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
SoS: GB is NEXT WEEK, HM:HSH SE Price and Release Date, Infinity Nikki SV Crossover, and Indie Farm'n Game Updates | Posted at 06:53 PM 22 August 2025
Happy Farm'n Friday! Still grumbling about the darker evenings, but, on the flip side, it's time to start planning this year's Christmas Light Extravaganza. I've a few new ideas rolling around in the cobweb-filled closet of holiday madness I have stashed away in my brain. The cost discounts from last summer are long gone, though. New lights this year are going to be costly compared to earlier seasons, so it'll take some clever crafting (and recycling) to put the plan into motion as inexpensively as possible.
We've a week to go until Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is globally released for Nintendo Switch and Steam. I too will be playing the game next week (no early access for me!), so there will be no Farm'n Friday next week (August 29). Full-speed farm'n awaaaaaaay!
HM:HSH Console Info
Natsume announced this week that the home console and PC release date for Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home Special Edition will be October 30, 2025. The game will be released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Steam, and XBox X|S, with physical editions now available for preorder for the Switch and PlayStation editions at Gamestop, Amazon (Switch, PS5), and the Natsume online store.
The Special Edition of the mobile game includes exclusive additions such as the hoverbike, additional marriage candidates Ella and Nikolai from Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos, more events with the villagers, and the auto-pooper-scooper machine for the animal barn. The improved game functionality also comes at a higher price. While the iOS and Android versions are $17.99 each, the SE version for home consoles is $39.99 - more than double the price of the mobile/tablet edition.
Orders from the Natsume store will come with an acrylic standee that contains the updated box art of the protagonists riding Doc Jr's Hoverbike 5000. While the physical boxes contain a little snippet of our favorite Alba resident genius, the acrylic standee artwork is missing an image of the great inventor. Hmm... that's probably an accidental oversight. Perhaps one of those "final product may be different" kind of things.
Haven't heard yet whether Numbskull Games will be handling a physical EU release.
SoS:GB Updates
This week's updates from Marvelous JP are rules relating to players sharing information about the game; don't spoil it for others, make sure the game is the latest version, putting information behind a paywall is prohibited, add Marv's copyright notice, ensure there's no implied sponsorship, etc. Basically, the general courtesy rules apply to farmers in Japan when it comes to posting game content.
In addition, video game news outlet Inside Games participated in a two-part interview with Series Manager and long-time producer Hikaru Nakano, along with game director Kurochi. (I think this may be the same Akira Kurochi who was involved in Marvelous' zombie-farming game Deadcraft. Nakano mentions Kurochi was previously an art director, and the same name appears in Marv interviews about that game.)
First thing, the writing team and Marvelous' staff held their interview at Iwase Ranch, a real farm in the Fukushima prefecture; what better way to talk about a farming video game than at an actual farm! This ranch, dating back to the 1880s, is now a "tourist ranch" where adults and children come to learn about the dairy and agricultural activities that take place there. There are also cultural festivals on the ranch on occasion. The editorial team checked out the real cows, and the article author noted that the metal milk cans were difficult to lift because he was not accustomed to holding anything heavier than a Nintendo Switch.
The group also played with the petting zoo animals, including interacting with a real Suffolk Sheep, harvested potatoes, and checked out the processed goods at the Iwase Ranch's shop.
For the second half, Producer Nakao notes how similar the Iwase Ranch was to Grand Bazaar with lots of folks working together, producing items for the farm shop and hosting festivals. In the actual game, everyone has a common goal of making their town's bazaar larger.
One thing they concentrated on was making the villagers say something slightly different each day. They also focused on making the game more user-friendly for first-time players, such as Director Kurochi's plan to mark event locations on the world map to make it easier to know when and where to trigger a cut scene. They also expanded the number of tutorials, such as the pop-up messages when acquiring a new tool.
Nakano says that they reworked so much of Grand Bazaar that the game has evolved into something he could almost call a new work. Adding the word "grand" to the game's title was to indicate that much of the original game had been revamped. (The original Japanese title was "Welcome to Wind Bazaar", with Natsume changing the title to "Grand Bazaar" as part of their Harvest Moon version of the game. So the use of "grand" is new to the Japanese release.)
The team hopes the feeling of nature they built into the game will make players feel like getting back to their roots, moving from the busy city to the serene countryside. Nakano wants folks to have fun playing the game.
Director Kurochi says they worked on optimizing the game, keeping in mind the processing lag and loading speeds, so the game will function well on all of its available platforms (Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, and Steam). Nakano called some of the original elements from the 2008 release "out of date," such as the difficulty with the freshness system. (In other words, it sounds to me like Grand Bazaar may lack the challenge of earlier games in the series.)
Nakano points out that the bazaar booth can be customized and is a more immersive experience than before. He also mentions the new bazaar committee member, Diana, who is deeply involved in the revitalization of the bazaar. Watching her calm demeanor in contrast with Mayor Felix's energetic nature is an enjoyable dynamic. Plus, the monthly festivals are fun events to look forward to.
Nakano and Kurochi hope that everyone enjoys playing Grand Bazaar, both returning players and new players.
Diana has my interest, for sure. An analytical person who is a stickler for rules and regulations reminds me of myself! I can imagine Diana also feeling slightly guilty when walking across a street outside of the marked crosswalk or not starting from the street corner.
Stardew + Nikki
The action-adventure dress-up game Infinity Nikki will contain a Stardew Valley cross-collaboration starting September 1. The trailer hinted at Stardew's Junimos appearing in the open-world game, though it doesn't define their purpose yet. Update 1.9 in Nikki will bring a player-managed island that includes a garden, fish raising, furniture crafting, and more. Players are guessing the Junimos are connected to the garden function, but we'll have to wait and see!
Indie Game Updates
A free 1-hour demo is available for Everdream Village, the sequel to cozy farming game Everdream Valley. The demo drops the protagonist of Valley (now a young adult) into the role of a new town mayor, tasked with building a new farming community on an uninhabited island. Recruit help from the protagonist's family to help entice villagers from smaller islands to move to the farmer's new island. The demo is basically a tutorial on farming, crafting, terraforming, and other mayoral duties. Untold Tales extended the demo release period until about August 25, as the developer is at Gamescom.
In celebration of Gamescom, cozy farming game Starsand Island released a new trailer this week, showing the new houseboat, a variety of mounts, pet dress-up, and an aquarium building function. Players can make designs using decor and styles, then save them in the Blueprint Library for other players to download and try in their own games. Pre-designed official blueprints will be available from in-game NPCs, so players aren't starting out from scratch. Starsand is planned for a Steam release in Spring 2026 (the Steam Store page still says Q4 2025).
Until next time!
- Cher
(The TMNT II movie will be re-released in theaters next March! Yeeeess!!)
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