Nintendo 64 - Harvest Moon 64

Format
Nintendo 64
Publisher
Natsume
Developer
Victor Interactive
Country of origin
Japan
Release date
US: 1999
Genre
RPG

Harvest Moon 64

By David Rasmussen
3rd Jul 05

When it comes to nostalgia nothing quite says it like classic video games, and nothing says classic like old school N64 games! Continuing the nostalgia week of reviews I bring you two reviews of N64 games, this being the review of Harvest Moon 64. Anyway looking at the classic games of the past gets me over having to talk about the disappointment that is Another Wonderful Life (GCN) and how it just doesn’t seem to be living up to it’s expectations. So thank you, Natsume, for being so lazy. Thank you very much.
Did you note my sarcasm? I hope Natsume takes note… please.

As for the story? No need to go into that for very long since the game is basically the same storyline over and over and over again. It seems that every Harvest Moon game for the most part has the same set-up.
Stop me if you heard this one before. You see, so and so used to run such and such farm, but he died without marrying or having children. Because of this obvious negligence to have a social life it has fallen upon your shoulders to rebuild the now abandoned farm, and make it profitable again in so many months. And it seems you live on the Planet Farm, if the circumstances of your “inheritance” of this farm isn’t weird enough as is! Why? Well it seems that every day is an even 30 every month for starters, with four months (seasons) out of the year… gee, your planet is really clocking around the sun isn’t it!

This game is no exception to the Natsume Rule talked about above as you once again find yourself in control of a brand new (decaying) farm. This farm in particular used to be your grandfather’s farm, and you used to spend your days here in your youth getting to know the neighborhood, the animals, and a strange girl whose identity you’ll only discover after you get married to her (no matter who you chose to marry you end up marrying the mystery girl of your youth). Anyway that was then. Now that he’s gone it’s up to you to restore said farm and make it profitable again.

Welcome to Flower Bud Village, one of the quaint villages on Planet Farm (including the god awful village near the lake in the terrible PS2 Harvest Moon, the village near the sea in Wonderful Life for the GameCube, Mineral Town in the PSOne & GameBoy Advance versions, and the villages on islands in Harvest Moon 3 on the GameBoy Color). For an interesting twist if you play Wonderful Life (or probably Another Wonderful Life as well) go into the small building with the shipping crates in the farm next door (across the river) where you buy the seeds. Read the labels on the crates and you’ll find a few marked for shipment to Flower Bud Village, the village in this game.

Here you’ll farm, raise animals, join your neighbors in spirited festivals, meet the harvest sprites (four), locate power nuts and marry the woman of your dreams (and childhood). Oh, and unlike Wonderful Life you’ll also be able to watch the other people in the village get married (until they’re all married). There are five girls, each being the standard fare for more advanced games (reappearing again in the PSOne slash GBA versions). One is a bookworm who works at a library, one is a rowdy cowgirl on a ranch, one works at the bakery, one at the flower shop, and one is the town drunk who works at the winery… of course. Along the way you’ll give each girl a gift each and every day of the week so that she loves you just that much more. The more she loves you, the more the story advances until you can do things like see cut scenes with her in it, take her home after she falls down, visit her when she’s sick, and find out you two were childhood friends before you finally walk down the aisle and become married.

Who is the most useful wife to marry? Well here it matters (unlike future versions like the GameCube where the only difference in who you marry is how your child develops) since your wife can help you with the farm work… but only two girls (the ranch girl & the wine maker’s daughter) are the most helpful in the game, not to mention have the most personality so you should try to marry them. The rest are great big disappointments so don’t bother.

The rest of the game? Lots of work.
Mind the seasons when buying seeds and make sure to keep your fields neat and tidy.
Don’t forget to grow grass to raise animals, and always make sure you have enough food to feed them.
Stock up on grass for the long winter or you’ll have to end up buying food to feed your livestock.
Fishing is easy once you get the hang of it, and you can even supplement your income by going to the mine during the winter to mine for rare minerals which helps you make money when you’re not growing.

Home improvements are varied, and I haven’t seen this many upgrades since the PSOne/GBA version. You can also watch TV… sadly, however, the Variety Channel has been censored out of this version. Only the original Japanese Harvest Moon 64 has the Variety Channel (which appears again in recent versions of Harvest Moon). And, yes, you have hurricanes and snowstorms which keep you inside on some days, and makes your animals cranky (unless you made good friends of the Harvest Sprites who’ll come and tend to your animals during adverse weather, though they cannot be hired to work for you until the PSOne/GBA versions of this game).

Festivals are interesting, and offer up some great mini games like racing (both your horse and dog), as well as the Egg Hunt (Fall) and the Swimming Competition (Summer). Because you can’t cook in this game there’s no cooking contest, but you can turn in your best produce each year for a Harvest contest which pit’s the best grown fruits of the Earth against one another year after year. You’ll also have a cow contest.

The game is involved, and you have three years to get married before your father returns and the game ends… but it also doesn’t end. While the story stops after the father shows up you can continue to play onwards and onwards for year after year… no progress will be made, but if you’ve become attached to your little village you can go on and enjoy yourself… until you decide to get one of the other games.

It’s not a difficult game, and this classic version is a nice addition to fans of the old system. And who knows? Maybe Nintendo will do Nintendo DS fans a favor by resurrecting this classic Harvest Moon game on the NDS? Well, yes, I heard the DS is getting the lion’s share of new games this coming year (which means lots of neglect for the GBA & GameCube short of the upcoming Legend of Zelda : Twilight Princess for the GameCube & new Harvest Moon for the GBA & GameCube) but having a few more classic games worth playing again is always welcome in my opinion.

Anyway if you have a classic N64, and can get ahold of this game? Do it. It’s worth it.
Okay. Time for the breakdown.

Harvest Moon 64 Breakdown
What’s Hot?
Great Harvest Moon games are few and far between. This is one of those great games. Along with the PSOne/GBA version and, yes, even the glitchy GameCube version, this is one of the Harvest Moons worth owning. And with a new Harvest Moon (Another Wonderful Life) coming for the GameCube, as well as one for the GBA (More Friends of Mineral Town) you can’t go wrong picking up the classics. Both this and the PSOne original Harvest Moon are games you should check out for yourself, and have for your retro classic collection.

What’s Not?
I wish Nintendo didn’t mess with the Variety Channel on this game, I would have liked to have seen what shows the channel showed in this classic game.

Moments to Remember?
It has it’s moments, though you should find those out for yourself since it’s lots of work to unlock these moments so why spoil them by telling you them now? Play on and find them for yourself.

What to Ignore?
Would it slay Nintendo to roll out a GameCube Harvest Moon Classics Collection release collecting Harvest Moon 64, the classic SNES Harvest Moon & hybrid Harvest Moon collecting all the advancements of the GameBoy Color games into one playable hybrid? They aren’t beyond rehashing Wonderful Life into the lazily made Another Wonderful Life so how about a Classic Collection? They’ve rolled out other Classic Collections so having a collection of these classic Harvest Moon games would be rather nice. Like icing on the cake to go along with the treat of the newest Harvest Moon games for the GameCube. That is, if you can call playing a clone game a treat that is. Come on, Natsume! Get it together already!!

Overall?
While I’m not a major fan of all the Harvest Moons, and I’m not completely won over by the original Wonderful Life for the GameCube (which has glitches that can’t be ignored) I am a fan of this game, as well as the original PSOne Harvest Moon (re-released on the GameBoy Advance). If you can? Play it. You’ll find it well worth your time and effort! Trust me!
As for you, Natsume, provide me some “serious fun” by giving me the Classic Collection Harvest Moon I so dearly desire! If you can’t make Another Wonderful Life original by any stretch of the imagination then please make a game of classic Harvest Moon games! You know people want it so give it to us! Please!!
Just as long as you don’t include the PS2 Harvest Moon on the game please. I couldn’t stand that game!

-- David Rasmussen 3rd Jul 05

Nintendo 64 Harvest Moon 64 Images