Harvest moon back to nature was definitely my favorite by far. I've played friends of mineral town, animal parade, melody and tale of two towns. None of those have come close but to be fair BTN was my first one, so I bet I'm a bit biased?
Ann best waifu
(edit: yeah Breath of Fire 3/4 has Rei the tiger guy)
Then I did play a BoF game, I don't remember the details though, it was fun to play.
I forget a lot of the Harvest Moon subtitles but there were little things in different ones like....
A Gameboy Color version had a glove that would auto ship items you harvest.
Harvest Moon DS had an accessory that allowed you to tap the map to teleport around and a visible number for your stamina/fatigue. Also the best system in my opinion for hiring harvest sprites in teams to work for you.
Back to Nature had the BEST waifus and the actual need to work hard for 3 years or else you get booted from town.
I really enjoyed editing the town layout in A New Beginning (3DS).
Rune Factory.............
Story of Seasons (the REAL Harvest Moon) has some cool things like Weeds having a use, you turn them into fertilizer and a sometimes frustrating system where supply and demand take effect and you have to play different markets against each other. Today I shipped too many Onions and now the next time I ship them they will go down a little in price, so I bought the recipe to make them into salad because it doesn't count as the same type of item that way.