I like the GBA entries. The DS games are also quite nice.
Discussion
I've never played the DS ones, I should try them some days, I'm curious about the SNES and PSX versions too.
I grew up with the PSX version, good times. The Harvest Moon DS is great, another good one on my list is the original Story of Seasons.
I'm also curious about the spin off "Rune Factory", have you played it?
I've played all of them. RF4 is the one I had the most fun with. I also liked RF: Oceans a lot, but people generally consider that game the worst entry.
I was curious because of the fantasy factor.
Also, I often found little gems under the label of "shitty games" I don't mind bad reviews.
They are still farming games in a way, and they use HM/SoS as a foundation. but the adventure/magical part certainly has become a bigger part of the franchise each time a new one came out. I like how they handle both sides. Oceans is my guilt pleasure, because it attempts to do a bunch of new stuff and it becomes too grindy in the long term, but I like it's very unique farming system.
And with that, down in my "next to try" list!
Thank you for sharing! 🤗