Top 5 Suggestions for Stardew Valley Switch Lovers

by

Stardew Valley is an indie farming simulation RPG that was released on PC in February 2016 and then ported for everything but Nintendo…until today. As of October 5, 2017, you can now download it off the Nintendo Switch eShop, and for just $14.99. In Stardew Valley “Switch” (it’s the same game), you just inherited your grandpa’s huge yet messy farm plot in a place called – you guessed it – Stardew Valley, as well as his dirty, worn-out tools and some pocket change (thanks a lot, Gramps). So you leave your cushy office job to live the life of a farmer, but there’s way, way more than just tending to your farm and making bank; you find yourself mining and crafting, flirting with the locals to get married, even fighting monsters such as mummies and things called “Shadow Shamans.” It’s totally up to you and the possibilities are near endless.

This game is a great entry into the world of farming sims and Stardew Valley may just leave you wanting to till other fertile fields on your Nintendo consoles; here are a list of the top 5 not-to-be-missed series for beginning farmhands!

Harvest Moon

The original farming simulator by Natsume! Stardew Valley’s creators were actually inspired by the Harvest Moon series. It all started in 1997 with Harvest Moon for the SNES but the series took an unfortunate downward spiral after Magical Melody dropped for the GameCube in 2006. Have no fear though, I’m here to point you in the right direction when it comes to which Harvest Moon titles to give a shot:

  • Harvest Moon 64 (1999, Nintendo 64)
  • Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town (2003, Game Boy Advance, 2015, Wii U)
  • Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life (2003, GameCube)
  • Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (2006, GameCube, 2009, Wii)

These games offer you a great combination of farming, customization and role-playing. And if you’re looking for an updated version, check out Harvest Moon 3D: A New Beginning on the Nintendo 3DS (2012). It’s pretty decent for a modern Harvest Moon. But whatever you do, do NOT bother with Harvest Moon: Light of Hope which came out this past summer (2017) for the Nintendo Switch. It’s dreadful.

Story of Seasons

The Story of Seasons series is the continuation of the Harvest Moon series under a different name due to getting acquired by Marvelous Inc. (formerly Natsume) and then localized by their American publishing brand XSEED Games. It’s a good thing the games are still being brought to the West, because both existing titles, Story of Seasons (2015) and Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns (2017), for the Nintendo 3DS are a joy to play. This series is basically a prettier-looking, smoother (though less traditional) Harvest Moon experience, which is similar to Stardew Valley, with the ultimate goal of working with your fellow farmers to make your town famous.

And if you like Story of Seasons, get hyped because XSEED Games announced they are big fans of the Nintendo Switch and will be developing their upcoming games for it.

Fantasy Life

Now, if you’ve taken a liking to the combat side of Stardew Valley more than the farming side, then do I have a game for you: Fantasy Life (2014) by Level-5 on the Nintendo 3DS. You choose from one of twelve “Lifes” (classes): Alchemist, Angler, Blacksmith, Carpenter, Cook, Hunter, Magician, Mercenary, Miner, Paladin, Tailor or Woodcutter, and then set out on a quest to either save the kingdom or just build a successful life for yourself, or both. The combat, crafting, exploring, customization, building, etc. are all simple and fun. Similarly to Stardew Valley, the choice is yours every step of the way and don’t worry, you can change your Life whenever (as long as you’re not in the middle of a quest!)

P.S. Fantasy Life Online, the sequel, is coming soon.

Rune Factory

Marvelous, Natsume and XSEED Games are behind the Rune Factory series, described by one of the producers as the “Harvest Moon where you wield a sword.” It all started with Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (yes, it’s actually called that) in 2007 on the Nintendo 3DS. You farm it up, craft it up and build up relationships with the other villagers as you do in Stardew Valley but the game mainly focuses on the action part – delving through dungeons and fighting anything that looks at you the wrong way. And instead of purchasing livestock you befriend monsters in dungeons. Cool, right?

If you’re intrigued, all the titles are good but Rune Factory 4 (2013) on the Nintendo 3DS is the newest and is a total banger. Unfortunately it is currently unknown whether the series will ever see additional development.

Terraria

Last but not least, Terraria. This 2D sandbox developed by Re-Logic came out of nowhere in 2011 on PC and made serious waves before hitting the Nintendo 3DS in 2015, then the Wii U in 2016. It’s like the lovechild of Minecraft and Metroid. You start off in a freshly generated world with basic tools and then go crazy. There’s caves with minerals to extract, materials to build an empire out of, vendors to attract and fill your empire with, different biomes to explore and awesome equipment and insane weapons to craft or find and then use to demolish loads of monsters (including bosses) coming your way. It takes the endless possibilities of Stardew Valley and kind of multiplies it by infinity for countless hours of fun.

And if you’re too busy with Stardew Valley Switch or the other great games in this list, there’s no harm in waiting it out because 505 Games (the publisher) announced in February 2017 that Terraria is coming to the Nintendo Switch real soon.

So, back to playing some more Stardew Valley Switch? Or, will you be taking a swing (with your sickle, because farming) at one of the great titles on this list?

Supporters

Nick F

Smearg

Foil Island

Conglome NERD

alcremie sundae

Radiant Blutle

Zachery

Dragoniteo

Austin John Plays

Help support our work by becoming a Patron on Patreon! Swadloon Platoon members and above will be added to our site supporters list!

852 thoughts on “Top 5 Suggestions for Stardew Valley Switch Lovers”

  2. Huge wall about my Fakemon game (lol, talk about a throwback to all the fakemon spam)

    Haven’t seen anyone else share their rivals yet :0

    Violetta (‘Violet’, from Ultraviolet)

    A quiet, yet abrasive sixteen year old girl. Even under the golden sun of Illiux, she retains her deathly parlour. She dresses in a very punk/goth sort of way, with long hair shaved on one side and her lips a shade of nocturnal violet.

    She was once your bubbly, girly-girl friend as a child, but moved away to the Kalos region with her father and stepmother. When she came back to Illiux to start her journey, she had completely changed. She prefers using Pokémon that look weird or intimidating.

    In Ultraviolet, Violetta plays a much more major role, as you end up spending more time with her during a fateful event. She spontaneously chooses the starter Pokémon strong against yours, unsure about such an important choice.

    In Infrared, she is still a major character, but not as important as yourself or Alfredo. She just happens to decide upon the starter weak to yours in this version. She’s also a bit more abrasive towards Alfredo in this version.

    Alfredo (Red, from Infrared)

    A bright, bubbly brainiac who can sometimes come across as a bit cocky. He wears bright colours such as white and red, contrasting Violetta to a t – even their skin colours contrast!

    Alfredo was also your friend as a child, moving from Kalos with his parents at a very young age. He’s pretty much never changed, which may be a source of insecurity for him. He prefers using slick and cool looking Pokémon.

    In Infrared, Alfredo is key to the story, and fate has deigned that your relationship shall develop even further. He wisely chooses the starter Pokémon strong against yours.

    In Ultraviolet, his role is reversed with Violetta, taking a step back as events unfold. He chooses the starter weak to yours to give himself a challenge. He’s also cheekier towards Violetta in this version.

    Royce/Roy (‘ROY’GBIV)

    Another one of your childhood friends. He loves Pokémon and all their aspects – research, battle, care. Unlike Alfredo, he’s quite self assured and snobby, but he has a heart of gold. He tends to wear warm tones such as reds, oranges, and yellows.

    Royce was once a member of your five man band as a kid, but eventually drifted away when he became much more argumentative around the age of 11, due to issues at home. He entered a somewhat dark time in his life, especially after losing his best friend Violetta due to her moving away. He later applied to assist the Pokémon Professor, but was put up against his old friend Beverly. In both versions, Royce enjoys using majestic looking Pokémon.

    In Ultraviolet, Beverly was chosen over him. This caused him to feel worthless and caused him to join Prisma as soon he was offered to in order to feel wanted. At his most vulnerable, he was groomed by the association, and is now pitted against the player and Violetta in a battle of beliefs.

    In Infrared, he was the one chosen for the assistant position. This led to him feeling achieved in life and recovering from that dark place. As you’re less focused on your relationship with Violetta in Infrared, they reconcile quite early into the game and he takes the role of Violetta’s main rival, but he’ll still occasionally battle you if you come across one another.

    Beverly/Bev (ROYG’BIV’)

    Beverly was the last member of your childhood friend group. She’s kind and caring, but can come off as condescending and overbearing. A fashion forward girly girl, she adorns herself with colder colours such as blue, indigo, and violet.

    Beverly was pulled away from your group of friends by her overbearing family, who saw them as nothing but a distraction for their darling daughter. Hoping that a job would allow her to be more independent, she applies for the role of Professor’s assistant, but finds herself face to face with her old friend Royce. In both versions, Beverly likes to use Pokémon that she finds cute.

    In Infrared, she was looked over for Royce. Desperate for any reprieve from her family high hopes and without her best friend Alfredo to vent to, she joined Prisma as soon as possible. They instilled their beliefs in her, which combined with her condescending nature causes her to try and impose her beliefs on the player and Alfredo.

    In Ultraviolet, Beverly successfully gained the position. This caused her family to give her a little breathing space, and even though she’s still somewhat overbearing scolding from the Professor has helped her to realise her flaws. As Alfredo is not as occupied as he is in Infrared, the two of them reform their friendship and develop a friendly rivalry. She’ll still battle you, but openly admits you’re not as fun to battle as Alfredo is.

    All better handled than the XY bunch of course ?

    Reply

    • I was about to say that having a lot of developed rival characters in Pokemon could be a problem but by making some less important in some versions is a really creative way to solve that problem 😮

      And I like how they’re different depending on their versions, that’s certainly unique

      Reply

      • Yeeee

        They’re all hopefully developed (at least better than XY) because Royce and Beverly take the role as assistant to the Professor and Evil Team Leader’s right hand depending on the version, so that’s one less character to develop and gives them more time/focus

        Whereas Violetta and Alfredo are like a battleable Lillie/starts off friendly N or a Hau/Bianca like rival depending on the version

        Reply

    • I don’t really like the name Alfredo. Reminds me too much of the sauce. Maybe just Alfred?
      My game doesn’t really have rivals. I guess there’s one, but I don’t really have much written about her yet. I’ve got a good idea of who I want her to be though, and what will happen to her in the story.

      Reply

    • Loved the idea of a friend group when we see the xy trailers, and this looks like a way better version of that. But i have to agree with Nintendochip, Alfredo is a bad name.

      Reply

  7. I saw that Fairy talked about… their fakemon rival so here’s Mine
    Michelle/Micheal
    You choose the gender, as the character is your romantic intrest
    They’re a Water type specialist, Brave and always ready to battle. They follow you on your jounrey, helping you fight the evil team and often flirting with you. They are your neighbors after you move to a small town from your family’s farm.
    Their final team is:
    Pelipper (Water/Flying)
    Wishiwashi (Water)
    Slavian Lumineon (Fairy/Water)
    Wilderbeast (Water/Normal)
    Pyraqua (Fire/Water)/Barbaracle (Water/Rock)/Ludicolo (Water/Grass) (Depending on your starter)
    Swimaster (Water)

    Reply

    • Hmmmm I need a Rival character
      I want him to be a arrogant jerk who wants to be stronger only for himself, but that’s a trope

      Perhaps the daughter of the Champion aka Freya who is the region’s lead environmentalist so naturally she specializes in Grass types and her star Flormonious Grass/Psychic (the whole line is based on hippies Beannik (bean+beatnik) Florchid (literal flower child) Flormonious (Flower Harmonious)

      Reply

        • Beannik is just a tiny oblong bean baby that has three leafy legs (also markings under its eyes that look like Lennon shades (granted to barely move since their entire day is spent doing nothing but bounce in place and soak up sunshine

          Florchid is a tiny hippie girl with a grass skirt body (no legs) and a sunflower shaped head pigtails and a crown of flowers on its head, they produce a “ultra positive” aroma from their petals but they make you sick if you over use it

          And finally Flormonious which is a extremely powerful Grass/Psyich type, a tall maiden of flora with a flowing mane of flowers vines and nature. They feel nature on a spiritual and physical level they feel pain if the land is mistreated and will punish those who commit the act (usually by entangling them with vines and leaving them bound in place as the vines siphon their energy back to the land

          Reply

    • Also, 40 parsnips is a bit too many crops, try to focus your time on also being able to go to the beach, to the mines, talking to people,… Ideally you should be able to finish farming before 9AM when most of the stuff opens.

      Reply

      • Well I read that blueberries and melon are the summer big ticket item
        I just feel like I’m wasting days one stupid stuff and never not making a profit

        Reply

        • How many gold do you have? First spring is always a bit slow, but summer has high profit crops yes and once you start mining you’ll have a steady source of income too.

          Reply

    • Pay attention to how many days it takes to grow your crops as well as the caldender in the town. Make sure you clear out your farm on the last day so you don’t have to get rid of all the dead crops and you can just get started on planting new ones.

      Reply

  10. After a long journey there are only two things left for me to do in my Silver run. I have to Master Ball Entei, and defeat Red. Currently my team is:

    Typhlosion Lv. 53
    Wigglytuff Lv. 52
    Heracross Lv. 52
    Lanturn Lv. 52
    Jynx Lv. 52
    Donphan Lv. 52

    I am worried that I am too underleveled to take Red on.

    I am guessing right now that:
    Donphan can take out Pikachu
    Lanturn cto Blastoise (?)
    Jynx/Typhlosion cto Venasaur
    Lanturn/Wigglytuff/Donphan cto Charizard
    Espeon and Snorlax are up in the air.

    Should I grind or should I go now?

    Reply

    • i am so jealous of this team. I want to use Lanturn Jynx and Donphan but i feel like i cant drop any of my pokemon at this point and my team is so bad lol. still waiting for skarmory tho. Lanturn is one of my favorite johto pokemon cuz i used it competitively and just love it but totodile was my pick and it really threw things off. also ampharos is doing really well. It bothers me that there are a few water types in Johto that i love and really wanted to use such as Lanturn Kingdra and Quagsire

      Reply

  11. Well I’ve really done it this time, you know how they have Monkey Wrench’s? Yeah I making a big Ape wielding a giant f*cking Wrench

    Fighting/Steel type

    Oh and here’s its Stats I already drew up (fun fact: its the first Pokémon in Granite to have stats)
    HP- 60
    Att.- 100
    Def.- 110
    Spec. Att.- 60
    Spec. Def.- 100
    Speed- 70
    Total- 500

    So like it so far? Anything you want to know about it (excluding its name) I can answer

    Reply

  14. @TheLastKurusu:disqus by the way I have that Skitty I was breeding for you. I tried to get a shiny male but it kept coming out female so I swapped to other things. I can also lend you a French Ditto I got in a trade (though I’m almost 100% sure it’s hacked) and a Male Japanese Skitty (that you’d need to evolve to use otherwise it might pass its’ Pokeball) if you want to try Masuda Method breeding it yourself. You might want Shiny charm first and look up videos on Magikarp Method, also how to reject eggs to re-roll gender etc.

    Reply

  17. Finding all the blocks and beans in Superstar Saga without a guide makes me want to pull my hair out, throw away all of my electronics and become a Himalayan monk. It’s not very fun, just in case you want to try it.

    Reply

  20. Yo, I’m so excited for Goku Vs Jiren! Funimation is showing clips of highlights for different characters rn on their livestream. I believe they’re gonna air it at 9:00 PM EST

    Reply

  22. Still frustrated with my team. Flaaffy finally evolved and its great and is starting to get too ahead in level but i could technically go get the exp share now. im just annoyed because togepi hasnt evolved yet and there are so many pokemon i want to use but feel i cant drop anybody now. Ive been patiently waiting for skarmory, found out i cant get celebi with the glitch till much later, and my starter threw out a lot of options for me cuz there are a bunch of water types i wouldve loved to use. i knew i shouldve just made a team based on pokemon i liked using competitively such as Lanturn skarmory donphan maybe Miltank my starter and maybe had fun with a qwilfish or gligar. oh well ill see how the rest of my run goes i guess. Furret is surprisingly fun to use

    Reply

  24. Just got this figure the other day, it’s called Nirvash type TheEND. Always thought Necrozma kinda looked like it.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/36e4d94f8b896d507aab28954dc25019fc3c051e7c58c2c77b643bc5d52b49ae.jpg

    Also I made this for a Pokemon Revolution Online mapping competition. I’d never done anything like this before and it won second place. Apparently it’s in the game but I’ve never seen it. Thought you guys might like it.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f52d3a7ece0259724302f4acbdfa5b56791a710560ae6a6e2b6ade47c431e1a7.png

    Reply

Leave a Comment