Looking Back to Magical Melody

After a lot of HM:AP hubbub, I decided it was high time to highlight another HM.  The title may be a little misleading, but as I was opening up my DS to play a bit of Sunshine Islands today, an idea struck me.  Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands, is essentially Harvest Moon: Magical Melody.

Now don't get me wrong!  The games are completely different at a glance.  New islands, features, and characters are only the start of the changes.  Not to mention MM is a console game and SI is handheld.  Nevertheless, they have one major thing in common.  That being the game aspect, which is nearly identical.  In MM, the goal was to perform certain daily tasks so many times or reach certain milestones, and you would obtain a musical note.  Collect so five musical notes, you get a musical instrument.  In SI, you perform these same general tasks or reach the same kind of milestones, and this time, you obtain sun stones.  With a certain number of sun stones in your possession, you gain the power to raise one of the many sunken islands and travel there.

Here's the distinction: In MM, the musical notes didn't do much to help you along the way.  Their main purpose was to win the game.  Aside from getting married, there weren't too many perks for collecting them unless you were dead set on completing the game (like me).  But in SI, every island you raise in beneficial to you in some way or another.  Volcano Island, for instance, introduces a new bachelor/bachelorette and allows you to mine for gelatin, ore and the likes.  Or maybe Mushroom Island is more up your alley (and pretty self-explanatory too).

That aside, it got me wondering if this concept was recycled or not.  Surely the basic standpoint is recognizable by others as well?  Not to say they aren't both great games (they are), but I'm curious to see if we'll be seeing this story line again soon.