The Ushi No Tane websites specialize in information, FAQs, and guides about the Nintendo console versions of the Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons, and Legend of the River King video games. These game genres are created and published in Japan by Marvelous (JP). In other regions, you'll find Natsume, XSeed Games/Marvelous (USA), Marvelous (EU), and Rising Star involved in the series' release.

The latest version of the mainstream farming series that have been released in various regions of the world are:

• Japan: Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town for Ps4 (July 2022)
• North America: Harvest Moon: One World (March 2021) and Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town for Ps4 (July 2022)
• Europe: Harvest Moon: One World (March 2021) and Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town for Ps4 (July 2022)

The latest version of River King, in all regions of the world, is River King: Mystic Valley (JP 2007, NA 2008, EU 2009).

Since 2000, Ushi no Tane has been run by a grouchy old lady who happens to be fond of video game agriculture along with two feline helpers: Intern Captain Bootu and Intern Hondo Mewnaka. The website is not officially affiliated, sponsored, endorsed, or employed by the developers of Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons, or River King. This is simply a fan site.

Latest Farming Video Game News

Happy Farm'n Friday! I'm almost done with the Christmas Light Extravaganza. The last little detail to add is the small inflatable Santa that my weird uncle added to the display in the middle of the night one year. A few weeks ago, he asked us if Santa was out in the yard yet, then teased Mr.Fogu that something else inflatable might magically appear if Santa gets sidelined. Mr.Fogu really dislikes inflatable decorations but does make an exception for weird uncle's special gift.

The flooring crew showed up earlier this week to start installing the floor material. Then they decided that a subfloor section needed to be replaced, which we told them needed to be replaced months ago when this whole thing started. So now the floor material is expected to be laid down next week. We'll see...

SoS:AWL Updates

This week, Marvelous' JP Twitter account confirmed that the strange contraption next to the super-fertile field in the northwest corner of the farm is the new location for the fertilizer maker. After adding materials to the fertilizer maker, such as failed dishes, the fertilizer can be added to the field sprinklers to automatically apply fertilizer to the fields at 8:00 am and again at 8:00 pm.

The seed maker is now outside by the food storage shed. Marv also shared an image of a Rank A Watermelon being processed in the seed maker, with a processing time of 16 hours left. In the original version, processing a field crop into 2 bags of seeds took 36 in-game hours, and making two bags of seeds from a tree fruit took 60 in-game hours. With just a small amount shown on the processing gauge in Marv's image and only 16 hours left until completion, it's clear that the amount of time needed to process seeds has been reduced in the AWL remake. It looks to be about 20 hours for crop seeds, but we won't know exactly what the processing time is until Marv confirms it or when the game's released at the end of January.

Marv also revealed the artwork for mad scientist Daryl and studious archaeologist Carter. Daryl is researching a solution for global warming as one of his projects while Carter is still digging around at the excavation site. That leaves us with Doctor Hardy as the last fellow to be revealed. I'm assuming they're keeping him in the shadows for new players who may not know the reason why he arrives in Forgotten Valley.

Indie Game Updates

The crowdfunding campaign for MeetLight and the Secrets of the Universe concluded on December 7. Kamai Games received 520% of their initial funding goal, with every stretch goal met. Now the team will work to redesign Meetlight to include a 4-person multiplayer component, more localized languages, home console ports, and the new musical instrument functionality. Whew! Good luck!

Stairway Games has released an update patch for their tropical Coral Island, currently in early access on Steam. This latest improvement adds controller support (yay!), map location tracking of the villagers via the relationship menu, menu sorting options, and much more.

The official release date for prehistoric farming and community game Roots of Pacha will be April 25, 2023. Soda Den plans to use the remaining time from now until then to finish a few remaining features of their game, which was successfully crowdfunded in March 2021. Soda Den teamed up with IGN to launch the official announcement trailer video:

Chibi-farming game A New Leaf: Memories has changed developers. IronHeart Studios released an alpha build of their farming game last January, but since then have come across development challenges that were too much to handle for the indie studio. Publisher Crytivo offered to take over the development of A New Leaf: Memories from IronHeart, and today announced that they've transferred that code project to Hidden Tower Studios. The original game style is expected to remain though there will be some changes, such as adding co-op functionality.

A New Leaf: Memories isn't the first farming game with a troubled development that Crytivo has taken control over. When the development of the 2018-crowdfunded game Farm Folks stalled in early 2020, Crytivo stepped in and acquired the IP for the game from developer Overgrown. Since then, the publisher has reworked Farm Folks and still publishes regular updates on the game's progress. I would imagine Crytivo will be as transparent with the development of A New Leaf: Memories as they are with Farm Folks.

HM2GB Comic

I finally found the box I had packed away the Harvest Moon 2 Gameboy guidebook, so here's a freshly-translated Igusa Matsuyama 4-col comic!

Until next time!

Cher
(16 days left until Christmas day!)

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