Harvest Moon DS: Sunshine Islands

Harvest Moon DS: Sunshine Islands (牧場物語 キラキラ太陽となかまたち, Bokujō Monogatari: Kira Kira Taiyō to Nakama Tachi, lit. "Farm Story: Shining Sun and Friends"), is a video game that was released on February 21, 2008 in Japan and November 12, 2009 in North America.[1] The seventeenth installment of the Story of Seasons series, and the fourth available for the Nintendo DS, the game closely resembles Harvest Moon DS: Island of Happiness; a section of the island from Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness is one of multiple islands in this game.[2] The player can choose to be a boy (Mark) or a girl (Chelsea).

Harvest Moon DS: Sunshine Islands
Developer(s)Marvelous Interactive
Publisher(s)
SeriesStory of Seasons
Platform(s)Nintendo DS
Release
  • JP: February 21, 2008
  • NA: November 12, 2009[1]
  • EU: December 3, 2010
  • AU: December 23, 2010
Genre(s)Farm simulation

Story

Many years before the events of the game, a powerful earthquake struck the Sunshine Islands, causing them to sink into the ocean. The player's task is to find the magical Sun Stones and restore the Sunshine Islands to their former glory.

Gameplay

Gameplay is split into four 30-day seasons to make up a year. Each day takes place over approximately fifteen minutes.

Unlike its predecessor, Harvest Moon DS: Island of Happiness, the player is not limited to controlling the game with the touch screen. Speaking to other characters within the game is either activated by tapping the character or pressing in the A button while facing them. The B button can be held while directing your character to bring him or her to a run. Although the player can now use the buttons, the old touchscreen control system is still intact.

Marriage

Like in other Harvest Moon games, the player is able to marry. The candidates are the same as in Harvest Moon DS: Island of Happiness with an additional candidate for each gender. The new candidate for the female player is Will, and for the male the new candidate is Lily. After a season of marriage, the player is able to have a child with their spouse. As in the other Harvest Moon games, the player must raise the heart level of the candidate in order to marry.

Development

The American pre-order bonus was a limited edition plush pig that was included with the game when ordered from participating retailers.

Reception

Nintendo Power gave the game a 7/10, noting "Sunshine Islands has a better understanding than previous handheld Harvest Moons of how to efficiently use the DS platform."[3] Metacritic has an aggregate score of 77/100 from 9 reviews for Harvest Moon DS: Sunshine Islands.[3]

References
  1. "Harvest Moon DS: Sunshine Islands Release Dates". Gamespot. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
  2. "Sunny Island". Ushi No Tane x8. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
  3. "Harvest Moon DS: Sunshine Islands for DS Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
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