Harvest Moon

[Gnashvar]

The game that really drew me to the series was Harvest Moon 64. The games are not for everyone though. I would give that one a try to get started. The GBA one is also a great option.

[Croooow!]

I started off with Harvest Moon 64 but it took forever to bring up the menu to drop off crops when you had a rucksack full but other than that it was fantastic. Back to Nature/Friends of Mineral Town is much better with the shortcuts for the menu. I feel those two (essentially the same game) represent the series very well.

[k.vlaros]

My first Harvest Moon was for Gamecube and I remember getting relatively far in the game. I later had FoMT for GBA and liked it OK.

Last weekend I bought the SNES version on Virtual Console and have to admit it's hard-going so far. I literally visited Gamefaqs hoping for a 'OK, so the first thing you do is this, then do that, then do this' type of guide. The game itself has an interesting demo built in, but one still has plenty of trial and error to slog through just to harvest the first crop. And unless I'm a real nincompoop, the only seeds you start with are grass, and the only animal, your dog. Still... I'm going to keep at it. I love the basic premise of the game. Though farming seems international, there are so many Japanese concepts imbued in to the game that it must have "felt" strange to the American gamer of '96.

[Opa Opa]

Yes you start out with a bag of grass seed. And the dog is virtually worthless (except for one thing).

there are so many Japanese concepts imbued in to the game that it must have "felt" strange to the American gamer of '96.

Back in the day I didn't really notice the Japanese cultural references.

Localization of HM. Gives some of the references/differences.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvest_Mo ... calization

[darthmunky]

I lOVE Harvest Moon! The SNES one is in my top 10 games of all time for sure.

[Opa Opa]

I lOVE Harvest Moon! The SNES one is in my top 10 games of all time for sure.

It's actually #3 on my list.