Gaming Oddities: Harvest Moon

 Nowadays, Harvest Moon isn't the only farming game franchise, let alone the only farming game, but back when it was first released on the Super Nintendo in 1996, the idea of a farming game was rather surprising.

Gameplay

The game is about you, a young farmer, being given your grandfather's farm and being expected to get it up to shape within two and a half years; each season is 30 days, and the game lasts until the end of the third summer, so that's 300 days.

Your primary source of income comes from planting crops, which involves tilling the soil, planting the seeds, watering the seeds on a daily basis and harvesting them. You can also raise cows and chickens for milk and eggs, and supplement your income by harvesting herbs. The nearby town has much of what you need, from seeds to farming equipment, although you'll have to raise the money to purchase such equipment.

Unlike most RPGs at the time- or even most video games in general that don't involve an arcade-style format of playing until you run out of lives- there's no way to "beat" the game. After the two and a half years/300 days expire, your parents will come home and you will receive an ending and a final score based on how well you did.

Some of you probably still think that the game is rather boring and there' a certain amount of truth to that. Even if you enjoy the idea of farming, the first few seasons will be rather slow, as you build up your farm by clearing the land and saving up money for seeds. In fact, at the very start of the game, after naming your character, you're brought to town and forced to talk to every significant NPC, some of which are easy to miss, in order to be allowed to leave, even if this is not your first playthrough. Even once you make more progress, your productivity will be limited until you purchase the upgraded versions of the tools.

That said, while the game does not involve fast-paced action, it involves careful planning and shrewd decisions. You'll have to make the best use of the time you have- the time until the sun sets and the shipper picks up the crops you harvested, the time until the season ends and the time until your parents return- and that means planting the crops that will make you the most money, taking care of your livestock and not spreading yourself too thin.

There are other side pursuits apart from raising crops and livestock, such as exploring the mountain near the town and collecting berries to increase your stamina. You can also romance and eventually marry one of five girls your age in town, although the romance sidequest is rather shallow by modern standards. In order to win the heart of a girl, you'll need to give her gifts and tell her what she wants to hear- for example, the religious Maria will ask you if you believe in God, and she will approve if you say yes.

The game lacks some of the convenient features of later games, such as the clock, so it can be hard to tell when the shipper will arrive and when the sun will set. The latter is especially important, as burning the midnight oil is necessary as a bachelor (although your stamina limits how much you can do), but when you're married, your wife is unlikely to approve of you staying up too late.

Story and Setting

While most RPGs take place in a medieval high fantasy setting, and others take place in a futuristic science fiction setting, and a handful like EarthBound take place in the modern world, Harvest Moon takes place in the 20th Century, although it's unclear when. Your character owns a large color TV and a truck takes you to town, but your character otherwise relies on hand tools for the farming.

The localized version of the game is a bizarre mix of Western and Japanese influences. On the one hand, the town looks like a classic American farming town complete with a Christian church, the characters wear Western clothing- from the main character's bib overalls to the mayor's suit- and the main characters have a variety of hair colors. However, the church also references multiple gods akin to the Shinto religion, the anchor of the weather program bows to the audience before beginning her report, and your character often eats rice balls for lunch. It can be hard to tell how much of the town is supposed to be in America, and how much is supposed to be in Japan, as well as where the original writer's influence ends and where the localizer's begins.

Conclusion

All gaming genres have to begin somewhere, but few seemed as unlikely as the farming simulator genre did 25 years ago. Harvest Moon is a rather unique and often enjoyable classic that's worth checking out, even if other games have done what it did better.