NOCLIP Pocket E21 - Summertime, Bitch - Harvest Moon GBC

I can not podcast, for I am a spirit. Welcome back to NOCLIP
Pocket! Today, we’re going to be talking about the first portable
entry in the Harvest Moon series. The GameBoy feels like the most
appropriate console for a game like Harvest Moon, with the success
of later entries in the series as well as things like Animal
Crossing excelling on portable platforms. Being able to quickly go
through a couple days of checking on your crops and performing
daily chores while on the go seems like it would comprise a simple
and relaxing gameplay loop to perform with the convenience of a
handheld. However, given how new the series was to the limited
hardware, the game ends up with some hiccups that make the
experience oscillate awkwardly between incredibly stressful and
exceedingly boring. There’s just something missing from this
installment (or a lot of somethings, in some cases) that fails to
meet expectations, even for fans of the genre. We’re going to talk
about stamina management on both the side of the player and
developer of the game, how this game makes us long for the
tutorials of modern games like the caress of a long lost lover, and
whether clearing out the tunnel in the tool shed in this game would
net you marvelous secrets, or just a “thank you” from a harvest
sprite. And call me a harvest sprite, because thank you for
listening to NOCLIP Pocket this week! Twenty-one is an exciting
birthday, but this was kind of a boring game, so to make up for
that lack of thematic consistency, for episode twenty-two we will
be playing Tick Tock: A Tale for Two, so be sure to come check that
out.