Positioned just a quick turn and a few steps from its partner, Mineral Town, the first Harvest Moon for the GameCube has a lot going for it. With a brand new setting to explore, and full 3D graphics like its cousin, Save the Homeland, the sprawling area of A Wonderful Life is ready to explore between, of course, taking care of the farm.

Though all the text but conversation was still untranslated, I wandered around a posh section of the small town outside of the farm; in fact, as it was night time and the map was still in Japanese, I couldn't even find the farm. Hopefully with an English map, finding the way to and from locations will be easier. Either way, the night is extremely dark and only those with brighter televisions will have any luck bumming around after sunset.

On a much brighter note (pun intended), the title does show an excellent organization of menus and buttons. At the tap of a convenient button setup, for example, any item in inventory can be taken out, used, returned to the bag, or given to someone. Also shown on the sign was the fact that the same button was used to snuggle. Snuggle? Perhaps we're in for a marked improvement on the treatment of your loyal pooch and the fine feathered chickens, but with limited time and other RPGamers anxious to play, I wasn't able to fully explore this feature.