Natsume’s E3 Plans Much More Than Harvest Moon
Natsume has revealed their full game line up for E3 2009, and this time around only 40% of the games have Harvest Moon in the title.
By far the most exciting title Natsume will be showing at E3 is the long-awaited PlayStation 3 title Afrika, which we’ve been waiting for since the title was first announced back around the time that the console launched. Having recently picked up North American publishing duties for the title, Natsume will be showcasing the game at this year’s giant video game show.
Of course Afrika is just the tip of the iceberg. They’ll also be showing off Cheer We Go!, Squishy Tank, and Harvest Moon: Frantic Farming, and Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands for the DS; Animal Kingdom: Wildlife Expedition, Harvest Moon: Animal Parade, and Reel Fishing: Angler’s Dream for the Nintendo Wii; Adventures to Go for the PlayStation Portable; and Harvest Moon: My Little Shop for WiiWare. Each and every title a solid contender for game of the show, theoretically!
Check out the full descriptions of the games below, if only to be able to keep track of who is harvesting what.
Adventures To Go (PSP) It’s adventure served your way! In this hilarious and innovative strategy RPG, players take control of Finn Courtland and his band of misfits in their quest for fame and riches. Each dungeon is randomly generated according to the player’s specifications, so the game offers endless replayability and a guarantee of new surprises every time players pick it up. The grid-based battles challenge players to think strategically and make the best use of each character’s abilities.
Animal Kingdom: Wildlife Expedition (Wii) In Animal Kingdom: Wildlife Expedition, players take on the role of a wildlife photographer exploring the exotic and diverse wildlife of Animal Island. Each day, they’ll be given new photo assignments, such as taking pictures of particular animals, an animal herd, or an animal in a particular pose. Players will see a variety of exotic wildlife on their expedition, including gazelles, gorillas, and elephants. Each animal is realistically detailed and behaves just like the real thing!
Afrika (PS3) Explore the wildlife of Africa in this revolutionary safari game! Players will capture lifelike images of everything from lions and zebras to giraffes and cheetahs in this breathtaking PlayStation® 3 game that features photorealistic environments and animals that move and behave exactly like their real-world counterparts. Like real-life photographers, players will need to be careful if they want to take photos of the animals without disturbing them, and make the best use of their equipment in order to capture that perfect shot. The photography in the game is as meticulously modeled as the animals themselves; players will need to learn to compose their photographs with the eye of a professional photographer if they want to earn top dollar. Money can be used to purchase new licensed cameras and equipment, all of which behave just like their real-world counterparts.
Cheer We Go! (DS) Take on the role of a cheerleader in this exciting rhythm adventure game! Use your stylus to guide your cheerleader through increasingly complex dances and cheerleading routines. The game’s story mode takes players on an adventure through school as they try to work their way up to star cheerleader! Players can completely customise their character, enjoy a variety of mini-games, and may just find a little romance as they strive to become the best cheerleader in the school!
Harvest Moon: Animal Parade (Wii) In Harvest Moon: Animal Parade, a divine tree which once stood in the middle of the Harvest Goddess’ pond has begun to weaken, the creatures are beginning to leave the land, and the five bells have lost their power. Only the strength of the Harvest King can help revive the earth and bring the tree back to life. It’s up to the player to ring the five bells, bring the Harvest King back to the island, and help revive the Goddess’ tree and the land. Players will also help the ringmaster when the circus rolls into town. When the giraffe, hippo, and lion escape, players have to find them, befriend them, and bring them back to save the show! Players will find plenty of activities to experience in Harvest Moon: Animal Parade, including cultivating crops and caring for wild and exotic animals. Players can take their exotic pets out for walks, teach them tricks, and even ride them around town!
Harvest Moon: Frantic Farming (DS) Something strange is happening on Sunny Island. Crops are popping up everywhere and growing out of control! If something isn’t done soon, the once-tranquil island will be buried in an avalanche of vegetables! It’s up to the players to solve the mystery of this produce predicament as they try to tame the crops and gather as many vegetables as they can. Set in the world of the recent DS hit Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness, Harvest Moon: Frantic Farming continues the tale of the island and its residents. Players can choose from 12 playable characters, each with their own unique story. See how the mystery unfolds from each character’s perspective, and who they meet along the way. The game features a variety of modes including Story Mode, the brain-teasing Mission Mode, and the action-puzzle excitement of Score Attack and Free Play Modes. Players can test their farming skills against their friends and family in multiplayer. Players can also unlock character art, music, and some special surprises in the Collection Room.
Harvest Moon: My Little Shop (WiiWare) Harvest Moon comes to WiiWare! You’ve just opened a shop in Clover Town. It’s up to you to decide what items you’re going to stock. Once you decide what to stock, you’ll make the items in a series of fun and exciting minigames using the Wii Remote. Can you build a bustling business that will help Clover Town prosper?
Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands (DS) The islands are in peril! Years ago, a powerful earthquake struck the Sunshine Islands. In Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands, it’s up to the player to raise the sunken islands by finding the magical Sun Stones. By finding and collecting the Sun Stones, and using them to unlock the islands, wild animals and crops, players can bring peace and prosperity to the Sunshine Islands and prevent such a disaster from ever striking again. Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands continues the story of Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness. Players will encounter all of the beloved characters from that game, as well as a number of new characters. Players will grow and harvest crops, care for animals, mine, fish, and compete in festival events in their quest to restore the Sunshine Islands to their former glory. With a little luck, they may even find true love and start a family along the way.
Reel Fishing: Angler’s Dream (Wii) Reel Fishing: Angler’s Dream brings the most true-to-life fishing experience yet to the Nintendo Wii! Featuring a magnificent 3D fishing engine, lifelike fish, and soothing environmental sounds, Reel Fishing: Angler’s Dream puts players on the banks of pristine lakes, raging rivers, and tropical oceans filled with the biggest, fiercest fish around. Players will be able to keep their best catches in aquariums, grow them, and then release back into the wild for an even bigger challenge. Get expert advice from the wise Fishing Master and learn how to fish like a pro. With a variety of realistic stages, tons of fresh and saltwater fish, and over 100 pieces of tackle, players can really make their fishing experience their own. Special Boss Fish will challenge even the most veteran anglers. Players can also take a more competitive approach to fishing with Versus Mode and compete with 1-4 other players. Players can try their hand at lure, bait, and fly fishing, using the WiiT Remote as a rod, and the Nunchuk as a reel. With all the sights, sounds, and action of real fishing, Reel Fishing: Angler’s Dream is the closest you can get to the real-life fishing without putting on your waders!
Squishy Tank (DS) Squishy Tank is a fun-filled puzzle adventure game! The gameplay challenges players to quickly match and destroy tiles before they run out of time. Wacky items and powerups keep the action fresh and exciting. The game also features a story mode that’s sure to charm players of all ages with its whimsical characters and dialog.
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
@liquid_kore: Genius!
Why not a new Abadox, Wild Guns or Lufia game?
AlucardsQuest
@Desmondia:
Yes, because games have to be in HD for them not to be crappy.
paulrenzo
@WoozyB:
Yeah I agree mineral town was one of my favorites.
Also It's a Wonderful life was very good, and by far the most realistic of them all. Kinda a nice twist to get married and have a kid almost immediately and have that be the story and not the goal.
Xaevier
Natsume always had a fun booth at E3, even if it was always the same. They would do a giant dice game that I won a T-Shirt at once.
@Corruptions: Honestly, if they made BTN on the PSP, I'd buy a PSP in an instant. HM:64 and BTN were the pinnacle of the series (with BTN being at the very tippy tip :P).
Everything afterward has just been depressingly downhill. :(
I'd kill for a portable BTN.
Coquiton
@Desmondia: As much as I loved the N64, I think Back to Nature on the PS1 is by far the best one...
Heck... I can't play any of the new ones because they don't stand up to the PS1 game's standards, save for maybe one on the gamecube (forgot the name completely!), and the one the DS ( I just got it, and I'm not that far into it, but so far it's pretty good!)
Coquiton
@Desmondia:
Mineral Town was great for the 10 or so hours I played it; similar to the SNES, but with way more stuff to do.
WoozyB
Princess Debut 2, pls ^^
Stevie Nicks
@Foxstar is in love with Kotaku's two Brians.:
Mineral Town was great for the 10 or so hours I played it; similar to the SNES, but with way more stuff to do.
WoozyB
@TaggarT6 coming soon to a theater near you!: That's not very far from Little King's Story
beril
@Ghostwise:
Or it's the patois way of saying 'Africa' to Afrikans.
WoozyB
These used to be "chick games" but now they're "everybody games"...
bkld18
@Veit: Tell me about it man.
They just need to hurry up and release Back to Nature on the PSN here.
@4nonymo: Hahah you too, I also thought for a second there harvest moon was being advocated as a good way to come off blow.
"Afrika" looks to be an interesting experience.
Can't wait to see it come to the States!
@Indrajit: I think I got one for the GC, but I didn't play it for long. An interesting concept, but I had little time on my hands to raise a farm full of adorable animals, unfortunately.
@kakarotthemonkey: Dunno, I think for a lot of normal people games like Halo or Gears of War sounds boring. A beefy guy shooting aliens? I think most non-gamers (who aren't 13-30 year old guys) see games like that as cliche to the point of an effective snooze-fest.
Bring on the games that celebrate a wide world of activities and not just war/power fantasies.
P-Flute
@Indrajit: I got heavily addicted to Harvest Moon SNES back in the day, and have found, going back to it or any other game in the series, that it's actually very tedious and boring. It really is all about throwing yourself into it and getting addicted, because (like puzzle games, for instance) on the surface it's very shallow.
I just want my Harvest Moon 64 back. ;-;
@Desmondia: Agreed. Harvest Moon 64 is my all time favorite.
About fucking time you brought Sunshine Islands here. The game is more than a year old in Japan and it's basically Island of Happiness 1.5.
MonsterKingRen
@Seth Cruz:
Here Here! I want a PS3/360(either or...I don't care) Harvest Moon Game!
@Figcoinc: You'd think in a game that's 90% experience, they'd eventually figure out that a good translation would honestly raise average review scores a full one to two points.
P-Flute
@Desmondia: 64 one's my favorite so far, but I loved Magical Melody, and Rune Factory was pretty badass.
P-Flute
@jamesjohnson01: Why don't you ruin ALL my fun for the day while you're at it? ;_;
@Cerabret100: A real good way to calm down an blow a few hours.
I completely misread that, took note and next time I come home at 6am will probably attempt to play Harvest Moon...and be really confused as to why.
Hey Natsume
How about you bring back the Legend of River King.
As addictive as pokemon, but with fish! Man I loved those games.
And this is not sarcasm.
@Figcoinc: yeah, the rune factory series is pretty awesome. i never liked harvest moon before, but the fact that you could do things other than farm was great. :D
curly haired boy
@kakarotthemonkey: Hmmm I don't know, it sounds more like a photography sim more than some wildlife game, and having recently gotten into photography, I'm kinda interested in it. Could be worth checking out I guess.
firefly
"The game's story mode takes players on an adventure through school as they try to work their way up to star cheerleader!"
If its anything like how high school cheerleaders become stars, this could be a VERY interesting game.
@shanrulez: Because Pokemon are way cooler than real animals.
@jamesjohnson01: ...refrain from racist jokes.
Afrika?!? FINALLY it comes to the U.S.!
i think there doing this on pourpse, avoiding to put another Harvest Moon on the big system...i love the harvest moon series... but i'm getting tired of seeing them on the same system... how about a ps3 version?... it doesnt even have to be something heavy graphic wise
Seth Cruz
@shanrulez: You may have a point there,but even now I still would rather watch a primeape fling poo at something then a real monkey
That Afrika description makes the game sound sooooooo boooooring
@Foxstar is in love with Kotaku's two Brians.:
Once you do you will be happily surprised. Lets just say it is like two games in one.
You will see if you play it enough. It is by far one of my favorite DS games, and I have pretty much stopped caring about HM games for now. Rune Factory is HM, but so much more.
I do hope a good HM game comes around though. It just seems to me that Marvelous is putting more effort in Rune Factory for now.
@Indrajit: they were nice, especially after a binge of stressful, tense games like Silent Hill.
A real good way to calm down an blow a few hours. Untill you really get the farm set up (talking of GC version) at which point there's actually a lot to do and maybe not always enough time.
Cerabret100
@Figcoinc:I picked up RF2 during Amazon.com's fantastic Black Friday sales. I'll have to finally dig into it once I get done with Luminous Arc 2.
@Desmondia: Rune Factory Frontier (a harvest moon spinoff game for Wii) is also pretty choice.
Xagest
Reckon they'll patch Afrika with trophies? They kinda have to right?
@Foxstar is in love with Kotaku's two Brians.:
Better play Rune Factory then. I would suggest Rune Factory Frontier for Wii, or Rune Factory 2 for DS. The bugs are less frequent, the characters are well done, the game is a bit more balanced (Rune Factory 1 for DS is a bit unbalanced), and Xseed in the Wii Version did a solid job for translation. While it still has its moments it is no where near Natsume level.
I guess it rains down in Afrika!
Szin
@Ra is on Psych: My goodness, that game was excellent. A lot of the subsequent Harvest Moon games have taken out a number of things that worked (and worked well) in Harvest Moon 64 and Harvest Moon: Back to Nature, and added in all kinds of crap we don't need. Go back to basics, Natsume!
Veit
Why oh why hasn't their been a good HM game from the N64/PS1 releases? Why? I love this series, but I'm not buying any more of the games till the translation errors and bugs stop.
@xgaxxkyhron13: Yeah there was something special about taking pictures of pokemon doing random stuff...maybe because I was only a little kid :/
Natsume...oh you make me laugh. Harvest Moon is all you really have. Once Marvelous moves that franchise to Xseed like it did Rune Factory you will be done. Xseed did a great job in Rune Factory Frontier, and did it quicker as well. Harvest Moon needs to move on as well. The bad translations Natsume is known for is cute at first, but then you wonder if anyone at least spell checked it.
@Ghostwise: Why is Mortal Kombat spelled wrong? Makes the word kooler.
I don't know why but Afrika and Animal Kingdom: Wildlife Expedition make me really feel like playing pokemon snap again *_*
They need to re-release Harvest Moon 64!!
Animal Kingdom: Our crappy version of Afrika for Wii users. Thanks Natsume.
@Indrajit: You'll have to play the SNES and the N64 ones, those were the best ones of all of them.
Why is Africa spelled wrong? Did they need to get a license from the continent or something? LOL. Looks like a cool game though.
Ghostwise
Harvest Moon: Polygamy Party
Natsume, make it happen.
Now just bring Afrika to the EU Natsume :)
They should make a Harvest Moon game where you use a shovel to harvest fresh Harvest Moon games.
Can't wait till someone snaps a photo of some animal on Afrika and post it on Deviantarts, under the heading "Photography".
hehehe 100 pieces of tackle. hehehe. Afrika looks great, interested in how Animal Kingdom turns out.
Personally I've never really seen the draw in Harvest Moon, but from what I've heard from fans I'll have to give it a shot sometime.
Indrajit
I don't care if they want to release a new Harvest Moon for every damn system on Earth at the same time but... why are there two DS ones at once? I mean isn't that limiting your sales potential?
I can never forgive Natsume for destroying the Harvest Moon franchise. HM on the SNES is still, imo, the best game ever (Despite perhaps SWG PRE-NGE and UO pre-EA). HM 64 was also great. Why? HM 64 was a direct sequel to HM SNES just with better graphics. HM Back to Nature on the PS was also alright but the graphics and controls were just horrific as well as too many loads...
Since then though, every HM game released has had some gimmick to it like a magic fairy or tree or some other craptastic sideline that takes away from the basic elements of the game: Farming and marriage.
Natsume needs to bring back Harvest Moon, the original. Obviously with current-day graphics and greater depth and detail but the same basic game without these gimmicks that just deter from the original purpose.
Luke Shiffer
WHAT IS THIS CASUAL FAGGOTRY?!