[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t is almost 18 years ago since Harvest Moon 64 has been released. In a recent interview Natsume, the company behind the game, addressed the spelling error in the Harvest Moon 64 title screen. The error has made it back into the news due to the recent re-release of Harvest Moon 64 on the Nintendo Wii-U Virtual Console. Given that the spelling error has not been corrected, Natsume thought it would be a good idea to explain why it had happened in the first place.

“With the recent release of Harvest Moon 64 on the Wii U Virtual Console in both North America and Europe, let’s answer that one important question everyone has been talking about for 17 years: What’s up with the spelling of ‘Natume’ on the title screen in Harvest Moon 64?!

Back when Harvest Moon 64 was being worked on, technology was very different. The Internet, email, data transfer, etc. weren’t the everyday tools they are now, so communication with Japan took a bit longer and was a tad more primitive than it is today. Unfortunately, the correction request on the title screen had fallen through the cracks, and when this was discovered, the title had already been approved by Nintendo and was set to go to production.

The problem? Fixing it would have delayed the game by at least 45 days, pushing it out of December! Yikes! Sorry, no Harvest Moon 64 for Christmas and instead, a February release. So, it was decided that we would rather let our fans have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year planting crops and taking care of animals instead of being a Grinch for a simple ‘s’. The funny thing is, Natume is a legit way to spell Natsume in some versions of romaji. And now you know the story!

Natsume also hinted at the E3 convention taking place later this year in Los Angeles from June 14th – 16th. Just like Nintendo had recently announced that they would deliver big announcements for the Nintendo Switch as well as for the Nintendo 3DS, Natsume also states they have big plans for E3 this year – more celebrations for Harvest Moon, as well as a surprise for other franchises he says. No greater details have been provided at this point. It will be interesting to see if these announcements are Nintendo related, or if other platforms will be getting the next Harvest Moon as well.