"Like whoa."

Harvest Moon is an example of a type of game that one would never expect to see as enjoyable. My case in point is Sim Farm. In my honest opinion, that game was absolutely terrible. It seemed endless, repetitive, and there was way too little to do in it. Plus, at times, the game was very confusing. Sim Farm left a bad mark on my mind about simulation games forever. Enter Harvest Moon. I saw Harvest Moon in Nintendo Power one day, a long time ago. With the horrible memories of Sim Farm still in my head, I passed it up immediately. After thinking about it a little bit, though, I checked out the pictures and full review of the game, which came out a few months before the game was released, oddly enough. Seeing much more than another annoying farm game with nothing to do, I decided to save up my rare cash (I was only 10, not many ways to make money) for the game. My friend, Tyler, told me that it was just going to be a waste of money. I tried to avoid his comments. When I got the game, I decided that I was NOT disappointed. Harvest Moon truly is an awesome game, with many wonderful and innovative features that put it a cut above other farm games.

Some of the Graphics in Harvest Moon aren't very good, but others are actually enjoyable to look at. First of all, I'll talk about the human sprites. These are small characters, along the lines of first and Second generation Super Nintendo games, such as those in Breath of Fire or Lufia. I definitely did not enjoy the human sprites very much, this being one of the final games released for the system. Fortunately, they were very clear and distinguishable. Most of the backgrounds, on the other hand, were quite nice. Your house is fairly detailed, and you will have no problem seeing the fence, or any other house in the village. Unexpectedly, the vegetables you plant and grow also look amazingly well, showing obvious difference between the stages of growth, as well as differences between the vegetables themselves. With the exception of the relatively small characters, I am quite impressed with the Graphics of Harvest Moon.

Most of the songs in the game are very nice, and don't get old because of plenty of variation. There are different themes for each season of the year, as well as different themes for the village and the mountain. A few others take place in the game, as well. Since you visit the town, the village, and the farm very often, you will be switching around a lot, which means the music changes as well. Basically, this means that the compositions won't get old easily. Fortunately, every theme in the game is very nice, and fitting to the mood of the area. Most of the Sound Effects are very nice, and also fitting to what you are doing. Fortunately, the running sound doesn't get old, because you are going to be hearing it a lot. The sound of picking up produce is decent as well. The only real problem I have with the Sound Effects in the game is the sound it makes when you talk to people. It's just a simple note played over and over as the text scrolls, and it really gets boring. The fact that you converse a LOT in this game brings that as a problem as well. Overall, with that notable flaw in mind, the sound and music is still quite good in the game.

Mostly, Harvest Moon controls very nicely. The A button is the confirm button, which allows you to pick up produce and anything else, converse, and basically confirm anything you wish to do in the game. Holding down the B button allows you to run (without having to hold the control pad!). The X button changes what item you are holding at the time. The Y button allows you to use that item. The Start button has no function, and the select button lets you view the month, the day, your current money, and other necessities. The L and R shoulder buttons allow you to call your animals. The button position in the game is quite good, but occasionally I think that using your item should be moved to the shoulder buttons, while moving your call animal button to the Y button. The one flaw I truly see with the control is how easy it is to push the A button twice in a row when picking up produce, making it extremely easy to drop the produce after picking it up. While it happens rarely, it is really annoying, especially considering your limited time per day.

There really is no story in the game, and it's not fair to review its story, as it is a simple game about farming. Farming requires no story, but the game does give you one little story. Basically, your parents have left you in charge of their crappy, broken down ranch. In two and a half years, they are going to return and see how your progress is going. That's it. There's not much to the story, but I never expected a real story in the game, anyway, and I encourage you not to as well.

Harvest Moon is an extremely fun game to play, and you will find yourself playing the game fairly often. I have thought about what makes it so addictive, after playing for 4 years nonstop, and I have decided that it's the experience of farming, done right, given to the lazy bums that play video games. It's truly a refreshing experience for people that are lazy and never expect to do actual labor in their life. It teaches them yet more reasons never to do actual labor in their life. However, the idea of testing out what manual labor really is helps it, too. I don't work, and never plan on actually doing a job that requires any real work (read: farming), so the idea of doing a job that requires real work (read: farming) at the push of some buttons really intrigues me. Harvest Moon is a nice game to play, as well. There are multiple ways you can go in the game. You can skip buying crops, and simply go for getting produce from the mountains, and raising livestock. You can go for raising crops, while still getting some money from the mountains every day. That gets tough when you have a wife, however. This brings me to another point: You actually can date and get married in the game. Yes, there's an AMERICAN dating simulator, for once! That interesting part of an already interesting game brings the fun factor up immensely.

Harvest Moon, in all actuality, is not a difficult game, if you simply want to play it through and don't care about the ending you get. If you get deep and try to do everything right, though, it's pretty hard. For example, if you want the best ending, you need lots of crops planted, lots of land cleared, all the cows and chickens possible, AND you need a wife and children. Getting all this done really requires some thought on how you do everything. You can't stay up after dark when you get married, so you can't water your crops at night. This limits your budget, because you have to water your crops during the day, reducing the time you have to get produce from the mountain. Or, if you think that it would be easier, you can forget about planting crops at all and simply get stuff from the mountain, and feed your cows, when you get married. However, you have to plant a mandatory amount of crops to get the best ending. Do you see where I'm getting at? Getting a good ending requires some serious thought to what you are doing.

Harvest Moon is one of those games that you play for 10 to 30 minutes, and then stop. However, if you keep going like that, the game should last you a truly long time, and it doesn't get old. An average day for a bachelor, who has all the time in the world at night, is about 5 minutes. The daytime lasts for 2 and a half minutes, and you water your crops at night. Overall, watering crops and anything else you do take up about 2 and a half minutes, making a total of 5 minutes. This game DOES get old after just half an hour of playing, but if you leave it alone for a day, it gets enjoyable again. This makes it the perfect game to play when you have just a few short minutes of spare time. I don't know about you, but that happens a lot to me. If you are one of those people, the Replay Value is superb.

Overall Scores
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 9/10
Play Control: 18/20
Story: Not applicable
Game Play: 29/30
Challenge: 15/15
Replay Value: 15/15
Overall: 95/100, 95%, rounded up for reviewer's tilt: 10/10

Harvest Moon is another of those addictive games that will eat up all of your short free time. You know them, you love them, and if you get one, you'll play them. This is a truly exceptional game that will destroy all 10 minute periods of boredom that you have. I suggest getting this game to anybody with a Super Nintendo. If you have a Nintendo 64 or Playstation, you may want the upgraded versions of the game, for they include many more options. If you only own a Game Boy, you may want to get the Game Boy versions. While they don't allow you to date, the farming is just as good as the originals. No matter what you have, though, you should not pass this game up in any way.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/17/01, Updated 07/17/01