Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life
Encyclopedia
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life is a video game for the Nintendo GameCube
that was released on March 16, 2004. It was developed by Marvelous Interactive Inc.
and released by Natsume
, and is part of the long-running Harvest Moon series of video games. The game offers connectivity with the Game Boy Advance
game Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town
and Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town.
s, and a male horse
. The cow will stop producing milk after 40 days and you will have to impregnate her for her to continue making milk. In addition to these traditional Harvest Moon animals, this is also the first game in the series to feature duck
s and a goat
. The ducks appear not to incubate eggs of their own, but after acquiring ducks, some of the eggs the player harvests from chickens will hatch as ducklings. It's notable that no fertile eggs are produced in the absence of a male chicken, despite the presence of female ducks. The goat produces milk
for one year; after that, however, she stops producing milk. The goat can be sold on PS2 version for 1000G.
The player also starts the game with a dog, and has the choice of floppy or pointed ears. Later in the game, the player may receive a cat from Romana. Also seen in the wilderness are a raccoon, a lizard, and a turtle, as well as a chihuahua
that appears to be a pet at the dig site.
Also notable is the Mukumuku, who resembles an abominable snowman. Mukumuku can only be seen during Winter near the tree in which the Harvest Sprites live, and the surrounding area commonly referred to as "the forest."
. Plants must be watered more than once per day and nourished with fertilizer to obtain high-quality fruit
s and vegetable
s. Each crop has its ideal growing season, and will do poorly if planted at the wrong time of year. To obtain the highest quality crops and seeds, the player must water and fertilize the crops every day.
The game offers a variety of crops. The vegetables are: turnip
s, potato
es, carrot
s, and sweet potato
es. The player can also grow several fruits: tomato
es, melon
s, watermelon
s, strawberries, peach
es, oranges
, grape
s, banana
s, and apple
s. The Orange, Peach, Grape, Banana, and Apple fruits are all tree crops.
One new feature in A Wonderful Life is the ability to create hybrid crops. The player can do this by feeding any two different seeds or crops to a talking plant, Tartan, who appears after befriending Takakura and visiting him in the morning, from Chapter 2 onwards.
, Rancher, Musician
, Artist
, Scholar, Athlete, or Scientist
. If he becomes a farmer or a rancher, he will take over the family farm. He can not marry.
' pond in Friends of Mineral Town. NPCs in Forget-Me-Not Valley will begin to make comments about events in Mineral Town, and vice versa. In addition, some NPCs will make periodic trips to Mineral Town, returning with new items to sell or hints for the player.
in November 2004. The English language
version was called A Wonderful Life Special Edition and was released in late 2005. While very similar to the original version of A Wonderful Life, some extra items and events were added in addition to an updated soundtrack. The most notable changes were the ability to have a daughter and marry Lumina (a character players could not marry in A Wonderful Life).
Another related GameCube game called Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life the Girl version for GameCube was released in the English-speaking world in July 2005. In this game, the player goes through the storyline of A Wonderful Life as a female character, and can court and marry one of three male NPCs.
gave the title an "Impressive" 8 out of 10 rating, praising gameplay and lasting appeal while also noting its "monotonous" audio and upsetting lack of festivals. A Wonderful Life garnered an 8.7 rating from Ryan Davis of GameSpot.com. Echoing other reviews, Davis considered it "a fun and potentially addictive game that, if you let it, will gladly consume any free time you choose to give it."
The Special Edition released for PlayStation 2, however, did not receive such strong praise. IGN's Juan Castro gave it a score of 6/10 and remarked "The differences, including an increase in brides, choosing the gender of your child and the ability to play forever, make little difference. What does make a difference, though, is the drastic drop in framerate, increase in load times and muddy graphics." The Official Playstation 2 Magazine of the UK gave it a 7/10 rating.
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
that was released on March 16, 2004. It was developed by Marvelous Interactive Inc.
Marvelous Interactive Inc.
is a multinational corporation that produces animation, music, video games, television series. MMV is most widely known for its involvement in the Harvest Moon series....
and released by Natsume
Natsume Co., Ltd
is a Japanese video game developer and publisher in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan founded on October 20, 1987. Its American branch, Natsume Inc., is located in Burlingame, California...
, and is part of the long-running Harvest Moon series of video games. The game offers connectivity with the Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
game Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town
Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town
Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town is a video game for the Game Boy Advance, developed by Marvelous Interactive Inc. and published in the U.S. by Natsume...
and Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town.
Animals
The player starts the game with one cow, and can later acquire additional, higher-quality cattle as well as male sheep, male and female chickenChicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
s, and a male horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
. The cow will stop producing milk after 40 days and you will have to impregnate her for her to continue making milk. In addition to these traditional Harvest Moon animals, this is also the first game in the series to feature duck
Duck
Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...
s and a goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
. The ducks appear not to incubate eggs of their own, but after acquiring ducks, some of the eggs the player harvests from chickens will hatch as ducklings. It's notable that no fertile eggs are produced in the absence of a male chicken, despite the presence of female ducks. The goat produces milk
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
for one year; after that, however, she stops producing milk. The goat can be sold on PS2 version for 1000G.
The player also starts the game with a dog, and has the choice of floppy or pointed ears. Later in the game, the player may receive a cat from Romana. Also seen in the wilderness are a raccoon, a lizard, and a turtle, as well as a chihuahua
Chihuahua (dog)
The ' is the smallest breed of dog and is so named for the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. Chihuahuas come in a wide variety of sizes, head shapes, colors and coat lengths.-History:...
that appears to be a pet at the dig site.
Also notable is the Mukumuku, who resembles an abominable snowman. Mukumuku can only be seen during Winter near the tree in which the Harvest Sprites live, and the surrounding area commonly referred to as "the forest."
Crops
Farming in A Wonderful Life is relatively complex. The player's farm has three fields, with varying levels of fertilityFertility
Fertility is the natural capability of producing offsprings. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population. Fertility differs from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction...
. Plants must be watered more than once per day and nourished with fertilizer to obtain high-quality fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s and vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s. Each crop has its ideal growing season, and will do poorly if planted at the wrong time of year. To obtain the highest quality crops and seeds, the player must water and fertilize the crops every day.
The game offers a variety of crops. The vegetables are: turnip
Turnip
The turnip or white turnip is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, bulbous taproot. Small, tender varieties are grown for human consumption, while larger varieties are grown as feed for livestock...
s, potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
es, carrot
Carrot
The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...
s, and sweet potato
Sweet potato
The sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are an important root vegetable. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of...
es. The player can also grow several fruits: tomato
Tomato
The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
es, melon
Melon
thumb|200px|Various types of melonsThis list of melons includes members of the plant family Cucurbitaceae with edible, fleshy fruit e.g. gourds or cucurbits. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit...
s, watermelon
Watermelon
Watermelon is a vine-like flowering plant originally from southern Africa. Its fruit, which is also called watermelon, is a special kind referred to by botanists as a pepo, a berry which has a thick rind and fleshy center...
s, strawberries, peach
Peach
The peach tree is a deciduous tree growing to tall and 6 in. in diameter, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae. It bears an edible juicy fruit called a peach...
es, oranges
Orange (fruit)
An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world....
, grape
Grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
s, banana
Banana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
s, and apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
s. The Orange, Peach, Grape, Banana, and Apple fruits are all tree crops.
One new feature in A Wonderful Life is the ability to create hybrid crops. The player can do this by feeding any two different seeds or crops to a talking plant, Tartan, who appears after befriending Takakura and visiting him in the morning, from Chapter 2 onwards.
Problems
One of the most notable issues with gameplay, witnessed most thoroughly in the original Gamecube version, is the large amount of text-related production errors that remained in the game through its release. It has been considered very unusual for a very famous title from a professional team to contain as many typos as it does. Some incorrect wording can lead to completely misinterpreted meanings for functions. For example, Tartan asks "Are you finished Hybrid?" with Yes/No options following. Choosing "Yes" would actually indicate that you wanted to continue making hybrids with Tartan.Children
This is the first Harvest Moon game in which the player character not only has a child after marriage, but you get to name it and care for it to adulthood as well. Each possible wife has a different son, who will always end up looking similar to your wife, and a unique set of interests and talents. However, the player can influence the child's developing personality by taking him places, introducing him to people, and giving him gifts related to various fields. At the end of the game, the (now adult) son will choose one of seven possible careers: FarmerFarmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
, Rancher, Musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, Artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, Scholar, Athlete, or Scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
. If he becomes a farmer or a rancher, he will take over the family farm. He can not marry.
Connectivity
If the player connects a Game Boy Advance with Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town or Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town to the GameCube while playing A Wonderful Life, the two games can exchange information. Initiating the connection requires going to the mountain path next to the vegetable farm where Celia lives in A Wonderful Life, and throwing an offering into the Harvest GoddessGoddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
' pond in Friends of Mineral Town. NPCs in Forget-Me-Not Valley will begin to make comments about events in Mineral Town, and vice versa. In addition, some NPCs will make periodic trips to Mineral Town, returning with new items to sell or hints for the player.
Storyline
When you begin the game, you see a coastline, in Forget-me-not valley, Takakura, an old man who used to be your father's best friend, is speaking (or thinking) to your father, stating: "It's not that he wasn't happy, but he seemed to have no direction in life, so I brought him here". Then you are seen along with Takakura. You are walking down the village, and he explains to you how your father and he owned the farm. Soon, two dogs will appear you get to keep one of them. Takakura agrees to show you around the valley, where you get the chance to enter your name. You also meet the villagers, including Celia, Lumina, and Muffy, the eligible bachelorettes. In the beginning, you start with a cow, a milker, two records, two tomato seeds and 3000 G.The Beginning
In the very beginning, the screen turns dark and suddenly you are in a house at 5 a.m.. You are now in control of the game. When you walk outside, you have a cow and 2 crops to plant and take care of. You have a year to choose one out of the three potential brides Celia, Nami, and Muffy (4 in special edition) in the game.A Birth
In this chapter, you have a son whose personality and appearance depends on the woman you married. You will have an extra room, a kitchen and dining room. You also gain a refrigerator and two bathrooms. You can receive a cat from Romana, and your toddler can be picked up and played with. The dig site and house get bigger. Some characters' appearance has changed and a family moves in. Van sells toys for your child, as well as a goat. You can ONLY get the goat in spring. It costs 4000G. After a year, it will stop producing milk. You can sell it on the PS2 version for 1000G in the food storage/shipping room. Or, in this version, you can sell the goat for 1000G after it stops giving milk. You can get the Seed Maker starting in this chapter, getting it from Daryl if you have not already purchased it in the first chapter. You can also get Tartan starting in this chapter. Ducks may show up at your farm starting in this chapter if you own a pond. Galen has moved. His wife, Nina, died of natural causes. Galen now lives in a shack on hill beside Vesta's farm, where flowers grow. Nina's grave is there and you can clean it when Galen is there. He is very hard to befriend now. A doctor moves into Galen's and Nina's old house. This chapter is two years long.Happy Harvesting
In this chapter, your son has grown into a seven or eight year old. Hugh and Lumina's appearance have changed again and your house has expanded, giving your son his own room. You still have the time to inspire your child into what career you want him to have by befriending the people in the village that have a similar job. This chapter takes three years to finish.Happy Farm Life
Your child is a teenager. Being a teenager, your son goes through a rebellious stage and wants to be independent. You have aged, as have most people in the valley. This is the time when you cannot really change your son's career without confusing him. The ruins have grown even larger, so you can dig a lot and make a good profit. This chapter is two years long.To The Journey
Your child is now a young adult. His actions mirror yours from Year One, such as harvesting and looking for a spouse. The ruins are even bigger. People say that your son falls in love with either Kate or Lumina, but it has not been known that he does. Your wife has aged. There is no possible way for you to change his career choice now. This chapter is one year long.The Twilight
You've aged again and so have other villagers. Some have died, and your son is now certain of his career, and can no longer be swayed. Before you die, your wife talks to you one last time. The game ends with your death and Takakura speaking or thinking to your father about how Forget-Me-Not Valley fares after your death. After your death, a free play mode will be unlocked (heaven mode).Development
The American pre-order bonus was a collectible dog plush that was included in the game when ordered from participating websites.Related games
An updated version called Oh! A Wonderful Life was released in Japan for the PlayStation 2PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
in November 2004. The English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
version was called A Wonderful Life Special Edition and was released in late 2005. While very similar to the original version of A Wonderful Life, some extra items and events were added in addition to an updated soundtrack. The most notable changes were the ability to have a daughter and marry Lumina (a character players could not marry in A Wonderful Life).
Another related GameCube game called Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life the Girl version for GameCube was released in the English-speaking world in July 2005. In this game, the player goes through the storyline of A Wonderful Life as a female character, and can court and marry one of three male NPCs.
Reception
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life received largely positive reviews upon its initial GameCube release. IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave the title an "Impressive" 8 out of 10 rating, praising gameplay and lasting appeal while also noting its "monotonous" audio and upsetting lack of festivals. A Wonderful Life garnered an 8.7 rating from Ryan Davis of GameSpot.com. Echoing other reviews, Davis considered it "a fun and potentially addictive game that, if you let it, will gladly consume any free time you choose to give it."
The Special Edition released for PlayStation 2, however, did not receive such strong praise. IGN's Juan Castro gave it a score of 6/10 and remarked "The differences, including an increase in brides, choosing the gender of your child and the ability to play forever, make little difference. What does make a difference, though, is the drastic drop in framerate, increase in load times and muddy graphics." The Official Playstation 2 Magazine of the UK gave it a 7/10 rating.
External links
- A Wonderful Life - Natsume's Official AWL webpage
- GameFAQs - A Wonderful Life
- Harvest Moon Otaku - A Wonderful Life