Have you ever had a game that you considered to be "yours"? You know, that game that none of your friends played, got terrible reviews, and had nearly all of its copies sent to a New Mexican desert landfill by the publisher just to get rid of them all? The game was ridiculed, spat upon (physically, mentally, spiritually, etc.), and thrown to the curb by the gaming public.
But not by you. You alone could perceive what a brilliant and creative achievement it was, and have forever slept with it under your pillow and wrapped your arms around while whispering...er, I mean you played it a lot.
Like, a lot.
For me, that game was the original Harvest Moon for the SNES. Good luck finding a copy of it today, there really aren't many of them out there, and any up on Ebay are selling for around 60 bucks without the box and nearly 200 bucks with the the box and instructions.
Aside from price points and shrink wrap, I remember hunting all over eastern Pennsylvania to find a copy of that game. I would beg my parents to drive me to every video game store and garage sale from the Poconos down to the Maryland border. Finally, after months of searching I got my copy of the game (at a regular old EB Games to boot) and spent hours transfixed in front of the television growing crops, grooming my cows, and getting risqué with those hot 16-bit girls. I felt like the man.
At the time, Harvest Moon wasn't exactly a blockbuster. Nobody knew about it, Nintendo Power barely spoke of it (and we all know that was key back in the day when deciding what games to buy), and Natsume didn't really ship that many copies of the game to begin with. Hence, the game didn't do so great and only sold well to collectors and niche gamers waiting all their lives for a farming and dating simulator rolled into one game. Fast forward to today where we find ourselves almost flooded by Harvest Moon versions on the portables and home consoles.
What are some of "your" games that were dear to you growing up or even recent little-known games? (The more obscure the better!)
Comments (152)
For me, I would say the Arc The Lad series. I love those games, they are my favorite and either no one knows about them, or if they do people don't seem to like the games much. I think the games are amazing and have a really great story.
Another game I can think of is Radiata Stories; it did well in Japan, but in America people didn't seem to like it so much.
I have Harvest Moon on the PS2 and it was a really nice game. I didn't know there was a old Nintendo version. The game that I loved when I was growing up was "Toy Pop". I love playing as Acha. I still have the game on my copy of "Namco Museum Vol. 1"
@ChainGangSoldier619@xanga - I have Radiata Stories and my best friend loves that game.
Toe Jam & Earl - Genesis
Demon's Crest - SNES
Dragon's Fury - Genesis
Wild Guns - SNES
I can't think of any others at the moment.
I don't know about games that only I love, but I'm on the other side of the table on a number of popular games. Ones that I dislike and everybody and their mother seems to love.
Final Fantasy, all of them. I've never played one for more than thirty minutes. If there's something I'm missing that's key in loving this series, please, fill me in.
Halo. I've never enjoyed this series either and I get annoyed just watching somebody play it. I don't know what it is.
I think the first video game I played was Desert Storm on the SNES...I don't know anyone else who's played it.
when i was younger, i would play a game that i think was called "the boy and his blob" on the old old OLD gameboy. you know the one; huge, heavy, and gray. none of my other friends would purchase it and they thought it was completely stupid. i loved it. i loved feeding the blob jelly bean looking candy and each different jelly bean would make the blob turn into something different ( ladder, trampoline, etc...) they never re-created the game for the ds. i've heard rumors about it coming out on ds a while back and saw pictures but places such as gamestop have not even heard of the game at all. so i was pretty much the only person loving that game while everyone else "spit on it". aside from that, i actually owned a harvest moon game on the gamecube. but i ended up never playing it again after my cow died while giving birth to its baby and then the baby died right after. i don't know what it was about it...i guess you could say it was a chick moment...but when that happened, it scared me for life. i never picked it up again...ever.
@sunshinesasha@xanga - Wow, The Boy and His Blob, that's definitely a throwback! I remember watching my friend play that game and being so confused as to how he remembered all the different beans and when to use them.
And I'm sorry about your cow! It's funny how attached you get to your farm in the Harvest Moon games, it really makes you care about what you do every day and how you go about your work. I'm hoping and praying that Natsume comes out with a next-gen Harvest Moon sometime in the near future; more realistic cow deaths? Hopefully not, just more classic farming please!
EARTHBOUND!! I mean serious , how many 8 year olds get to travel through towns named after numbers while carrying a baseball bat? SMAAAAAASH!! lol I totally loved that game . The red cap the crazed hippies ....*sigh* ....classic .
MIGHTY BOMB JACK & kid icarus ~ I still have not beaten those two =(
Harvest Moon is ta shit! I love that game, and have played every single one (minus the Ruin Factories and weird Nintendo DS ones.) I was first introduced to it on the N64 and couldnt stop playing it. I've been an advocate ever sense. I was disappointed with the gamecube version, but the new Wii version isnt half bad.
My favorite part of harvest moon is discribing it to people....
Well...you farm...and raise animals....and yea....
Mischief Makers for N64 from '97
Battle Arena Toshinden 3. I didn't care that either the graphics or frame
rate would be crap counting on what you toggled in the options, or that half the cast played too
similar to the other half. It was a fighting game and I was in awe with
the flashiness and sense of aesthetic and the "oh hey, it's Japanese anime!"
Harvest Moon had balls. It was clearly ahead of its time and I could remember magazines like Gamepro giving it shoddy ratings because they pretty much didn't get it. :/
heh i got harvest moon on a playable version for wii. a great classic. I'd never knew that farming was so much fun as a video game ;p
I've gotta say, guys, I'm loving all the Harvest Moon love here! Usually I get the typical, "Harvest what? Never heard of it."
Harvest what? ;)
harvest moon was my game too! LOL!
Glover.
I've heard of Harvest Moon, but felt no inclination to play it. *gets shot*
HARVEST MOON IS FUCKING EPIC! I saw this article and the picture, and I was like, HOLY SHIT! Pretty much, this is my favorite video game in the entire world. Especially Harvest Moon 64. When I tell other people about my love for this game, they're all usually like, "Ew, really? Harvest Moon? All you do is farm and whatever", but this game has a place in my heart that no other game can replace.
nice.
I FUCKING LOVE HARVEST MOON.
I have it for original PS, PS2, xbox360, and two different ones for nintendo DS.
That, and Crystal's Pony Tales for Sega Genesis.
Mort the Chicken (PS1). Hands down. If anyone can tell me that they played that game as well, I will be so shocked. Me and my sister loved that game. :)
Puzzle Star Sweep for PS2, a random game at Fry's turned into countless hours of a simple game with a cute backstory xD
Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing :]
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life - Gamecube
Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life - Gamecube
Harvest Moon: Magical Melody - Gamecube
Harvest Moon: DS
Animal Crossing - Gamecube
Animal Crossing: DS
Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil.
Holy fuck I love that game. No one I know has ever even heard of it.
Omg, I freakin LOVE Harvest Moon! I still play that game and its like my absolute favorite! Another one that I've always loved to play was Animal Crossing. :)