Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Kid by developer Millennium Kitchen Co., Ltd. & TOYBOX Inc. and publisher Spike Chunsoft—Nintendo Switch review written by Jim with a copy provided by the publisher.
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes.
Going into Natsu-Mon I wasn't sure what
to expect. I watched the trailer and knew it was about a ten-year-old
boy on summer vacation and from what I saw it looked like a mix of
Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing, two games I enjoy, so I had to try
it.
You play as Satorua, a ten-year-old boy who is the son of a circus ringmaster. Satoru himself is not part of the circus as his parents are letting him choose his path in life. The next stop the circus makes is a small town called Yomogi Town. Satoru will spend all of August there from the 1st to the 31st. As the title suggests the game does take place in 1999
The game starts slow and I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do even though the tutorial does a good job of telling you how to play. It turns out that you can do just about anything you want from the start! There's lots to see and do. You can explore the open world map, catch bugs, talk to town folk, go fishing, go on little and big adventures, and even play detective with other kids. The adventures you get into are like quests. Completing a big adventure will give you a sticker that will add to your stamina. Stanmia lets you run faster and climb higher and one of the first adventures you get is to climb to some of the highest points on the map you will need these stickers if you want to complete it but again the game gives you the freedom to do what you want so if you don't feel like doing it you don't have to.
There's lots to see and do. You can help the museum with rare bugs, fish, and artifacts you can find buried. You can play and help little ghost girls, unlock scenes with the other characters, and even help make new fireworks! One of the things I truly didn't understand though was every morning you can do a radio exercise with the townspeople at the shrine and all it is is a long cut scene of everyone doing the excursies. You can move the camera around but it's best just to skip it or at least that's what I did. You do get a stamp for doing it and I haven't figured out what they are for.
There are 200 different kinds of bugs to catch luckily the game shows you ones you haven't caught before by putting a white circle around new bugs. I am glad that it has this or I would be wasting a lot of time trying to catch every bug I see. There are fewer fish and this is a good thing as I found fishing in the game to not be as fun as I expected. You fish by finding a spot near the water and then pressing a button to open the fishing menu that lets you pick what bait to use earthworm or crab if you are fishing in the ocean if you want to use a float or sinker and then you wait for a bite and hit the A button and that's it. It's not fun at least to me.
What I did enjoy about the game is it always seemed to add something new. I was less than midway through the month when new people came to town and was able to get my fortune told which tells you where events will happen that day or where is a good place to find rare items, bugs, or fish. I was also able to raise pigs! Although the game is non-violent you do get an acron gun that lets you shoot acorns. You will use this for some puzzles and if you see a pig that is wild or belongs to the shrine caretaker whose name is shrine dude you have to shoot them with an acorn to knock them out.
The game time passes at a decent rate but there are options to slow it down. I left it at default and it felt like it was a good amount of time. First thing when Satoru wakes up he will come down for breakfast, sometimes the characters will chat and hints will be given on some events. After you're free to do as you please until some time passes and it's evening and you are called in for dinner. If Satoru does something new that day or finds a rare bug or some such thing he will tell everyone about it at dinner. After dinner its night time where you can explore some more but only a limited area. It won't let you go too far on the map and you can not go swimming in the ocean at night. If you don't get to bed before 10 pm you will go to bed automatically and miss the next day's radio exercises. If you are trying to get every stamp for the month then you won't want to miss it. At first, you don't have a clock but you will get one if you keep playing and find it.
Whenever an event or when Satoru finds a new item or catches a new type of bug or fish you can have him draw in his journal. The picture he draws all looks like it was done by a child with either crayons or colored pencils. Then you can pick one of three things for him to write. A short, medium, or long summary of what happened. This little detail makes you feel like you're playing as a child.
I enjoyed my time with Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Kid. It was relaxing, laid back, non-violent fun I look for now and then. There were some funny moments and there's just so much to do and see in the game that I feel like I will have to play through it a second time to see everything and I know there are places on the map I haven't been to as they have mentioned places I haven't been to. It's also a lot longer of a game than I thought it would be and I loved every minute of it. I went into the game not knowing much about it and came out with being surprised at how much I liked it. I will be looking and hoping for more of the series to come out here.
Score: 8 / 10
