Harvest Moon 2 GBC

For its time, Harvest Moon 2 GBC was a charming and very well made farming game on the Game Boy Color. Granted, this has been surpassed many times by games that have followed it from this series and of course, story of seasons, but there is a real charm to this game. It is simple, but at the same time, it has many of the features that you would expect from a game in this franchise. At the end of the day, it does what a good sequel should do and that is take what worked with the previous game and expand on it.

Farming Not Playing

There is a charming little plot here in Harvest Moon 2 GBC. You have taken over a farm and there is a desire by some to turn this land into an amusement park! In order for that not to happen, you have to work hard, make sure the farm is thriving and impress the mayor when they come to visit to check up on you. If they like the progress you have made, you get more time, if they do not… it is game over and you have to start again.

Tending To The Crops

As is the case with most Harvest Moon gams, making money is mostly done by your crops. You have to get seeds, plant seeds, water seeds and tend to them to have a good haul that you can then sell. One of the things that I would advise is building a hothouse as soon as you can as this way no matter what the season is, you can still have a steady source of income from your crops. There are some mini-games to mix things up a bit as well as various tools and items to collect as well. It always feels like there is something to do or something to be working towards in this game.

The Beastmaster!

Remember the awesome 80s movie The Beastmaster? Harvest Moon 2 GBC has nothing to do with that, it just popped into my head as I was thinking about how this game deals with animals. You can now tend to chickens which is fun, building the coop and then looking after them. You can go fishing and there are many species of fish in the game to catch. You can use a cow to make milk, sheep produce wool and chickens produce eggs.

You can also pick between a cat or a dog as a companion and these are more than just cosmetic. They each have a special ability. The dog will protect your livestock from unwanted pests such as foxes and the cat will go and find seeds for you. I found the dog to be more useful.

Pros:

• I liked having a dog as a companion
• I found tending to the animals to be a lot of fun
• The game has most of the features of the HM games of this era
• It has a ton of charm

Cons:

• The music is so bad and repetitive that I turned it off
• It is lacking in comparison to more modern games