Since breaking up with Natsume, Marvelous has left the Harvest Moon name behind to create the Story of the Seasons. However, they haven't left behind the characters we know and love. Since the split, Marvelous has remade classic Harvest Moon titles for the Story of Seasons series, such as Friends of Mineral Town and A Wonderful Life.
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The Best Harvest Moon Games, Ranked
Harvest Moon, also known as Story of Seasons, is a popular farming game – but with so many entries in the series, which is the best to play?
Still, we can't help but want more. With little nods to the rest of the series neatly tucked into their remakes, Marvelous has us wondering which of their games will be next to get the remake treatment.
11 Harvest Moon 64
Return to Flowerbud Village
Harvest Moon 64 was first released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64. In the game, you play as a male farmer who just took over his grandfather's farm in Flowerbud Village.
The villagers may look like those from Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town. That's because this was actually their first appearance, before Harvest Moon: Back to Nature changed their jobs and relationships to the ones we see today. If this is going to be a remake, we hope Marvelous adds the option to be female or non-binary and to romance the bachelors in the village as well.
10 Harvest Moon: Hero Of Leaf Valley
Find another way to save the homeland
First released as Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland in 2001 for the PlayStation 2, Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley was an enhanced remake released in 2009 for the PlayStation Portable.
In this game, you play as a male farmer who inherited your grandfather's farm. Unfortunately, the countryside is scheduled to be demolished to build a resort and theme park at Funland within a year. It's up to you and the townspeople to prove that Leaf Valley is still worth keeping. With 16 different ways to save the valley, and potentially more added if the game is remade, Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley's remake would have plenty of playability.
9 Harvest Moon: Magic Melody
Find the hidden sheet music of the goddess
Harvest Moon: Magical Melody was first released in 2005 for the Nintendo GameCube. An updated version for the Wii was released in 2008, although you can only play as a male farmer in it.
Magical Melody gives you the goal of awakening the harvest goddess, who turned to stone. To do so, you must collect at least 50 of the 100 total notes scattered throughout Flowerbud Village. While some townspeople are original, many come from Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland or Harvest Moon for the SNES. We just hope Marvelous would let us marry our androgynous rival Jamie without our game ending in the remake.
8 Harvest Moon DS: Sunshine Islands
Collect all 100 sun stones and level up all islands
Harvest Moon DS: Sunshine Islands was first released in 2008 for the Nintendo DS. The game reused many characters from its predecessor, Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness, while adding a few additional characters to keep things interesting, such as a new location and two new romance candidates.
As a male or female farmer, your goal is to find the magical 100 sunstones to raise sunken islands from the sea and restore the sunshine islands to their former glory. Along the way, you can compete in festivals, meet friends and even fall in love.
7 Harvest Moon DS: Island Of Happiness
Give this classic DS game another chance
When Harvest Moon DS: Island of Happiness was first released in 2007, many of us found the game difficult to play due to the touch screen controls required. Although its successor fixed this problem, many of us still have a special place in our hearts for the game.
The game begins with your family shipwrecked with a family of four on a deserted island. Although some ugly buildings remain, no one currently lives on the island you were on. By growing and shipping produce, you can attract new townspeople to your island to liven up the place, including familiar visitors from Mineral Town. You can even romance the farmer you didn't choose to play as.
6 Harvest Moon: Animal Parade
Ring five bells to restore the island
Harvest Moon: Animal Parade was first released in 2008 and reused many of the characters from its predecessor, Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility. But the game adds two new bachelors and bachelorettes each, giving you more romance options.
You start the game by traveling to the island of Castanet, where the Harvest Goddess is getting weaker and weaker. To restore the island, you must find five magical bells and ring them, which will bring the Harvest King back to the island. With his help, you can revive the Goddess Tree and restore the Castanet to its former glory.
5 Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility
Restore the rainbows for the harvest goddess
Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility was first released for the Wii in 2007. At the beginning, your farmer boards a ship and travels to Waffle Island, a once enchanted place that has since fallen from its former glory.
Your job is to find and restore the Harvest Sprite's powers to create five beautiful rainbows to rebuild the island's connection to nature. By doing so, you can save the harvest goddess. After restoring the first rainbow, the townspeople will move in periodically and fill out the once sparse town.
4 Harvest Moon DS: Grand Bazaar
Time to open your own store
Harvest Moon DS: Grand Bazaar was first released in 2008 for the Nintendo DS. It's a game that's often overlooked in favor of the more popular Harvest Moon titles, although we can't help but love the different spin this game takes on the typical farm sim.
In this game, you are the newest resident to move to Zephyr Town, once world famous for its bazaar. Your job is to bring in more customers to the bazaar by participating in it once a week. We love this game's unique approach, making the bazaar an integral part of doing better as a farmer, along with its use of windmills to craft unique goods.
3 Harvest Moon: The Tale Of Two Towns
Reunite two cities separated by hate
Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns was the last Harvest Moon game on the original DS and the first on the 3DS, releasing on both systems between 2010 and 2011. An enhanced version was released in Japan only in 2017 with access to StreetPass and better controls.
In this game you get to choose to move to one of two villages. Bluebell focused on ranching, which gives you little farmland but plenty of room to raise animals. Konohana is the opposite. The two cities were once connected by a tunnel, but the harvest goddess closed it in a fit of rage. Now it's up to you to restore the ties between these two cities by competing in the weekly competition.
2 Harvest Moon 3D: A New Beginning
Give this classic a fresh start
Harvest Moon 3D: A New Beginning was the second Harvest Moon game released for the 3DS – released in 2012 – and the last game released between the Natsume and Marvelous split, thus beginning the Story of Seasons series.
In this game, you move to Echo Village, which is a shadow of its former glory. Many villagers have moved, allowing you to revive the village with an extensive crafting system. You can arrange the city however you want. Luckily, you have the harvest goddess and two harvest spirits – Aaron and Alice – to lend you a hand along the way. The romantic characters were so popular in this game that Neil and Felicia returned as DLC characters in Pioneers of Olive Town.
1 Harvest Moon DS And DS Cute
Return to Forgotten Valley
Harvest Moon DS was the first Harvest Moon game released on the DS in 2005. The female version, DS Cute, was released later that year. The game takes you back to the Forgotten Valley – or Forget-Me-Not Valley, as the game calls it – 100 years in the future. Your goal in this game is to find the scattered Harvest Sprites to save the Harvest Goddess.
With Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life fresh on our minds, we'd love to return to the Forgotten Valley to see how Marvelous can make the Descendants their own unique characters. They could even add Bachelors and Bachelorettes to Mineral Town, like in the original, if you had the Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town save data.
