Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns

Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns is a farming simulation game from Marvelous Entertainment, released for the Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS as part of the Story of Seasons series. Natsume Inc. brought it to North America on September 20, 2011 for the DS and November 1, 2011 for the 3DS. In Japan, its original release date of February 25, 2010 was pushed back to July 8, 2010. The DS version is called Harvest Moon DS, while the 3DS version is Harvest Moon 3D. New features include animals like Alpacas and Honey Bees, plus a Pickle Pot for making pickled turnips. An enhanced 3DS version, Bokujō Monogatari: Futago no Mura+, came out in Japan on December 14, 2017, adding improved controls.

The story begins hundreds of years before the game, when the towns of Bluebell and Konohana were connected by a tunnel. A fierce argument over whose cooking was better led the Harvest Goddess to destroy the tunnel, cutting off most contact. Centuries later, the towns remain bitter rivals, only communicating during a weekly cooking festival. The player, whose default names are Mark (male) or Chelsea (female), rides a horse up the mountain between the towns. A fox jumps into the road, causing the horse to collapse. Mayors Rutger (Bluebell) and Ina (Konohana) find the player, who can't remember which town they lived in. Each mayor claims the player is from their town, but the choice is up to the player. After settling in, the Harvest Goddess asks the player to help reconcile the towns through cooking festivals. Once the rivalry ends, she restores the tunnel, and the villagers throw a party.

In gameplay, the player picks a gender and chooses to live in Bluebell, which specializes in animals, or Konohana, which focuses on crops. The farm's features differ based on the town. As in other Harvest Moon games, the player must water crops and raise animals, and can fulfill requests from each town's message board. Choosing a town doesn't lock the player out of the other—they can travel between them and interact with all townspeople. The player can also marry a bachelor or bachelorette from either town, depending on the player's gender.

The cooking festival is a contest between the two towns, held four times per season. The player can participate or cheer for their town. Each town fields three participants who present a dish to a judge.