Harvest Moon

Harvest Moon is a video game that consists of 5 releases
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Harvest Moon is a farming simulation released on the SNES in 1997. In the game you improve your farm and farming techniques, make money from selling your produce, romance the women of the town, and eventually take a wife and have children.

Plot

The game starts with Jack (the default name for your character) taking care of his grandfather's farm. The player gets two and a half years to make the farm a blossoming success. At the end of the time period, his father evaluates his progress and the game will end, unless the player achieves the best ending.

Gameplay

The game has several different aspects including farming, husbandry, women wooing, and a few other things.
 

Tools

There are five basic tools that the player can interact with and upgrade throughout the game:
 
ToolPurpose How to Upgrade
  Axe 

Allows the player to chop down stumps into pieces of lumber that can either be used to build fences or to upgrade your house.

 		 

The axe can be upgraded to the Golden Axe, which can cut down a stump in one blow. To get the Golden Axe, equip your axe and go the mountains after the earthquake during your first winter, where a new area with a pond will have opened up. Using the axe on the pond will cause the goddess to appear. Tell her the truth (that the golden axe isn't yours) and she will give it to you as a reward for your honesty.

 
  Sickle 

Allows the player to cut down a square of grass or to destroy a crop.

 		 

It can be upgraded into the Golden Sickle, which cuts down the six surrounding blocks around the player character in one swoop. To obtain the Golden Sickle, find the tree that falls after an earthquake in the Summer. Visit the gnomes and tell them that you use the sickle, and they will upgrade it for you.

 
 Watering Can
 

Necessary for watering the crops and ensuring that they produce vegetables (grass does not need to be watered).

 		 

The Golden Sprinkler (Gross sounding, right?) can be purchased at the tool shop on Day 20 for 2000g.

 
 Hoe 

Used for tilling the soil in order to prepare it for planting seeds.

 		 

The hoe can only till one block at a time, until it is upgrade into the Golden Hoe, which can till six blocks in a straight line (6x1). To upgrade the hoe, during the fall of Year 1 or Year 2, a weakened gnome will appear outside your house. Give him a mushroom from the mountain an he will upgrade your hoe for you the next day.

 
  Hammer 

Used for breaking boulders, destroying broken fences, and removing a block of tilled soil.

 		 

The Golden Hammer upgrade allows the hammer to break boulders in one swing. To get the upgrade, allow the carpenter to borrow your hammer when he asks for it. He'll upgrade your hammer out of gratitude the next day.

 
 
Using tools depletes the player character's stamina. Once you run out of stamina and attempt to use a tool, your character will get dizzy and collapse, which effectively prevents him from performing any further work. The inclusion of the stamina mechanic forces players to plan out their day and what they plan to accomplish.

Jack removing a stump.
Jack removing a stump.

Farming

Farming takes place on Jack's farmland. There must be a section of farmland cleared in order to start any farming.
To remove weeds, simply pick them up and throw them or chop them with a sickle. To remove rocks, equip the hammer and bash the rock until it disappears (the small ones will only take one hit whereas the big ones will take longer). To remove stumps, equip the axe and hit the stump until it disappears. Destroying stumps will also add lumber to your supply. All tools can be found in the tool shed located just beneath the chicken coop.

Jack watering his crops.
Jack watering his crops.
A good amount of space to clear is enough for a three by three grid. Once cleared, take the hoe and plow the allotted area you wish your crops to go on. For everything but crops that continually grow like corn and tomatoes, three by three is ideal. For continuous crops, leave a space empty in either the center or a space touching the center. Once plowed, grab a seed bag and stand right in the center of the plowed area and toss the seeds. Seeds can be bought in town. Once planted, grab the watering can and fill it with water (you fill it by standing by a pond of water and hitting the action button) and water each section with a seed on it. Watering must be done every day until the crop is ready to be harvested. Please note that watering is unnecessary if it's grass. Grass will keep growing on it's own throughout all seasons except winter.

To harvest crops, simply pick them up when ready to harvest and throw them in the shipping bin located next to the farm's exit. To harvest grass, use the sickle on the grass and it will be placed as fodder in the silo automatically.

To destroy crops, use the sickle on them. To destroy grass, use the hammer on the piece of grass you want to get rid of.

Husbandry

Husbandry can only take place once enough fodder has been stored and enough money gathered to buy either a chicken or a cow. Once those two prerequisites are met, it's time to let the animal abuse begin.

Taking Care of Chickens

Inside of the chicken coop.
Inside of the chicken coop.
Chickens are relatively easy to take care of. All that needs to be done is to feed them, keep them out of harms way, and take their eggs. To feed them, take fodder out from the silo bin on the left-hand side of the coop and toss it on top of the long row at the top of the screen. For each chicken possessed, only one piece of fodder needs to be placed. Once that is done, take any eggs laid by chickens and either place them in the shipper on the lower left-hand part of the coop or on the incubator on the lower right-hand part of the coop. Once placed in the incubator, the egg will take three days to hatch. Only one egg can be in the incubator at a time.

It's relatively simple to keep chickens out of harms way if they are kept cooped up. However, if they are kept outdoors on a continual basis, a number of things could happen. First of all, if they are not kept within the confines of a fence, they can be eaten without any sort of way to protect them otherwise. The other thing to worry about is the weather. If it rains, hurricanes, or snows while the chickens are outside, they can get ill and not produce eggs. With these risks, it's easy to question why people keep livestock outside, but the reason is simple: you don't have to worry about feeding them if they are outside. In other words, its saved fodder.

If you get tired of your chickens at any time, you can sell them for a profit. The same can be done for cows.

Taking Care of Cows
The inside of the cow barn.
The inside of the cow barn.
Cows are taken care of similarly to chickens with a few key differences, which include needing to brushing and talking to your cows. Cows are fed the same as chickens except their food is placed in front of their stalls. Cows can also eat outside with the same consequences as chickens, but with also the benefit of a mood boost for cows. Brushing and talking to cows also boosts their moods and can be done once daily. The better the mood of the cow, the better milk it can produce. Milk can only be taken from a cow when it is an adult. To milk, take the milker, milk it, and place it in the shipper. To produce more cows, give an adult cow a miracle potion and wait twenty-one days for a baby cow to be born. Only one cow can be pregnant at a time.

The brush and milker can be bought from the tool shop, while the miracle potion can be bought from the livestock dealer.

Women Wooing

Jack wooing Ann. Women love the sweet nothings of Chinese.
Jack wooing Ann. Women love the sweet nothings of Chinese.
Women wooing takes place in town and on the mountains. To woo women, simply talk to the woman of your choice everyday and give her an item that she likes. For example, Nina loves flowers, so give her flowers if you want her to be your gal. Do not give a woman more than one gift per day because anything after one item will have little to no effect on their affection for you.

The biggest women wooing times are during festivals, specifically the Flower, Harvest, and Star Night Festivals. For the Flower Festival, buy the woman of your choice perfume and dance with her. For the Harvest Festival, dance with the woman of your choice. For the Star Night Festival, go to the location where the woman of your choice will be that night.

Once women wooing has reached critical mass (you can tell by sneaking a peak at her diary) and you'd like to settle down, buy the blue feather of happiness from the peddler on Sunday and propose to the lady of your choice. Make sure you have the upgraded house or she won't move in. 
 

 Turn your creepy shack into a real home!
 Turn your creepy shack into a real home!

Upgrading Your House

 
You are also able to upgrade your house on the ranch, using gold and the materials collected from chopping down stumps. To upgrade the home, the player must talk to the carpenters in the forest. There are two upgrades available, and other than improving the appearance of your home, there are also other tangible benefits: 
 
 
 

UpgradeGoldMaterialsBenefits
Upgrade One
 5,000 250The carpenters will give the players a clock as a gift, which allows the players to tell what time it is by pressing the 'Select' button. This is required in order to get married.
Upgrade Two
 10,000 750 The carpenters will provide the player with a crib, which allows the player's wife to get pregnant.
Harvest Moon 87 images
General Information Edit
Game Name Harvest Moon
Platform(s)
Publisher(s)
Developer(s)
Genres
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Simulation
Strategy
Role-Playing
Themes
Add a new theme
Dating
Management
Western
Original US Release
need a fuzzy date?
Original US Release June 1997 know the real date?
Aliases
ESRB
ESRB: E
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