The Harvest Moon DS game combines elements both of Wonderful/Another Wonderful
Life and Friends/More Friends of Mineral Town. At present, only the boy's
version of the game is available in the United States, but there is a girl's
version in Japanese. This guide will deal with the boy's version, although the
two basically are the same in terms of gameplay.
As with other Harvest Moon games, you begin the game with 500G and a derelict
farm. In the DS game, you have a cat as well as a dog. Your farm is situated
in Forget-Me-Not Valley and the map is very much like the map for AWL/AnWL.
The characters are the same for the most part as well. By inserting your FoMT
or MFoMT cartridge into your DS, you will unlock extra characters from Mineral
Town. These include the five eligible girls from FoMT as well as the
bachelors. The bachelors will not be your rivals here, however.
Your missions are to build a successful farm and successful life as well as
rescuing the 101 Harvest Sprites who have been sent to another world by the
Witch Princess. The Harvest Goddess has been turned to stone and must be
rescued. By finding 60 Sprites, you will bring her back to life again.
The Witch Princess is a new character, and other new characters include a
mermaid named Leia and a Sleeping Beauty named Keria. All these magical
creatures are eligible spouses as well as the ordinary eligible girls of
Forget-Me-Not Valley. The ordinary girls are: Celia, Flora, Lumina, Muffy and
Nami.
As with FoMT and MFoMT, you need to upgrade your farm by building sheds for
livestock and poultry, as well as expanding your farmhouse. As in Magical
Melody, you can grow crops not only on your own field, but on any 'public
land'. You can grow trees as well as crops here and you can have up to three
Basements in which crops can be grown in all seasons, provided only that you
place the corresponding 'Sun' in the basement.
For purposes of acquiring seeds, you have a number of choices: Karen's
Supermarket in Mineral Town, Vesta's Store and the Sprite Casino. A new aspect
that appears in this game is the ability to order items by telephone from shops
in Mineral Town. You actually have your own telephone now in the DS game,
and do not have to pay to use a telephone in a public Inn!