Harvest Moon (series)

The Harvest Moon series of games mostly surround a boy inheriting a farm, and building it from the ground up, while getting married and starting a family. The first game was Harvest Moon for the SNES and has been primarily published by Natsume. Through each version of the game, there are differences in the game mechanics, such as new animals, or more focus on raising a family than getting married, or ways of getting money.

Because the game stars a young male on a farm finding a young female to marry, Natsume often publishes follow-ups to the game around half a year later "For Girls". These games are exactly alike in every way, except they star a female farmer, who can court different male characters.

Female Aimed Game Counterparts

 * Back to Nature; -- Back to Nature for Girls
 * Friends of Mineral Town; -- More Friends of Mineral Town
 * A Wonderful Life; -- Another Wonderful Life

Characters
There are many reoccurring characters in the Harvest Moon series, despite each taking place in different places. There is supposed to be very little continuity in the series, much like the Final Fantasy series of games where each game is a new story. The difference is that HM uses many of the same characters.


 * Jack - Jack is the default name of the male lead character, although it can be changed.
 * Van - Important merchant from A Wonderful Life and Another Wonderful Life.
 * Harvest Goddess - A goddess, that can be married in some games. Sometimes gives you new tools.
 * Harvest Sprites - Tiny, elf-like creatures. They can help on the farm, or are there for story purposes.