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: The Winds of Anthos (September 2023) and Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (June 2023)
• Europe: Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos (October 2023) 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

Happy Farm'n Friday! Another week of stay-at-home work is complete. Though with all the rain we had, it felt better to be indoors than outdoors. The upcoming weather forecast for next week is predicting clear skies until the weekend, with possibly 65-to-70 degree (F) temperatures. Perfect planting time! With the garden centers closed for safety measures, I'll be digging through my archive of "when will I ever grow this?" seed packets to find something worth sprouting for this year's vegetable garden. I know there are snap pea seeds in the stockpile, but this may be the year the packet of Komatsuna seeds (mustard spinach?) buried at the bottom of the seed bin are planted.

On the other hand, the tulips are finally starting to bloom. There are little bunches of colored groups popping up in the front yard flower bed: some yellows, lavenders, pinks, and the mighty Casa Grande orange bunch by the front porch. There's a grouping of dark purple Victoria's Secret that should be opening their buds in a few weeks, as they like to bloom later in spring than the others.

SoS:FoMT Preorders

The pre-orders in Europe for Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town are becoming available at various retailers such as Amazon Germany, GAME UK, Cultura France, and FNAC Spain. The game's scheduled release date in EU and AUS is July 10.

In North America, XSeed Games has not confirmed the official release date yet. A preliminary pre-order page with the Strawberry Cow pre-order plushie has appeared on Amazon US with an estimated release date of July 28. Please remember that date is not confirmed yet and is subject to change; it could be the 28th, an earlier date, or even a later date. When a date is confirmed, XSeed will announcement it through their social network outlets.

The screen shots on the various Amazon sites confirm that Popuri's EN name is still Popuri, and Elli is now spelled Elly.

Summer in Mara Release Date?

Last weekend, Chibig Studio revealed on their Twitter account that the game's concept artist tweeted that their tropical adventure game with farming functionality is "getting close to its release date!" Until April 8, artists can submit their best Draw This In Your Style of this subject image to @chibigstudio with the hashtag #DTIYS or #DTIYSMara to enter into a drawing to win a free copy of the upcoming game.

My Summer at Mara is currently scheduled to be released this spring season for PC/Steam and Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo Discounts

A few farm'n games are currently on sale during Nintendo's various seasonal springtime sales:

North America

• My Farm (series) = $4.99 (50% off until April 15)

Europe:

• Harvest Moon: Mad Dash = 17.00 € (37% off until April 9)
• My Farm (series) = 4.99 € (50% off until April 15)
• Doraemon: Story of Seasons = 34.99 € (30% off until April 19)
• My Time at Portia = 14.99 € (30% off until April 19)
• Farm Expert 2018 = 17.49 € (30% off until April 29)

Some of Wada's games are on sale too. Happy Birthdays is on sale for $19.99 / 19.99 € (50% off) until June 19. Little Dragons Cafe is on sale for 34.99 € (30% off) until April 19, but only in the EU region.

April Bokumono for Mobage Events

There's a new batch of events scheduled to take place this month in the online browser-based version of Bokujou Monogatari on the Mobage social community platform:

• A dandelion-themed competitive harvest festival started on March 1. Players try to earn as many points as they can by harvesting weedy dandelions, spring dandelion baskets, dandelion-wielding foxes, and dandelion poodles. In-game prizes will be awarded based on the number of points a player earns.
• A hungry animal event begins on the 11th. Players will grow crops to feed to one of three randomly appearing animals on their farm. Prizes will be awarded based on how many of each animal is fed by the player, along with the help of other players on their teams.
• Finally on the 21st is the bingo event, where players grow special crops that will mature into one of three plants. A bingo triggers when three of the same plant appear in a row on the 3x3 bingo card, or when all nine spaces are the same plant.

Until next time!

- Cher
(Our neighborhood does drive-by scavenger hunts, so we've stuffed animals in our house windows for the kids to find!)

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