Boku no Natsuyasumi


Boku no Natsuyasumi is a video game developed by Millennium Kitchen and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. It is part of the Boku no Natsuyasumi series and was released in Japan on June 22, 2000. A PlayStation Portable port was released on June 27, 2006 under the title Boku no Natsuyasumi Portable: Mushimushi Hakase to Teppen-yama no Himitsu!!. The port features updated graphics and several new characters.

Description

The game revolves around Boku, a 9-year-old boy sent to his aunt and uncle in Japan's wooded countryside and the daily adventures he encounters there. Boku is there because his Mother is in her final month of pregnancy. The player controls him for the 31 days of August 1975 as he enjoys his summer vacation. You explore the game's area and can catch bugs and pit them against each other, collect bottle caps, fly a kite, or just relax.

Development

Game creator Kaz Ayabe said that he wanted to create a game that simulates the real world.
When development began, Millennium Kitchen handled everything about the game except for programming and sound design. According to Ayabe, Boku no Natsuyasumi's setting was inspired by the town of Tsukiyono, in the Yamanashi Prefecture of the Chūbu region. The team took many pictures of clouds during the staff's time collecting references for the game, some of which would go on to appear on the boxart for the Japanese version of Everybody's Golf 3.
Ayabe stated that originally, the game was planned to be released in the summer of 1999, but Sony's producers asked the team to add in a fishing minigame, which delayed the game to 2000.

Sequels

Boku no Natsuyasumi spawned three sequels and two ports as of 2016. An iOS game was announced as part of a 2017 Sony foray into smartphone development. Apart from the series, two games in the same style have been released by Millennium Kitchen: Bokura no Kazoku, a family simulation game, and Attack of the Friday Monsters!: A Tokyo Tale, part of the Guild02 series and the only title from Millennium Kitchen to see an English-language release.