Topic: Harvest Moon GBC games

So I am thinking of picking up one of the GBC Harvest Moon Games on the VC but I am not quite sure which one to get. I am leaning towards 2 or 3 but I am not sure which one. Any suggestions?

Harvest Moon 1 is a "light" version of the first game for the SNES, it's unadulterated farming and cow-chicken raising.

It can be very relaxing and simple, but the space you have available is much bigger than what you could realistically manage in the time you're given.

Other downsides include the fact that it is incredibly easy to max out your money and you'll probably be left without immediate objectives very soon. NPC interaction is also super limited and you can't befriend any characters.

2 is more traditional in a "farm, ship, visit town" sense, if you have played a harvest moon before, you'll know what to do. No surprises.

On the downside, you can't get married and anything that would require a game link to acquire is locked out, including the golden chicken, miracle glove and sliding puzzle mini game. A personal pet peeve of mine is that the character uses the whole sprite to detect collition when when walking around animals, so it's slightly more annoying to tend the cows and chickens than in the first game.

Since I haven't downloaded the third one yet, my experience is limited with that one, but I remember it being much more expansive than the first two. There's more objectives and events, along with new activities, and you can even marry and have kids (if you're a guy).

Making money is a little diferent though, there's no shipping bin, and the game requires more patience and learning your way than the other two, over-all.

I don't remember what did this one need the game link for though, so I don't know what's locked out.

In the end, the core gameplay is mostly the same for all three.

@Morpheel I'm assuming that there are no good portable Harvest Moon games until the New Beginning and that new one coming out soon?

Funny that you mention that, since A New Beginning is, in my opinion, one of the worst Harvest Moons on a Nintendo console.

All the GBC ones are enjoyable, Friends of Mineral Town is excellent, DS is very flawed but full of interesting things, Sunshine Island and Tale of Two Towns are really good, too, the latter one I still play in a regular basis. Lost Valley too, dare I mention it along with these, is very enjoyable.

A New Beginning was... Tiring, to say something. Like Island of Happiness, but for different reasons.

I agree with Morpheel about the first GB HM. I stopped playing it ages ago. I've never played the next 2 games though so I can't comment.

(More) Friends of Mineral Town and A Tale of Two Towns are both my favourite handheld HM games (from what I've played), although ToTT gets a lot of flack. I've never played ANB though and I don't want to. The Lost Valley is a refreshing take on the genre (it does things never before seen in HM), but sadly it gets a lot more flack than ToTT does, the main issue being that it's from Natsume, not Marvelous. All I can say is, 'who the heck cares?' A good game is a good game, regardless of who made it. The terraforming is a really cool addition, and I've made a huge four sided wall, waterfalls and other things. Sadly, my 3DS was stolen recently so I can't play anymore.

Yeah I remember playing a bit of Mineral Town on the GBA years ago (My friend had that one and I had the GC Harvest Moon that linked to Mineral Town). Is Mineral Town available on the Wii U VC?

The reason I am asking about VC Harvest Moon games is cause I am in the mood for a Harvest Moon game and I have a $5 coupon from the DDP so I was thinking of picking up a Harvest Moon game. I knew that the GBC games were "watered down" versions of traditional Harvest Moon games but I figure it will take care of the craving.

I'd kinda recommend you to get the first one first, that way if you get another one later it will be an improvement.

But that's mostly because I have nostalgia attached to it.

FoMT will be added to the wiiu eventually.