History VideoGame / HarvestMoon

* ''VideoGame/GleanerHeights''

[[folder:Q to T]]
* QuicksandBox: Experienced ''Harvest Moon'' players will likely have an idea and clear goals in mind when they first start a game, but for a neophyte, the complete freedom and lack of concrete goals can be easily overwhelming. ''Grand Bazaar'' seems to be an intentional attempt to avert this trope.

* GoodBadTranslation: Strikes the series to varying degrees:
** ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'' had one of these, up to and including the fact that Natsume ''spelled their own name wrong'' on the title screen. The game's dialogue also isn't translated in a fluent manner and the grammar is sometimes off.
** The names of the ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS'' characters were [[DubNameChange changed]] to match their original names, since the Japanese ones had new names for plot related reasons. This however caused a few small plot-holes.

In early 2014, Marvelous AQL dropped Natsume as publishing and localization company for ''Bokujou Monogatari'' in the West, switching instead to Creator/XSEEDGames, their Western division who were already localizing ''Rune Factory''. However, Natsume still owns the rights to the ''Harvest Moon'' brand. While many fans favour XSEED's localisation and translation style, Natsume has chosen to continue making games under the "Harvest Moon" label that contain a similar style of gameplay but are in themselves not ''Bokujou Monogatari'' games. How everything went down is explained in [[http://www.siliconera.com/2015/03/18/harvest-moon-beyond-whats-next-natsume/ this interview]]. The official continuation of the series is now being released under the title ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons'', causing no small amount of confusion for fans and retailers alike.

* ''My Time at Portia''

* AnachronismStew: Most games will include very modern items like [=TVs=] or refrigerators, maybe even DVD players, but there will never be any industrialization of the farming industry. For the most part, most of the games released up until ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife A Wonderful Life]]'' had fashion resembling the early to mid 20th century.

* ArtificialHuman: The player in ''Innocent Life''.

** Natsume has done this several times. They've changed references of alcohol to "juice" and "soda" (though most games include alcoholic references) in at least two game, taken out the thinly veiled GayOption in ''DS Cute'', and removed religious references in a few games (most, including the SNES title, keep them completely intact). They also changed lines in some games, especially in the Wii games; Gil had an infamous line about wanting to lock you in a basement, which was changed in the translation.

* BraggingRightsReward: The various "bonus" bachelors/bachelorettes throughout the series.

* ChildhoodFriendRomance:
** Karen and Rick in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Friends of Mineral Town]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature More Friends of Mineral Town]]''. If you choose to marry either Karen or Rick [depending on your version], the one left over will be an Unlucky Childhood Friend; if you choose to marry someone else, the two will eventually get married, and they'll be a Victorious Childhood Friend.
** The latter happens in both versions of ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Back to Nature]]'', where the childhood friend in question is revealed to be [[spoiler: whoever the player marries]]. ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'' is also an example, but ''any'' of the bachelorettes could end up like this if their RelationshipValues are high enough, in which case the girls the player doesn't choose as a spouse become Unlucky Childhood Friends.

* CommunityThreateningConstruction: It has a couple of very similar examples:
** In ''Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland'', the plot revolves around your character trying to find one of several paths to stopping the town from becoming an amusement park. These include things like discovering protected animals or finding treasure.
** In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonHeroOfLeafValley Hero of Leaf Valley]]'', the valley is also under threat of being turned into an amusement park and offers the option of buying the valley outright if you save up enough money. The other methods of saving the valley are all about making either a tourist destination or a nature preserve. Instead of offering multiple paths leading to multiple endings, the idea here is to do three or more storylines under one of those paths to succeed in saving the valley.
* ContinuityNod:
** In the Japanese version of ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS DS]]'', linking it with a copy of ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Friends of Mineral Town]]'' that had linked with a copy of ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife A Wonderful Life]]'' will make the grave of your ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife Wonderful Life]]'' character appear as ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS DS]]'' is set in the same town as ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife A Wonderful Life]]'' but 100 years in the future; the English version just makes the grave belong to your Mineral Town character. This is possible in the English version, too. It's just a [[GameBreakingBug really bad idea]].
** In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade Animal Parade]]'' it is mentioned that in the past, during the Flower Festival, a girl from the village would be voted to be the goddess of the festival. That's what was done in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64''. In the same game, Elli and Gray appear in their long-forgotten ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'' roles.
** Chelsea has the exact same get-up as Sara, however she wears her bandanna rather than having it around her neck.
* ConvectionSchmonvection: The Volcano Island mine in ''Sunshine Islands''. In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade Animal Parade]]'', you can go so deep in the mines that you reach an area with some land platforms surrounded by a sea of magma.

* CulturalTranslation: In ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonTheTaleOfTwoTowns'', Licorice and Kamil were localized]] [[{{Woolseyism}} to Reina and Cam]], this was reversed in ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons'', because of a new translation team.
* CrystalDragonJesus: ''Harvest Moon'' games tend to have a church with a clearly Catholic priest, including worship services on Sunday mornings and marriage ceremonies performed as necessary, but they actually worship the Harvest Goddess. If you can get past the idea of goddess worship[[note]]or Catholicism, whichever might offend you more[[/note]], consider that this is one of the ''few'' games in which a church is [[SaintlyChurch played up as a positive, appreciated part of life]]. In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Back to Nature]]'', for example, the priest is [[GoodShepherd pleasant, kind, and not above a good laugh, and he gives decent advice now and then]]; also, at one point you round up the kids in town and take them to church, and from then on they go to church almost daily, are happy to do so, and even discuss a bit of theology (something about confession ("apologize from the heart")).

* DarkerAndEdgier: ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife A Wonderful Life]]''. The character development is notably more serious than most of the franchise, giving it something of a darker mood. The passage of time is also more evident than most Harvest Moon games, with the player visibly aging as the game goes on, and the game doesn't end until you ''die of old age''!

* DiscOneNuke:
** Fans have done the math on the crops of all of the games, making it ridiculously easy to maximize your profits. In addition, many secrets, such as power berries, are possible to get immediately (with no reliance on luck or skill) if you know where to find them, making it simple to supercharge your farmer well before you would have been able to via legitimate exploration.
** The ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoon1 SNES]]'' version had the game clock stop at 6 PM, meaning you can clear the entire farm (which is unbelievably big compared to later versions) and fill your lumber shed on the first day, by using the hot springs bath every time you're about to faint. You can't sell anything at night, but you can safely ignore all your other chores until then. Also, if you want to romance Eve, you can talk to her in the bar at night an infinite number of times, maxing out your hearts in one night.
** In ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'', glitches allows you to immediately bring Karen to max affection (by repeatedly showing her your dog) and level your tools to the highest quality on the first day.
** ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Back to Nature]]'' has the first mines just a few steps away from the hot springs bath, which restores both stamina ''and'' fatigue fully within 1 hour 10 minutes of in-game time. This means you never have to sleep, and the short trip to the mines makes it easy to get several thousand dollars by the second day.
** In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife A Wonderful Life]]'' it's possible to get a crop-to-seed converter for free by befriending the local MadScientist. If you plant some trees, harvest their fruit and turn them back into seeds, your money problems are over because the tree seeds are the most expensive seeds in the game and sell much higher than the actual fruit.
** ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS DS]]'' has ridiculously exploitable mines. By using savescumming techniques, it's entirely possible to (on the first day of the game) get all of the cursed tools, any (or all) of the cursed accessories, and a huge amount of rare gemstones that can be sold for massive profit. By the end of the second game day, it's possible to have the legendary sword, several million G in the bank, and accessories that give you infinite working potential and twice as much time outdoors to work. Generally players are expected to take several game years to get this sort of bankroll and equipment spread.
** In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonMagicalMelody Magical Melody]]'', if you get insanely lucky, you can make several hundred the first few days finding random things on the mountain to sell.
** In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonANewBeginning A New Beginning]]'' due to the often generous nature of the players in Multiplayer, people frequently can get Silkie eggs well before Neil has one for sell, or seeds that are otherwise unobtainable at that point. Between those and the ability to gather wool and milk can set a player up with quite a lot of money early on. This is carried over in ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons''.

* DivineParentage: In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade Animal Parade]]'', if you marry the Harvest Goddess or the Harvest King, the game really doesn't make a very big deal out of it... and the implications of your children by either of them being ''the children of an all-powerful deity'' are never addressed. They don't inherit any special personality traits or possess any divine abilities. Strangely, no other characters seem to be aware that you are the husband/wife of one of the HM universe's central deities, and apparently nobody ever wonders about who the father/mother of your children is.

* DrunkenGlow:
** Ellen's dad from Harvest Moon is the town drunkard. He has a red nose. Hank keeps it in Harvest Moon: Magical Melody despite it downplaying his Alcoholic Parent attributes, though he still likes to drink.
** In many Harvest Moon games (such as Harvest Moon 64), if the protagonist drinks their face will turn bright red.

** A large number of games feature translated name changes, such as ''A Wonderful Life'' or ''Tree of Tranquility''. Most fans don't realize this unless they were interested in the game pre-localization.

* EarnYourBadEnding:
** Getting kicked off the farm in the ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoon1 SNES]]'' version takes a conscious effort to achieve.
** Marrying the Witch Princess in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness Island of Happiness]]'' (for certain values of [[PlayableEpilogue "ended"]]).
** There's an optional ending in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS DS]]'' involving bringing a level 100 poisonous mushroom to the Harvest Festival and putting it into the stew, thus killing off the entire valley and causing the credits to roll. It would be [[BlackComedy hilarious]] if it wasn't so difficult to grow such a mushroom in the first place.
** Getting the "divorce" ending in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife A Wonderful Life]]'' requires simply ignoring your wife and child to the point where she leaves and takes your son with her. Originally, it was thought you could only get this with Muffy or Nami, until [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44KzW5qI9x4 further experimenting]] proved that Celia too can be divorced if you put absolutely zero effort into both your family and farm work. This includes not shipping or selling ANYTHING, giving Celia gifts she despises, and being rude and cold in general.

** ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonMagicalMelody'' was a 10th anniversary title where most characters were from previous games. The one's who weren't are substitutes. Blue is identical to Gray in ''VideoGame/{{Harvest Moon 64}}'' down to being named after a color, Ray looks like Cliff from the same game, Carl bares a resemblance to Jeff from the same game, and Dan looks a little like Kai from that game too (and works at a grape farm like him). Meryl and Tai look like the fortune tellers granddaughter and the peddler from ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonSNES''.

* {{Flanderization}}: The series is extremely prone to this. If someone pops up in another game, expect this to happen to them. It's especially bad in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'' to ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Back To Nature]]'', where everyone became more one-dimensional or changed dramatically. For example Popuri became a WomanChild, which got worse in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS DS]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness Island of Happiness]]'', when originally she was just a bubbly ditz.

* FreakyFridayFlip: The plot of a [[ShowWithinAShow in-universe television show]] in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Friends of Mineral Town]]'' named "Aaron Changes," where the titular character and the similarly named Erin switch bodies. The two are forced to endure their new forms in high school. HilarityEnsues.

* GameBreakingBug:
** The PAL version of ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Back To Nature]]'' could not be advanced past your new bride picking your nickname. The North American version of ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonTreeOfTranquility Tree of Tranquility]]'' actually has a marriage candidate, Calvin, incapable of being wooed due to a bad freeze during a required marriage cutscene. Later versions of ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonTreeOfTranquility Tree of Tranquility]]'' had the "Calvin" bug fixed, to the delight of many, many female players. (For reference: ''[[http://moe.animecharactersdatabase.com/uploads/chars/5092-671599826.jpg This]]'' is Calvin.) Fortunately for owners of the original, you can (or at least could) exchange a bugged version for the fixed one, albeit through the dubious method of mailing it to the company with a note and return address.
** ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade Animal Parade]]'' has a bug where your children can disappear entirely except for certain events. [[http://www.gamefaqs.com/wii/960313-harvest-moon-animal-parade/faqs/62943 This guide]] has more information.
** ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS DS]]'' has a bug where the game will sometimes save improperly, leading to the save becoming corrupt. It is far more common when using a sprite team (especially the fishing team, which is the source of a bug that can make you a billionaire in a night).
** ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonTheTaleOfTwoTowns Tale of Two Towns]]'''s 3DS port has plenty of issues ranging from lagging, to the game failing to load a screen and crashing to the 3DS startup menu, to ''deleting your save''. That seven years you went through? All gone, simply due to bad programming. These were fixed for the downloadable [=eShop=] version.

* GlobalCurrencyException:
** The Sprite Casino in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS DS]]''. Also joked about in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS DS]]'' on the "TV 3 Shopping" station: If they're not selling real items you can use, they're selling items specifically for Harvest Sprites, which use the Sprite currency, Korobos. The sprite who runs the station says, "If you use a different currency, sorry."
** Also, the Super Lucky Lotto in ''Grand Bazaar''. You have to use bronze, silver or gold coins you find or make. It's the only place you can get the stamina-expanding Magic Water (which also happens to be Emiko's favored gift).

* {{Gonk}}:
** [[http://harvestmoon.wikia.com/wiki/Gourmet Gourmet]], the ugly, egg-shaped judge of the food contests. Many are disturbed that you could actually marry and have a baby with him in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature More Friends of Mineral Town]]''. The fanbase almost universally considers him and Kappa (from the same game) to be most unattractive potential spouses in the entire series.
** From ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonANewBeginning A New Beginning]]'', [[http://fogu.com/hm11/villagers/sandra.php Sandra]], an old woman resembling a cartoon witch.
** ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife A Wonderful Life]]'' gives us [[http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/hmwikia/images/0/0f/AWL_Van.png/revision/latest?cb=20140912215718 Van]], an obese merchant who often travels in the valley to sell some goods and is desperate on losing weight.

** ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'' had one of these, up to and including the fact that Natsume ''spelled their own name wrong'' on the title screen.
** The names of the ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS'' characters were [[DubNameChange changed]] to match their original names, since the Japanese ones had new names for plot related reasons.
* GottaCatchEmAll:
** The 100 Musical Notes in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonMagicalMelody Magical Melody]]''. 50 of them are needed to revive the Harvest Goddess and win the main story.
** The 101 Harvest Sprites in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS''. Finding them allows you to hire their respective color-coded teams to work for you.
** The 100 Sunstones in ''Sunshine Islands''. Turning in varying amounts of Sunstones to Agete will allow you to raise new islands.

* GreenRocks: Wonderfuls serve different purposes depending on the game:
** In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness Island of Happiness]]'' and ''Sunshine Islands'', they are attached to your tools to increase their abilities, i.e. the range of your hoe.
** In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonTheTaleOfTwoTowns Tale of Two Towns]]'', collecting all of them earns you a wish from the Harvest Goddess, one of which is required to marry the bachelorette Alisa.
** In ''Animal Parade'', the Wonderfuls are processed down into gemstones.
* GuiltBasedGaming:
** Just let an animal die. For some reason, people get angry at you if an animal dies ''of old age''... In later games, this has been rectified so townspeople won't get a bit upset when a animal dies naturally. They still get upset if you are the cause of death however.
** ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife A Wonderful Life]]'' loved to rub it in your face if you were ever a {{Jerkass}} to the townspeople, especially if you went through the trouble of romancing a bride only to dump her and marry another girl at the last minute. It's hard not to immediately hate yourself after ruining Celia's life at the altar.
** ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonMagicalMelody Magical Melody]]'' does this the first time one of your animals gets ''sick''. Your character has a dream that the animal dies and Hank yells at you for not giving it medicine when it was ill. Your character then stands before the animal's grave and tombstone while looking miserable before waking up.
** In ''Hero of Leaf Valley'' Bob and Gwen will take care of the sickness for your livestock and your dog respectively for the first two occurrences. The first time, they give you a friendly warning to take care of them better. The second time, however, ''they hit you in the face'', [[WhatTheHellHero calling you out on letting it happen again due to bad care-taking/negligence]] and telling you that it's the last time they are willing to care of your animals for you.
* GuideDangIt: Some of the {{Scripted Event}}s (as mentioned below), can turn out to be these, often requiring your character to be in a specific place at a specific time and/or day and/or season. A popular one ("popular" as in "one of the most commonly asked about events") is Ann and Cliff's Blue Rival Heart Event in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature FoMT]]''. To trigger it you need to enter the church between 11 am and 4 pm on any Spring or Summer day that's not Saturday when it's raining while Ann has a heart level for you that's less than blue. That's already pretty bad, but a lesser known detail is it can't be triggered if Cliff already works for the Winery, meaning it's limited to any rainy Spring or Summer day that's not Saturday in the first year. You can accidentally miss this one just because the game decided to give you a long string of sunny days.

* HeartContainer:
** Power berries fill this role in many games.
** Mine pitfalls in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness Island Of Happiness]]''.
* HelloInsertNameHere: You didn't always get a default name for every game. It started in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon3'' (with Pete and Sara), but that game was more obscure and people didn't really catch on until later.

%%* HyperspaceMallet: Claire uses the Hammer tool (a giant mallet) on Thomas when he admits that they knew the farm had gone to ruin since its owner died.

* {{Irony}}: Dessie, who seems like a knockoff of the Harvest Goddess, has taken over the role of the HG in the ''Story of Seasons'' game, despite being a legitimate ''Bokujō Monogatari'' game. However, the ''Harvest Moon'' games made by Natsume have a full-fledged Harvest Goddess.

* InconsistentDub: In ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonTheTaleOfTwoTowns'', [[CulturalTranslation Licorice and Kamil were localized]] [[{{Woolseyism}} to Reina and Cam]], this was reversed in ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons'', because of a new translation team.

* LongSongShortScene: The full-on fanfare of the bells in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade Animal Parade]]''. You'll have to sit on the screen where Finn is congratulating you to hear the whole thing, or watch the credits... which requires you to ''lose your old game.''
* LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife Another Wonderful Life]]'', Muffy is constantly getting her heart broken. Either the man she's seeing in the city is cheating on her, or she finds out he's already married and that ''she's'' the other woman. Despite all this, Muffy continues to hold out hope that she'll find true love. [[spoiler:She doesn't. Thankfully averted in the ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS DS]]'' version.]]

* MagicTool:
** You can acquire literal magical tools to aid you in some games. For example, the first Game Boy game awarded you a magic umbrella if you did well enough in the first year to allow you to summon rain whenever you wanted.
** In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness Island of Happiness]]'', there are stones called "Wonderfuls" that are used to increase or alter the effects of your tools. Taro's fishing rod is the only tool in the game that cannot use these. Balanced out by the fact that the only difference between cheap tools and more expensive tools is how many of these stones can be set into one of the tools.

* MalignedMixedMarriage: Implied that marrying the Kappa in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature More Friends of Mineral Town]]'' is this, given Carter's shocked and horrified reaction when you request for permission to marry him. Nobody else is ever made aware of your marriage to the Kappa, though; when the PC inexplicably becomes pregnant, it seems that everyone assumes she's still single and by an out-of-wedlock affair (hence the Doctor's and Elli's lukewarm reactions to her showing up pregnant, and alone, at the clinic). Things are probably better that way.

** Canon rival couples are Carter/Flora, Griffin/Muffy ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS DS (Cute)]]'' and Jeff/Elli ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoon64 64]]''.

* MealTicket: The Kappa in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature More Friends of Mineral Town]]'' never once expresses any actual feelings for the player character, even when married... it's implied that he only agrees to marry her so he can have more cucumbers.

* MissionPackSequel: ''Sunshine Islands'' and ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade Animal Parade]]'' with respect to ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness Island of Happiness]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonTreeOfTranquility Tree of Tranquility]]'', respectively. They share roughly the same mechanics and same character pool.
* {{Mukokuseki}}: {{Averted}} quite well. A majority of the characters are Caucasian, and whenever someone else of another ethnicity appears it's quite apparent. There are unusual cases: a lot of the doctors are ambiguously Asian, there have been a fair share of AmbiguouslyBrown characters, and Kate does not appear to have any Asian traits despite her parents being obviously Asian.
* MagicalRealism: A rural community where farmers live, and a Goddess with Pixie friends

* PandaingToTheAudience: In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonANewBeginning A New Beginning]]'', one of the vehicles you can build and use is a coin-operated panda kiddie ride.
* PatchworkKids: Your children in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade Animal Parade]]'' are made up of your character's face with your spouse's hair and eye color. Even the [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair weird ones]] -- so yes, Phoebe's children will be teal-haired, and Wizard's kids inherit Daddy's heterochromia.[[note]]In the 3D models, they have two green eyes, but in the villager profiles on your pause menu, they have one green eye and one yellow eye[[/note]] The one exception is Calvin -- for some reason, while his older son/younger daughter properly inherit his light brownish hair color, his older daughter/younger son have ''very dark'' brown hair.

* QuietlyPerformingSisterShow: The ''River King'' fishing games, which actually predate ''Harvest Moon'', but aren't nearly as popular.

* RetroUniverse: It's hard to place a majority of the games. Some look like they could take place in the early to mid 1900s, but there are various aspects of them that are more modern. Although ostensibly set in something resembling the present day (in one game you can buy a DVD player for your house, and in another, there's a modern periodic table hanging on the wall in the school, and the hospital in every game is generally very modern), everyone gets around on horse-drawn carriages, the designs are often 70s at best in their ruralness, and other technology is deliberately retro.

* ShoutOut:
** ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade Animal Parade]]'':
*** Innkeeper Jake has found the Wizard's crystal ball and doesn't want to give its magical powers up. What does he say? "[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings My precioussssss...]]"
*** Calvin can find Owen and Luke attempting to demolish a very historic wall in the mines and, scolding them, cry that "''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade It belongs in a museum!]]''"
*** The Pantsuit item has, as its description, "A suit for [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCIUf8eYPqA taking care of business and working overtime.]]"
*** The bear cub's max level trick is a shout out to ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''.
** Talk to Julia in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness Island of Happiness]]'' while she's engaged to Elliot and she'll tell you she's "so excited, she just can't hide it".
** In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS DS (Cute)]]'', during Leia's yellow heart cutscene, [[MadScientist Daryl]] yells [[Film/ThePrincessBride "Inconceivable!"]] when you get the glass bottle open with a regular corkscrew.
** The two crooks in the ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness Island of Happiness]]'' [[http://fogu.com/hm/scans/manga/chapter2_p01.php manga]] are named [[Film/ChildsPlay Chucky]] and [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason]] [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Kruger]].
** Murray the bum from ''AWL'' named the flies buzzing around him [[Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow Brad and Janet]].

* SliceOfLife

** ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness Island of Happiness]]'' took this to a new level: when falling down the mines via pitfall, you lose stamina in an exponentially increasing way. Falling down one floor takes 1 stamina, but falling down five floors takes around 100 stamina. SaveScumming helps, however.

* SuperStrength: In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonANewBeginning A New Beginning]]'', your character can ''lift buildings and carry them around'' without it slowing him/her down at all.

* UglyGuyCuteDaughter: Gannon and Eliza from ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness Island Of Happiness]]''.
** Nearly every game has at least one homely older man with an inexplicably gorgeous daughter (or son), who will inevitably be one of your potential love interests.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential:
** In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness IoH]]'' Chelsea and Mark react in the "really likes" range for all gifts. So you can raise your affection levels with them by feeding them a steady stream of weeds, rocks and fishing trash.
** You can woo all the girls at the same time, and in some games this seems to prevent them from marrying your rivals.
** In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature BtN]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature FOMT]]'', you can choose not to tell Cliff about the job at Duke's winery. If you don't tell him, he'll run out of money and leave Mineral Town for good a week later. Doubly cruel if you don't want to marry Ann or you're playing the DistaffCounterpart.
** In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoon64 64]]'', if you don't befriend Karen and the Harvest Goddess and wish for Karen's winery to be fruitful again, Karen runs off.
** In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife A Wonderful Life]]'', you could purchase a goat starting from the second year. You couldn't sell it, so once you bought it you were stuck with it permanently, and it only gave milk for one in-game year and then stopped producing anything, essentially becoming a wasted space in your barn. In order to free up the slot in their barn, many players resorted to killing it by leaving it out in the rain and not giving it food. Mercifully, ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife Another Wonderful Life]]'' added in the option to sell your goat.
** In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonMagicalMelody Magical Melody]]'', your horse's heart level determines what race you can enter it in, and you can't enter it in any lower-ranked races. If your horse's heart level surpasses the limit for the race you want to enter, you're forced to abuse your horse to get its heart level back down if you want to enter the lower-ranked race.
** In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade Animal Parade]]'' you can flat out attack people with axes, including your loving pets, children, spouses, and livestock.
* VideoGameRemake: The ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Mineral Town]]'' games to ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Back to Nature]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonHeroOfLeafValley Hero of Leaf Valley]]'' to ''Save the Homeland''. The latter remakes one of the most maligned games in the series from the ground up, significantly expanding it and addressing most of its major flaws.

* ''Return to [=PopoloCrois=]: A Story Of Seasons Fairytale'' (UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS, 2015; Based on the ''VideoGame/{{PopoloCrois}}'' series of manga, anime, and [=PlayStation=] games)

* ''Seeds of Memories'' [[/index]](UsefulNotes/WiiU, PC, UsefulNotes/{{Android}}, 2015)[[index]]

* ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Back to Nature]] [[DistaffCounterpart for Girl]]'' (Playstation, 2000, [[NoExportForYou Japan only]])

* ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife A Wonderful Life]] [[UpdatedRerelease Special Edition]]'' (Playstation 2, 2005)

* ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonMyLittleShop My Little Shop]]'' (UsefulNotes/{{Wiiware}}, 2009)

* ''Seeds of Memories'' [[/index]](UsefulNotes/WiiU, PC, Android, 2015)[[index]]

* ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonLightOfHope Light of Hope]]'' [[/index]](UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/Playstation4, PC 2017)[[index]]

* ''Sunshine Islands'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, 2009)

** The first game to feature the Mineral Town cast was ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'', which took place in Flowerbud Village and was a sequel to the original game set two generations later. They had completely different personalities (for example, Karen was a lot more angrier while Kai was much nicer), roles (Popuri worked with flowers instead of chickens and Elli was a baker not a nurse), platonic relationships (Elli wasn't related to Stu), and romantic relationships (Popuri/Gray and Karen/Kai were two of the rival couples, not Popuri/Kai and Rick/Gray). ''Back to Nature'' started out as a basic port but ended up being a complete retool. It ended up being the basis for their personalities from there on and almost all future games use the ''Back to Nature'' personalities, though ''Tree of Tranquility'' shows that Marvelous hasn't completely forgotten about ''64''.

* FrothyMugsOfWater: Used [[InconsistentDub inconsistently]]. Some games replace alcohol with 'soda' or 'juice', while most others explicitly use alcohol.

* IncestIsRelative: In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoon64 64]]'', apparently and potentially. In the original ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoon1 SNES]]'' games you marry one of the four bachelorettes. The protagonist of ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoon64 64]]'' is the former protagonists IdenticalGrandson. The child of the original protagonist and his unknown wife are one of the bachelorettes. So, if you think about it, you could be courting or even marrying your cousin. The same trope applies to nearly every OfficialCouple in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS DS (Cute)]]'', however they're distant relatives.

** Some games such as ''Grand Bazaar'' and ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonTheTaleOfTwoTowns Tale of Two Towns]]'' don't stop time when you're indoors either, so you have to be doubly careful with time management.

* TheGardener: The player characters are Mundane Gardeners, as well as lots, and ''lots'' of other characters.

* ''Grand Bazaar'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, 2010)

* ''My Little Shop'' (UsefulNotes/{{Wiiware}}, 2009)

''Harvest Moon'' (known as 牧場物語, Bokujō Monogatari in Japan, lit. "Ranch Story") is a series of {{Simulation Game}}s based on farming developed by Marvelous AQL (formerly Pack-in-Video, then Victor Interactive Software, then Marvelous Entertainment, due to a long line of buyouts and mergers on the Japanese side) and translated by Creator/{{Natsume}} in North America and Rising Star Games in Europe. The original game was released for the SuperNintendo in 1997, and since then there have been over twenty ''Harvest Moon'' titles released for a variety of different consoles. The plot line, such as it is, is much the same for almost every game: the protagonist, a young hero, just starting life on his or her own, inherits or buys a farm. Sadly, its previous owner was unable to keep up with chores on the farm, leaving it in a significantly dilapidated state... and now it's up to you to fix it!

* ''[[ Light of Hope]]'' [[/index]](UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, PC 2017)[[index]]

* ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonLightOfHope Light of Hope]]'' [[/index]](UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, PC 2017)[[index]]

Compare and contrast with ''VideoGame/HometownStory'' and ''VideoGame/LegendOfTheRiverKing'', the former being by the creator of the franchise and the latter being ''Harvest Moon'''s sister series.

* ''Light of Hope'' [[/index]](UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, PC 2017)[[index]]

* ''Verdant Skies''

* ''Light of Hope'' [[/index]](UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, 2017)[[index]]

* Upcoming ''Story of Seasons'' game (UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, TBA)

* ''Seeds of Memories'' (UsefulNotes/WiiU, PC, Android, 2015)

* ''Light of Hope'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, 2017)

* [[index]]''VideoGame/HarvestMoon1''[[/index]] (UsefulNotes/{{SNES}}, 1997)

* [[index]]''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64''[[/index]] (UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 64}}, 1999)
* [[index]]''VideoGame/HarvestMoon2'[[/index]] GBC (UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor, 1999)
* [[index]]''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Back to Nature]]''[[/index]] (UsefulNotes/PlayStation, 1999)

* [[index]]''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoon3 Harvest Moon 3]]''[[/index]] GBC (UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor, 2000)
* [[index]]''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonSaveTheHomeland Save The Homeland]]''[[/index]] (UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, 2001)

* [[index]]''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife A Wonderful Life]]''[[/index]] (UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, 2003)

* [[index]]''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonMagicalMelody Magical Melody]]''[[/index]] (UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, 2005)
* [[index]]''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS Harvest Moon DS]]''[[/index]] (UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, 2006)

* [[index]]''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness Island of Happiness]]''[[/index]] (UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, 2007)
* [[index]]''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonTreeOfTranquility Tree of Tranquility]]''[[/index]] (UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}, 2007)
* [[index]]''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade Animal Parade]]''[[/index]] (UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}, 2009)

* [[index]]''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonHeroOfLeafValley Hero of Leaf Valley]]''[[/index]] (UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable, 2010)

* [[index]]''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonTheTaleOfTwoTowns The Tale of Two Towns]]''[[/index]] (UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS; 2010)
* [[index]]''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonANewBeginning A New Beginning]]''[[/index]] (UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS, 2012)

[[index]]
* ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon1'' (UsefulNotes/{{SNES}}, 1997)

* ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'' (UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 64}}, 1999)
* ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon2'' GBC (UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor, 1999)
* ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Back to Nature]]'' (UsefulNotes/PlayStation, 1999)

* ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoon3 Harvest Moon 3]]'' GBC (UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor, 2000)
* ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonSaveTheHomeland Save The Homeland]]'' (UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, 2001)

* ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife A Wonderful Life]]'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, 2003)

* ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonMagicalMelody Magical Melody]]'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, 2005)
* ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS Harvest Moon DS]]'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, 2006)

* ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness Island of Happiness]]'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, 2007)
* ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonTreeOfTranquility Tree of Tranquility]]'' (UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}, 2007)
* ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade Animal Parade]]'' (UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}, 2009)

* ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonHeroOfLeafValley Hero of Leaf Valley]]'' (UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable, 2010)

* ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonTheTaleOfTwoTowns The Tale of Two Towns]]'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS; 2010)
* ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonANewBeginning A New Beginning]]'' (UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS, 2012)

** Natsume has done this several times. They've changed references of alcohol to "juice" and "soda" (though most games include alcoholic references), taken out the thinly veiled GayOption in one game, and removed religious references in a few games (most, including the SNES title, keep them completely intact). They also changed lines in some games, especially in the Wii games; Gil had an infamous line about wanting to lock you in a basement, which was changed in the translation.

** In the first few games you either had to buy a separate game to play as a woman or you couldn't play as a woman ''period''. This was subverted starting with ''Magical Melody'', which allows you to pick a male or female protagonist at the start (and it's been argued newer games put more focus on the female protagonist due to the large amount of female fans). You also could not play past marriage in the first two games a female protagonist was allowed.

** Character archetypes are used very often in most games, to the point where it's a ritual to some fans. The (usually) hot Asian doctor, the baker, the antisocial quiet guy, the player, the {{Tsundere}}, the {{Bokukko}}, the shy {{Meganekko}}, etc.

** Lyla from ''Harvest Moon Save The Homeland'' is a pink haired woman with her EyesAlwaysShut who has a job selling seeds and flowers. This sounds exactly like Lillia from ''VideoGame/{{Harvest Moon 64}}'' who in turn is an substitute for Nina's mother from the [[VideoGame/HarvestMoon1 SNES game]]. It's justified with Lillia as Nina is her mother.