Bandai Namco Producer Koji Nakajima revealed a new Story of Seasons game is in development, most probably for Switch, via a Famitsu interview.
In this week’s Famitsu magazine, Marvelous announced they’re currently on the groundwork for a new Story of Seasons game. As a refresher, the latest game released in the series is Story of Seasons Friends of Mineral Town on Switch, a remake of Harvest Moon Friends of Mineral Town on Gameboy Advance.
We learned that via comments from Bandai Namco Producer Koji Nakajima, Story of Seasons Director Hikaru Nakano, and Brownies’ development director Shuhei Yamashita, included in the magazine. Nakano also stated the series will keep going, and this remake was just one of the steps moving forward.
While nothing was officially confirmed yet, it’s highly likely this new Story of Seasons game will be launching on Nintendo Switch. Marvelous has been launching all its past Story of Season games on Nintendo consoles for decades now. Considering the development team now took its marks on Switch with this remake, this is unlikely to change. Even more so when considering the Switch’s incredible sales.
Moreover, Doraemon Story of Seasons is also getting ported to PlayStation 4. It’ll launch in Japan on July 30, and its development is 85% complete. The game is already available on Nintendo Switch and on PC via Steam. In the interview, Producer Koji Nakajima mentions many players wished for a PS4 port, and they wanted to make one as soon as possible, but they first needed to focus on the game’s localization outside Japan. The PS4 version should be announced in the west quite soon.
Furthermore, Marvelous is working on a free update of Doraemon Story of Seasons that will be released soon after the PS4 version. The update will be available on the Switch, PS4, and PC version. Perhaps it will fix some of the game’s problems. Personally speaking, I wouldn’t recommend Doraemon Story of Seasons as of now. It’s grindy as hell, and playing it on PS4, instead of the Switch’s portability, will make it even worse. It’s not a bad game, but it’s still the worst Story of Seasons game in the series gameplay wise. It’s a shame, seeing the game is really beautiful, being developed by Brownies, Shinichi Kameoka’s studio. He was the main artist and character designer of Square’s Mana/Seiken series.
You can read here our Doraemon Story of Seasons review.
Bokujo Monogatari Friends of Mineral Town on Switch launched in Japan on October 17, 2019. The remake most notably adds two new characters, Brander and Jennifer, compared to the original. The game will be available in Europe and Australia on July 10, 2020. The USA release date wasn’t specified yet besides “Summer”. In any case, with all due respect to Marvelous and Xseed, I have to say this is a pretty long wait for those awaiting this English version. If you’re studying Japanese, I’d recommend picking up the game in Japanese as it’s fairly easy to understand.( It includes Furigana.) Even more so if you already played the original GBA game.
Last but not least, Rune Factory 4 Special is also available on Switch, read our review here. Marvelous is also currently working on Rune Factory 5 on Switch and it’s, for now, scheduled to launch in the second half of 2020. I wouldn’t be surprised if it got delayed to 2021. In any case, be sure to check out our explanation and introduction to the Rune Factory series.
Update: Added more details now that Famitsu is officially available.
Source: Weekly Famitsu Magazine May 7 2020 issue
