Harvest Moon ushers in Happiness, Tranquility

By Tom Magrino, GameSpotPosted Jul 7, 2008 5:17 pm PT

Natsume plans to launch new DS, Wii titles this summer in belated honor of franchise's 10-year anniversary.

The original Harvest Moon released for the Super Nintendo planted its first seeds in Japan in 1996, with a localized edition landing on US shores a year later. Despite the 11 years that have passed since then, Japanese gamemaker Natsume said today that it would be celebrating the franchise's 10-year anniversary with two new installments in the franchise, slated to arrive for the Nintendo DS and Wii this summer.

On the Wii, Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility players will once again pick up the shovel and the spade to revive a town that has fallen into disrepair. With the protective Mother Tree mysteriously away from her post, players must rectify the island's decrepit condition by undertaking a variety of activities that foster the earth, and restore the spirits of townsfolk. Natsume promises Tree of Tranquility will make use of the Wii Remote in a way that will "give players the chance to feel like they're really farming."

In Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness for the DS, players will channel their inner Gilligan, attempting to create a paradise after being shipwrecked on an island. This island isn't deserted, however. Players will cultivate first their farm and then an entire town, with the goal of tying the knot with one of the locals. Island of Happiness will also feature online competitive play via Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection.

Both Tree of Tranquility and Island of Happiness will prominently display 10th-anniversary-branded packaging, and Natusme will also be offering a line of collectible plushies as preorder bonuses at select retailers to honor the milestone.

50 Comments

  • HarvestMoon0929

    Posted Oct 30, 2008 8:44 am PT

    A truly amazing and awesome game, if you liked HM:MM and HM:AWL then this game is for you. So fun you won't be able to put the Wii Remote down! I absoloutly love it and can't wait to get HM:Island of Happiness too!

  • croogix

    Posted Aug 2, 2008 10:16 am PT

    I can't wait to get this on my DS. I think I'll hold off on the Wii version, since they're really the same thing in essence. I'd rather be able to farm on the go than to sit in my basement all day to dig up the dirt. Still, I'm sure both will be great, and I hope people don't rate them as poorly as they did the previous ones. People don't seem to like the "simple life" as much anymore....

  • Kirbilicious

    Posted Jul 12, 2008 4:11 pm PT

    YAY!!! I can't wait! TOT looks really good as far as graphics go so i know it'll be cool!

  • Grantsplace2004

    Posted Jul 9, 2008 9:39 am PT

    I'm disappointed with the graphics and color scheme of these games. I think the best looking game in this series was "A Wonderful Life" for gamecube. I'm tired of playing as people who look like 8 year old kids.

  • Rect_Pola

    Posted Jul 9, 2008 8:01 am PT

    Man, my sister pre-ordered these back in October.

  • Kcube

    Posted Jul 9, 2008 6:37 am PT

    I love the harvest moon games

  • -Squirrel-

    Posted Jul 8, 2008 10:32 pm PT

    Oooooh, free plushie...

  • MerisYaki

    Posted Jul 8, 2008 7:24 pm PT

    Been waiting so long for Wii one.. I want ds one too , but not as much.

  • Kirbilicious

    Posted Jul 8, 2008 1:55 pm PT

    I hope it comes out this summer! I'm really looking foward to this game and everything that comes with it!!! ^.^ The one for wii sound Kul but i'll probibly end up buying the ds one!

  • Pichoro

    Posted Jul 8, 2008 10:46 am PT

    "Well you did comment. I said the same thing about Animal Crossing this time last year and now I'm hooked! My online friends keep trying to push this series on me. I may give this series a whirl with one of these new titles."

    Personally, my advice would be to try the SNES version from the virtual console first. That's the original Harvest Moon, and is the one that hooked me. But from people going from a newer one back to the original, I've heard complaints about it being simplified, and them not having features they're used to.

  • leafdj

    Posted Jul 8, 2008 10:44 am PT

    I haven't played a Harvest Moon game since Friends of Mineral Town. The fishing rods kind of sketched me out, the descriptions were always like: "ing- Copper fish ne".
    Yeah....

  • zcds

    Posted Jul 8, 2008 9:12 am PT

    looking forward to wii harvest moon.

  • HyruleanLink

    Posted Jul 8, 2008 9:08 am PT

    Harvest Moon is great series. I didn't know it has been 10 yers.

  • OcTAByo

    Posted Jul 8, 2008 9:03 am PT

    Where's the xbox 360 version?

  • BigDaddy973

    Posted Jul 8, 2008 8:51 am PT

    Oh these games sound great, always a fun time and relaxing!

  • Iffy350

    Posted Jul 8, 2008 8:13 am PT

    This sounds great. I cannot wait to use a wii mote to milk a cow but I still wish you could use a gun. . . I mean seriously . . . what kind of farmer doesn't have a gun? Of all the versions I have played the classic SNES version still seems to be better than the old gameboy or newer Nintendo 64 version.

  • Galadreil782

    Posted Jul 8, 2008 8:13 am PT

    So pumped for these games! I love the Harvest Moon series and I'm defenetly going to be pre-ordering these. Now I'm just going to have to sit and wait for a release date to surface.

  • glitchgeeman

    Posted Jul 8, 2008 7:53 am PT

    Nice, I haven't played a good Harvest Moon game in a while. I just hope it's more like A Wonderful Life than Magical Melody. One of the greatest beauties about A Wonderful Life was actually sticking with the game all throughout the character's life, from getting married, to having a baby, raising a child, and finally living until old age and dying. There was something really great about that that I haven't seen from any Harvest Moon games afterwards. Other than Rune Factory, they're starting to become a little too simplified imo.

  • halomonkey1_3_5

    Posted Jul 8, 2008 7:38 am PT

    definitely need to go pre-order these before i forget...

  • DryvBy4Ever

    Posted Jul 8, 2008 7:09 am PT

    Welp, I'm preordering. My favorite console series.

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