Stardew Valley fans should make sure to check out recent Nintendo Switch Online addition Harvest Moon. Stardew Valley is the current face of the life/farming sim genre, with countless other games taking direct inspiration from it. However, Stardew Valley itself took a lot of inspiration from the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons franchise.
The first Harvest Moon game was released in 1996 in Japan and 1997 in North America. In it, players inherit a farm from their grandfather that they have to bring back to its former glory. When they're not busy tending to their crops or livestock, players are able to interact with the local villagers. This premise should sound very familiar to Stardew Valley fans, as that's exactly what happens in the hit indie game.
Stardew Valley features many differences from the original Harvest Moon, offering many more features and quality-of-life improvements. However, hardcore Stardew Valley fans may still want to go back and see where the genre got its start. The original Harvest Moon was a Super Nintendo exclusive re-released on the 3DS, Wii, and Wii U Virtual Consoles, all of which have since been shut down. This made it difficult for fans to play the original Harvest Moon on modern hardware, but that shouldn't be a problem now that the game is available on the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service.
For the uninitiated, Nintendo offers a Switch Online subscription service that gives subscribers access to a variety of retro games. There's the basic tier and the Expansion Pack, the latter of which is significantly more expensive but opens the door to Nintendo 64 games and other goodies. Luckily, Switch owners only need to be signed up for the basic Switch Online tier to get access to Super Nintendo games like Harvest Moon.
Stardew Valley fans that decide to check out Harvest Moon through their Switch Online subscription will likely find it interesting to compare it to ConcernedApe's game and see just how much the genre has evolved. It's unlikely they will enjoy it nearly as much as Stardew Valley, but it may still be a fun way to pass the time while waiting on the new Stardew Valley update to finally drop.
Stardew Valley update 1.6 is in active development, though much of what it will bring to the table remains a mystery at the time of this writing. It's been hinted that the new Stardew Valley update will add an iridium scythe to the game, but fans will have to wait for the official patch notes to get a full picture of everything it will have in store. In the meantime, they can try Harvest Moon through their Switch Online subscription.
