Title: Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town
Developer/Publisher: Natsume
Release Date: 11/17/2003 (US) 3/5/2004 (EU) 4/18/2003 (JP)
Platform: Gameboy Advance (Cartridge)
Content Rating: E (ESRB) 3+ (ELSPA)
Official Website: http://www.natsume.com/games/HM_fom/index.html

What is it?
Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town is the first Gameboy Advance release of the long-running Harvest Moon series (which also is on Playstation, Playstation 2, Super Nintendo, and Gameboy). The basic idea behind the series is that you are a farmer trying to make a small farm succeed and grow into a much larger one, while wooing a girl from the local town. FOMT follows this tradition but adds more depth to the game then ever before. The game takes all of the content from the Playstation version Harvest Moon: Back to Nature and adds on several new mini-games, challenges, and tools.

What's the story about?
Almost line for line the same story from Harvest Moon: Back to Nature for Playstation One with a few minor additions (such as marrying the Harvest Goddess as a possibility) to encompass the new features in the game. Otherwise the plot follows the exact same route as earlier incarnations of the series. Also, it seems the game was rushed out the door during translation so there are several typos and errors throughout the game (i.e. "Dinner Roll" becomes "Dinner Role" etc...), though none are serious enough to break the storyline or leave the reader confused.

How well does it play?
The game's control system has grown since it's original SNES title as new features have been added over the series. The control system has mostly survived the port over from the larger Playstation controller but some buttons have been assigned multiple actions based on the situation or require a combination of buttons to accomplish. (One particularly annoying example is the button to call for your dog and to switch items out of your rucksack) Most of these problems are smoothed over as the player becomes more used to the slightly odd combinations for more complex tasks. The camera angle has also improved over the PSX version using a top-down view (Similar to Soul Blazer) instead of an Isometric view (Similar to Neverwinter Nights)

Is it pretty?
If you're playing a handheld game, you must drop your standards for graphics somewhat to accomodate hardware limitations. Despite these limitations however, the game has excellent graphics, looking slightly better then the SNES version and not quite as good as Harvest Moon: Back to Nature. To accomodate different graphics abilities between the Playstation and Gameboy Advance some areas have changed in size or have been divided into different screens (Though oddly enough the PSX had more divided up areas then the GBA!) New graphical additions to the game integrate well into the overall style of the game and are well made despite not appearing in Harvest Moon: Back to Nature.

How does it sound?
Like most games for the Gameboy Advance the sound is slightly tinny and not incredibly diverse. There is a sound select "option" in the form of a record player only available if one links their GBA up with the new Gamecube Version "A Wonderful Life", players without a Gamecube are just left out to dry. The music does change based on the weather, area, and season so it does manage to avoid being repetitive. I don't see a soundtrack CD coming out for this title anytime soon.

Will I have fun?
For fans of the Harvest Moon series, this game is highly entertaining as it is an improvement of one of the better liked games in the series (Back to Nature). New players may find it slightly repetitive however as most of the events within the game are spaced out enough that players unaware of all the good things to work toward will possibly get frustrated with just farming (which is all the game instructs you on how to do in the beginning) and miss out on a great deal of hidden events and fun games.

Is it hard?
Of all of the Harvest Moon games, this one has the greatest range of difficulties. The game is the first also to have no time limit for completion, allowing players to play untill their heart is content, however marriage will cause the credits to roll, signifying you've completed the main goal of the game. Getting married with no time limit is not a very difficult prospect in this game depending on the girl, as you also have a rival for marriage. Marrying the goddess however is incredibly challenging and requires you to do and collect just about everything possible within the game. The upshot of this great range of difficulties is that players can decide just how hard or long they want to play.

Will I be bored playing again?
The game is very replayable as each path to marriage for each girl has different events, and there are many choices that can be made down the line to alter the storyline (for example, getting your rival to leave town) also the mine levels, weather, and fishing minigame have a great deal of random generation in them, so when you found a kappa gem on level zero of a mine on your first try, it might take you two hundred more the second play through.

Visit this website for more information: http://www.fogu.com/hm4/index.htm

Series Timeline
Harvest Moon (SNES 1996) | Harvest Moon GB (Gameboy 1997) | Harvest Moon GBC (Gameboy Color 1998) | Harvest Moon 2 GBC (Gameboy Color 1999) | Harvest Moon 64 (Nintendo 64 1999) | Harvest Moon 3 GBC (Gameboy Color 2000) | Harvest Moon: Back to Nature (Playstation 2000) | Harvest Moon: For Girls (Playstation 2000) | Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland (Playstation 2 2001) | Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town (Gameboy Advance 2003) | Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life (Gamecube 2004)

Thanks to GameFAQs, FOGU, and my EONS of playing this game!
This is revision two with thanks to DustBunnie and Dannye for Input!