Among the many NES and SNES titles near and dear to the hearts of Nintendo fans, Harvest Moon has always been on the N64 most wanted list. Unlike, say, Excitebike 64 where aa familiar name is being slapped on an entirely different 3D game, Harvest Moon on the N64 feels and looks a lot like its SNES predecessor, and that's not such a bad thing. It would've been easy to condemn this game's lack of ambition since the graphics, animation and audio elements are far below the N64's capabilities. However, the truth is, we had entirely too much fun playing it for hours on end and disregarding all of the ways the game comes up short.

The Story
When you kick off a new game, you find yourself at your grandfather's memorial service with all of the townsfolk of Flower Bug Village. Your grandpappy has left you his farm and it's up to you to keep the family homestead going despite the fact that the old man left it in pretty bad shape. With only 200 bucks, your trusty dog and the eternal optimism of youth going for you, you've got to turn things around as soon as possible. You've got two years, divided by seasons, to put together the best life possible. That is your mission should you choose to accept it.

Gameplay
This is not only the strongest area of the game, but gameplay is pretty much the only thing Harvest Moon has going for it. Simply put, there are dozens and dozens of activities that you can do and dozens of characters to interact with all for the purpose of running a successful farm and leading a happy life.

There are a handful activities that you will have to get used to quickly. Clearing off your field so that you can plant some crops is your first major task. Getting rid of the rocks and weeds is hard work and even a bit tedious at first. This gets the game off to a pretty slow start and those with short attention spans will not feel satisfied with the experience.

After clearing your fields you get into the exciting task of raising crops. You've got to go through every motion just like a real farmer. This means buying the right seeds --hopefully one that will produce valuable crops in the shortest amount of time-- tilling the land, planting the seeds and watering that stuff every single day. This is the most basic activity in the game and one you'll get used to very quickly. The tricky part is that you're limited at first by your low budget equipment . The good part is you'll have plenty of time to go exploring at the beginning of the game.

Time is a tremendously important force in Harvest Moon because not only do you have a limited amount of time to accomplish your goals, but there are various time sensitive activities and events that can affect how close you come to your goals at the end of the game. If you spend too much time dilly dallying around your farm in the beginning you'll miss meeting important people and events that can help you. If you don't visit the ranch early on, you won't get your horse. If you don't get your horse, you can't enter the horse race or use it as a mobile shipping bin.

There are certain daily activities like watering crops, brushing your livestock, feeding animals and playing with your dog and horse that will become routine. These tasks become obstacles however, when you realize that you haven't been to visit that cute girl at the bakery that you've had your eye on; or when you remember that you never explored that secret cave you found the other day; or when you want to enter the seasonal swimming race at the beach. Balancing the daily tasks with the once-in-a-season or once a year events is the essence of the game. Quite often you won't realize when or how you should've done something until it's too late. Just make sure that you're prepared next year.

Again, the most exciting things in Harvest Moon happen when your watering can is upgraded from lead to gold or when your sheep is finally mature enough sheer for wool. The appeal of the game is more or less a mind game you play with yourself. You think to yourself that taking care of some stupid little chickens or raising some lame little potato crops has got to be easier than collecting 201 bananas in Donkey Kong 64, and you've done that twice in your sleep already. But when you consider that you have pressure on you to raise crops, tend to your animals, make money, upgrade equipment, help the right people, talk to the right girl and perform dozens of other activities all at the same time, suddenly DK64's bananas seem like a joke. After all, they're just sitting there waiting to be discovered at your leisure.

Because the gameplay is addictive, Harvest Moon provides tons of accomplishments and secrets for you to chase. We've told you about the main farming responsibilities but at some point in your two year career, you can court and marry one of the lovely ladies of the village, follow a treasure map that your character made for you when you were younger and build your tiny farmhouse into a palatial estate. And the best part is that all of these goals are linked to each other in one way or another. It's easier to land the hottest girl in town when you serve her some of that special soup recipe in the kitchen of your giant mansion.

Sound
Get used to the music because it's going to be with you for hours at a time. However, you really won't be missing much if you just turn the volume down and jam your favorite CD while playing. Sound is not an important part of the game since all of the important messages and information are text based. The only sound you control is whistling for your dog and horse or other interactions with your animals.

For such a simple looking game, we're kind of disappointed that Harvest Moon has absolutely no voice samples. We know the N64 doesn't have the best sound processing powers but we're not asking for an interactive movie here. All we want is a little chatting amongst characters and not just the moos, whinnies baas and clucks of your livestock.

Graphics
Would you believe us if we told you that this game's look is so simple it's genius? Didn't thinks so. The truth is, this is one of the few old Nintendo titles that's been updated to the N64 without much of a 3D overhaul and it still has some problems with its looks. The isometric perspective may be good for a little nostalgia but having to stand on the right "square" when you're in a hurry to do something is frustrating.

There is some really disturbing and dramatic draw-in especially when you go into the main village. The edges of your television screen will show little chunks of scenery popping in and out as you walk around. Keep in mind your character is usually the only one moving and there's just not much on the screen, still or otherwise, to keep track of.

The character animations are also simpler than they need to be. When your main character lifts a fish to his mouth to eat it --in one bit no less-- the entire sequence takes less than ten frames of animation. More intricate and detailed animations for all of the characters would've been in order. Since you do so much chopping, watering and walking, it would've been nice if those animations looked a little more interesting.

Overall, the idea of keeping the N64 version of Harvest Moon looking like the SNES game works, but there's no reason for some of the shortcuts that have been taken. The N64 is capable of doing so much more than what this game shows.

THE VERDICT
It's a rare occasion nowadays that a game with such simple graphics would even make it to store shelves, but Harvest Moon as that rare quality of being totally engaging and challenging. I was able to forgive a lot of the shortcomings like poor audio and visual elements because I found myself playing it for hours at a time. The RPG-style elements of figuring out what the heck you're supposed to do next is always fun and Harvest Moon gives N64 owners a nice taste of that genre. If you want a game that's a change of pace from everything else available on the console definitely check it out. If you want to make sure this game works for you by renting it first, be prepared to stay up for a few days straight.

Reviews on Vizzed must be exclusive to Vizzed so I'll have to close this:

Original review:
http://www.angelfire.com/rpg/harvestmp/nonframes/hm64/rev64.html