History VideoGame / HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife

* YouKeepUsingThatWord: Because players aren't asked to slaughter animals for meat, the term "Dairy Farmer" is more accurate than the career title "Rancher". [[note]] The subject of eating meat is almost entirely avoided throughout the series, anyway. [[/note]]

** Getting the "divorce" ending in ''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 [[https://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. No divorces have been discovered in ''Another Wonderful Life''.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** You can try to milk a bull. And it will seemingly approve with a green heart. Made even more obvious because younger bulls, who cannot breed yet, seem confused when you try to "milk" them.
** As the DarkerAndEdgier black sheep of the franchise, it has a lot of mature references when it comes to romance, especially when it comes to Muffy. In Japan Lumina was bumped from fourteen to sixteen for ''Special Edition'' but in the west she was bumped to eighteen due to a ValuesDissonance.
** When you look through your child's bookshelf when they're a teenager, you might find a rather steamy novel.
** When showing your infant son to Muffy she sometimes says this:
--->'''Muffy:''' ''Daddy's always giving you hugs. He's got no time to play with Mommy now...''
** When you use a "miracle potion," what actually happens is one of your bulls (if you don't have one, one is brought to your farm) and one of your cows meet face-to-face. Cut to a shot of the barn roof and some loud mooing, then cut back to both bovines looking ''very'' happy. [[SarcasmMode Subtle.]]
** You enter the Harvest Sprites' house by eating a mushroom. It's possible that they meant to imply that the mushroom shrinks you down enough to fit into the teeny-tiny door, but then you apparently grow back to normal size right away, seeing as the relative size of the Sprites compared to you is unchanged. Some players feel that it's just funnier to interpret the Sprites as the product of a massive 'shroom trip.
** As an adult, Lumina will say "Sometimes you can see animals running around being "lovey-dovey"."

* {{Heaven}}: In the Special Edition, the newly added, endless PlayableEpilogue is titled "Heaven".

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* AbortedArc: There's an event in the game you can come across where the sprites lament that the harvest goddess is asleep, but maybe if they find nice things she will wake up one day. It's the only time they ever mention a harvest goddess in this game, and afterwards the topic is never brought up.

* RetroUniverse: Has elements of the early 1900s to the 1970s however is set in the 2000s.

* ShipperOnDeck: Celia is shown to be one in ''Another Wonderful Life'' for you and Marlin. One of his heart scenes has her leave you two alone.

* CosmeticAward: A lot of gifts are there mainly to show that you have maxed out a character's friendship meter. Romana's cat and Carter's chihuahua are worth less than that, since, in addition to not contributing anything, they eat from your dog's bowl, which means you have to feed the bowl twice or even three times to keep the dog happy.

** One of Nami's heart events requires you to enter the bar when only Muffy, Griffin, and Nami are present. Getting it basically requires stalking Nami around the valley until she enters the bar and then following her in and hoping no one else is in there. Thankfully, in this game the heart events aren't mandatory and you can still marry Nami without having seen this one.

%%* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Rock to the player during ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife AnWL]]''.

* UnkemptBeauty: In the first ''A Wonderful Life'' game Nami has neat smooth hair, but in ''Another'', her hairstyle is shaggier and messier. She typically appears shaggy-haired in later games, though it combed down a bit for the Wii Ware title.

* GrandmaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave: All of the young women in the town still retain their looks when they become old, they just have grey hair and a few wrinkles added. Nami and Muffy in particular age very well.

* ShowWithinAShow: The player can watch television. A romance flick, a detective thriller, a SciFi show, an infomercial, the weather channel, and your daily horoscope can be seen on TV.
* SugarAndIcePersonality: Nami is distant and stoic at first, but she warms up to you eventually.

''Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life'' and ''Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life'' are two UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube games in the ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' (now known as the ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons'') series by Marvelous Interactive, the latter being a [[DistaffCounterpart gender-swapped]] version of the former. An UpdatedRerelease of the first game exists as a [=PS2=] port, with an additional bachelorette and the ability to have a daughter, though this version has slightly worse graphics.

* MortonsFork: From the point you max out Celia's hearts, there is nothing you can do that will not cause a rift between you and her family. If you wed Celia, Vesta and Marlin will get angry at you for taking her away from them. If you propose to someone else, Marlin, Vesta, ''and'' Celia will band together and shut you from their lives for breaking the latter's heart ([[GameplayAndStorySegregation though you still can buy crop seeds from them]]). The former option is more positive, since you get Celia and with time can regain Vesta's friendship, but [[CrazyJealousGuy Marlin]] will forever rebuff any attempt at reconciliation.

* SceneryPorn: Forget-Me-Not Valley is positively idyllic.

** You can see all of a girl's heart events and then marry someone else. Be prepared for said girl to hate you forever. Especially Celia; if you do this to her, she and her family will never forgive you.

''Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life'' and ''Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life'' are two UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube games in the ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' series by Marvelous Interactive, the latter being a [[DistaffCounterpart gender-swapped]] version of the former. An UpdatedRerelease of the first game exists as a [=PS2=] port, with an additional bachelorette and the ability to have a daughter, though this version has slightly worse graphics.

* AgeGapRomance:
** Muffy is a bit older than your character, being in her thirties.
** Your son might grow up to have a crush on Kate, who was around six years or so older, or Lumina, who is so much older[[note]]14-18 years older[[/note]] that in the [=PS2=] version ''you'' could marry her. Your daughter in the [=PS2=] version will also have a crush on Hugh, who is around six to eight years older too.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Any crops you plant will remain the same if the story jumps to a few years. If you plant a crop such as a tomato and the game sets off 3 years later, it will look the same at it was 3 years ago. Likewise your animals can live for decades longer than they should and a pregnant cow will remain pregnant even when a timeskip is three or four years later.

* MyLocal: The Blue Bar.

** ''Harvest Moon A Wonderful Life: Special Edition'', which added in an extra love interest (Lumina), changing outfits, and the ability to have a daughter. But at the same time, the graphics got a little ''worse'' due to the original being a UsefulNotes/{{Gamecube}} exclusive, while the special edition was released for the [=PlayStation=] 2. It also got LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading for everything and had lag issues.

** Muffy is heavily influenced by Eve from the original game. They're both blonde bartenders in red dresses with troubles (Eve related to her family, Muffy to romance).

** At first glance the games, especially the male one, seems to take place in the early twentieth century. However you have characters like Rock, Gustafa, and Griffin who embody TheSixties, a retro-looking TV, and relatively modern fashions on certain characters. If you watch TV you'll notice references to ''cellphones''. Tim implies airplanes aren't even a thing in the protagonists country. It's worth noting that Mineral Town looks more modern and it's literally just a few miles away.

* MadScientist: Daryl.

** If you break Celia's heart by seeing all her heart events and then marrying someone else, she and her family will forevermore give you angry messages when you talk to them...but then they'll cheerfully ask you if you want to buy seeds, and if you talk to them enough times their original dialogue can show up as well.

* YouKeepUsingThatWord: Because players aren't asked to slaughter animals for meat (since the subject of eating meat in general is almost entirely avoided throughout the series), the term "Dairy Farmer" is more accurate than "Rancher".

* ButThouMust: Marrying is not a choice. If you haven't married in time you'll be thrown at the candidate with the highest affection points for you, and you'll get a NonStandardGameOver if you decline. You will also have a son/daughter whether you like it or not.

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* EarnYourBadEnding: It's possible to get a NonStandardGameOver by neglecting your farm sales in the second year, resulting in your spouse leaving you and taking your child, but actually getting this ending is difficult if you aren't trying. You have to deliberately run your farm into the ground and then repeatedly give very rude responses to your spouse when they question you about it.

* AbortedArc:
** There's an event in the game you can come across where the sprites lament that the harvest goddess is asleep, but maybe if they find nice things she will wake up one day. It's the only time they ever mention a harvest goddess in this game, and afterwards the topic is never brought up.
** If you don't marry Nami, a few chapters later if she's still around town, you can witness an event where she's talking to Cody with an implication she might have feelings for him. This is dropped in ''Another'' where instead she's your romantic rival for Gustafa.

The game is something of a [[OddballInTheSeries black sheep for the series]], as it's the first to subvert many of the series' ancient constants. Unlike every previous game, time ''does'' pass inside buildings, characters age, marriage is a necessity to continue playing, there are no festivals, none of the previous characters made appearances, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking the main character doesn't wear a hat]].

* ShowWithinAShow: The player can watch television. A romance flick, a detective thriller, a SciFi show, an infomercial, the weather channel, and your daily horoscope can be seen on TV.

** Your son might grow up to have a crush on Kate, who was around six years or so older, or Lumina, who is so much older[[note]]14-18 years older[[/note]] that in the PS2 version ''you'' could marry her. Your daughter in the PS2 version will also have a crush on Hugh, who is around six to eight years older too.

** ''Harvest Moon A Wonderful Life: Special Edition'' was re-released for the PS4 as a PS2 Classic. Most of the issues from the PS2 release has been fixed.

* SharedUniverse: Takes place concurrently with ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature (More) Friends of Mineral Town]].

** Your son might grow up to have a crush on Kate, who was around six years or so older, or Lumina, who is so much older[[note]]14-18 years older[[/note]] that in the PS2 version ''you'' could marry her.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:You die suddenly, leaving your spouse alone and never being able to see your kid delve into adulthood. Still, you lived a happy life with many friends, an awesome family, and doing what you enjoy. It's even more bittersweet if your son takes over the farm after your death.]]

* ArrangedMarriage: Celia is apparently in one, although it doesn't get any mention at all if you don't see her heart events, and regardless she never actually seems to get married.
* ArtEvolution: There's an early version of the boxart that looks different from the final product. Nami's hair was also straight in the first game, while later games have it being messy, though some official artwork had her with messy hair early on.

* GuideDangIt: One of Nami's heart events requires you to enter the bar when only Muffy, Griffin, and Nami are present. Getting it basically requires stalking Nami around the valley until she enters the bar and then following her in and hoping no one else is in there. Thankfully, in this game the heart events aren't mandatory and you can still marry Nami without having seen this one.
* HappilyAdopted: Rock has literally no resemblance to his parents whatsoever. It's implied that they might have adopted him and simply never told him.

* MyLocal: The blue bar
* MayDecemberRomance: Muffy is a bit older than your character, being in her thirties. Your son might grow up to have a crush on Kate, who was around six years or so older, or Lumina, who is so much older[[note]]14-18 years older[[/note]] that in some versions ''you'' could marry her.