Story of Seasons guide

There are so many games in the series it's easy to get lost. This page attempts to describe them all. It's a Work in progress, so feel free to add any games that are missing.

Harvest Moon vs Story of Seasons, what's the deal?

This can be a little confusing, so pay attention.

Originally, Victor/Marvelous created the Bokujō Monogatari series, which Natsume published as Harvest Moon in the West. In 2014, Marvelous decided to end the partnership and release the series via their own American subsidiary, Xseed Games. However, Natsume still owned the Harvest Moon brand. So the newer Bokujō Monogatari games were released by Xseed under a new name: Story of Seasons. Meanwhile, Natsume partnered with other devs to make their own new Harvest Moon games, and they are usually considered... often not quite on par, to put it politely.

Therefore: any Harvest Moon released since 2014 is not made by the original creators. If you want the real thing, play Story of Seasons.

The Rune Factory spin-off franchise adds a fantasy setting and dungeon crawling gameplay. Natsume released the earlier titles in this series, but Marvelous took care to fully own this brand.

The lists

Marvelous' series

Story of Seasons

Cover	Title, year	Platforms	Description
	Harvest Moon 1996	SNES	The very first game that started it all. Has aged alright, the biggest thing to get used to is having no rucksack. The night lasts forever so if you want to marry Eve who works at the bar, you can woo here in one single night. Any Harvest Moon fan should play this at least once. Ellen from this game appears in 64.
?	BS Bokujō Monogatari 1996	Satellaview	Japan-only side-story of the original game in four episodes for the SNES' Satellaview add-on. It's considered partially lost media.
	Harvest Moon GB/GBC 1997	Game Boy Game Boy Color	The second release ever, got a color re-release the next year. It's quite primitive, there's no town map or much to do at all, not necessarily recommended but try it if you want to play every HM that ever came out.
	Harvest Moon 64 1999	Nintendo 64	Considered the very best of the series by many, partly because it's fucking awesome and partly because of the nostalgia factor, either way, you really owe yourself to play this one. The characters in this one really feel alive. The graphics weren't really demanding even for the 64, but it works and still looks great. There's no shortcut for taking things out of the rucksack (as far as I know) so that's annoying when coming back from BTN and on, but really, play this. Mainly the same cast as BTN/FOMT but with different families/relationships.
	Harvest Moon 2 GBC 1999	Game Boy Color	Lets you play as a girl but doesn't have marriage. Interesting features for the time, like unlocking new fields and such. There's not much interacting or relationships to be had with the villagers, but it's an interesting game worth trying.
	Harvest Moon: Back to Nature 2000	PlayStation	Another one that's possibly the very best of Harvest Moon, takes the cast of 64 and a few new faces to Mineral Town with graphics that were arguably more beautiful than 64 and more camera angles. Has loading times though. Introduced the Harvest Sprites and real cooking unlike 64's recipe collecting. It also had a lot of fun festivals with mini-games that felt more exciting than many in the newer games.
	Bokujou Monogatari: Harvest Moon For Girl 2000	PlayStation	A Japan-only variant of Back to Nature in which you play as a girl.
	Harvest Moon 3 GBC 2000	Game Boy Color	This one is weird, you either pick a guy or a girl, but the gameplay will be different. The guy focuses on the crops while the girl takes care of the animals. You can give some orders to your partner but it will mostly be just them doing their respective work. You can have a lot of animals of different colors, including more than 1 horse which you can race, breed and resell. You travel to the main island to go shopping and it also had rice paddies years before they got re-introduced in the series. You can get married to your partner but the game will end if you are the girl.
	Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland 2001	PlayStation 2	It has its fans but many people also disliked it a lot. YOU NEED TO SAVE THE HOMELAND. First HM in non-isometric 3D so that was exciting, but I don't think it aged too well.
	Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town / More Friends of Mineral Town 2003	Game Boy Advance	Amazing port of Back to Nature. The "More Friends" variant is equivalent to the For Girl version. It adds new stuff to BTN like the 255 floors in the mine and a bunch of stuff for when you get really rich. One of the, if not the best portable Harvest Moon you can play.
	Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life / Another Wonderful Life / Special Edition 2004	Gamecube PlayStation 2	Main game and Another are on Gamecube and SE is on PS2. This HM is pretty strange and relaxed. The graphics are nice too. First game to have 1 seed = 1 tile (unless STH had that?). Time actually moves forward over many chapters and villagers as well as yourself will age. You child will age to adulthood too. Girl version has a few additions like new clothes and SE let's you marry ~~loli~~lumina and have a daughter.
	Harvest Moon: Boy & Girl 2005	PlayStation Portable	Another port of Back to Nature, only this one includes the For Girl content in the same game.
	Harvest Moon: Magical Melody 2006	Gamecube Wii	Really cute graphics and buyable land and stuff, has 100+ musical notes to collect by doing certain tasks. I couldn't get into this one because of the atrociously low stamina the game makes you begin with. Lot's of characters, 10 candidates for both the male and female player including your rival which is a trap and can be married with both. I couldn't tell you if their personalities are well developped or not though.
	Harvest Moon DS / Cute 2006	Nintendo DS	Same settings as A Wonderful Life but with FOMT's graphics. Interesting but apparently some cards are nearly-unplayable buggy. I don't remember much about this one, I guess it was unremarkable. Cute is the girl version and lets you play as both the chick from MFOMT and AWL.
	Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon 2006	PS2 PSP	A futuristic Harvest Moon spin-off, in which the game takes place on a relic-filled island which can be explored by walking or biking.
	Harvest Moon DS: Island of Happiness 2007	Nintendo DS
	Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility 2007	Wii
	Harvest Moon DS: Sunshine Islands 2008	Nintendo DS
	Harvest Moon: Animal Parade 2008	Wii	The last one by series creator Yasuhiro Wada.
	Harvest Moon DS: Grand Bazaar 2008	Nintendo DS
	Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley 2009	PlayStation Portable
	Harvest Moon (DS/3D): The Tale of Two Towns 2010	Nintendo DS Nintendo 3DS
	Harvest Moon 3D: A New Beginning 2012
	Story of Seasons 2014	Nintendo 3DS
	Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns 2016	Nintendo 3DS
	Doraemon: Story of Seasons 2019	Windows Switch PlayStation 4
	Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town 2003	Windows Switch PlayStation 4 Xbox One	Remake of Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town.
	Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town 2021	Windows Switch
	Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life 2023	Windows Switch PlayStation 5 Xbox Series X	Remake of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life and Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life.
	Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar 2025	Windows Switch Switch 2	Remake of Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar.

Rune Factory

Title, year	Platforms	Description
Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon 2006	Nintendo DS	Description goes here. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Rune Factory 2 2008	Nintendo DS
Rune Factory Frontier 2008	Wii
Rune Factory 3 2009	Nintendo DS
Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny 2011	PlayStation 3 Wii
Rune Factory 4 2012	Nintendo 3DS Switch
Rune Factory 5 2021	Switch

Natsume's series

Title, year	Platforms	Description
Puzzle de Harvest Moon 2007	Nintendo DS	Even though it was created before the full breakup, the original creators were not involved at all, so it counts retroactively as the first in Natsume's fork of the series. Mobile-style garbage with a Harvest Moon veneer.
Harvest Moon: Frantic Farming 2009	Nintendo DS Android Blackberry iOS	From the same team as Puzzle de, but this one actually got some decent reviews.
Hometown Story 2013	Nintendo DS iOS	This one is weird to decide if it counts as a "classic" HM or Natsume's fork: it was not developed by Marvelous, but it was directed by the series' creator, Yasuhiro Wada. It takes place in the same universe, but the gameplay is different: you run a shop rather than a farm.
Harvest Moon 3D: The Lost Valley 2014	Nintendo 3DS
Harvest Moon: Seeds of Memories 2016	Android iOS
Harvest Moon: Skytree Village 2016	Nintendo 3DS
Harvest Moon: Light of Hope 2017	Windows Switch PlayStation 4 Android iOS Xbox One
Harvest Moon: Mad Dash 2019	Windows Switch PlayStation 4 Xbox One	Again a subpar phone-style puzzle spin-off.
Harvest Moon: One World 2021	Windows Switch PlayStation 4 Xbox One

Other games

Stardew Valley - indie game in the same vein that was praised by Harvest Moon's own creator
Farming Simulator - a more hardcore realistic take on farming

Videos

External links

Story of Seasons guide

Contents

Harvest Moon vs Story of Seasons, what's the deal?