December 8th

Hello world, it's Calexta

Today I have another video game probably best known for removed gay content, but this time it was a regional change. Harvest Moon DS Cute is a second version of the video game Harvest Moon DS. While there are some plot differences between the two, the main feature of the game is that you play as a female protagonist as opposed to the regular release with a male player character. And likewise, to keep things hetero, instead of Harvest Moon DS' bachelorettes, your dating pool is the men who would act as your romantic rivals in the original.

The thing is the original Japanese release of the game, unlike the English localisation, didn't remove all of the bachelorettes from your dating pool and gave you the opinion to become "best friends" with the ladies, which was structurally identical to being married. But alas, they removed the gal pal feature from the English version of the game.

That being said, nowadays you can find a bunch of unofficial Harvest Moon mods that allow you to be gay on the farm. And that's if you haven't moved on to Stardew Valley, where your character is bi by default. Now if I could only find a mod to put Marlin, the Harvest Moon DS character who I married when I played "Cute" the first time, in Stardew Valley…

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Normally I leave your articles alone, Cal, but I have to pop in for just a moment for clarity. It feels deceptive to talk about regional changes for this franchise without bringing up Story of Seasons.

See, Harvest Moon is the original name that the Bokujō Monogatari franchise was given when it was brought abroad. The company Natsume maintained the North American licensing rights for the first decade and a half of its existence, and was thus responsible for the NA release’s lack of sapphic gal pals. However, when the original developers ended their contract with Natsume in the early 2010s, Natsume still had the IP rights to “Harvest Moon”-- just not Bokujō Monogatari. A series of original titles under the name followed, but fans weren’t swayed. Meanwhile, Bokujō Monogatari’s license found itself in the hands of Xseed Games, who continued development and distribution of the older titles under the new name Story of Seasons. Which, fun fact, is actually gayer than the original Japanese– in the Friends of Mineral Town remake, same-sex couples are officially called married in English while remaining “Best Friends” in Japan. Ah, cultural differences!]