Natsume can refer to the Japanese game developer founded on 20 October 1987, or to Natsume Inc., the American publishing company established in May 1988. The Japanese company’s published history records both. They should not be treated as interchangeable credits.1
The distinction matters particularly for Harvest Moon. Natsume Inc. published the original farming game in North America; it was not a farming game made by the Japanese action-game team.23
Action games under the Natsume name
Nintendo Power introduced Shadow of the Ninja in November 1990 as the first offering from new NES licensee Natsume. Its preview highlighted simultaneous two-player action and announced S.C.A.T. as another two-player game to follow.4
In April 1993 the magazine covered Pocky & Rocky, an overhead shooter whose two characters could interact by dashing into each other. In October 1994 it described Wild Guns as shooting-gallery action with a character the player could also move to dodge attacks. It used ordinary controllers, not the Super Scope.56
The Japanese development lineage continued through Tengo Project. Its official portfolio includes the original Wild Guns and Wild Guns Reloaded, and records the release of its new Shadow of the Ninja in August 2024.7
Publishing Harvest Moon
The original Harvest Moon was Yasuhiro Wada’s farming-life game. Edge’s interview feature dates the Super NES releases to 1996 in Japan, 1997 in the US and 1998 in Britain. Contemporary Nintendo Power coverage carries separate AMCCUS, Pack-In-Video and Natsume copyright credits.2
The North American publishing role involved localisation: preparing the game for its new audience. In a 2017 interview, Natsume executives described their long partnership on the Japanese Bokujō Monogatari series and the later decision by Marvelous to use its own American publishing operation.3
Two farming-game lines
Natsume retained the Harvest Moon name and began producing a separate line of farming games with The Lost Valley in 2014. Its own developer diary that August identified Taka Maekawa as producer and described the new animal systems.38
Meanwhile, XSEED’s October 2014 localisation blog explicitly identified Story of Seasons as its new English name for Bokujō Monogatari. The North American 3DS release followed on 31 March 2015. These were separate products, not two regional titles for The Lost Valley.9
Later company names
The Japanese Natsume combined with the Osaka amusement-machine developer Atari in October 2013, becoming NatsumeAtari. It changed its name to Winning Entertainment Group on 1 January 2026.1
Separately, Natsume Inc. announced its own Tokyo office in June 2013. That office should not be confused with the older Japanese company or its later rename.10
See also
Footnotes
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Winning Entertainment Group, company profile, history and 1 January 2026 rename notice. The history identifies the Japanese Atari business as established in Osaka in 2002. ↩ ↩2
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“The Making Of… Harvest Moon”, Edge 219, October 2010, pp. 104–107, interview with Yasuhiro Wada and regional release summary; Nintendo Power 94, March 1997, p. 64, original copyright credits. The credits are preserved as credits, not used alone to infer each company’s production responsibilities. ↩ ↩2
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Steven Messner, “Natsume opens up about Harvest Moon’s confusing past and hopeful future”, PC Gamer, 14 November 2017, interview with Hiro Maekawa, Graham Markay and Taka Maekawa. ↩ ↩2 ↩3
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Nintendo Power 18, November 1990, printed p. 90, “Weird Heroes”. Its claim concerns the new NES licensee’s offering, not the developer’s first work on any platform. ↩
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Nintendo Power 47, April 1993, pp. 26–29, Pocky & Rocky guide. ↩
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Nintendo Power 65, October 1994, printed p. 104, Wild Guns review. Scan sequence numbers differ from the printed page. ↩
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Tengo Project, official team history and portfolio, original Wild Guns, Wild Guns Reloaded and 29 August 2024 release notice. ↩
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Natsume, The Lost Valley developer diary, 15 August 2014. ↩
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XSEED, Story of Seasons localisation blog, 2 October 2014; official game page, North American release date. ↩
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Natsume Inc., Tokyo office announcement, 4 June 2013. ↩