Story of Season is a video game series developed by Japanese video game company Marvelous. The official gameplay of the game is a life role-playing game. Story of Season has been released for 25 years, during which time it has also released many true stories and side stories. This game series is the memories of many players, so how Story of Season became a childhood memory of players, here will explain his story.
The original generation of Harvest Moon
The first “Harvest Moon” was first launched in Japan on August 9, 1996, and the platform on the shelves was Super Nintendo. The author of Harvest Moon is a Japanese game designer named Yasuhiro Wada, who is also known as the father of Harvest Moon. The development of the game is handled by a team called Amccus. A year later, Harvest Moon was launched in Europe and America. Today, the series continues this culture.
The player will play a boy in the game, and this boy is the owner of the ranch. This ranch was passed down through his grandpa, and the main task of the players is to make this ranch prosperous. In the game, players can not only grow farming, raise livestock, mine and collect, but also build relationships with neighbors around them, and even make friends with their favorites, get married and have children.
Then, the official launched a new work mainly in black and white, “Harvest Moon GB”. This game has also become the first work in the series to be on the handheld. At the same time, Victor Interactive Software officially became the developer of the series. Later, the official also launched a color version of “Harvest Moon GB” on the GBC platform. The two are basically the same, the only difference lies in the use of colors.
After the official launch of “Harvest Moon 64”. This is a game launched on N64. Since N64 is very powerful, it will have a lot of room to play. Compared with the previous game, the image quality of this generation has been upgraded from the original 2D to a pseudo 3D format. At the same time, the game has added a lot of new features. For example, there are more festivals to participate in, making this game one of the most highly rated games in the series.
Just a few months later, the official launch of “Harvest Moon: Back to Nature” for the first time on the PS platform. This game looks very similar to Harvest Moon 2, especially the characters in the game, but the personalities of these characters and the content brought out by the game are definitely different. With the launch of the heroine version called “Harvest Moon: Back to Nature For Girl”, the gameplay of the heroine version will be slightly different from the main story, but basically the same.
By 2000, the third-generation GB version of Harvest Moon was officially launched on GBC. This work can be said to be one of the most unique in the series. At the beginning of the game, players can choose either the male lead or the female lead to play the game, but unlike the previous game, the story or gameplay of the male and female protagonists are different. If the player chooses the heroine, the main job will be to take care of animals and sell animal products and so on. But if you choose a male lead, you are basically doing physical work. It is worth mentioning that if the heroine chooses to get married, the game will end immediately. But if the male protagonist gets married, then the game continues.
In 2001, the official launch of “Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland” was launched on PS2. This is the first game in the series that uses real 3D vision to improve the picture quality. The biggest feature is the plot of the story. The game has 9 different endings waiting for players to experience, and the choices players make in the game will affect the future development of the story.
The team changed to Marvelous Interactive
In 2003, the development team of Ranch Story officially changed its name to Marvelous Interactive. At this time, the official also launched a new work “Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town” on GBA. The style of this game will be more cute, and the game will be faster-paced. This game is one of the players’ favorite games in the series.
Then in the same September, the official launch of the new work “Harvest Moon: A Beautiful Life” on GameCube. If the player uses the transmission line to connect the GameCube and GBA, and at the same time start the beautiful life and the Friends in Mineral Town, it can be linked. Beautiful life can be said to be another innovation in the series, because beautiful life is like a sim. This game is closer to reality in every aspect. For example, the time in the game, the game time is running with the number of seconds in reality, which is different from the time in the previous game. Subsequently, this game was launched on PS2, PS3 and PS4, and several new features were added.
In 2005, the official released a new Japanese limited edition “Harvest Moon: A Poem of Happiness” on GameCube. This game also ushered in an upgraded version and released to the world. This time the game has returned to the traditional gameplay, and the image quality has become similar to the previous one, and the overall experience is not bad. Later, the official also launched a Wii version for this game, but the heroine was removed by the official, which made many players feel dissatisfied.
Focus on the Nintendo era
Later, another game “Harvest Moon DS” was officially launched. This is the first Harvest Moon to be launched on Nintendo DS. This game basically does not have much breakthrough except combining the touch screen function of DS to interact with players. Then, the official release of the heroine version. However, compared with the main story, there are obvious differences in both the story and the gameplay, and even the Japanese version still has the marriage mechanism of female love. In order not to cause controversy, this mechanism was removed in Europe and the United States.
In February 2007, the second Harvest Moon that appeared on DS was officially launched. The name is “Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness”. Although the game is more innovative in terms of story, the operation feel of the game on the DS is not so good. In June of the same year, the official also launched “Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility” on the brand new console Nintendo Wii. Compared with the previous game, this game has improved image quality and the map has also been enlarged a lot. Players need to collect five rainbows in the game and save the withered stable tree, so that the islands that have been spelled can reproduce the good times. Although the overall game is pretty good, the pace of this game is very slow.
After that, “Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands” was officially launched on DS. This time the work has improved a lot in terms of game experience and operating feel, and it is also very smooth to play. With that, the Wii platform also ushered in the new work “Harvest Moon: Animal Parade”. This game has improved a lot, especially in terms of rhythm, and it is more comfortable to play. A few months later, the official release of the new work “Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar” on the Nintendo DS again. Apart from a new story, this game basically has no features.
Subsequently, the official launch of the last game launched on the DS platform, and this game is “Harvest Moon: A Tale of Two Villages”. The biggest feature of this game is that it has two different villages for players to choose from. Players can choose to live in one of the villages at the beginning of the game, and these two villages will also have different lifestyles due to different cultures. . Later, this game also launched a 3DS porting enhanced version in 2017. Then, “Harvest Moon, A New Beginning” was officially launched. This is a game launched on 3DS, and this time many new gameplays have been added, such as decorating your own home.
Harvest Moon changed to Story of Seasons
The European and American versions of the series are all published by Natsume, but at this time the developers Marvelous and Natsume branched out on the future development of the game, so they ended their partnership. The name Harvest Moon is owned by Natsume, so Marvelous needs to come up with a new name for the game, so Story of Seasons was born and a new publisher, Xseed Games, in charge of Europe and the United States was also found.
“Story of Seasons” is the first game released under a new name. Although the name of the game has been changed, the core of the game has not changed. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the launch of the series, the official also released a commemorative work “Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns” on 3DS. Three years later, the series ushered in a collaboration work “Doraemon: Story of Seasons”. Then, the official also released another very classic remake of “Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town” on Switch. This game can not only arouse the feelings of old players, but also attract new players to join. The last is the latest generation of games in the series, “Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town”. This work is also an official commemorative work launched to celebrate the 25th anniversary, but this game has been criticized by old players. The reason is that the game loses its original taste in all aspects, and it feels like it has lost the original intention of the manufacturer to make Story of Seasons.
The above is the story of Story of Seasons. Have players ever played this series of games?
