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! The snow and ice have finally melted away, leaving behind the muddy and mossy yard. A few tree branches fell to the ground because of ice buildup, and a neighbor down the street had a tree fall in their front yard. My uncle just got power restored to his house this morning! We should be out of the snow-woods for the rest of the year. I think. I hope! It's almost time to start preparing seedlings for this year's garden plot!

HM:OW Bachelor

The last marriage candidate was revealed today for Harvest Moon: One World:

Braden lives in Calisson, where he runs a cattle ranch. Or, at least he is trying to run a cattle ranch. He seems really gruff at first, but it's because he is very stressed about his cows' health. Braden is having problems with unhealthy cows that you'll have to help with, else he plans on giving up being a rancher.

EU One World Digital Preorders

Rising Star Games announced this week that digital preorders for Harvest Moon: One World are now available on the Nintendo eShop in Europe and Australia. The game requires 1.2 G of card space, supports cloud saves, and includes English, Spanish, French, and German languages. The digital preorder costs € 49.99 / $69.95 AUD and will be released on March 3, 2021.

NinDori PoOT Interview

In the latest Nintendo DREAM magazine edition in Japan is a 25th-anniversary Bokujou Monogatari interview with Director Hikaru Nakano, Assistant Director Rika Hoshina, and Producer Dai Takemura.

• Nakano states that the planning for Pioneers of Olive Town started in early 2018. Because they didn't want fans to have to wait for such a long time for a new game, the remake of the GBA was published while they were working on PoOT.
• The game was developed to be released for the series' 25th anniversary. However, they confirm no connection with the anniversary and the game's February 25 release date; the chosen day was because they wanted to have the game released on a Thursday. Takemura is pleased that the game's release coincides with the Year of the Ox.
• They liked the look of the cow in Mineral Town, so they are using it in PoOT.

• The original concept art they felt was too overwhelming and dark.
• With the theme of pioneering, they wanted it to feel as though the player is building their farm from scratch.
• Moving from development on 3DS (Trio of Towns) to the Switch allowed them to expand the things they could do, such as adding vast areas of forest.
• Takemura notes that they wanted the player to choose how they wanted to play, whether mining, fishing, or talking to the villagers and expanding their community.
• Hoshina likes how players can cut grass to collect various materials, rather than simply relying on garbage to make items from scratch.
• This time, the game focuses on farming and nature. Like Island of Happiness in its development of the island, this game's subject is the development of the farm. Nakano noted that, for example, if you didn't go to the mountain in previous games of the series, you couldn't collect ore. In this game, players can do all of those activities within their farm area. The farm is intended to change more than the town will.
• They've added some new details, such as the farm's ground will get muddy when it rains, and if there are too many puddles, the area will become swampy. So the solution is to clear the water with a bucket but make it easy enough that players don't have to spend all day trying to clear out water from ponds. It'll be exciting to see what surprises appear after draining the water.
• The treasures found from the ponds are documented in an in-game picture book and exhibited at the museum.
• The camera will let players see a distinct viewpoint that hasn't been included in a Story of Seasons game. There may be some secrets that players can only see by using the camera.
• There are now maker machines to craft lumber and material stone. Nakano explains that they felt it was more rewarding to craft materials rather than buy them. (I disagree, as I find having to craft every ingredient of a recipe to be tedious, but I'm not in charge of game development...)
• The interviewer asked about the addition of perfume, dyes, and bouquets at the flower shop and other feminine elements in the game. Nakano revealed that many women worked on the development of PoOT, so it was easy for him to listen to their opinions regarding such things as dyes and lining up furniture, which is naturally reflected in the game. All development staff are welcome to give their opinions.
• At the beginning, there is only one Earth Sprite of each attribute, but little followers will appear later. They wanted the sprites to be cute!
• There are no Harvest Goddess or magical Witch characters from previous games, as Takemura wanted to have all-new characters.
• The interviewer noted that it is easy to get animals and high-level tools in the first season, so how did that affect the tempo of the game. Nakano was concerned that if players didn't do well in their first season in past games, it made it difficult to move forward. He wanted players to have fun cultivating their farm; even cutting down weeds is easy work. Players can even collect items from cutting weeds.
• Other features to make it easier were adding the number of water units remaining in the watering can and a map that shows the villagers' current location in town. Nakano plans to continue to make game play adjustments to the series.
• It was a challenge to develop the expansion for the game. With Mineral Town, it was distributed via updates to the game and required a bit of trial-and-error to get it right. Adding marriage candidates also took a bit of testing, but Nakano hopes that fans will enjoy the additions. Some elements aren't typically included in a standard Story of Seasons story line but can be added via the expansion pass.
• The characters added with the expansion pass are not in order of popularity.
• Hoshina really likes the addition of the field sprinklers and the little Earth Sprites!

Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is out in Japan next Thursday.

Until next time!

- Cher
(There's a portrait of Doc in Doc Jr.'s house. It's amaaaaazing.)

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