridiculous notion making a game about farm work, but it’s actually pretty engrossing and a hell of a lot more fun than the real thing.