Dobutso no Mori was one of my most anticipated games for the Nintendo 64. This ‘communication game’ from Shigeru Miyamoto was highly ambitious especially in the days before consoles went online. I remember following it and hoping against reality that it would be localized. Then it just kind of faded away. That’s why I was shocked to hear that not only was Nintendo releasing an enhanced port for the Nintendo Gamecube, but that it was also going to be released in North America. It quickly jumped to my list of most anticipated games. I pre-ordered the game and picked it up at launch. While several Animal Crossing games have come and gone since there’s something truly special about the Gamecube original. Let’s take a look.
You start out in Animal Crossing as a nameless character aboard a train. You’re looking to start a new life in a new town. This world is composed of both humans and anthropomorphic animals. They’re all rendered in a low polygon cutesy style. The player is approached by a friendly cat while in transit who gets all of your details, and then calls in a favor to his friend Tom Nook. Upon arrival the aforementioned Nook sells you a house, but because you can’t afford it, gives you a loan that you’ve got to pay off by working for him. Once you’ve completed all of his chores it’s up to you to pay off the loan, and upon doing so, will have your house upgraded. Along with this comes a new debt. Hey, it’s basically the American dream, right?
Animal Crossing is fully 3D but the camera sits at a semi-overhead perspective. You move your character with the analog stick, and interact with the various NPCs using the A button. Sometimes they’ll ask for specific items which brings up your inventory screen and you select them from there. You can sell items from your inventory to Tom Nook. He also has inventory that you can purchase for the in-game currency of bells. None of this will help your quest though. Why? Because there is no real goal. Yes, you can pay off your debts. You probably should in fact. Animal Crossing is entirely non-linear. The world is basically your oyster. You can play just as much or little of Animal Crossing as you like and still get a full experience.
That’s because the gameplay is sandbox. Pure and simple. You can do what you want when you want. There’s no fear of death but also no clear objective after you’ve paid off your debts. You’re living your life in Animal Crossing for better or worse. You have villagers living in your town with which to interact, and a home that you can customize with various furniture/flooring/wallpaper. It’s a low key life simulation, and a very relaxing one at that. You can play Animal Crossing however you choose and no way is really wrong. That’s what I love so much about it.
What makes Animal Crossing so special is the fact that everyone will have a different experience. That’s because everything is randomized when you start. This includes everything from the town layout to the villagers themselves. Even the player’s character looks different each time. There are actually two hundred and eighteen different animal villagers that the game pools from when you start out. This ensures that everyone who starts out gets a different experience. Outside of appearance they also have different speech cycles, requests, etc. Village layouts differ, but they all have the same basic components. Player houses will always be at the center, and Tom Nook’s store will be in the same place as well. Each town will however have a river, and a beach. The river varies in location.
What’s really interesting about Animal Crossing is the lengths to which Nintendo went to make it feel like this is a real, living, and breathing world. The game runs off of the Gamecube’s internal clock and calendar. The time of day per the console is directly reflected in the game. Additionally the month going by the calendar is too. This means that in winter there’s snow on the ground, and during Summer it’s all sunshine. There are actual holidays and events that the game reflects. You just have to participate on the right day and at the correct time. Holidays like Christmas and Halloween are reflected, as is the player’s birthday. It’s super cool if you ask me.
So what exactly do you do each day, you might ask? The main point of Animal Crossing is to customize your home. As I’ve already mentioned you can change the entire appearance of the dwelling and add furniture as you see fit. With that said if you’re not into decorating there’s little chance that Animal Crossing will hold your interest. You can gain furniture and wallpaper by running errands for other villagers. Sometimes they will offer you chores, and sometimes they won’t. It’s why you have to play Animal Crossing everyday. Unfortunately because the villagers live by traditional schedules if you can only play at night you’re not going to get a lot of interactions. Of course you can also alter the clock, but that’s no fun.
With that said the game’s biggest weakness is that it’s designed to be played in short bursts over a long period of time. You can only do so much in a single day before you run out of new things. Tom Nook’s inventory of items rotates only daily, and your villagers will only offer so many errands at a time. Trees won’t grow new fruit, nor will new seashells wash up on shore until a full day has passed. What’s more is that you can only pay for one house upgrade per day. Some tasks such as fishing and bug catching can be done all day long, but some specimens only appear during specific hours. It’s kind of disappointing because you’ll fall in love with the game immediately and want to pour hours into it right away. Animal Crossing doesn’t want you to play it like that.
It is this design that drew me in right away though. Few times have I been as excited to load up a game each morning than here. It’s a joy to see everything that has changed, if new villagers have moved in, who has moved out, and all the new items available. This is especially true with the change in seasons. I was always really excited to see which new bugs and fish I could catch with the switch in weather. There’s a museum wherein you donate specimens to fill the collection, and it’s really cool to build this up over time. While I can see why some people don’t like the laid back ‘play over time’ design I personally loved it. Animal Crossing is difficult to get burned out on when you’re just spending fifteen to thirty minutes a day with it.
The customization options are huge. As I’ve already mentioned you can decorate your house as you see fit, but really, the entire town can be altered. Layouts for each village are random when you begin. They all have the basics such as the police station, train station, and Tom Nook’s store. You can plant flowers, chop down trees, and also plant them. What’s interesting is that each town starts with one native fruit. There are five different ones that are chosen at random. These include apples, cherries, oranges, peaches, and pears. You can acquire the non-native fruits and plant these trees, but you’ll have to dive into the multiplayer elements to do so.
What’s neat is that you can do little things to alter your town like design patterns. This is done at the Able Sister’s shop. You’re given a grid by which you can create these patterns with a host of different options for colors. What’s neat is you can even hook up your Game Boy Advance to the console and design these on the little screen. When you put your patterns on display you might even spot them around town with other villagers randomly wearing them. This appeals to my juvenile sense of humor and drove me to draw hilarious pictures in hopes I would spot them around town. Once you get to know the villagers you can even teach them cool new catchphrases they use in speech. Again, I couldn’t be trusted, and taught my villagers some pretty profane things.
The Gamecube version of Animal Crossing introduced some of the most unique and interesting multiplayer options of any game in its time. You don’t play directly with a friend. Instead you can visit a buddy’s village when they aren’t there (provided you each have a memory card with an Animal Crossing save). Any items you collect come back with you, and villagers actually remember your character and reference them to the primary player. Sometimes NPCs will move between each player’s town. What’s especially cool about this is they retain any catchphrases and patterns they were using in this case. There’s also another option for multiplayer where you share a save file with a friend, and just occupy a different house. This is cool, but not nearly as fun as having your individual towns.
One of the most surprising things about Animal Crossing was that several NES games are fully playable within it. This was a huge deal at the time because it predates the Virtual Console on Wii and several of these titles had never been re-released up to this point. Unfortunately they’re pretty well hidden away. Several of these were included just from using the special Animal Crossing brand memory card included with the game. Others can be randomly dug up, won in Tom Nook’s lottery, obtained from the special island area (accessed only by connecting the GBA to the console), and others are sold by the traveling merchant. Fifteen were included here and among them were classics like Excitebike, Tennis, Clu Clu Land, Donkey Kong, etc. It was such a cool feature back at the time of release. Unfortunately most of the luster is gone now.
Animal Crossing started out as a Nintendo 64 title. The graphics were upgraded here, but only slightly. The resolution was increased, and the framerate improved. Despite that this looks like a Nintendo 64 game, for better or worse. The art style is what makes it so pleasant. Animal Crossing is abstract with it’s strange texturing and cutesy anthropomorphic animals. It looks decent enough, but don’t go in expecting bump mapping or technical lighting effects. The soundtrack is also pretty basic. All of the music is simple midi. It sounds decent enough, but I do like the fact that each hour has it’s own track. It helps remind you that the time has changed. The sound effects however are a little rough. The animals aren’t voiced. Instead they make weird mumbles and grunts. These are high pitched, and kind of sound like they’re trying to say actual words.
