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 new front-yard garden beds are now full of premium garden soil, as is the back-yard upgraded strawberry plant box. Though Mr.Fogu may have been correct about the amount of soil that arrived... there is still a lot of dirt left! I've found a few places for it to go, such as the tomato bins and the Snowbank Blackberry barrel, but I'm beginning to run out of places to stuff it. I even added some to the dahlia bed and dug up the hostas to rototill the premium soil into their bed before replanting.

There is enough soil to rebuild the iris bed next to the mailbox by the street, but the plants are just about to bloom and can't be divided until July. I don't think I can leave a pile of dirt on the driveway for three months I guess I can prepare the space by pulling weeds and clumps of grass that are in the way of the iris bed expansion. Too bad I can't get Intern Reba to do all that weeding for me!

Golden Week Sales

The Golden Week holiday started in Japan yesterday, where several national holidays take place close together. To celebrate the 7-day period, there are a few video game sales taking place that include farm'n games:

Steam

• Doraemon: Story of Seasons = $19.99 (60% off until May 6)
• Little Dragons Cafe = $17.99 (70% off until May 6)
• Littlewood = $12.74 (15% off until May 3)

Playstation

• Deiland = $5.99 (60% off until May 12)
• Little Dragons Cafe = $17.99 (70% off until May 12)
• Summer in Mara = $12.49 (50% off until May 12)
• World of Farming Bundle = $10.49 (70% off until May 12)

Microsoft XBox

• Real Farm = $23.99 (40% off until May 5)

Nintendo

• Doraemon: Story of Seasons (Japan) = 4562円 (32% off until May 9)
• Farming Simulator 20 (Japan) = 4340円 (30% off until May 12)
• Little Dragons Cafe (Japan) = 1914円 (70% off until May 12)
• Rune Factory 4 Special (AUS) = $35.97 (40% off until May 5)
• Rune Factory 4 Special (NA) = $23.99 (40% off until May 6)
• Rune Factory 4 Special (UK) = £23.99 (40% off until May 5)

Preorders for Rune Factory 5 in Japan are also discounted 10% on the Nintendo eShop. The highly-anticipated RF5 is scheduled to be released on May 20. The English localized version is expected to be released sometime this year.

HM:OW Wild Animal DLC

Next Tuesday, May 4, the last of the four DLC packs from Harvest Moon: One World will be released.

The Mythical Wild Animals DLC will add a variety of legendary animals to the game. Those who received the previous Precious Pets packs may have noticed that the Lava Rabbit is already accessible in the game. The bright-red bunny can be found during the day along the path from Lebkuchen to the volcano lava field. However, the Lava Rabbit doesn't yet have a profile page in the farmhouse encyclopedia after interacting with it. Its official release next week should add a proper entry to the Encyclopedia. All the DLC animals, crops, and cooking recipes are tagged with "DLC" in the Encyclopedia, making it easy to tell which are in the base game and which are bonus additions.

SoS:PoOT Expansion Pass 1

The first part of the Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town expansion pass was released this week in North America and Europe.

The first part of the expansion pass includes animal costumes for the marriage candidates. The guys have dog costumes, and the gals have cat costumes. Some costumes are also available at Karina's for the protagonist - a Shiba Inu costume and a Brown Striped Cat costume. The wearable costumes don't require any materials or cost, but you have to buy the clothing and the matching hat separately.

The second part of the expansion pass is a bonus scenario, the Olive Town's Mystery Files. This event will begin when walking close to the town plaza on a sunny day. Mayor Victor will explain to you several strange phenomena that have taken place around town. Cindy and Mikey will overhear the conversation and volunteer to solve the mysteries for the mayor; if he doesn't go along with their plan, they'll tell all the tourists that the town is haunted! Poor Victor has no choice but to let the kids take the lead and unravel the strange going-ons around town.

At the end of the event, a detective costume will be available for protagonists to wear.

Japan received the second expansion pass benefit this week. Windswept Falls is an area accessible via the farm boat dock where players can find characters from Harvest Moon: A New Beginning: Dunhill, Hina, Felicity, and Neil.

There was a small bump in PoOT sales in Japan the prior week, most likely because of the incoming addition of marriage candidates Felicity and Neil that happened this week. Weekly Famitsu estimates that about 2670 physical copies sold during the week of April 19 to April 25, putting total physical copies sold in Japan at about 275,000 for the 9 weeks that Famitsu has been keep track.

Sakuna Cultivates Rice

The action farming game, Sakuna: of Rice and Ruin, has been praised in Japan for its rice cultivation authenticity. So much so that the New Sustainable Growth's (NSG Group) Niigata Agricultural and Biotechnic College (ABio) has announced a collaboration project with Sakuna to teach students the traditional cultivation of rice.

Students will be taught the conventional rice farming methods based on the old-fashion techniques incorporated in the game. Starting in May, students will be tasked with planting rice by hand. Later this September, the rice will be harvested by hand and then hung to dry, just like in the game.

Tencent's BokuMobile Game

Several hints at Tencent's upcoming mobile version of Bokujou Monogatari landed on the China-based Tencent Weibo social network this week.

The game is an official collaboration with Marvelous for mobile phones initially announced back in 2019. It is unknown yet what regions Bokujou Monogatari OL will be made available for download. The game's official reveal will be on May 16 at the Tencent Games annual conference.

Remember, Tencent has a seat on Marvelous' board of directors along with owning 20% of the company's stock shares through Tencent's subsidiary, Image Frame Investment.

Until next time!

- Cher
(May the Fourth be with you!)

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