18. Harvest Moon DS: The Tale of Two Towns (DS)
The DS version of The Tale of Two Towns is definitely the way to go with this entry. You get to choose which of the two towns you make your home, but that doesn't limit you to where you can go (or who you can marry, importantly) making this one of the biggest Harvest Moon games. You can get pickling or raise alpacas, and take part in the Cooking Festival for some brand new mechanics, and it helps make the long-running series feel fresh again. This is an easy recommendation for those looking for a good handheld Harvest Moon game.
17. Harvest Moon DS (DS)
If you're looking for a Harvest Moon game jam-packed with things to do, Harvest Moon DS might be the game for you. Levelling up crops, capturing Sprites, and getting to know one of the biggest casts in the series can feel extremely overwhelming, initially. However, if you're a hardcore farming sim fan, then there's plenty here for you to enjoy and test your rearing and growing skills. The stylus controls take a moment to get used to, and there's nothing truly new here, but for something comforting and addicting, you can't really go wrong.
16. Harvest Moon DS Cute (DS)
Harvest Moon DS Cute differs from its male-starring alternative, letting you choose from the two previous female protagonists in Claire and Pony. It's also got a very different plot. Gameplay-wise, though, you're looking at the same game, and it makes for one of the most frustrating experiences in the series. There's a lot to focus on, from tons of characters and animals to weather conditions, and then there is the Harvest Sprites. Cute (and DS) is either love it or loathe it, but if you want your farm life to be a busy one, you might want to look into this tale.
15. Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (Wii)
Adding motion controls isn't always a good thing but for this enhanced version of Harvest Moon: Magical Melody, they surprisingly work. Mining and minigames are made a bit more fun, and it adds to the solid and cosy formula the series has been building up at this point. In a pinch, however, we would recommend the GameCube version. But if you're hankering for some active farming, then you can snap this one up and you won't be missing out on too much. Apart from the ability to pick your character's gender...
14. Harvest Moon: A New Beginning (3DS)
Harvest Moon: A New Beginning is a successful attempt to breathe new life into an ageing series. Taking players back to the basics that made Harvest Moon so charming in the first place, this one serves to combine the best of the series into a game that no fan should pass up. It may not be a game or genre that will appeal to all gamers universally, but series veterans will find something to love here. As one villager so adequately and profoundly sums it up, "This is your life. Find something you want to do with it and do it."
13. Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (Switch)
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life retains the charm and the pleasant tedium of the GameCube original while bringing enough features up-to-date that it's not a total chore to play. Fans of later farming/life-sims might find it too slow and too dull, but we encourage you to embrace the slow-and-dullness to find a surprisingly fulfilling and earnest game underneath. After all, this game is the granddaddy of Stardew Valley, and it's not too hard to see the family resemblance.
Just, uh, use a guide. Trust us.
12. Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (GCN)
Another Wonderful Life goes hand-in-hand with A Wonderful Life, really. The two games are essentially the same, just the former lets you play as a girl. And for an entry that many people grew up with, Another Wonderful Life has nostalgia and charm in spades. But the slow movement and dialogue certainly show the game's age. Sadly, this was never released in Europe, but if you want to experience AWL as a girl, then the remake should keep you satisfied.
11. Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life (GCN)
For many people, A Wonderful Life was probably their jumping-off point in the Harvest Moon franchise. Though many aspects haven't aged all that well in the 20 years since its launch (which makes the Switch remake such an attractive prospect), there's no denying that this GameCube title oozes charm from beginning to end. It boasts wonderful music and a quiet, calming atmosphere that many other games in the franchise haven't been able to replicate. The ending is a bit of a downer though, we won't lie.
10. Harvest Moon: Animal Parade (Wii)
Animal Parade no longer restricts your farming to a... farm, and this first original Wii entry in the series adds tons of new features that make this one a favourite among many. This was the last game to be produced by series creator Yasuhiro Wada, and you can feel the love and quality put into this title. Raising circus animals like lions, elephants, and giraffes is just the start as you attempt to restore the five elements to your home islands. Zipping around the island is easier than ever when you can ride on the back of your animal friends, too. Packed full of events, crops, animals, and locations, Animal Parade is an all-around great Harvest Moon game.
9. Harvest Moon (SNES)
Harvest Moon's brand of wholesome fun is uniquely appealing, and for the most part, it's a well-constructed, addictive simulation with huge spadefuls of charm. The SNES edition is a superb starting point for Natsume's series, and it's still one of the stronger entries in the franchise even today. Go ahead and grab it on NSO to find out for yourself where this wholesome series started off.
Comments 26
It's only just dawned on me, apologies, but probably in the majority of cases, when it comes to these Ranking guides, I haven't gotten round to rating at least one of the featured games, if not all of them.
For instance, love a bit of HM/SoS me, but I don't think I've rated any of them.
Therefore, I'm afraid all of your '...ranked by you' tag lines are inaccurate. Suggest you add '...apart from gcunit' or just change to '...ranked by Nintendo Life members/readers'.
You're welcome.
Never really played Trio of Towns but it placing that high does certainly make me curious.
My favorite kind of waffles between 64, Back to Nature, and the two versions of Friends of Mineral Town. All scratch a very similar itch and have a lot of similarities (I mean, three of them are remakes of each other and Back to Nature's like an extremely loose remake of 64) but they each have their own strengths and weaknesses that makes picking one hard to settle on.
Really need to play Magical Melody again. Remember liking it a lot when it came out but not really given it another whirl since.
I've always wanted to try Harvest Moon, and finally gave it a go when the SNES game landed on NSO.
Unfortunately, how fast the character gets tired puts me off a great deal and I didn't even feel compelled to try a second in-game day. I had the same problem with Stardew Valley.
Maybe someone can convince me to try again, or tell me if I was just doing it wrong, and help a Harvest Moon scrub to enjoy the series yet?
Tale of Two Towns and DS are criminally underrated. Do better guys!
It's fascinating to see the differences in opinion between users and critics in these lists. The highest rated game critically is one that most probably don't even consider a proper HM game, and likewise there's an entry in the people's top ten that got whacked with 5/10 on review.
I think this could be the first time when I agree almost 100% with a "best/ranked list"
@nessisonett Yeah those are two of my favorites. however, I’m quite surprised DS Cute ranked below DS…. Considering DS Cute might as well be named DS But It Works.
I'm still kicking myself for not grabbing Harvest Moon 64 before the Wii U eShop was taken offline. I really hope now that NSO has the SNES original game that maybe Nintendo will see fit to bring Harvest Moon 64 to western NSO subscribers soon, and/or the Game Boy Color & Game Boy Advance titles as well!
Everyone has their favourite Harvest Moon/ Story Of Seasons games. Doraemon Story Of Seasons Friends Of The Great Kingdom might become my favourite. It will definitely be added to my favourites. It is just pure love and good vibes with alot of likeable characters. Just what the series is all about.
Happy farming everyone!
I've only played HM 64 but really enjoyed it.
My favorite memory involves the New Year's celebration. Every time you speak to someone you have to drink a shot. My character had NO alcohol tolerance and passed out after only three drinks.
Embarrassed, I swore redemption. Every night for the entire year I made sure to have at least one beer.
The following New Year's I matched everyone shot for shot. They all reached their limits and went home, until it was just me versus the local midwife. She and I kept drinking and drinking. Finally she admitted defeat and left. I was left alone in the town square, triumphant and drunk as a skunk.
@Yosher
One of the tricks to managing stamina in Harvest Moon games is to seek out the Power Berries. They boost your maximum stamina. Also, eating and drinking generally restore a percentage of your current stamina, as well as going into a hot spring.
The SNES Harvest Moon is a bit of an odd one in the series. The actual day passes very quickly, so it can be difficult to get things done during daylight hours, especially early-game. But once it's night, the day never ends until you go to sleep. They balance this a bit, game-play wise, by making it impossible to deposit crops after a certain in-game time has passed (in most other entries, items put into the bins after the collection time just carry over to the next day). However, everything else involving the farm work can still be done during the night (harvesting wood, breaking rocks, watering, planting seeds, etc.). So in the SNES game, you can hop over to the hot springs for a while to recover stamina when it gets low, and do as much as you please in a single day.
Holy crap, I had no idea there were so many Harvest Moon games.
My favorite Story of Seasons games are when you can have gay marriage and I have been waiting so long for gay marriage since I'm looking for the dudes, not the pretty girls.
Even I played as Boy character to hunt the handsome dudes for my future husbands.
First off, the newer Harvest Moon games which only have the title but are not part of the Bokujou Monogatari series do NOT belong on this list. Secondly, the ratings are sus, Harvest Moon GB is a 10/10 game for that platform, less than a 7/10 is laughable. Can't help but feel the people that voted are not farming game fans, therefore the ranking is worthless.
No Save the Homeland / Hero of Leaf Valley? I know StH is pretty different to the rest of the series, but I enjoyed it back in the day.
@Teadog17
Only games released on Nintendo hardware are listed.
Back To Nature would have easily gotten a 10 rating from me.
Save The Homeland sounds like a great game. I definitely want to try that game one day.
@Jhena oh duh, should have realized that. 😂 Save the Homeland is definitely worth a play, it's got a really unique vibe to it. I would say it's one of the best in terms of villager characterization. I remember it having a lot more individual stories.
No love for Rune Factory
"Go ahead and grab [SNES harvest moon] on NSO..."
does this mean something else, there, than it does here? 🤔
@TrixieSparkle That sounds helpful. Certainly going to give the game another go now, try to at least find that hot spring then so I'll know where I can recover that stamina and hopefully find Power Berries to increase that low stamina. Also didn't know the day would just not end after nightfall, so that helps too. Thank you so much!
@Teadog17
The reason why I do not own it yet is because there is no pal version and I do not like downloaded games as much but I watched a stream of it and I do like the vibe alot. It is propably just a matter of time until I will get the game.
If I remember correctly it is a game with many different endings depending on your choices. This sounds really cool. And thanks for recommending it.
Really excited to dig into SNES Harvest Moon. First in the series for me.
I like the vibe compared to Stardew Valley, it's somehow more relaxing and less vast, I get a sense of nostalgia without having played it before even. Read a spoilerless guide to get the mechanics down because there was a lot the game didn't make clear, but I kind of like the weird glitches and imbalances now that I understand them. Seriously floored that there are so many in the series!
While I’m slightly disappointed that Animal Parade/Tree of Tranquility didn’t rank higher, most of the ones at the top deserve to be there, so I can’t complain.
@Lizuka I believe the high rating stems from its large amount of content. There are three credit screens. Finishing the main story, getting married, and completing a gigantic task list. I suppose it's meant to match the three towns there are. One town is Polynesian, interestingly enough. I liked it a fair bit, and my favorites are FoMT and Magical Melody.
I did not complete it however. I had like 6 barns by the time I got the second credits screen, and it took me about 10 minutes to do my farm chores every in game day. That adds up a lot.
So many people have different favourites, it's lovely <3
Mine are AWL, ANB and the first 'Story of Seasons' on DS.
I probably had the most fun with HM Animal Parade. I also loved HM Magical Melody and A Wonderful Life.
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