An amazing Harvest Moon title not in the sense that it is everything one of these titles could be, but it is absolutely everything that it should be. Coming off a playthrough of what is basically the newest version of this particular incarnation, it is hard to deny these older games have a certain air about them that makes these quirky, stylized simulation games so special. For instance, in newer installments, a visible meter helps you keep track of your stamina, and of how fatigued your character is of daily chores. In this game the only UI on the main screen is the date and time, which, you can even remove if you’d like to really go for it, raw. Hell, in this game, the amount of item slots you start with would seem like a war crime if implemented in a game released this decade. It is especially sociopathic in a game where you’re meant to start out by rummaging through the woods behind your farm for plants to sell, and need all of your tools to clean up and get your farm started. But, then I thought about it more, and the tenfold more amount of item slots you get in this series most modern entries started to seem less like a quality-of-life upgrade, but rather an “ease-of-life” upgrade. Harvest Moon: Back to Nature is hard because of its limitations, but not less playable. It’s trickier when you can’t see your stamina meter at all, let alone have a numerical value to measure it with. It’s harder to raise a horse when you have to guide it back into your barn before it rains or else it won’t grow well. It’s hard to raise livestock when they can be killed and- wait, killed and eaten by wild dogs if you leave them out overnight, holy shit?!

For me, it’s that slight little decrease in quality-of-life that makes for not only an interesting challenge for series-goers, but also creates a little more mystique, I think. I don’t quite know how to fully articulate it, but it is just the same as to why I prefer older Animal Crossing games to newer ones; there is something to these kinds of games being very shy to give you information, maybe even straight up being unfriendly to the player. It adds to what is usually the pretense to these games’ loose storylines: that you are a young adult on your own, trying to figure out this new life you have. Be it the secret, special events that a player could stumble into on complete accident, less obvious feedback given to the player, as well. It both creates an extra sense of wonder as well as an extra sense of accomplishment, at least for me.

Obviously, the biggest missing piece of these old games is homosexuality. While I might be able to easily pretend that the male protagonist is actually a butch lesbian, what with their backwards cap and love for denim, that’s not gonna cut it for everyone. Though, the thing is, at least with ‘Back to Nature’, it almost feels like the heteronormativity is the point. In our very westernized society, the ideal life of a rural day laborer is heavily entwined with the idea of nuclear family. The idea that your ordinary game of Harvest Moon is not complete without getting married and having a child feels integral to the (accidental) subtext of this simulation. You leave the city to work on a farm, you meet a wife and, well, if you get married, you’re gonna have a child because that’s what you do. Though, regardless of how you read into it, there is something about how actually fun it is to woo your woman in this game. Even though, like many other games, you are just clicking the right buttons, I think this game has the kinda of charm and well-written dialog to really make it feel like your character and another are actually getting to know each other deeper.

I fell for Karen in this run and she’s easily my favorite Mineral Town mama. Gets pregnant and her first thought is, “ah, shit, I guess I gotta quit drinking.” What a woman. The non-romanceable townsfolk in this game might leave something to be desired, and near the last couple seasons of year three, I found myself with seemingly unlimited funds and not really any goals left to achieve. The three-year test run the mayor is giving you to see if you’re fit to not only run the farm, but vibe with the neighborhood, is the perfect length to really do what mostly players need to and want to, and I really can’t imagine being the type to charge on much farther (unless you’d like to see your child grow up).

This particular port, by the way, released just last year for newer generations of Playstation, is a bit barebones. For one thing, any game that used to be made for 4:3 CRT televisions that don’t include the option for border illustrations should just not bother, but they at least had the right mind to include a scanlines filter and plenty of resolution choices. Also, maybe the most vital thing that might make it worth playing this instead of just emulation: there is a rewind option. Pretty great for a game where you might misclick and slice up a crop, or accidentally throw an egg on the floor, or maybe miss an event by an hour. For the USD$4.99 it is asking for, it is still a steal for one of the most essential experiences for those interested in this genre and series. I am still yet to play ‘Friends of Mineral Town’ for the Game Boy Advance, which is not only an improved version of this game, but also considered the best of the series by many. As much as I want to just jump into another huge farm life commitment, I do want to avoid series fatigue and maybe space out these games with some other experiences.