No comic for Monday, I am traveling to fight ninjas. Or visit family. Probably both! Happy 4th!

Lydia faced off against her rival Muffintop! That funny lookin’ penguin finally caught up with her! But will he pass the MOM test? Also: Fairly certain I’m not moving anymore code around on the site. Huzzah!

I need a BUCKET of animals on MY farm.

In other news, there is a video game that Lydia would probably go nuts over, then get quite angry with. What game is this? It’s Harvest Moon: Animal Parade!

I’m not as hardcore as some Harvest Moon fans. The first Harvest Moon I had was Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland. I haven’t played any of the ones from the Super Nintendo. I’ve played other HM games on PS2 and Gameboy (er, SP and DS, it’s still a Gameboy to me), but Animal Parade is the first one I’ve played on the Wii.

As far as farming simulating games go, it’s Harvest Moon. Grow stuff, ship stuff, pretty much the same. The major difference, and apparent selling point on this game, is the amount of animal friends. Hence, the title, Animal Parade.

There are over 20 different wild animals that you can befriend to be your pets – yes, that’s right, PETS. Sidekicks galore! Better still, they can learn tricks with the help of a bright orange whistle. And so far, the tricks are all pretty darn cute.

HOWEVER, and this is one of the beefs (pardon the cow joke) I have with this specific game – You can only have a total of 4 pets.

Really? Just 4? You can befriend several kinds of dog and cat breeds, bunnies, a baby boar, a snake, a BEAR and a bear cub, pandas, a PENGUIN….but you’re only going to allow me to have 4 in my house? That cuts into my parading.

But there’s more parade-cutting! A week or so ago, I found out when I was dashing to the internet for help with that infernal cooking part of Harvest Moon, that although you can eventually have a barn that allows you to house 8 livestock animals, you can only have 3 different kinds out of the 5 offered. Despite having the opportunity to have horses, cows, sheep, goats and ostriches(!!), all of which you can ride(!!!!) around town, you can only have 3 species.

This seriously rains on my animal parading.

From a game that’s all about management though, I could see it as an incentive to choose the “most profitable” barn animals or the rarest of animals for pets. However, since there’s usually rewards and quests for befriending as many people in Harvest Moon games as possible, shouldn’t I have every right to be the farmer who’s house is full of bunnies jumping on pandas dancing with a penguin and puppies? Maybe future HM games will allow me to have pets, poultry and livestock overflowing from the buildings of my farm, but I guess for now I have to accept these management rules.

Currently, my pet penguin will clap his flippers when the whistle blows. Next trick: world domination!