[Update: Thu 26th Jan, 2023 21:00 GMT]
Now that the Japanese version of the remake of A Wonderful Life is out, we finally have our answer to the question "what's up the hill?"
Drum roll...
It's nothing. Worse than nothing, even: it just skips 6 hours of time. That's it.
YouTuber Josh's Gaming Garden has been playing the game in Japanese and translating it for viewers, and it seems like it's just a way to skip to the end of a work day. That doesn't mean it'll forever be a dead end — maybe there will be DLC up there some day — but for now, the answer to a 20-year old mystery is as much of a disappointment as the ending to Lost.
[Original: Thu 19th Jan, 2023 20:00 GMT]
For those of us who didn't have a link cable or a Game Boy Advance, the GameCube era sometimes felt like you were getting locked out of content that all the richer kids on the playground would boast about. There was the Tingle Tuner in Wind Waker, new content and secrets in games from Harry Potter to Crash Bandicoot, and an entire new town in Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life.
Back on the GameCube, A Wonderful Life had a path near the farm that went up a hill, but it didn't go anywhere. Trying to go up the path would lead to a cutscene where the Harvest Sprites would halt you, saying that you could find out "what's going on" by linking up with Friends of Mineral Town on the Game Boy Advance, which required the link cable, a GBA, and a copy of the game.
Combining a copy of Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town with A Wonderful Life would open up Mineral Town to the people living in Forget-Me-Not Valley. Admittedly, the player still couldn't go there themselves — the Harvest Sprites would still stop you, and apparently all you'd get out of the bargain was some extra music and a few new recipes brought back from the NPCs who were allowed to leave. A bit underwhelming, to be sure... but for people who didn't have the opportunity to find that out for themselves, it felt like being stopped by a bouncer outside a club where cool stuff might have been happening.
According to a fan translation of an official Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life stream, which showed off an hour of playtime in Japanese, that town might be accessible at last — or, at the very least, that path actually has a use. Josh's Gaming Garden has the scoop (starting at 6:46):
In the stream, Daiki Yamashita heads to the path, only to get the dialogue that it will take six hours to get there, implying that it takes most of the day to travel to this town — but that it is possible. Unfortunately, Yamashita does not take the option to go to the town, so we still don't have all the answers.
What do you hope is at the end of that path? Did you manage to link up Friends of Mineral Town to A Wonderful Life, or were you left out in the cold like us? Tell us in the comments below.
[source youtu.be]
Comments 27
Kind of wonder what that could possibly be for, maybe just a way to access Van outside of his usual schedule or something? I can't imagine it'd actually let you go to Mineral Town or anything, that'd be too big of a feature to not advertise plus would cut into already having a Mineral Town game out on the same consoles.
I remember a similar thing in DS where you could put the FoMT cartridge in, but I had a DSi!
I’ve started buying the RF and SoS games on switch. Just ordered the 2 Doraemon games. Looking forward to this one.
Part of me is hoping that It leads to a "trade" city type of area where you can sell your wares and, if you have saved content in game you can see characters from FooMT and PoOT
Ahh this is the first time I've seen one of Josh's videos mentioned, he's just a sweet bean.
On PS2 version, the Inaccessible Path have different purpose since PS2 have no correlation with Nintendo product, when you reach the inaccessible path the three Harvest Sprite will try to stop you to run away from farm and you will have two choice (Yes or No) and if you keep say yes, you will get back to title screen.
This PS2 version actually have different purpose. It was the only way to load your save data without resetting your machine since there was no Load option in the game. So, whenever you want to load your game because you made some mistake, go to that inaccessible path to get back to title screen and load your save data.
I did this on GameCube and was very disappointed in how it was implemented. I was hoping for something more along the lines of Animal Crossing where there was a place you could go and activities to complete.
Wasn't the best use of GBA connectivity but was still kind of cool.
This was such a cheap thing to do to try to make more money. Probably my least favorite aspect of the GameCube generation was the walled off GBA content. I'd prefer DLC to this bull.
I was disappointed when I found out many of the GameCube’s games require a GBA, especially since I didn’t initially have either of those consoles, and getting even the GameCube alone nowadays is quite expensive.
As for the game itself, I may get the remake if the reviews are promising.
Not surprising since the FMT remake added in link cable content too.
It's the road to Stardew Valley. They're blocking you because they're afraid you might never return once you go.
Didn’t know about this from the original game, but I hope there’s something genuinely neat there.
That's interesting, I've only played the Special Edition that is exclusive to PS2 so the dialog is different on that version since there is no GBA connection and all the extra stuff is already in the game as obtainable that the NPC gift to you or you can buy at Van's shop.
In the PS2 the Harvest Sprites do actually give you the option to go up that hill which actually quits the game and takes you back to the title screen.
I don't understand what was the disappointment about Lost's ending. If you are one of those that think they were dead all that time you clearly didn't put attention at all and you fell into the group where you were mislead by the background of the beach and wreckage in the credits.
Anyway... back to gaming.
Even just skipping six hours could be pretty useful if this game's pacing is anything like the original's. Very easy in A Wonderful Life to just find yourself with nothing to do but let time lapse.
I'm unreasonably upset by this lol
Well, that was anticlimactic.
Mineral Town is up the hill but since they didn’t port the GBA link functionality it’s kinda moot point. Granted it isn’t like you could go to mineral town on the gamecube version. You went there in FOMT linked to the gamecube. The hot springs will be useful though especially in the early game.
Watched Josh's play though of this game, can't wait, it looks like a biiiiiig upgrade on all the other SoS games we have on Switch
Nothing to read into here.
I'm sure the player character is doing 6 hours of perfectly legal and/or wholesome activities off screen to pass the time.
Wow it's worst than Rain's Ultimate MK3 ending on Super NES.
Here's hoping that Mineral Town will become DLC in the future. Either way, I'm looking forward to this game!
Honestly, I think it would have made more sense for this to just be an invisible wall than a pointless time skip with a bit of text.
@Flying_Over_Trout whenever I see a GameCube for sale, it's about $30. The expensive part is the controllers and games.
Did anyone else used to get creeped out by the wind blowing sound by the hill? I loved how strangely unsettling it was
Could've sworn it was supposed to lead to Mineral Town. That's how it was in Harvest Moon DS too.
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