In the twilight years of the Nintendo 64 console there was one game that interested me more than any other. This title was Doubutso No Mori, and it was unlike anything else we had seen at the time. It was originally planned as a release for the Nintendo 64DD, but because of numerous delays (and an obvious lack of interest) it was moved to the plain jane sixty four bit console. Unfortunately it was so late in the system’s life span, and so quirky that it had no chance of being released worldwide. We English speakers were left wanting, but that all changed Nintendo released their next console and announced that an enhanced port was in the works for it. It was a risk to translate such a massive title, but Nintendo needed software to fill an otherwise barren release schedule and this is what they chose to bring over. I was of course one of the early adopters, and I instantly fell in love with what was described as a ‘communication game.’ The name was changed to Animal Crossing, but it still delivered on the promises made.
The story here is what you make of it. When you start a new village the game suddenly moves to a first person view from your character’s perspective as they ride aboard a train. A friendly character named Rover (he’s a humanoid cat for comedy sake) approaches and asks you some questions. It’s typical stuff like your name, and where you’re traveling to, your gender, etc. You better really think about your answers because you’re stuck with the results. The other questions he asks determine what your character looks like which is a pretty interesting mechanic. At the end of this sequence you’re introduced to the town where your character will spend the rest of their days.
Unfortunately your protagonist did not plan ahead and failed to procure a residence. A local raccoon just so happens to own four separate properties and is willing to throw you into debt by giving you one. You’re given your choice of the selection, but they’re all virtually identical so this isn’t a big deal. Currency in the world of Animal Crossing comes in the form of ‘bells’ and these are obtained by selling items you find or insects/fish that you catch. It might sound boring, but Animal Crossing excels at offering each player an individualized experience in some pretty unique ways.
There’s no clear goal in Animal Crossing. While the debt gives the game a little bit of direction you’re never penalized in any way should you ignore it. There’s no urgency in paying the money, but when you pay it off you are offered expansions to your house including a more spacious floor plan and even multiple floors and a basement. Like I said before; you can choose not to spend your hard earned bells in this manner and instead do whatever you want. The game is designed to be a different experience for each player. Each player has a different layout for their town. This includes placement of trees, rocks, and other terrain as well as buildings such as Tom Nook’s store, the police department, and more. While the layout never differs wildly (there’s always a river and beach for example) the changes are definitely noticeable.
Furthermore, fruit grows in every single village but there’s only one type per town determined automatically after you start the game. These include apples, pears, peaches, oranges and cherries. They all serve the same purpose; they’re best used to sell to Tom Nook for money and there’s no real difference to them outside of aesthetics. You can trade items via the in-game password system to get pieces of the produce your town is lacking and by planting these you can have non-native fruit growing in your town. These sell for more in your stores but for the most part I just like having a variety for aesthetic purposes. You can even plant coconuts found on an island accessed only when you have your Game Boy Advance linked to the system but these can only grow on the beach. You can also plant flowers to beautify the town.
Your town is populated by anthropomorphic animals. These are not predetermined, rather, upon creating your village the game assigns four or five random citizens to it from a pool of around two hundred. As you play you may notice additional characters moving in to your town, but the population tops off at fifteen. You can interact with these characters with standard conversation, do them favors and get rewarding items or bell. The latter of these usually just turns into a fetch quest which will annoy some players but because your village is not very big (and you’re armed with a map) it’s not particularly difficult to track down the person whom you need.
Animal Crossing runs off of the in-game clock using it to reflect the appropriate time of the day as well as the season based on the calendar. Villagers sleep at specific hours, and things change even when you’re not around. Characters move in and out of your village when you’re not even playing. Furthermore, marked on the calendar are specific in-game holidays in which you participate in events with the animals in your town. They even remember your birthday if you tell them which is really cool. We even have some light multiplayer elements in this package. Up to four characters can live in the same village, and only one town can be saved per memory card. You can’t play at the same time, but it’s a very cool feature. The best one however is that you can visit a friend’s village if you have their memory card in the second slot. Characters can actually move between the two towns if this happens which is an amazing feature that does a spectacular job of hiding the fact that this isn’t an online title.
Animal Crossing is just an enhanced port of the Nintendo 64 game. The character models have very low polygon counts but this helps with the abstract aesthetic the developers were going for. The game isn’t fully 3D; you view the action from a skewed overhead perspective which is disappointing but it works well for this type of game. The environments are a little simplistic, but they look really good for what is essentially a Nintendo 64 title. My favorite effect in this game is the change of scenery that comes with seasons. The trees are adorned with Christmas lights in the winter, leaves change in the fall, and more. The sun even sets as the time changes. The graphics are pleasant, and you can customize a lot of how your town and house look, but the technology behind it is obviously from a previous generation.
The soundtrack is limited to mere midi level compositions. This was obviously the decision of Nintendo in order to cut down on storage, but it sounds pretty good in my opinion. You have a myriad of themes for the different characters, in town buildings, and more. I always really liked the fact that the overall music in the village is different for every hour. I especially enjoy the night themes. The soundtrack is limited but I enjoy it overall.
This was one of the early releases for the Nintendo Gamecube, but it’s still one of my most favorite games for the platform, and even of all time for that matter. While many are quick to compare this to simulation titles such as Harvest Moon and Legend of the River King that’s completely inaccurate. Animal Crossing is in a league of its own, and even with several sequels it’s still a refreshing experience. While the new versions added features I still like the original Gamecube release most of all and still play it.
