Harvest Moon: Animal Parade offers a vibrant and ambitious take on the farming sim formula. Players are tasked with restoring a dying land by reviving the Harvest Goddess and finding magical bells. The game boasts a large map, charming cast of characters, and even the ability to raise wild animals like circus performers. While the slow initial pace and some technical issues might initially hinder the experience, Animal Parade rewards dedication with satisfying progression, a heartwarming story, and the delightful addition of having two children who grow and change over time.

THE BEST HARVEST MOON GAME.

The rivalry system really makes this game feel alive. Every family and person feels connected. The kids are unique and meaningful, and having a family doesn’t feel unnecessary and makes the game so much better.

A bit slow-paced at times, and the only way I really enjoy playing it is on an emulator. This title is a perfect fit for a remake, especially after seeing how the AWL remake turned out.

I looked hard for this game, used or new I just couldn't find it. When I did I begged for it. It consumed me, and I sucked at it.
And I loved it.

This game is weird, more cutesy than the other installments of the franchise. But don't be fooled. If you're familiar with harvest moon you know the first few games were easy but the late 2000s gave us difficulty. Including this one. Which is what is missing from modern day farming simulators. They all want to be cute and cozy and theres nothing wrong with that but it never maintains my interest day to day. Animal Parade is the opposite. Huge bizarre stories. It feels magical, like living in an enchanted forest with myths and fairies. Your animals can DIE. You can seriously fuck up if you don't know what you're doing and it really makes this game.

Of course, it's beautiful art and atmosphere is synonymous with HM. This game is no exception.

a must play for farming sim obsessors.

If you know, you know 😂.

Before Hatoful Boyfriend, this game was the gateway drug to my otome game and dating sim life.

I remember replaying this around a year ago, and it is STILL a good game.

THE GOAT ! THE ABSOLUTE GOAT OF ALL FARMING GAMES ! STARDEW VALLEY, RUNE FACTORY 4, EVEN A WONDERFUL LIFE, THEY CAN ALL GO BACK HOME !

Good regular farming system. Nothing too crazy, but it's good. Got the good of what came before, and got rid of the bad.

Good characters ! Lacking in social events and heart events... But only in order to get the BEST family system in the whole series. Yes, even better than A Wonderful Life ! You get two kids ! They grow up ! They actually help in the farm ! Some great family events ! Birthdays !

Cool pets !

Fucking beautiful world !

Rival marriage and they get kids too !

declaring this game done. I rang all 5 bells. while the story technically continues, following that continuation just leads to new game plus, and I don't really care. this game never actually ends. but I'm done because I'm bored. the process to ring the last bell is incredibly annoying if you've not worked on friendships prior to that requirement coming up. guess who messed up on that front? :)

the process of making friends in this game is as tedious as it is in most Harvest Moon titles, though it feels even more so because of how big the areas are and how spread out people are. also, some of them are impossible to find on certain days. so yeah, lesson to anyone out there reading this review, considering playing this game: do not ignore the townsfolk, you will need to have 10 friends.(3 hearts or more)

this game is... a Lot. it's not terrible, but it's not... really good? idk lol. I played Tree of Tranquility on the Wii ages ago and never finished it because a couple of the rainbow recipes were obnoxious. still, I think it's the better game. I know, this game added the wizard and witch princess as marriage candidates. I know the wizard's got a million fangirls. I don't get it myself. he's boring. and not the sort of character I'm into. but really, all of the characters you can marry are boring. except maybe Maya, she's wacky and obnoxious. but her behavior and way of speaking make me think she's too young to be marrying anyone. thankfully she's the only really childish character. unless I'm mistaken, it seems like Animal Parade is the game that kickstarted having at least one marriageable character that looks and acts like they're under the age of 18. Sigh.
oh, I guess Luke is... not boring. but he is also obnoxious. sooooooooo. boring or obnoxious, take your pick. Luke's also a dumbass. I know some people are into that! :^)

that said, if you're in it for some farming, this game is good. I am not sure of the criteria of unlocks(animals specifically, a few crops are locked at the beginning, but only by story progress), but there's a good variety of crops and flowers to grow, and animals to raise. there's also a fuckton of stuff to cook. but cooking kind of sucks because you have to have your ingredients in the rucksack, and you have to cook dishes one at a time.

this game is called Animal Parade, but the actual animal parade you can see... isn't much of a parade. and you have to complete a quest of helping 3 animals to make it happen. not anything difficult in that quest, but I had an annoying time with it due to mistakes that I made.
the mayor of Flower Bud Village(Magical Melody), Theodore, is now a ringmaster. they did not give him a mouth, and chose to just make his mustache be like a mouth and so it's really fucking weird when he talks. the circus is something that is incredibly underwhelming. I am not sure why the game was pseudo themed around that, at least with the game title and box art. it's literally basically nothing. you don't even see townsfolk there ever! laaaaaaaame!
anyway, the 3 animals ran off during a visit to Harmonica Town and Theodore needs you to help them so they return. it's really dumb. but I guess they had to make the animal parade something you earn for whatever reason.

best positive thing I've got to say is that, even though the animal festival comes around once a year, it's awesome if your animals win because they wear little crowns!!! literally the most precious shit ever. why haven't more games done that. there was nothing more delightful than seeing my duck wear that little crown. so cute.

I was gonna write some more shit but I can't remember what I was gonna say. so, fuck it! I wrote plenty anyway

This is the first game to give me the same fix that Stardew Valley did. There's a lot of quality of life features that bafflingly don't persist in future games, like having time stop while inside a building. There are also a lot of frustrating things to deal with. The process of refining ore is just mean, and I can't envision myself ever being able to fully upgrade any piece of equipment with how rare it is not only to find the better quality ore, but also how I could so easily lose that material entirely after refining it. The way you call animals to ride is also a grievance. There is not a situation in which I would not want to ride my fastest animal after being able to, but the way it shuffles them around makes it so that I kinda have to deal with what they give me. The translation is also just goofy at times, considering the curse of Natsume still afflicts this game. This game also runs particularly shitty on the Wii, so if you can procure it by other means I would recommend it.

All that said, this is still a solid farming sim. The location is very nice. The bachelor's and bachelorette's are all winners, as well as the sizable list of other characters. The goals the game provides are fun enough and fairly reasonable. You can fly through a lot of this game which ends up leaving a lot of space between story events, but that's when you just let the catharsis of running your farm take over for however many hours. Though I have a lot to complain about, they are all fairly minor. This was a relaxing game that I sunk a huge amount of time into.