Just Downloaded Harvest Moon

[Shaggy_PacMan]

So, I just bought Harvest Moon on the 3DS Virtual Console. I figured it would be a good starting point for me as far as a my first full run of an Harvest Moon game. As I mentioned in my introduction post, I've never fully played through one.

Any tips? Or, seeing as how it's an older game, anything I should keep in mind so I don't compare it to the few newer games I've played.

Farmer Name: Trav
Cat Name: Ruby

Huh, that's a little sad I can't name my farm, but oh well.

[Getaris]

I'd recommend visiting the guide, there's some tricks when naming your character and your first cow that could be useful for you.

The game will feel really simple, but you can have fun arranging and decorating your farm with logs and grass. Keep in mind that rocks, weeds and stumps don't respawn, ever, so you may want to keep some for decorative purposes.

To upgrade the tool that is taken by the sprites, you need to turn on the clock and end the game properly by pressing the power button on the system, if you use suspend points then time won't pass and you won't get your tool back.

The clock can be useful since time will pass by itself while you don't play, and the sprites will manage your farm, but they're not perfect, and won't plant new crops. So don't depend on it.

[Shaggy_PacMan]

Oh wow. I didn't know it had an Animal Crossing Style clock. Oh, boy. That's gonna be tricky.... And thanks for the advice!

[Robinstar]

This one is pretty simple. Not much to it, but I enjoy it. No marriage. No kids. No real socializing, though there are a couple events. Just farming. You plant crops in 3x3 squares in this one.

The only thing I think is really important to tell/warn you about, is how the tool upgrades for the sickle and hoe work. The Harvest Sprites will eventually offer to upgrade those for you. You’ll have to turn on the timer, turn off the game (I think, been awhile), and let real life time pass if you ever want to get those tools back. Make sure to turn the timer off after it’s done though.

Oh, another important one I just thought of, I’m pretty sure this is one of the ones where you don’t wanna put anything in the bin after someone comes to take what you’ve shipped at the end of the day. Once they gather that, pretty sure you’ll just be throwing stuff away if you put anything else in. You’ll wanna wait until the next day.

There are different types of seeds you can get by having your name capitalized or not. If you want all of them, start it with a symbol. I didn’t know that, so I’m still sticking with Pete.

[Getaris]

You can turn it on and off, it's still the regular 30 days - 4 seasons format.

My tip for the farmer name to get all seeds, is to start with a blank space and use a three letter name.

[Shaggy_PacMan]

I might need to restart for the name tip. I just used a shortened version of my irl name. I didn't know names affected gameplay. What about the animal names?

[Getaris]

If I remember correctly you need to buy two cows, and the first one must have a heart as the first letter of its name.

The first cow will be an adult and giving good milk from day one. But it only works once, the first time you buy cows.

Edit: according to the site this only works if you play as a boy. If you play as a girl then you can name yourself starting with a heart, and you will get extra seeds to begin with.

[Shaggy_PacMan]

That seems needlessly complicated, but what the heck. I kind of like to focus on dairy products for my farms. Whatever helps.


I'm sure I'll enjoy it once I get into it. Life got in the way today. Nothing bad, just good times with friends.

[Getaris]

Yes it's a bit convoluted.

You just need to remember:

• Play as a boy.
• Save enough to buy two cows at the same time.
• First cow must have a name that starts with a symbol.
• Second cow must not have a symbol in their name.

Read the guide for better details:
https://fogu.com/hm1/cheats.htm