Last updated on February 2nd, 2026 at 09:00 am
Hometown Story Pocket – Simulation Game Review
Hometown Story Pocket is a Simulation/Entertainment/Family game from Natsume Inc., first launched in 10th June 2014.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 42+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Hometown Story Pocket Stand Out
Take control of your own shop in the iOS version of the 3DS hit, Hometown Story! However, running a successful store is harder than it might look! You'll be constantly on the move, trying to keep all of the customers in your store satisfied, as well as trying to make your daily sales goals! Do you have the Midas touch to make your store a success?
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Famous creators unite!
Characters designed by Atsuko Nishida, music composed by Nobuo Uematsu, and game produced by Yasuhiro Wada! -
Customize the look of your shop!
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Interact with your favorite characters from the 3DS Hometown Story series!
This Simulation game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Hometown Story Pocket is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 10th June 2014
Recent improvements include:
Updated title logo.
Download & Availability
Hometown Story Pocket is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Hometown Story Pocket on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Please update this please we really enjoyed this game.
We love this game but the touchscreen is a little off but other than that ITS AMAZING From its gameplay and memories this game is as we expected it to be and thats AMAZING.
This game is pretty awesome and we love the concept of the game. It's pretty cool that they have an iOS version of a classical 3ds game.
We love playing it,100% would recommend.
Personally one of the best natsume games on iOS we've played we have all harvest moon games on all consoles one of the best series we've played can't wait for harvest moon lost valley Anyways we also wish you could go out of your shop like the 3ds version probably in a later update. But it is iOS so anyways a great game but keep in mind there is micro transactions only if you want to get more stuff from the merchants. BEST GAME EVER.
Of course we love all of natsume games! This game is a game we were hoping for since it's also a 3ds game. The controls work and everything seems perfect. The only thing that made us a bit disappointed is that some of the items disappear from the the seller people. Now there's one lady who sells just fish and ONLY fish. And we don't think they will sell anymore ores and stuff. But overall we enjoy the game ^_^.
We never played the 3DS version but we're sure it was a lot of fun too! This game is really fun and addicting. The controls are a bit confusing but it's easy to get the hang of it. A really fun mini game.
We love this game so much… We've been playing NATSUME games nearly our entire life and this one doesn't fail to disappoint, even on a mobile phone platform! We would love to see NATSUME develop a Harvest Moon for IOS, but until then, we'll keep replaying this game over and over ;).
We love this game so much… Nvr disaponted in waiting this game…we hope to see harvest moon in the future…and there is a little problem about the controlling part…maybe its good to have just point at the correct place instead of placing your finger a few sec than the position of the point part is misplaced…if you know what we mean… Anyway we still give you a 5 star cause we love your game keep it up.
We love the game we really do! We just wished you could socialize more like in the real game on the 3DS.
Very addicting game, just one thing.. Sometimes it crashed. IPhone 6 Plus.
Over time the merchants stop selling certain items. :(.
It's way better than the 3ds version at least now we just run the store. It can get better but it's good so far.
We cant even play this game we try to download it and it says the app itself needs to be updated to work with current iOS.
So the game is a simplified version of Hometown story which is fine, the biggest issues the game has is: 1. The game censors are off, once you get used to it its playable, but they could have done that better. Its off and at an angle btw, like its off. 2. The passwords section doesnt work, any password we found in the 3ds version didnt work here, google didnt help so we went to the reviews no one knows. 3. Upgrades are pay only after level 10. So its fun for a bit but without the upgrade it gets tedious. 4. The angle tables dont work in corners apparently because reaching is impossible, so you cant save space. Or place all your tables without blocking other tables 5. You have to place and price an item one at a time, and placing it can be difficult. Overall, a decent attempt, but they couldve made a better app game with simple fixes, like just getting the character to follow our finger or allowing us to queue up items to place or something. But its a fun little time waster. If you liked harvest moon get the new story of seasons game. Its by the original creators and a lot of fun.
This game has a very pick up and put down feel to it. You wont be playing it for very long. The original game on the 3DS felt very much like a mobile game so if this was a port of the 3DS version it would have been a great game. But it is a completely watered down version of the 3DS game with not much to do. You go around and put items on tables and thats really all there is to this game. Its very simple and if simple is your thing then you will like this game but if you are a fan of the Harvest Moon series or even just this game on the 3DS then you will notice a scary lack of gameplay.
We wanted to keep playing but its so hard to move around.
The controls are terrible, to be honest. The sensitivity is ok, but actually placing things and walking to the register are a little frustrating. They could be a lot more user-friendly.
We have been playing this game for days and we really have enjoyed it. Major downside is you have to pay to expand your store after level 15. The merchants have a wide variety of items until you get to about level 20, then they only have a few things. Was fun in the beginning.
Fun at first but two upgrades in and youre cut off (upgrade available at 5 & 10, have to pay for 15) it makes it hard to want to continue, merchants continue to get more items (although we read it another view the items are reduced by level 20) but you have nowhere to realistically put them. The game is cute and fun but with the upgrades requiring real money, the items cutting down and the wonky controls we dont see ourselves keeping this on our phone. Too many similar games that are executed better, do not recommend.
Disappointing, we should say, compare to the 3DS version. All you need to do is purchase items from merchants, then put them on the shelves, and wait your consumers to come and buy those stuff, such brainless cycle continues. According to someone's saying that the NPCs may have their own story, but come on, your fingers will be too busy take care of your store to talk to any of the NPC. In a word, boring.
The game itself is fairly good, and considering it's truly free, a rarity in the iOS columns, it would normally be a 4 star game. However, the awkward controls knock this back to 2 stars for us, as it was clearly ported over from a control scheme with multiple buttons for multiple controls. The camera movement always selects something instead and the square it selects when you're trying to select is usually about 1 square away from where your finger is actually touching the screen. This frustration and removal of a plot from the original HTS makes it nothing more than a failed, buggy iOS port.
This game has so much potential but Natsume just threw it out there and abandoned it! Well if youre going to abandon it, you could at least make the expansion free! Im not paying two dollars for an app thats been abandoned by its creators, especially when theres so much more that could be done and make this great.
The tutorial is frustrating and difficult as the game registers every press one or two spaces off from where you press. We can't select the table without tapping all the floor around it until something registers. Please polish the app on the basic functioning before releasing.
Cute but can't expand at lvl 15 without paying. Wasted our time playing 2 days to find this out.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.0.1
- Size: 199.71 MB
- iOS: 6.0 or later
- Languages: EN, JA
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: Natsume Inc.
Last updated: 10th June 2014 | Genre: Simulation, Entertainment | Developer: Natsume Inc.