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Marvelous opened pre-order product pages for the Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar Switch release, and we now get to see the pocket plush of the Suffolk sheep in the Edition. It is tradition for Bokujou no Monogatari games to include a stuffed animal of one of the pets or livestock you can raise in the game. This time around, it costs $49.99 for the version without any bonuses and $69.99 for the one with the sheep.

Right now, only the Switch pre-order pages are live. It isn’t possible to do so with the PC copy. On Steam, it is possible to wishlist that version of the game though.

For those unaware of the Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar contents, here’s a closer look at what you get. In addition to a copy of the game, there’s the small Suffolk sheep plush. A cloth poster showing the two avatar options alongside all the romance options is in the box. So is an art book and a CD soundtrack. 

Here's the official photo showing everything:

It’s pretty much guaranteed that the edition of these Story of Seasons games includes a new pocket plush stuffed animal. A Wonderful Lifecame with a goat. Pioneers of Olive Townhad a buffalo with it. A Strawberry Cow could come with Friends of Mineral Town. 

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar will come to the Nintendo Switch and PC on August 27, 2025, and it is possible to pre-order the console version now.

The post Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar Pre-orders Open appeared first on Siliconera.

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is coming back, giving us a chance to once again start a new life in Zephyr town and balance farming and selling. It’s been quite some time since it debuted on the DS as Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar, and already a number of changes like new romance options and a glider appear. Siliconera spoke with Story of Seasons Manager Hikaru Nakano to learn more about what went into preparing this latest remake.

Jenni Lada: What Made you decide to return to Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar? 

Hikaru Nakano: Out of all of the titles in the Story of Seasons series, Grand Bazaar is one that is particularly characteristic or unique in the content that it has in the game. It’s also one that we think is quite easy to play as well. So it’s easy to pick up and enjoy for players. Those are the reasons that we decided to choose this title. 

But, looking at it from a wider lens, from the perspective of the player walking through the town and [by] the townsfolk, understanding their environment, and also interacting with animals, this was a title that we thought was good in those aspects in particular. So in our goal to make an easy to play and enjoyable experience for players that they can enjoy for a long time, we decided to go with Grand Bazaar.

Given this entry originally appeared on the Nintendo DS as Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar, what challenges did you encounter when preparing Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar for new platforms like the Switch and PC? 

Nakano: Yes, we did face various difficulties when bringing the title from the DS to these modern Switch and PC platforms as well. In particular, all of the art and graphics on the DS were in 2D, so we actually recreated everything from the ground up for this title. It was completely remade graphically. 

One example to dive into there is not just the art, but even animations for the various, like their eyes, their mouths, and that type of thing. The ways and styles of doing that back in the DS era were a lot, let’s say simpler, than they are in the modern area just because of the limitations of the time. Now we have the ability to create a lot more detail in those kinds of animations and expressions. So we took great efforts into making sure that the expressions of characters were more detailed and filled with feelings so that we could create a more immersive experience for the player in the modern era.

What kind of quality-of-life adjustments did you come up with when creating this new version of Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar for modern platforms?

Nakano: There really are so many improvements that we have made that it is difficult to talk about all of them, but maybe one example that I can bring up as a representative is the way that we handle animals now. So first, I want to talk about maybe the graphical improvements with some of the animals and the gameplay as well. 

We wanted to make the player feel closer to their animals as they raise them and help build relationships between them. We put a lot of effort into the way that the animals, the livestock and pets, will react to you when you interact with them. Whether it’s like petting them, brushing them, or milking them. There are a lot of animations and interactions between the player and the animals in that way. 

But specifically with quality-of-life stuff, an example that I can give is in the original Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar, you had to push them or corral them yourself to get them to go outside for the day. But now you can employ your pets, your dogs and your cats, to herd the livestock, the cows and the chickens, outside so that they’ll go graze in the pasture on their own. 

There are many examples like that [where] we endeavored to decrease the stress for the player and improve the gameplay experience. 

There’s one more related to animals that I thought of that I wanted to share as well. You may recall from that older era of Story of Seasons games that oftentimes you would need to, in other titles, put only the amount of feed that the animal would eat in the feeder each day. So you would have to put the feed out for them every single day. In the original Grand Bazaar, one thing that we thought was very good and was a quality-of-life [feature] at the time too was that that you could put feed in for multiple days at once so you didn’t have to add the feed for the animal every day. So in that way, there are also things that we kept from the original title that we think were good for the time too.

I noticed one of those gameplay elements that you kept is that there is still no shipping bin in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar. What made you decide to maintain that decision and not bring the shipping bin box. 

Nakano: I mentioned at the beginning of our talk that Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is, among other things, quite unique and characteristic in some ways. Building on that, all of the titles you play as this farmer and you raise your cows and your chickens, you harvest your milk and your eggs, or perhaps you go to the field and you harvest your vegetables, or you go to your tree and you harvest your fruit. That is something that is shared, but what is unique about this title is that once per week you gather up all the things that you have produced and you bring them to the bazaar and then you interact with your customer directly to sell them and turn all of your hard work into your earnings that you can then use going forward. 

We did actually consider adding the shipping box during development to this title as well, but we decided instead, that it would be best to maximize  what is the unique point of this title. You know, we put a lot of work into making the bazaar very fun for our players, and we definitely want them to experience that aspect of the game to the fullest. Because of that, we decided not to add this.

In the original Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar, you were able to experience cooperative multiplayer with other players and they could see your farm, so is it still possible to have that online or multiplayer experience in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar?

Nakano: There is no multiplayer in this version of Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar.

Is multiplayer something that you would perhaps explore in future Story of Seasons games?

Nakano: Essentially, yes, I would like to consider that kind of multiplayer again in the future, but with the caveat that we do want to make sure that it is chosen for the correct game and implemented in the right way so that it is a good and fun experience for the players. 

There are certain games that are fun as single-player games, and certain games that are more fun as multiplayer games. We would like to consider the possibility of multiplayer on a title-by-title basis. It might be a little more complicated with the caveats that I just mentioned, but in essence yes. I would like to consider it for the future and would love to see how we can make that happen. 

When it comes to romance and marriage elements, in the demo it seemed like there were no restrictions. So no matter what kind of character you play, you can romance everybody in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar?

Nakano: Yes, that is correct. That is something that we have implemented in our past few titles, like [Story of Seasons: Pioneers of] Olive Town. The way it works is that no matter the players’ characters’ gender, they are free to choose [whichever] marriage candidate that they would like. We don’t want our players to have to worry about that kind of thing when they are enjoying the romance in our games. 

Arata is one of the new romance options in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar. How did you come up with his personality and what made you decide to make a connection between him and Samir? 

Nakano: From the planning stages [when] creating this game, we knew that we wanted to add new marriage candidates. The way that we looked at it was looking at the current cast, as well as the setting of Zephyr Town. What kinds of characters would increase the overall appeal of the cast, as well as fit in well and exemplify the world of Zephyr Town. You know, with the connection with Samir, he is a student studying from abroad. So we knew that we wanted to create some kind of connection there to further build out the world of Zephyr town and make it feel more robust and alive. 

As far as the kind of characterization that Arata has, he’s got, compared to the other characters, more of like a wild side. When I say wild side, I don’t mean crazy. I mean like outdoorsy. We also added like a mountain area in this game as well. So we thought Arata’s outdoorsy side would fit with that kind of setting too. 

Overall, we look at the whole picture and think of what will further exemplify the world and what will make the whole cast shine.

Likewise, when creating Diana, what was the inspiration for her and how did you decide to make her tied to the Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar bazaar?

Nakano: To explain her case, I actually need to talk a little bit about the original Grand Bazaar game. So in that game, just as in this one, the bazaar starts very small and it’s run down. You work to make it bigger and prosper, and grow the bazaar. However, in that older game there really isn’t a reason or explanation for that. There are no cutscenes. There’s basically not a real story surrounding it, and that’s something that we wanted to add and improve upon in this title as well. 

So we knew that we wanted to create the story around the bazaar, and one way that we’re doing that is improving upon Felix’s character and his motivations too, drawing out his emotions as well. He has motivations to [build] the bazaar too, but we couldn’t do it with just him. We also needed to have this other organization that would be pushing the story along too, so it wasn’t just Felix as well. Putting [in] a character that could be like the face of that committee makes it more relatable.

We thought that it would be great to add a marriage candidate as the person that was involved with that committee so that we could better tell the story, then tell the story of the marriage candidate within that committee as well.

In the original Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar, you were only able to have one child, and the child had a default look to them. In Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar, will it be possible to have more than one child? Will they be able to look like you and your partner? 

Nakano: I believe that it is only one child in this title as well. However, the appearance is affected both by the appearance of the player character’s avatar, as well as the partner. That’s something that we’ve been doing in [Story of Seasons: Pioneers of] Olive Town and A Wonderful Life as well. We try to take in some elements of both of the parents.

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar will come to the Nintendo Switch and PC on August 27, 2025. 

The post Interview: Preparing Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar appeared first on Siliconera.

Marvelous revealed that Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is going to return and provide us a chance to play a former Nintendo DS exclusive game on the Switch and PC. It’s always been one of the more unusual ones, due to the fact that there’s a balance between farming and acting as an actual vendor. After getting some hands-on time with it, it still feels like that sense of balance is preserved.

In my first moments with Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar, I first got to actually make a character. Like more recent entries, a player picks out every element of their avatar. You choose one of two body types, select the facial features, decide on the hair, and choose an outfit. You also name yourself, of course. After that, it’s off to town and learn how Felix hopes your arrival can rejuvenate the bazaar they were once known for. This segment also led to a tutorial showing how that element is prioritized. 

In Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar, you’re attempting to build up a selection of products, which you will then sell at your booth whenever the bazaar opens. This means items foraged, things grown, products from farm animals, and whatever you make. Improving the quality can increase the value, so a big element also involves putting in the effort to constantly improve what you can offer. During the bazaar segment, I was also able to see how not only putting out products was enough, but ringing a bell to draw potential customers’ attention and building up a gauge that would allow the Harvest Sprites to chime in and provide buffs and basically a “fever time” would make my time at each bazaar more valuable.

From there, I was able to explore. In addition to the farm area, where you can tend animals, have your pet herd your flocks, and care for crops, the mountain area provides foraging opportunities. During my session, I was able to see the mushroom log, which I was able to upgrade with materials in order to result in eventually higher quality mushrooms, and the beehives. It also was the perfect place to test out the glider. In this entry, you can jump around environments to cross rivers or go to higher or lower terrain. A new addition in the remake is a glider that lets you drift from one spot to another while in midair. This made it easier and faster to get from the outdoors back to town again, I found.

Part of these initial moments spent in Zephyr Town with Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar entailed getting to see some of the love interests. I got to see a heart event with Jules, for example! He was easy to spot in town by the fountain, and this time there are no gender barriers around pursing characters. That event should feel familiar to those who played the original game, as it involved a talk about books. After walking a bit further, I was able to visit Sophie and Felix in their home for her heart event. There, it was possible to encourage the mayor to trust his daughter more and allow her to assist in running the town, and in return to assist in housework so she doesn’t feel stuck indoors maintaining a home.

I also got to meet the two new love interests in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar, which are the romance options Arata and Diana. He’s connected to Samir, and he can be found training (and living) in the forest or running a booth at the bazaar. Diana is tied to the bazaar commission and, as such, can often be found at those grounds. The in-game compendium already seemed quite adept too, as I was able to look both up already and see she likes sweets and red items, but hates greasy foods. Meanwhile Arata enjoys hearty meals and blue items, but can’t stand sour food.

Finally, the last part of Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar I got to experience firsthand ended up involving preparations for dealing with bad weather. Hurricanes and other events can strike the town. While in some installments, that means hunkering down for a day and dealing with it, there are extra efforts to take here. In this case, I needed to go to my field, a mushroom the mountains, and the beehives in the mountains to put up precautionary screens to protect against the storm. If someone doesn’t craft and place them, the crops, beehives, and mushroom log could all be destroyed, so there’s a sense of purpose. This means you really need to check the weather and prepare to alter your schedule as needed.

Like the DS version of the game, Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar feels like it will make selling at the weekly market a priority. The updated graphics seem to suit the area, while still preserving the European atmosphere and character designs. It also seems like it’ll be fairly easy to set a schedule and get into a groove. We’ll know more though, of course, when it debuts this summer.

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar will come to the Nintendo Switch on August 27, 2025. 

The post Preview: Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar Takes Us Back to Market appeared first on Siliconera.

During the March 2025 Nintendo Direct, Marvelous announced that it would release a remake of Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar, which appeared on the DS, on the Switch as Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar. It will debut on August 27, 2025.

As a remake, this is now a fully 3D version of the game. Players will head to Zephyr Town. There, they will not only farm and raise animals. They will also be tasked with running a booth at the weekly bazaar and helping to revitalize that point of commerce. There will also be an opportunity to find love with villagers. In addition, this is a more dynamic entry that involves jumping around areas. However, this time a glider function will be available to allow your farmer to further jump around and get through the area.

You can see the first trailer for the game in the video below. 

Since the focus of the game is a bit different, that means Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar will feel a bit unique. You won’t use a shipping bin each day, and instead save stock for the weekly bazaar.

This is the third remake to show up on the Switch. The first was Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town, and that was followed by Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life.

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar will come to the Nintendo Switch and PC on August 27, 2025. 

The post Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar Brings a DS Game to Switch appeared first on Siliconera.