History YMMV / HarvestMoon64

* GameBreaker: The Greenhouse; not only does it allow you to grow any crop in any season, since being inside it counts as indoors, time will not pass inside it, thus allowing you to tend to and harvest a ton of crops without advancing the ingame clock, increasing your profits to insane levels if abused while saving you a bunch of time to spend on other endeavors. And it has a ton of space inside too, allowing to grow an absolute mass of crop if you're willing the real world time to do so. The Greenhouse does have a very expensive monetary and lumber cost, but it's not outrageously so (you can afford it in about a month or so if you're diligent), and once you do get it, you'll be bringing in so much money that [[MoneyForNothing monetary costs become irrelevant]]. It can also get destroyed by typhoons, but by that point you would have gotten so much money from it that you'll be able to easily afford a new one, and it's easily avoidable by SaveScumming since it's just a low random chance it happens during the rare typhoon. It's not surprising that Greenhouses have rarely been brought back in future games.

** Fishing is very hard in ''64'' compared to future titles (or even the previous titles). It requires pinpoint accuracy and speed. In the Wii U release, it's even more difficult due to lag.

* {{Fanon}}:
** Gray and Ann's surname is "Green", because they live on Green Ranch. This also gives Gray and Popuri's daughter the ultra PunnyName of "Mint Green".
** Gotz is [[DomesticAbuse physically and emotionally abusive]] towards his wife and [[AbusiveParents daughter]].
** Sasha is Eve's daughter. It's never mentioned whether it's her or Gotz, but most fans see more of a resemblance between Sasha and Eve.

** Jeff and Elli's relationship has elements of WifeHusbandry. Jeff helped take care up Elli growing up, but he's also her rival love interest. Despite this, the wife husbandry isn't as heavy as the game implies. Jeff has only been in Flowerbud a decade and is only 30, so he presumably met Elli when she was 9-13 and he was in his early 20s. Their relationship is more akin to a PrecociousCrush. Nevertheless, future games avoid similar relationships and Jeff is aged up to be Karen' biological father.

** Sasha is Eve's granddaughter. It's never mentioned whether it's her or Gotz, but most fans see more of a resemblance between Sasha and Eve.

* TearJerker:
** [[spoiler:Ellen's]] death, if you marry [[spoiler:Elli.]] Not only do you get to see [[spoiler:Ellen]] die on-screen (even though it's a peaceful, non-violent death), [[spoiler:Elli]] goes into a full-blown HeroicBSOD. Talking to her will have her remark that "nothing's worth doing. Nothing tastes good." And, in a case of [[RealityEnsues being relatively realistic about it]], it takes more-or-less an entire season before [[spoiler:Elli]] even starts to feel better. To make it worse, the local kids are also [[DeathIsASadThing effected by the death]] and start getting existential, worrying about the inevitable death of themselves and their loved ones.
** The vineyard used to be prosperous but has been dying for years. This has put an emotional strain on Karen, her mother, and her father. Karen and Gotz always argue, Karen wants to run away to the city, and Sasha is depressed. It's possible to fix the vineyard, but it's [[ThatOneSidequest difficult]] without a guide.
** Karen leaving permanently if you don't befriend her.

** If Cliff and Ann get married, sometimes you'll come across Cliff with a bruised eye. He nonchalantly explains that he got it from a fight with Ann last night, but the two have since made up. It's never explored how Cliff got the bruise (did Ann punch him or did he fall?) and whether this is supposed to be taken as a [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale comedic scene]] or whether it's a seriously done case of DomesticAbuse. Either way, no other game depicts Ann as bruising up Cliff.

** Fishing is very hard in ''64'' compared to future titles (or even the previous titles). It requires pinpoint accuracy and speed.

* ScrappyMechanic: Fishing is very hard in ''64'' compared to future titles (or even the previous titles). It requires pinpoint accuracy and speed.

* TearJerker: Ellen's death, if you marry Elli. Not only do you get to see Ellen die on-screen (even though it's a peaceful, non-violent death), Elli goes into a full-blown HeroicBSOD. Talking to her will have her remark that "nothing's worth doing. Nothing tastes good." And, in a case of [[RealityEnsues being relatively realistic about it]], it takes more-or-less an entire season before Elli even starts to feel better.

* {{Fanon}}: Gray and Ann's surname is "Green", because they live on Green Ranch. This also gives Gray and Popuri's daughter the ultra PunnyName of "Mint Green".

** If Cliff and Ann get married, sometimes you'll come across Cliff with a bruised eye. He nonchalantly explains that he got it from a fight with Ann last night, but the two have since made up. It's never explored how Cliff got the bruise (did Ann punch him or did he fall?) or whether this is supposed to be taken as a [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale comedic scene]] or whether it's a seriously done case of DomesticAbuse. Either way, no other game depicts Ann as bruising up Cliff.

** Some American fans have turned heads by Kai, an AmbiguouslyBrown man, working at a vineyard where he calls his white bosses formal terms like "the master". To Japan, that doesn't bring to mind the same impressions. Kai is just a polite man and his skin tone doesn't mean anything special. Kai's dialogue is also tampered down by the awkward English translation, leading to an element of LostInTranslation.

* MainstreamObscurity: Often cited as one of the best ''Videogame/HarvestMoon'' games, despite how few people have even played it. The game cart has become a fairly desirable collector's item as a result. The Wii U Virtual Console release helped relieve some of this.

* ValuesDissonance: Some American fans have turned heads by Kai, an AmbiguouslyBrown man, working at a vineyard where he calls his white bosses formal terms like "the master". To Japan, that doesn't bring to mind the same impressions.

* AwesomeMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5talrFX0c4 The Autumn theme]]

** It introduced many mechanics and features that would later be used in future installments such as rivals, extensions on your house, and interactive festivals, all of which felt like the player was making more progress.
** Characterization was greatly improved. The subplots were more personal, the character were more developed, and the bachelorettes had more consistent character traits - in the previous title, the farmer's wife talked and acted the same way regardless of who you romanced, the only difference being [[PaletteSwap her hair color was different]]. In ''64'', the ladies' characteristics remain after they're married.

%%* NarmCharm: The game ''lives'' on the stuff.

** Karen likes dogs, and showing your dog to her increases her affection. However, due to a glitch, this affection boost isn't affected by the "only works once per day" rule, so you can get Karen from "doesn't know you from a hole in the ground" to "madly and passionately in love with you" by repeatedly talking to her while holding your dog.
** The BettingMiniGame at the horse and dog races allows you to cancel your bid (refunding your money) without actually cancelling the bet you made, allowing you to get the benefits of the bet without any of the risk.

* GrowingTheBeard: General consensus often points out that this game was the game where Harvest Moon started to become good. It introduced many mechanics and features that would later be used in future installments, such as rivals, extensions on your house, interactive festivals, and deeper, more personal subplots.
* EvenBetterSequel: This is the game that codified many of the tropes of the ''Harvest Moon'' franchise, and it's still considered one of the best games in the series, if not ''the'' best.
* HollywoodPudgy: Elli bemoans her weight a few times and envies Popuri but she doesn't seem much bigger than the other girls in her official art.

* NarmCharm: The game ''lives'' on the stuff.

* ShipToShipCombat: Mostly subverted. Despite 'Harvest Moon Back to Nature'' using the same characters from ''Harvest Moon 64'', and changed their pairing around, the fans are civil about it. It probably helps since ''Harvest Moon Back to Nature'' made it clear that even though the characters look the same, they are completely different characters. There are still a fee arguments here and there about the more popular pairs, like Popuri/Gray vs Popuri/Kai vs Karen/Kai.

* EvenBetterSequel: This is the game that codified many of the tropes of the Harvest Moon franchise, and it's still considered one of the best games in the series, if not ''the'' best.

* MainstreamObscurity: Often cited as one of the best ''Videogame/HarvestMoon'' games, despite how few people have even played it. The game cart has become a fairly desirable collector's item as a result.

* SequelDisplacement: [=HM64=] is more known of than the original SNES Harvest Moon. However, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation counterpart, ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Back to Nature]]'', features many of the same characters (though with different relationships and different personalities) and is far better remembered than [=HM64=]. This is largely due to the fact the GBA game ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Friends of Mineral Town]]'' (which is essentially an enhanced port of ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Back to Nature]]'' with slightly different personalities from the Playstation version) was the first ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' game played by a great deal of fans. [=HM64=]'s version of the characters were basically ignored by Marvelous until ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonTreeOfTranquility Tree of Tranquility]]'', when Gray and Elli are referenced to in their original roles.

* SequelDisplacement: [=HM64=] is more known of than the original SNES Harvest Moon. However, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation counterpart, ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Back to Nature]]'', features many of the same characters (though with different relationships and different personalities) and is far better remembered than [=HM64=]. This is largely due to the fact the GBA game ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Friends of Mineral Town]]'' (which is essentially an enhanced port of ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Back to Nature]]'' with slightly different personalities from the Playstation version) was the first HarvestMoon game played by a great deal of fans. [=HM64=]'s version of the characters were basically ignored by Marvelous until ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonTreeOfTranquility Tree of Tranquility]]'', when Gray and Elli are referenced to in their original roles.

* ShipToShipCombat: Mostly subverted. Despite 'Harvest Moon Back to Nature'' using the same characters from ''Harvest Moon 64'', and changed their pairing around, the fans are civil about it. It probably helps since ''Harvest Moon Back to Nature'' made it clear that even though the characters look the same, they are completely different characters. There are still a fee arguments here and there about the more popular pairs, like Popuri/Gray vs Popuri/Kai.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: It's a somewhat rare and expensive 64 game and one of the most highly regarded titles in the series but it unlikely to ever get a Virtual Console release and Marvelous has no plans of remaking it. Finally averted as of February 2017, when it got a Wii U Virtual Console release in Europe and North America.

* ShipToShipCombat: Averted. Despite Harvest Moon Back to Nature using the same characters from Harvest Moon 64, and changed their pairing around, the fans are civil about it. It probably helps since Harvest Moon Back to Nature made it clear that even though the characters look the same, they are completely different characters.