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Wikipedia

Hometown Story

For the Folks song, see Hometown Story (song).
For the 1951 film, see Home Town Story.

Hometown Story (ホームタウンストーリー, Hōmutaun Sutōrī) is a 2013 life-simulation video game for the Nintendo 3DS directed by Yasuhiro Wada, produced by Toybox Inc. and distributed by Natsume Inc. for North America, Rising Star Games for Europe,[4] and Spike Chunsoft for Japan. It was released for iOS on June 10, 2014 under the name Hometown Story Pocket.

Hometown Story
Developer(s)Hyde, Inc.
Toybox Inc.
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Yasuhiro Wada
Producer(s)Yasuhiro Wada
Designer(s)Satoshi Hirano
Genki Kimura
Artist(s)Atsuko Nishida
Writer(s)Mayu Sakura
Composer(s)Nobuo Uematsu[3]
Tsutomu Narita
Platform(s)Nintendo 3DS, iOS
Release3DS
  • NA: October 22, 2013
  • JP: December 12, 2013
  • EU: May 12, 2014[1]
  • AU: July 24, 2014
iOS
June 10, 2014
Genre(s)Simulation, role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

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The main character is in charge of running a shop inherited from their deceased grandmother. The player is capable of arranging and stocking the shelves of their shop to their preference and can eventually expand on the size of the shop. In a similar vein to the Harvest Moon series the player is able to interact and befriend various townspeople. The town that the player resides in will consist of ten people at first and eventually build its way to one hundred non-player characters that the player can meet depending on their actions over the course of the story.[5]

Plot

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The player receives a letter that directs them back to the village from where they grew up. Returning there, they find a shop that was once owned by their grandmother. Inside, they meet Pochica, a flying mouse-like sprite who is a friend of the player's grandmother, who has passed away. Pochica requests for the player to take over the shop. As the player runs the shop and interacts with the villagers (including a talking scarecrow, a young dragon, and the Harvest God), they also assist people with their various problems by selling them things that they need.

Development

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The game went under the codename of "Project Happiness" and was described as being a game to spread happiness. Wada stated that the game would take place within the Harvest Moon universe, but would be an overall different experience.[6] The game was released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2013, and was supposed to be released for iOS on the same year,[7][8] but it was delayed to June 10, 2014. However, the iOS version does not include the entire content of the game, because Wada wanted it to be a more compact experience.[9][8] The 3DS version was released on October 22, 2013 in North America. Rising Star Games published the same handheld version in Europe May 2014, as the creator Yasuhiro Wada confirmed during Gamescom.[10]

It was featured at E3 2013.[3]

Reception

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The 3DS version received "generally unfavorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[11] IGN praised the graphics and soundtrack, but noted that the unclear conditions to unlock cutscenes are frustrating, as well as the controls.[15] In Japan, however, Famitsu gave it a score of one eight, two sevens, and one eight for a total of 30 out of 40.[12]

References

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  1. ^ Morris, Ian (April 4, 2014). "Free Pokémon downloads for X and Y, Hometown Story's release date, and Video Games Live Returns". Outcyders. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  2. ^ ""PROJECT HAPPINESS" OFFICIALLY NAMED HOMETOWN STORY". Rising Star Games. March 12, 2013. Archived from the original on September 22, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Natsume's Hometown Story Available For Play At E3" (PDF). Natsume Inc. May 29, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  4. ^ Sahdev, Ishaan (March 4, 2013). "Harvest Moon Creator's Next Game Is Hometown Story". Siliconera. Enthusiast Gaming. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  5. ^ Skrebels, Joe (September 29, 2013). "Hometown Story preview (Page 2)". Official Nintendo Magazine. Future plc. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  6. ^ Lopez, Jacob (June 7, 2012). "Harvest Moon creator wants to spread happiness with his new game". VentureBeat. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  7. ^ Nicholson, Brad (March 13, 2013). "'Project Happiness' Becomes 'Hometown Story,' Totally Coming This Year". TouchArcade. TouchArcade.com, LLC. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  8. ^ a b Priestman, Chris (September 16, 2013). "Harvest Moon's creator's Hometown Story is coming to iOS, but with IAPs and less content". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media Ltd. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  9. ^ Cocke, Taylor (March 12, 2013). "Hometown Story is Harvest Moon Creator's New Game". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  10. ^ "Gamescom 2013: Hometown Story - Yasuhiro Wada Interview". Gamereactor. Gamez Publishing A/S. August 30, 2013. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  11. ^ a b "HomeTown Story for 3DS Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  12. ^ a b Valay, Brian (December 3, 2013). "Famitsu review scores (12/3/13)". Nintendo Everything. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  13. ^ Wallace, Kimberley (October 22, 2013). "Hometown Story Review". Game Informer. GameStop. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  14. ^ "Review: Hometown Story". GamesMaster. Future plc. July 2014. p. 79.
  15. ^ a b Sullivan, Meghan (November 4, 2013). "Hometown Story Review". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  16. ^ van Duyn, Marcel (May 1, 2014). "Hometown Story Review". Nintendo Life. Future plc. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  17. ^ Ronaghan, Neal (November 4, 2013). "Hometown Story". Nintendo World Report. NINWR, LLC. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  18. ^ "Hometown Story review". Official Nintendo Magazine. Future plc. June 2014. p. 86.
  19. ^ Spencer, Spanner (June 17, 2014). "Hometown Story Pocket". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media Ltd. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  20. ^ Diener, Matthew (November 5, 2013). "Hometown Story [Import]". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media Ltd. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  21. ^ den Ouden, Adriaan (December 12, 2013). "Hometown Story - Review". RPGamer. CraveOnline. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  22. ^ Khaw, Cassandra (October 25, 2013). "This is a Hometown Story Not to Tell the Kids : Review". USgamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on July 29, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
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