Category:Media (Harvest Moon: Back to Nature)

Magazine Ads

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  English Ad 2000

Magazine Articles

Videos

• Marvelous Official Play Video Back to Nature for Boy

• Marvelous Official Play Video Back to Nature for Girl

• Promotional Video

Commercials

• Japanese TVCM 1999

Origins of Bokujou Monogatari Harvest Moon & For Girl

Originally known in development as "Bokujou Monogatari Return to the Ranch", Back to Nature (Western localized title) was intended to be a full port of 牧場物語２ (Harvest Moon 64) from Nintendo 64 to Sony Playstation. Yasuhiro Wada left the project in the hands of a skeleton crew, but the crew was not given any oversight. Thus, existing elements were thrown out, additional elements were brought in, and the game became an entirely new entity on its own. Flowerbud Village no longer existed; instead, Mineral Town took its place. Existing relationships between characters changed, and new characters were created without giving notice to Wada or series artist Matsuyama Igusa. In Ranchstory's interview with Matsuyama^[1], they discuss how they were brought back to the development scene to make additional images.

By the time I had learned about Harvest Moon: Back to Nature, it was already far into the development of the game. I received a request along the lines of “We tried to port the character portraits, but the size isn’t big enough. Please help us.” So, I ended up recreating Harvest Moon 64’s illustrations [for Back to Nature].

“Doctor,” “Won,” and “Carter” did not previously exist in Harvest Moon 64. In regards to those three, I actually was not the one who designed them. The staff had already designed them before I joined (there were chibi models already in place on-screen), and I was asked to make illustrations to match [the game models].

Claire and Bokujou Monogatari

Matsuyama Igusa has gone on record^[2] to say that Claire's relationship to the Bokujou Monogatari series was purely fictional, as she was supposed to remain a figure that only appeared in the official manga. In the Bokujou Monogatari Harvest Moon Special Comic, which was finished before the development of Back to Nature was complete, Claire has an extensive history with Sarah Kisaragi, Pete, and members of Flowerbud Village. She also has a living mother, whereas the Claire of the game has no living relatives.

References