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

Happy Farm'n Friday! The Disneyland roses started blooming this week! They start out yellow-orange and fade to various shades of pink as they age. Mr.Fogu's brother gifted these to me for Christmas, and it took him a while to receive them due to shipping restrictions. He stuck through it and didn't give up! Kudos to him for being persistent with plants.

The rose bushes look a bit different than the ones in New Orleans Square I saw last October; those were much smaller and more red-colored. These bushes may have more yellow pow-power due to their young age, soil, and cooler climate. Plus, this area has a high concentration of roses (e.g., the Washington Park rose garden, the Rose Festival that started last Friday, etc.), so it's no surprise that these guys are flourishing.

This summer, we will look for prettier glazed pots to transplant the Disneyland roses into this autumn. They came as bare-root plants earlier this year, and I needed to put them in something as soon as possible, so they're living in some temporary pots in the backyard for now.

Lately, I've been trying out the new Playtonic-published western game, Cattle Country, now out on Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox. So far, I've been robbed by a bandit (-245 G for being slow on the draw), attacked by snakes and vultures, found a stray cat for a pet, played a rousing game of Go-Fish at the saloon, grew some broccoli, and explored a mine. It's a cute pixel-y farming game.

There will be no Farm'n Friday next week (June 6). Like many of you, I want to have some time to play Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, which is being released on June 4. As hoped, I have since forgotten most of the content from the spoiler-heavy story video Marvelous released a month or so ago (yaay, old lady memory retention), so I'm back to experiencing the game fresh and with no idea what will happen plot-wise.

SoS: GB Updates

In this week's Zephyr Town Walker article, Marvelous explains how to use the windmills to process raw materials into higher-quality goods to sell at the bazaar.

In the original Grand Bazaar, there are three windmills. The first (red) is on the farm, dedicated to fermenting products like wine, mayo, pickles, and cheese. The second (blue) is closer to the bazaar grounds, near the town's hotel. This windmill makes goods like jewelry, yarn balls, and tool upgrades. The last windmill (yellow) is south of your farm and is used as a seed maker, oil press, and flour grinder. The Story of Seasons version also has these three windmills, and like the original, they become usable as the first year progresses.

Interacting with a windmill will open a list of recipes available at that windmill, while the number of items available at each windmill has increased in the remake. For example, the farm windmill can still turn milk into cheese (taking 1 hour and 52 minutes instead of 3 hours), but now can also upgrade tools to copper, copper+, and silver levels. The grinding windmill can still make oils and seeds from raw crops and can now process tools to silver+, gold, and gold+ levels. There are also bazaar booth decor, honey processing, and other new functionality at the windmills.

One of the videos in the Marvelous article showcased all the crops and flowers that can be processed back into seeds at one of the windmills. There are 29 field crops, 15 flowers, 4 grains, and 6 mushrooms. That's 2 more crops than Pioneers of Olive Town (Asparagus and Cauliflower are new), 5 fewer flowers (missing from Grand Bazaar are Tulip, Black Pansy, Lily, Black Rose, and Christmas Rose), the same varieties of grains, and a change-up with the mushrooms (Coral Mushroom replaced with a Morel).

Each item processed in the windmill will take in-game time, but farmers playing the original game could speed up the processing time by blowing on the mic on their Nintendo DS console, making the windmill fans spin faster. Naturally, the Story of Seasons version doesn't have a mic-blow function, but since the wind speed naturally varies in Zephyr Town, very windy days will act in the same manner as the mic-blow, shortening the processing time of goods placed within the windmills.

Up to six items can be processed in a windmill at the same time (according to Isaac's explanation), which will be deposited into a bin at the base of the windmill. Players can stop the windmill's processed job by hitting a lever to the right of the material insertion bin. The ability to stop a windmill's assigned project is new to the SoS version. For example, in the original game, if you tossed ingredients into a windmill to make fall-blend tea, you were stuck waiting 168 in-game hours for each can to process.

Snacko Exits EA

After about five years in development, the two-person development team (along with their many munchkin cats) Bluecurse Studios has launched their kitty farming game, Snacko, on Steam!

With the 0.9.6 Mines and Magicks update, Bluecurse has moved to exit early access and launch as 1.0. There will still be some incoming updates, such as Steam achievements, multiplayer, and mod support, but for now, everyone can enjoy the sass of Nobu Jr. in his 1.0 form.

Snacko is discounted 25% until June 5 as part of its launch-week celebration.

• Snacko | Steam Store

2025 Wholesome Direct

On Saturday, June 7 at 9:00 am Pacific Time (Noon Eastern Time), the annual cozy indie game streamed showcase from Wholesome Games will feature about 60 independent studio-developed games. Learn about upcoming games from various genres, farming and non-farming, maybe play a few new demos, and hear about a few games that Wholesome is developing themselves. The show will be streamed via Youtube and Twitch:

• Wholesome Games Direct 2025

Cozy Celebration

Publisher Rokaplay is hosting a Cozy and Family-Friendly game showcase on Steam. Naturally, this includes discounts on several farming games! The discounts below have varying end dates between June 5 and June 12.

• Echoes of the Plum Grove - 40% off
• Everholm - 40% off
• My Time at Sandrock - 50% off
• Roots of Pacha - 40% off
• Rusty's Retirement - 33% off
• Sugardew Island: Your cozy Farm Shop - 20% off (this game is published by Rokaplay)
• Wylde Flowers - 25% off

Until next time!

- Cher
(Oh well, I didn't want a Switch 2 anyway... /pout )

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