For me personally, I think the gameplay I enjoy most is Harvest Moon DS / DS Cute. I can play that game for hours upon hours!
I think all the games are fun, of course, but I really like the way DS uses its main quest - I like collecting the sprites by doing various tasks. My only complaint is that for 100% completion, some of the requirements are a bit TOO out there! Still, I have very fond memories of this one.
Magical Melody has a similar gameplay feature, collecting notes, which I also enjoy. I think that level of collection is more manageable, but I still think DS is 'the most fun'. This is actually different to my all-time favourite, Animal Parade, because while I prefer the game's features overall I think the 'funness' of the quests could be streamlined a bit.
💍 - First bachelor/ette you married?
MARIAAAAA, I GOTTA SEE HER
OK but now that SNES has come to Nintendo Online I'm definitely going to be marrying her again. I've married Eve and Nina on other playthroughs, and I'd like to marry Ellen and Ann sometime, but I keep going back to Maria because she's my favourite. She's a bit different in Magical Melody though, I've not married her in that...
SNES must have been an early time for videogames, because never again has a character bold facedly asked me if I believed in God as a Yes/No prompt.
If I try to cast my mind back, I think the first bachelor I married was probably ... Pierre? I didn't play Mineral Town until much later, and the only way I could play DS Cute for ages was on emulator. It would've been Carl if I had the means, I still tried to propose to him as a dude :(
ok so. they’re not colored yet but here’s a thing. people have been talking about the possibility of a HM:DS/HM:DS cute remake! so I re-designed a bunch of the harvest moon DS boys because wow they really could use a re-design.
This post will just be a list of the name differences between AWL characters and their supposed descendants in DS/cute (the ones I haven’t mentioned in other posts in depth)! I’ll try to include some fun facts too, and I’ll include the Mineral Town Characters that may be connected.
Fun Facts: In HM64, Karen is his cousin. In DScute, Karen (Kali カーリー) is Celia’s cousin. In FoMT canon, Cliff has a sister that he doesn’t know the location of. In Magical Melody, the character Ray kind of looks like him.
Gray: [DScute: Paapuru パープル]
Fun Facts: His name in DScute is... Purple. That’s right, Purple. There is also the character Blue in Magical Melody, who has the same design as Gray. In HM64, Gray’s sister is Ann and his cousin is Rick. I can’t believe his name is fucking Purple.
Kai: [DScute: Ain アイン]
Fun Facts: Kai mean shellfish in Japanese.
Rick: [DScute: Mick ミック]
Fun Facts: In FoMT, Rick works at the Poultry Farm, but in DS/cute, he answers the phone for Yodel Ranch. In HM64, Rick is Gray and Ann’s cousin, but in DScute, Mick is Popuri’s older brother.
Trent: [DScute: Torre トーレ] [FoMT/BtN/: Doctor]
Fun Facts: No one knew his name was Trent until Sunshine Islands/Island of Happiness. Up until then, he was simply known as Doctor. In Magical Melody, the character Alex (Azuma アズマ) has the same appearance.
Mason: [His name is just Mason. There is no Japanese name available.]
Fun Facts: While Mason only appears in DScute, he is the grandson of May, Barley’s granddaughter in FoMT. We never meet Mason, nor do we know what he looks like, but we can assume he’d look closely related to May.]
Ann: [DScute: Aafi アーフィ]
Fun Facts: In HM64, Ann is Gray’s sister. In DS/cute, her only relative is her dad. In her yellow heart event in DScute, Aafi gets into a fight with Muffy over you.
Karen: [DScute: Kali カーリー]
Fun Facts: In DScute, Kali is Celia’s cousin. In FoMT canon (plus Karen’s appearance in Sunshine Islands/Island of Happiness), Karen marries Rick and hangs out with Popuri, her sister-in-law, a lot. The Wikia places her age at 18-20, despite age not being provided for any of the other “Mineral Town Bachelorettes.”
Popuri: [DScute: Arisa/Alisa アリサ]
Fun Facts: Arisa/Alisa is very attached to Takakura, since he teaches her about chickens. Instead of Mick (who we would assume would do so because of the name Rick), Arisa/Alisa answers the phone for the Poultry Farm. In HM64, Popuri and Rick are not related.
Mary: [DScute: Marivia マリヴィア]
Fun Facts: Marivia gets introduced as Lumina’s best friend in DScute. She also informs us that the farm in Mineral Town is used generation to generation and is very successful.
Elli: [DScute: Erisu/Elise エリス]
Fun Facts: Elise explains during a visit with Romana that Elli, her anscestor, wrote a book that talked about massage therapy. Elli’s appearance in Tree of Tranquility is the Elli from Flowerbud Village, NOT from Mineral Town.
Fun Facts: In AWL, her age in the normal edition is 14, and in the special edition, she is 18. When you finish chapter 1 in AWL, she grows up whether you marry her or not. If you marry Nami in AWL, your son will express having a crush on Lumina.
Here are some notes about the other villagers:
Chris has the same name in both DS/cute and AWL. Her husband, Wally is Suarii スアリー in AWL and Asurii アスリー in DS/cute. Their son, Hugh, is Hyuu ヒュー in AWL and Shuren シュレン in DScute.
Cody is known as Gordy ゴーディ in AWL and Goldy ゴルディ in DS/cute.
Daryl has basically the same name in both games.
In AWL, Nina is Nina ニーナ and her husband Galen is Gari ガリ. In DS/cute, Nina is Anna アンナ, and Galen is Gasuto/Gust ガスト. In both games, Nina dies and Galen lives. In AWL, Nina is 67 years old and Galen is 68 years old. Nina, in DS/cute, is an experienced midwife.
In AWL, Grant’s name is Guraato グラート, but in DS/cute, he is simply Grant. His wife in AWL, Samantha/San サン, is not seen in DS/cute due to the fact that Grant has divorced from his wife and has sole custody of their daughter, Kate. Grant explains that Samantha (unnamed ex-wife in DS/cute) walked out on them, and Kate blames her father for it. In AWL, Kate’s name is Keito ケイト, and in DS/cute, her name is simply Kate (basically, it’s the same name).
Dr. Hardy’s name in AWL is Paddock パドック, and in DS/cute, his name is Badoggu バドッグ. In AWL, he is 52 years old.
Kassey (Kesaran ケサラン in AWL and Kesara ケサラ in DS/cute) and his brother Patrick (Pasaran パサラン in AWL and Pasara パサラ in DS/cute) appear in both games as the same role: pyrotechnics. Kassey is apparently better at it than Patrick is, which makes them the world’s Number 1 and 2 pyrotechnics. In both AWL and DS/cute, Kassey has a crush on Muffy.
Mukumuku ムクムク is a legendary snow monster that appears in both games, as well as in A New Beginning. He’s talked about by the villagers, but is regarded as a myth. The harvest sprites call him the “Guardian of the Forest.”
In AWL, Murrey is named Moi モイ. In DS/cute, Murrey is simply named Murrey, but says “Moi” in his dialogue. In DS/cute, it is said that he has no family and his life before Forget-Me-Not is unknown. In AWL, Moi states that he came from a place called Po-Po Valley, and that he has children that he misses (when you show him your child in chapter 2). The flies that buzz around him in AWL are named Brad and Janet, and the flies are seen on Murrey in DS/cute, too.
In AWL, Romana is named Romana ロマナ, and in DS/cute, her name is Panama パナマ. Panama collects paintings, some of which are painted by a man named Jeff who lived in Mineral Town (it is assumed that this is the same Jeff who is Karen’s father). In AWL, Romana hardly ages and even outlives you, despite her being 62 at the beginning of the game.
Sebastian セバスチャン has the same name in both games. He, too, does not seem to age in AWL and outlives you, despite being 63. He has known Romana/Panama since they were both younger, and has been a butler/servant for his whole life.
In AWL, Ruby is named Ruu/Luu ルウ, and in DS/cute, her name is Rui/Louis ルイ. Her husband, Tim, is unnamed and unseen in DS/cute, due to him travelling. In AWL, she is 47 years old.
Thomasトーマス appears in several games throughout the series under the same name, and is the Mayor of Mineral Town/Flowerbud Village. His son is Harris, the police officer in Mineral Town or the mail man in Flowerbud Village (it should be noted that Harris and Thomas are not related, but friends in Back to Nature). Harris has a crush on Manna and Duke’s Daughter Aja (who has left Mineral Town after a fight with Duke).
Van (Ban) バーン is a travelling salesman who appears in both games under the same name. He also appears in FoMT, but as Van (Ban but different spelling) バァン.
Okay that’s it. That’s all I’ve got. RIP my hands from typing this. Enjoy.
Every time I've played HMDS/AWL I've married Nami but in my most recent playthrough of HMDS I decided to marry a special girl for a change, I picked Keira and I felt weirdly guilty about it. Our son ended up having red hair and blue eyes which made me feel even more weird about the whole thing.
