Harvest Moon 2 GBC (Game Boy Color) - RetroAchievements/guides GitHub Wiki
1) Synopsis
| Set Difficulty | ★☆☆☆☆ Easy, needs a bit of grind. |
| Approximate time to master | Around 20 hours |
| Minimum numbers of playthroughs needed | Two |
| Number of missable achievements | One |
| Does difficulty affect achievements? | Not applicable |
| Hardest achievement of the set | Celebration |
2) Introduction
Harvest Moon 2 GBC gameplay consists primarily of a small grindfest. The official set lacks achievements for animal happiness, tool upgrades, friendship events, and completion of villager events. I'll focus on efficiency to get all the achievements.
Achievements will be grouped per category. Since this game is pretty "sandboxy", it's not necessary to follow a walkthrough, just a small efficient start.
Guide authored by Konamon. Credits goes to Rewsifer for the set and the site Ushi no Tane for being the main source of information for the game.
- 1.0 - Initial guide release
Legend:
- 1. Synopsis
- 2. Introduction
- 3. Efficient Start and Fishing
- 4. First Upgrade and Power Berries
- 5. The True Grind Begins
- 6. End Goals
- 7. Miscellaneous
- 8. Conclusion
3) Efficient Start and Fishing
When starting the game, choosing the Boy or the Girl doesn't really matter, neither the cat or the dog. Now, when choosing your birthday, if you pick the second of Spring, and check the clock inside your house, you'll start the game with 2500G. You'll also get the following achievement:
| Badge | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
Happy Birthday! | ... It is your birthday. |
The first thing you might want to do is buy the Fishing Rod. Selling fish is great to grind for money and the initial upgrades. To do that, follow the next image highlighted path, fish on the water tile next to the sign, wait for the first rod shake, and press the confirm button. Sell your catch on the shipping bin, and keep going back and forth to grind your money.
You'll probably get the following achievements:
| Badge | Title | Description | Rarity |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Brooke Trout | Caught a [Br.Trout]. | ⚪ Common |
 |
Yellow-Fin Trout | Caught a [Y.Trout]. | ⚪ Common |
 |
Bluegill | Caught a [Bluegill]. | ⚪ Common |
 |
King Carp | Caught a [Kg.Carp]. | ⚪ Common |
 |
Amiya | Caught an [Amiya]. | 🟢 Uncommon |
 |
Yellow Perch | Caught a [Y.Perch] | 🟢 Uncommon |
 |
Snakehead | Caught a [Snkhead]. | 🟢 Uncommon |
 |
Black Bass | Caught a [Bl.Bass]. | 🟢 Uncommon |
 |
Rainbow Trout | Caught a [R.Trout]. | 🟢 Uncommon |
 |
Carp | Caught a [Carp]. | 🟢 Uncommon |
 |
Alowana | Caught an [Alowana]. | 🔵 Rare |
 |
Tilapia | Caught a [Tilapia]. | 🔵 Rare |
 |
Ayu | Caught an [Ayu]. | 🔵 Rare |
 |
Dolly Varden | Caught a [D.Varden]. | 🔵 Rare |
 |
Indian Salmon | Caught an [I.Salmon]. | 🟡 Very Rare |
 |
Catfish | Caught a [Catfish]. | 🟡 Very Rare |
 |
Eel | Caught an [Eel]. | 🟡 Very Rare |
 |
Chinook Salmon | Caught a [C.Salmon]. | 🟡 Very Rare |
4) First Upgrade and Power Berries
Your initial routine should be the following, but not necessarily in that order:
- Clean your main farm from debris;
- Dig with your hoe from time to time;
- This way you'll start finding power berries, and upgrading your hoe.
- Get wood from the mountains and animal pastures;
- Fish for the rest of the day.
You don't need to bother too much with crops for now. Plant one or two seeds of crops of your preference, and water them daily to get the Watering Can upgrade, the Sprinkler. With the money and wood you started accumulating, you might want to build the bridge first [10.000G, 200 wood].
| Badge | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
New Pastures | Successfully contract the [Bridge]. |
This will help with crops in the long run, and finding the Power Berries.
| Badge | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
Power Starter | Find one Power Berry. |
 |
Power Garden | Get All Power Berries and fill the Secret Garden. |
There are 10 Power Berries in total to be obtained:
- 6 in the main farm;
- 2 in the chicken pasture;
- 2 in the cow pasture.
The most efficient way to get them is to upgrade your Hoe to Super Hoe (keep digging until the hoe breaks and prompts an event to repair it) and digging the same spot until you get them all in each respective field, and until you run out of energy. Fast foward until you get it. Reset the day if you didn't get any.
- Optional, no achievements related: Talk to Mary and Daisy everyday.
- Building friendship with Daisy nets you the Super Axe.
- Building friendship with Mary nets you the Treasure Map. If your emulator have connection compatibilities, you'll be able to do this side quest. It gives you the Miracle Gloves, a tool that removes the walk needed of going from crops to the shipping bin or the horse.
5) The True Grind Begins
❗️ DON'T BUY ANIMALS UNTIL YEAR THREE ❗️
They aren't the main source of money, and just wastes your time with more daily chores. You'll want at least 3 of each to get the best ending. But until then, or until we get animal related achievements, don't bother with them.
If you want to start farming without making it a hassle, and you have the sprinkler, you can start with this layout:
What you lose with 2 or 3 crops from each seed, you gain in efficiency moving through the dotted lines. These are the crops you want to plant in each season:
| Season | Crop | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 🌸 Spring |  Potato/  Asparagus |
Potato is Girl exclusive. |
| 🌻 Summer |  Melon |
Most lucrative crop. |
| 🍂 Fall |  Peanut /  Sweet Potato |
Peanut is Boy exclusive. |
| ❄️ Winter |  Napa |
Most lucrative crop. |
6) End Goals
Your main goals are to build the following structures:
| Badge | Title | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Animals Available | Successfully contract the [Sheep Pen]. | 70.000G, 300 Wood. |
 |
Renovating | Successfully contract the [Deluxe Home]. | 30.000G, 300 Wood. |
 |
Mansion | Successfully contract the [Super-Deluxe Home]. | 100.000G, 900 Wood. |
To obtain the game ending achievement, you'll need to do a few things:
- Find all 10 Power Berries;
- Built the final house upgrade;
- Have 10.000G or more;
- Have at least 3 of each animal (cow, sheep and chicken);
- Don't worry about animals until Year 3. You'll need at least 8 bags of grass planted in each of animal pasture to buy them. You can't plant grass on Winter.
- Ship 10.000* or more items;
- Quantity not precise. It might be possible with much less shipments made.
- Have at least 70 Happines Points.
- You lose points by letting an animal die of sickness, and from getting sick after working on a rainy day. You can get points by buying animals, praying at the church, and specially from getting cows/sheep pregnant.
| Badge | Title | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Celebration | You Saved The Farm! | Missable. |
7) Miscellaneous
The following achievements are related to events and side activities:
Events
Keep an eye on your calendar. Ordered by when it happens first.
| Badge | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
Cherry Blossoms | Went to the Flower Viewing Festival. (25th of Spring) |
 |
Autumn Night | Went to the Moon Viewing Festival. (10th of Fall) |
 |
The Annual Feast | Went to the Harvest Festival. (25th of Fall) |
 |
New Record! | Got the highest score in the Horse Race. (15th of Spring - Year 2). |
 |
Neighbourhood Games | Participated in the Snowball Fight. (Year 3 - First Sunday of Winter) |
Building
Not necessary for the best ending.
| Badge | Title | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Winter Gardening | Successfully contract the [Hot-House]. | 50.000G, 600 Wood. |
Time Skip
You'll get one of these as you play naturally. For the other one, start a new game and just skip the days.
| Badge | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
Rancher Lady | Reach Winter of Year 1 as the Female Farmer. |
 |
Farmer Dude | Reach Winter of Year 1 as the Male Farmer. |
Foraging
In each season, go to the mountain and collect the respective item.
| Badge | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
Spring Forager | Take advantage of wild [Fruit]. |
 |
Summer Forager | Take advantage of wild [Cherry]. |
 |
Fall Forager | Take advantage of wild [Mushroom]. |
Bug Catching
Once you buy the Bug Net for 500G, you'll be able to catch bugs during Spring and Summer on the Mountain. Some insects are time sensitive, but seems the set achievements doesn't include all of them.
| Badge | Title | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Lady-Bug | Caught a [LadyBug]. | 🌸 Spring |
 |
Ant-Lion | Caught an [Ant-lion]. | 🌸 Spring |
 |
Swallow-Tail | Caught a [Swllwtl]. | 🌸 Spring |
 |
Monarch Butterfly | Caught a [M.Btrfly]. | 🌸 Spring |
 |
Purple Butterfly | Caught a [P.Btrfly]. | 🌸 Spring |
 |
Yellow Butterfly | Caught a [Y.Btrfly]. | 🌸 Spring |
 |
Wetland Butterfly | Caught a [W.Btrfly]. | 🌸 Spring |
 |
Agyrtidae Beetle | Caught an [A. Btle]. | 🌻 Summer |
 |
Mountain-Side Beetle | Caught a [M.S Btl]. | 🌻 Summer |
 |
Hercules Beetle | Caught a [H.S Btle]. | 🌻 Summer |
 |
Brown Stag Beetle | Caught a [Br.s Btl]. | 🌻 Summer |
 |
Mountain Cicada | Caught a [M. Cicada]. | 🌻 Summer |
 |
Green Cicada | Caught a [G. Cicada]. | 🌻 Summer |
 |
Red Dragonfly | Caught a [R.Drgnfy]. | 🌻 Summer |
 |
Brown Dragonfly | Caught a [B. Drgnfy]. | 🌻 Summer |
 |
Cave Dragonfly | Caught a [C. Drgnfy]. | 🌻 Summer |
8) Conclusion
Besides playing this game casually, there isn't much to do in this game if you aim to get all achievements. Reminder that this guide only covers the achievements proposed by the set, and doesn't really touch subjects like obtaining and upgrading all tools, the missing insects, mini games, bad and neutral endings, and so on.