28. Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness (DS)

Island of Happiness is a decent entry in this long-running series, yet you can certainly feel the absence of Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada. Moving events to an island is a fun idea which really helps us to fall in love with the world and our farm. But if there's one huge stumbling point, it's the controls, which spoil any enjoyment we otherwise get from our daily life of populating this new island with residents and building up a thriving farm. Alas, the touchscreen controls really hold this one back, and make this extremely hard to come back to.

27. Harvest Moon DS: Sunshine Islands (DS)

The inclusion of regular button controls over the previous game's touchscreen-only commands helped to elevate Sunshine Islands, but even with its neat island-raising idea to expand the game world, it felt a little unambitious. It rarely puts a foot wrong, controlling well and teasing you with enough new items and areas to convince you to play through just one more day, and is one of the strongest titles in the series on the DS, but don’t expect much to shake up the farming formula.

26. Harvest Moon (GBC)

The original GBC Harvest Moon is a reasonably addictive, concise entry in the series that throws out any chaff, but that's also its downfall: there's not enough variety to keep it interesting for huge stretches, especially if you've played other games in the series.

If you're after a super simple farming simulator with repetitive-but-satisfying mechanics, this could still be worth several of your precious hours – but these days you'll likely be disappointed if you're looking for something with more depth.

25. Harvest Moon 3 (GBC)

Harvest Moon 3 faced a bit of a conundrum. While it may provide some top-notch farming simulation and finally introduced the marriage system to the portable series, this game could have offered so much more. The core mechanics you know and love are present and work well, but the overall package feels like little more than a re-release of the previous Game Boy Color entry.

If you haven't played any of the early portable Harvest Moon games then this is probably the one to get, but don't expect much beyond the basics if you're a veteran of its predecessor(s).

24. Harvest Moon 2 (GBC)

Harvest Moon 2 for the Game Boy Color expands (slightly) on the previous game, although it's not exactly a significant enhancement. With the original SNES game and Harvest Moon 64 both including a relationship system, it's disappointing to go back and see that feature absent here (it wouldn't arrive until the sequel). There are new animals to raise, of course, not to mention an actual village to explore rather than just a menu.

Nostalgic farmers look back on this game very fondly indeed — and there's plenty of enjoyment to harvest from its tried-and-true systems — although, inevitably, newer iterations on the template might have spoiled HM2 for modern fans. In its day, though, this was portable farming sim perfection.

23. Harvest Moon DS: Grand Bazaar (DS)

Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar is a strong showing for the farming franchise, with the addition of the eponymous market bringing a nice weekly structure to proceedings. Small gripes aside, such as the same-y script, and the ability to save games only at the day’s end is the only fault of any consequence, if you’ve enjoyed previous outings in the series, there’s no reason you won’t like this one too.

22. Harvest Moon 3D: The Tale of Two Towns (3DS)

Harvest Moon 3D: The Tale of Two Towns might be the first 3DS entry but it's the eighth HM game in five years. Any concerns that the creative well is running dry are understandable — after all, it's only farming — but HM3D:ToTT gives it the old college try anyway. However, if you absolutely have to have a 3D Harvest Moon game, The Tale of Two Towns will at least fill a gap. It's hardly the most expansive and engaging the series has offered in recent times, and its central concept is of the take-it-or-leave-it variety, but it still has the potential to enthral if you let it.

21. Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town (Switch)

Far from the best Story of Seasons game on the market, Pioneers of Olive Town is promising and disappointing in equal measure. Patches brought changes and ironed out some issues, and it's certainly a mile better than Harvest Moon: One World. In fact, fans of the series/genre may find that they settle quite nicely into Pioneers of Olive Town, even with the whiff of disappointment lingering — it is a solid, if unremarkable entry in the series. In our opinion, you'd be best off waiting for a sale and getting Friends of Mineral Town in the meantime.

20. Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos (Switch)

You most likely know that Harvest Moon has been pants for a while now, and Story of Seasons hasn't been much better. For those of us who've been burned before by Natsume's underbaked offerings, we weren't expecting greatness from Winds of Anthos. But for once, this newest game is a step in the right direction, establishing Natsume's voice at last in a crowded market. Here's hoping the next Harvest Moon goes even harder.

19. Return to Popolocrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale (3DS)

Return to Popolocrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale tells a beautiful tale, but its magic isn't in the plot points. Instead, it's in the little details, the kindness of the characters, the gentle music, and the journey, and you won't get that same magical feeling through simple summary of events. Like a storybook that just so happens to come on a 3DS cartridge, Return to PopoloCrois is sweet, heartwarming, and absolutely worth diving into. If you have a soft spot for golden-era JRPGs — or just classically charming games in general — we can't recommend it enough.