Harvest Moon 64 gets the player’s guide it deserves, 20 years later

Harvest Moon 64 remains one of the most beloved entries in the long-lived farming franchise, even two decades after launch. One fan who remains enamored of the classic is now giving back to the community — by crowdfunding a massively detailed players’ guide, the first of its kind for the game.

Matthew Gerry runs Gerry’s Guides, a site dedicated to creating complete, old school-style walkthroughs for retro games; he also creates video guides for old favorite N64 games. His primary undertaking has been crafting a player’s guide for Harvest Moon 64, a game that never received a bound guide back in 1999, when publishers would release official walkthroughs for a plethora of games.

“I always thought it was unfortunate that Harvest Moon 64, my favorite game, didn’t have a guide made for it (especially since there were so many undocumented things in it) so I decided I’d make one for myself,” Gerry said, citing his desire to explain things as simple as using farm tools to more difficult unlockables.

While the book first launched on iTunes in 2016 — it’s still available there for $6.99 — Gerry’s now on Kickstarter with the hopes of making a free, more widely accessible version of the guide.

What he’s shown so far looks beautiful, with original art and high-resolution character models accompanied by key details. An even prettier bound prototype, shown off in the video above, was offered to backers pledging $1,000. Those are all sold out already, but Gerry says he’s now looking to make limited print editions for hardcore fans.

The campaign is open for the next 48 days. A sample version of the guide is available to check out now.

Fans have worked to create walkthroughs and guides for years; there’s a whole website dedicated to unofficial FAQs, after all. But this Kickstarter project is especially cool: For one, the $3,500 campaign goal is set to cover converting the guide to a Kindle version, as well as supporting Gerry to release a free download of the guide. But more importantly, it’s a reminder that even seemingly niche games like Harvest Moon 64 continue to resonate with fans, even nearly 20 years later.