A website dedicated to Harvest Moon 1 for Gameboy

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HM title screen Harvest Moon GB was the first version of the Harvest Moon series to appear on the Gameboy platform. The game was originally released on the mono-color Gameboy system but was remade in 1998 for the Gameboy Color console. The game was released again on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console (VC) in Europe in March 2013, and in North America in May 2013; it has not been rereleased for the VC in Japan.

The main objective of the game is to resurrect your Grandpa's old farm. You'll have the help of the Harvest Sprites, who live in a cave under your Grandpa's tool shed. You can choose to play as a girl or as a boy. There isn't a lot of difference between the two genders but there are some things that you control which determine how you start the game (see the Secrets section for more information). To supplement your farming income, you will also have to purchase and raise cows and chickens.

At the beginning of the game your Grandpa's Spirit visits and requests that you try to bring his old farm back to life. After four seasons have passed (120 days), he will visit you to evaluate your work.

Besides the Harvest Sprites, you'll have to interact with the people who live in the Village. They're mainly shopkeepers, but every so often they'll come visit you on your farm. Sometimes they're requesting something special for you, but most of the time they're there just to say "hi."

One of the interesting features about HM1 is the game is constantly saving your progress. There's no need to do anything special to save your game. So if your batteries die in your Gameboy, you won't lose all of the work you just did. The disadvantage to this is if you accidentally make a mistake and you think that turning off your Gameboy will reset it to the point before you goofed up, when you turn the game back on you'll be inside your farmhouse. The game won't go backwards to any prior moment and you'll have to live with the mistakes you have made.

Starting the game is very easy. Just pick your gender, your name, your pet, and then your pet's name. After that you watch a scene with your Grandpa. He'll walk you through the buildings that are on the farm, and then you're ready to save the farm.

Game Controls

  • Start button - Rotate between the tools you have equipped. You can have 2 tools and the last option is your empty hand.
  • Select button - Brings up the summary menu where you can see the date and time. Pressing Select again will open another menu where you can whistle for your pet or horse, activate the Harvest Sprite Timer, or have the equipped tool appear in the summary by picking the Memo option.
  • A button - Use the tool you have activated. If you have no tools equipped you can press A to pick up your pet and chickens or talk to the cows. To harvest your crops you have to use the A button too.
  • B button - Press B down to run.