Ushi No Tane | Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons, and Legend of the River King Video Games

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: A Wonderful Life (January 2023)
North America: Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home (August 2024) and Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (June 2023)
Europe: Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home (August 2024) and Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (June 2023)

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

New Anthos DLC, BokuMono Plushies, Indie Game Updates, and RF Piczle Cross Announced | Posted at 06:31 PM 13 September 2024

Happy Farm'n Friday! I finished switching out the C7 bulbs in the roof and yard border light strings this week. Took out about 750 bulbs from the strings and screwed in the new color scheme of white/turquoise/blue. My fingers were a little sore! I was concerned I might not have ordered enough of each color, but everything fit together well, with only a few bulbs of each color left over. I've one more large order of new lights coming in a few weeks, which should be the last of the changes I'm making to the Christmas light display this year.

Anthos DLC #5

To celebrate the upcoming release day anniversary of Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos on September 26, Natsume announced a fifth DLC for their open-world farming game. The Great Outdoors DLC will be free for players who have already purchased the Season Pass (Switch, XBox, and PlayStation 5). For players who didn't prepay for the previous DLC packs, the new DLC will cost $9.99. This DLC will be available on October 3.

A new super-needed feature included in this DLC are two machines: A farmhouse automatic mini feeder to fill the small pet bowls and a livestock barn auto pooper-picker-upper for cleaning the compost off the barn floor. In Anthos, I eventually gave up picking up the compost every day because it took too much time with all the animals I owned. It was easier to simply let the animals spend time outdoors to counter-balance the dirty living conditions inside the barn. Plus, it was a pain to clean when ignored for several days, as the game displayed one compost per barn animal on the ground, while the days' worth of accumulated compost would not appear unless you left and reentered the barn. That won't be a problem anymore with the chicken-shaped auto compost cleaner hard at work. I'm guessing these will need to be crafted.

Camping outdoors will also be included in this DLC, a way to restore stamina while exploring the wilderness. No need to teleport home for the night and be forced to backtrack in the morning to where you left off! Just set out a tent and sleep to refill those hearts. You can also cook camp-themed meals with the ingredients in your rucksack. This reminds me of the camping scenes in another Natsume game, Reel Fishing: Road Trip Adventure, where making a meal would unlock fishing benefits the next day. Players can also upgrade their camping tent.

Hidden treasures will be found throughout the non-town areas of the world, where Elena will start you on your journey to locate hidden goodies using the Doc Pad. Searching for treasure appears to use the dowsing function, which is also used to locate ores, gems, and the ladder down to the next floor while mining. The variety of treasure types will be mixed between Anthos-themed treasures and items referencing other Natsume games.

Lastly, the pets have a purpose besides the Critter Crawl competitive festival. Pets can now have abilities that will make it easier to explore Anthos. For example, a dog may point the player in the direction of a Gold Harvest Wisp. Any non-ridable pet can become a tagalong friend, whether a small house pet (dogs, cats, small birds, weasels, and rabbits) or a large pet (bears and tigers). The Sasquatch pets are ridable, though I am not sure yet if the alpaca and llama can follow you around Anthos. These two pets grant a cold protection status when interacted with, so they already have an ability benefit. The pets aren't part of the treasure hunt content.

The two new characters, Elena the treasure hunter, and one other fellow, are not marriage candidates.

When I learned about the DLC earlier this week, I lamented to Mr. Fogu how I hadn't even finished the Anthos guide yet. He asked why, and I pointed to my work laptop and everything else adulty I had to do instead. Then he chuckled and said, "Well, maybe you should stop?" Turns out, he wasn't talking about farm'n stuff but my day-to-day office job, replacing it with becoming a farming game streamer on Twitch. I'm pretty sure nobody will want to watch a woman in her late 40s play farming games (lol), but he keeps mentioning it.

More Arcade Plushies

Near the end of September, FANS Club will make another set of Bokujou Monogatari plushies available as crane-game prizes in Japan. The black and white cow and the white alpaca were released previously, but the BIG edition pink sheep is a new prize. The last sheep release was a smaller version with white fur.

Piczlecross: Rune Factory

With the popularity of the Story of Seasons nonogram game, puzzle game publisher Rainy Frog and developer Score Studios announced a version based on another popular farming series. Piczle Cross: Rune Factory will be released for Steam/PC and Nintendo Switch next year. Solve 300 normal and 20 collage puzzles as you build a farm in Rune Factory 5's Rigbarth farm space. You can customize the look of the farm and even select a spouse to partner with. Players will also participate in nonogram battles to capture monsters. Completing puzzles will add profiles about past Rune Factory villagers to the game's encyclopedia. Looks pretty interesting! You can wishlist the game on Steam today:

Indie Game Update

The release of Roka Play's Sugardew Island will be delayed from late 2024 to early 2025. Not because of something bad, but because of something good. Roka Play received a financial boost from a local government to help further the game's development, allowing Roka Play to add a feature many followers have asked about. While they don't say what exactly the feature is, they hint about it having to do with a player's relationship with the game. They are also busy building a release of Sugardew for the Nintendo Switch, with an eventual release for PlayStation 5.

Sugardew Island | Steam Store

Though not a cozy farming game, the upcoming Steam game The Last Farmer from Geekon and Midnight Games will contain changes based on player feedback from the free prologue demo. In this survival game, players are tasked with revitalizing a Texas farm after the collapse of civilization. Grow crops to restore the land, while the manure from livestock will be used to revitalize the soil. Craft weapons to defend the farm from hoards of zombies, which may seem relentless, but these undead corpses can be processed into fertilizer for better crop production.

It's definitely a different kind of farm'n...

You can learn more about this walking dead farming game over on Steam:

The Last Farmer | Steam Store

Until next time!

-Cher
(Went to the dentist today to have 20-year-old silver fillings replaced. Face still feels weird from the numbing agent!)

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