Life, it has often been observed, is not fair. If it were, lawyers wouldn't exist and then where would we all be? The particular unfairness in question here though is that Harvest Moon DS is the best-selling game in the series, by a country mile, and yet is also – by an equally inexact measurement, some will say – the worst.
Unfortunately it's the only one of the more-than-a-decade-old series that ever got any advertising so that's the one people bought, despite the fact that it was a not-at-all-disguised retread of Friends of Mineral Town on the Game Boy Advance. If you must know.
Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness though is a proper DS game, designed for the console from the ground up.
Josh from Controller Crusade writes "Anyone who has followed the Harvest Moon franchise since it burst on the scene in 1997 (1996 in Japan) knows the many ups and downs it has endured. The odd thing about Harvest Moon games is that even when they’re not that great they are still incredibly addicting. Depending on what aspect of the games you like to focus on, you’ll enjoy certain titles more than others. Personally I like to mix it up and do a little bit of everything, not pigeon hole myself into one type of task or chore. Here are my personal highs and lows for the Harvest Moon series."
Russ looks at the RPGs heading to North American retailers in November.
411mania talks about this week's game releases. Highlights include Dissidia: Final Fantasy, Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Cursed Mountain, and Harvest Moon: Magical Melody.