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Harvest Moon DS

EMAIL PRINT ds

7.2 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 21 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 25 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Natsume / Marvelous Interactive

Developer: Natsume

Genre(s): Role-Playing Game

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Release Date: September 12, 2006

Summary

The Witch Princess conjured up a prank that went too far. Now it's up to you to restore the magic of Forget-Me-Not Valley. Seek out all 101 Harvest Sprites as you plant fields, tend livestock and find the right wife to share your farming dreams. As you find the missing Harvest Sprites they can help with chores around the farm...some might even unlock various activities or important information. Raise Cows, Sheep, Chickens and Ducks. Plant and grow a variety of crops and trees. New Festivals, Extensions, Items and Mini-Games. Inserting your copy of Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town or Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town into your Nintendo DS will unlock many surprises in Harvest Moon DS! [Natsume]

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Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

GameZone

Being able to save anywhere makes it the perfect portable game, and since there's virtually no learning curve you can pick it up and play at any time at all.

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netjak

If you have enjoyed Harvest Moon games in the past, this version stays true to the formula.

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GameBrink

Fans of the Harvest Moon series will enjoy this game a lot, not only because it's the first for the DS, but because it integrates the best parts of a few of the older games all into one. [JPN Import]

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Pelit (Finland)

Harvest Moon DS has captured the charm of the series well. Not the best of the bunch but definitely worth having since it works perfectly as a portable game. [June 2007]

NGamer UK

Working yourself into a state of anaemia hasn't - well, actually it has been this much fun before, but with added animal touchery this will still delight. [Nov 2006, p.64]

Official Nintendo Magazine UK

With better visuals and touch screen controls this could have been a DS classic. As it is, it's a decent introduction to the genre we shall christen the farm 'em up. [May 2007, p.87]

Weekly Famitsu

7 / 9 / 7 / 7 - 30 [March 2005]

N-Insanity

While HMDS will not recruit many new gamers into the fray, it executes exactly where it wants to, and that is in maintaining the fundamentals of the franchise.

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Gamezilla!

It follows the Harvest Moon formula to the letter, and that ultimately makes it just as good as previous installments in the series.

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Games Master UK

A sweet slice of handheld fun, but familiarity breeds contempt. [May 2007, p.83]

Jolt Online Gaming UK

The game is every bit as cute and niche as ever, but it’s not even pretending to be anything new or innovative for fans – it’s just the same old slog once again, with only a few new faces and a few new things to see.

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GameSpy

Not a bad game, especially when compared to the mediocre A Wonderful Life, but it stays too much within the traditional rules of the series, without trying anything different on the new handheld.

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Pocket Gamer UK

The gaming equivalent of a brussel sprout – despite being a solid experience, Harvest Moon DS' weak presentation leaves something of a bitter taste.

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Nintendo Power

We've been waiting for a good "Harvest Moon" game for the DS for many, umm, moons, and we're still waiting. [Oct. 2006, p.91]

IGN

If Harvest Moon is absolutely essential on your DS, give this one a try at your own risk. As for us, we’ll be heading back to Mineral Town, saving our gold pieces for the real DS successor to Harvest Moon; Natume’s own "Rune Factory."

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Games Radar (in-house)

If cutesy farming RPG makes you raise an inquisitive eyebrow rather than gag, Harvest Moon DS may be worth cultivating.

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GameSpot

Aside from including some half-baked touch-screen features, Harvest Moon DS does nothing to set itself apart from previous games in the series.

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Deeko

The graphics are getting old, the touch screen menu system is lacking, the touch screen animal interaction is pure novelty and grows old fast and the storyline is not necessary.

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NTSC-uk

A massive disappointment to hardcore fans of the series.

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Digital Entertainment News

Harvest Moon DS feels like an incomplete game. The recycled sprites, scattershot nature of the town and integration of the old game’s cast and town make it feel like an expansion pack at best, or just a half-hearted sequel.

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Eurogamer

Although Harvest Moon DS possesses the same base addictiveness as its forebears, it has no charm, no originality and no ambition.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 7.2 (out of 10) based on 25 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

[Anonymous] gave it a7:
This game is good, but has plenty of bugs. For instance, there's the billions-of-G glitch, and the fact that if you marry the mermaid, she lives in your pond made of stone which can be destroyed by bad weather. Also, it seems to have random crashes. If you can find it for 20 bucks or less, you might want to give it a shot, but I'm not making any promises.

Zebra Man gave it a3:
From the constant bugs to the horrendous localization, this game rots. I guess if you can't get enough HM, you'll enjoy it, but it's basically the same premise as every other one. That is, farm a small plot, date guys/ladies, attend festivals, yadda yadda. In my opinion it's a lazy production of a stale series. Hopefully they'll have learned their lessons for the next one (there's ALWAYS a next one).

Christian P. gave it a7:
I always liked the Harvest Moon series but this game is kidda good not as good as the other ones. It's always the same thing going around doing stuff that is related to farming. This game has numerous amount of glitches and what where Natsume thinking not fixing the glitches it feels more like a rushed game than a more complete game.

Colleen M. gave it a7:
I got this for my birthday expecting it to be just as enjoyable as the GBA versions, and in the beginning it was. The thing that makes me almost never want to play this is the CONSTANT freezing! At first I thought I got a faulty game, but reading other people's comments about it I now realize that it was probably just a mistake by Natsume.

Jimmy B. gave it a3:
I have played a lot of the Harvest Moon games. I first played it for the SNES, which I thought was awesome, then I played it for the PS2, which I was disappointed, then Friends of Mineral Town for the GBA, which was really good, then It's a Wonderful Life for the GameCube, which was even better. I was really looking forward to Harvest Moon DS when it came out, I mean I loved how you can use the stylus to milk, pet, clean, etc. and especially placing buidlings on different parts of your farm. The one thing that really made me hate this game was one thing....... IT FROZE ON ME THIS MORNING, I seriously had amnesia from playing this game, I bought it last week, and I was finishing up the second mine, I was about to marry the mermaid, I was finishing up my first year, and when I saved it, it froze and now I have to start over from scratch. Well, screw that, I'm taking this back to the store today. Now that I'm done complaining, I would say that if you area huge Harvest Moon fan, then buy it and save a lot but switch off from the first and second save data, so that if one freezes, the other will load, other than that, I'm gonna wait for the Harvest Moon for the Wii to come out.

Pat R. gave it a2:
Great game except that it freezes. Got married - wife expecting - saved game and when I tried to load it, it froze and I can't get into it. Not very happy - had 67,000,000 G. Lost everything. Lot of game time lost.

Red XIII gave it a6:
Ultimately shallow and repetitive, this game has a hint of the good old harvest moon, and is probably the best they could have done for a handheld system, but this game has little to no depth, it gets repetitive after the first couple of hours, and just doesn't have enough to do. Good for a while, but boring after that.

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Harvest Moon DS

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