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: Grand Bazaar (August 2025)
North America: Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home Special Edition (October 2025) and Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar (August 2025)
Europe: Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home Special Edition (October 2025) and Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar (August 2025)

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

Natsume 3DS Games for Switch, New Farm'n, Piczle Rune Factory Release Date, and Fae Farm Dev Demise | Posted at 04:57 PM 31 January 2025

Happy Farm'n Friday! The cold temperatures won't go away like I've politely asked. It finally rained today, which melted the frozen ice in the bird baths, but now it looks like we might receive some of that nasty white crud from the sky next week. Bah. I enjoyed snow when I was a youngster. It meant school was closed for the day! But decades later, I don't have much love for the stuff. It's just too cold to be comfortable outside. I can wear multiple layers, mittens, a scarf, a hat, etc., and I can still be cold as soon as I walk outside when snow is on the ground. Meanwhile, Mr.Fogu will wear a light jacket and exclaim, "It is not that cold outside!" Ah, to be a warm-blooded person...

HM 3DS Game on Switch

Natsume unexpectedly announced this week that the company's two Nintendo 3DS games, Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley (2014) and Harvest Moon: Skytree Village (2016), will be packaged together on "a single cartridge." This grouping will be released as a Natsume Cozy bundle for Nintendo Switch later this summer. The special package will also include all the DLC for both games, as the 3DS eShop shut down in March 2023, making it impossible for anyone with the original cartridge to acquire the DLC they didn't already own. The DLC for Lost Valley included more outfit options, crop and flower seeds, and new marriage candidates Andrea and Luke. The DLC for Skytree Village included farm decorations and new marriage candidates Nova and Gilbert, along with a magnificent Doc statue.

How will 3DS graphics look on a Switch, and how will the second screen be utilized? Not sure yet. While these 3DS games feature the original silver fox Doc (rather than current-day Doc Jr.), this rerelease would be a grand opportunity to upgrade Doc into a marriage candidate! *hint* *hint*

Alas, it probably won't happen, but I can always plead my case.

As the Natsume social fees mentioned "cartridge," I'm assuming a physical edition is coming out, too. We'll learn more about the release and price in the coming months.

New Farm'n - Sky Harvest

Another solo-developed farming game is planned for a quarter 4 2025 release. Sky Harvest is set in an open-world environment called Magica, where the protagonist has been tasked with revitalizing an old, run-down floating farm sky island that belonged to their grandfather a long time ago.

Players will craft tools to improve farm efficiency, build relationships with the townsfolk of Magica, buy and sell farm goods to local shops, and complete quests and missions to explore the town's secrets.

A free demo is available on Steam now. You can learn more about this upcoming farming game on the Steam Store page:

Sky Harvest | Steam Store

Piczle Cross RF

Game publisher Rainy Frog revealed this week that solo developer Scorecard Studio's newest entry into his nonogram series, Piczle Cross: Rune Factory, will be released worldwide on February 20. The game will be available digitally on Nintendo Switch and Steam (with Steam Deck support).

Like the previous game, Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons, players will solve puzzles to reveal pixel-based images. There are 300 individual puzzles to solve, with 20 collage puzzles to clear, which are comprised of 150 individual puzzles that reveal a larger image. Overall, there are 450 puzzles that can be solved on PC: RF. The Story of Seasons game had 359 puzzles: 270 individuals, 5 collages, and 84 individuals that became the 5 collage puzzles once solved.

While PC: SoS had all the puzzles in black-and-white, which turned to color after being cleared, PC: RF allows players to pick from B&W or color during puzzle mode.

This new game also has a puzzle battle mode to take on monsters from the Rune Factory universe. The overall game is themed after Rune Factory 5, so the bestiary will have graphics from the creatures of Rigbarth. Unlock villager profiles from RF3 Special, RF4 Special, and RF5 by solving their puzzles to add their data to the game's encyclopedia. The farm space is also from RF5, which players can customize with monster friends, a marriage candidate, and crops. An in-game record player will also play about 60 tunes from the three games.

The digital game is priced at $11.99 / 1,200円 / £9.99 / €11.99 / $17.99 AUS. Those purchasing the Nintendo Switch version can receive a 10% discount if they already own Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons. Likewise, buying Piczle Cross: Rune Factory on Switch at full price will then reward farmers with a 10% discount on PC: SoS.

More Plushies

FANS Club will release another set of Bokujou Monogatari merchandise plushies for February at participating game centers and arcades across Japan. This month's three fuzzy-material cows are smaller versions of the BIG-series cows released last November, which included a fuzzy BIG-series chicken. We also have a smaller version of the pink-fuzzy sheep released a while ago.

Those interested in acquiring these fuzzballs can eventually find them on eBay, Mercari, and other online marketplaces.

(I don't think I have that chocolate brown cow in fuzzy-form... hmm...)

eShop Supercharged Sale

A "boost your gaming collection" digital sale is taking place on the Nintendo eShop in North America until February 9, but the only farm'n game on sale is Fae Farm with a 33% discount off the game's full price of $44.99. Unfortunately, Fae Farm developer Phoenix Labs has experienced another round of layoffs, with "the majority of the studio" becoming unexpectedly unemployed.

Phoenix Labs was acquired by blockchain firm Forte in 2023 after the game studio separated from its parent company and initial investor, Garena. Forte apparently did not efficiently utilize the studio's talent pool; soon afterward, laying off more than 100 studio employees and canceling a fantasy-themed sandbox game called Project Dragon, leaving the remaining staff to focus support on Fae Farm and the free-to-play monster hunting game Dauntless. Ultimately, the magical fairies couldn't save the developer from Forte.

No word yet on what will happen to Fae Farm's online support, as the game does have online multiplayer via Phoenix Lab's hosted servers. Local multiplayer shouldn't be impacted.

Until next time

-Cher
(I really hope it doesn't snow...)

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