Branch Story: Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Kid
Following up on an old request to post about life sims beyond the Story of Seasons and Rune Factory series, we're branching out to something that's maybe not quite that different: A life simulation game by the creator of our favorite series, Yasuhiro Wada, collabing with another life simulation legend, the creator of Boku no Natsuyasumi, Kaz Ayabe:
For those unfamiliar with the second half of that dynamic duo, Boku no Natsuyasumi is one of the oldest life sim series, starting development a year after the original Bokujou Monogatari launched on Super Famicom and ultimately releasing in the year 2000. Games in the series are typically set in August of 1975 and focus on a young boy trying to get the most out of their month of Summer vacation by exploring their surroundings, catching bugs, fish, and meeting interesting or strange people.
Natsu-Mon is something of a spiritual successor to the concept, keeping most of it intact but now taking place in 1999 and being a little more fantastic as it gives your protagonist a much broader set of exploration possibilities in something like a Breath of the Wild-ification of the concept. It's not as unnatural as it sounds, at least to me, since the ability to climb just about anything is absolutely part of what I remember about being a kid. The glider might be a little much... but I remember trying to make one of those as a kid too, so...
Living in 1999
Though the game takes place in a fictional town in a country you may have never grown up in, the game manages to maintain a strong sense of time and place. Whether you were a kid or an adult during 1999, characters will reference recent or current events. Though they don't usually directly name things, it's easy to pick out references and deduce when people are discussing The Phantom Menace as a movie they saw recently, or that a character recently purchased a SEGA Dreamcast based on how she describes the commercial she saw. If someone mentions something vaguely, there's a good chance they're talking about a real event.
Set-dressing aside, the most important time and place is "here" and "now." You only have about 30 days in this town to adventure with wild abandon, so make it count! Fortunately there's a pretty robust event and collectible journal system, and one of your family friends can provide fortunes to give you hints as to where any special events occurring that day might be.
Those are just video game-y suggestions though. My play-through the Auguest before last was mostly determined by deciding a thing I wanted to do in the morning and then trying to do it. Sometimes I found something cool, sometimes I met someone, sometimes I just kind of wandered around. Somehow, my encyclopedia ended up with 253/256 pages filled, so I guess that's just as valid as any other way to play. Without any guides available on release, the game itself was more than happy to let the player get the most out of it by just doing their best to engage with what was in front of them.
Exploring Yomogi Town
Of course, being in a new place wouldn't be all that interesting without a lot of new people to meet and learn about. Some of the people you meet are more interesting than others, but there's about 30 to meet and each with their own little stories, their own daily schedules, and things to learn about them. Whether their role is big or small, it can be fun to see what everyone's up to each day and maybe end up going on an unexpected adventure, or just channel the mindset of a kid you might remember being a long time ago and pester them with inane questions every day just to see what they'll say this time. Some townsfolk may also arrive or leave town suddenly, so things never feel too static.
If you'd rather not talk to anyone at all, that's just as well too.
Well, that's about all I can say without getting too specific. This is one of those kinds of games I think is really worth just exploring for yourself, so I tried not to give away too many of my favorite moments or expound on any specific character that stood out to me.
... Y'know, I started writing this as Summer of 2025 started to end, but ended up spending too much time playing Guardians of Azuma and Grand Bazaar, and now we're closing in on Summer of 2026... Life moves so fast now, it's almost dizzying. Even so, it's been almost two years since I last set foot in Yomogi Town, but I still remember it very fondly, and still think about the characters a lot. I guess if that's not a glowing endorsement, I dunno what is.
Remarkably, in spite of the game being out for over a year, going on two, there's still hardly anything on the English internet about the game. Even my favorite music tracks still aren't on Youtube or anywhere! So, if you've never tried it, I think now is probably a great time to do it. It'll probably be a pretty fresh experience for you. A great way to spend your own Summer this year.
Also, this isn't the only time we've talked about lifesims outside the farming genre. Check out our article on Shenmue if you'd like:
Long, long ago; in the year 1999, the term "life sim" wasn't used as often or understood as well as it is today. Boku no Natsuyasumi wouldn'
