I remember reading about Doubutso no Mori when it was a Nintendo 64 game. I knew it would never be localized into English. The game was too quirky, but I became obsessed with it. I read article after article on IGN. I wished Nintendo would take a chance and translate it. When the Gamecube came around my dreams came true, and since then the franchise has become popular worldwide. Since then we’ve seen just about every installment. Today I would like to highlight the best Animal Crossing games, but it’s more of a series ranking. Before we start let’s go over a little backstory for this franchise.
Doubutso no Mori was a game created by Shigeru Miyamoto. He touted it as a ‘communication game.’ You played as a randomized character, in a randomized world, with randomized animal based villagers, that would have random interactions with you. The games utilize a real time clock on the console in question and would reflect real-time changes. This includes day/night differences, as well as weather (snow in winter, s-un in summer). It’s a really cool system but unless you were available (or willing to change the clock via the system settings). There’s even real-life holiday events that you can experience within the game’s world.
The focus on these games is… well there’s no focus. You have a basic goal of paying off your mortgage to the local entrepeneur Tom Nook (he’s a raccoon). From here you can upgrade your house, but eventually your home becomes as big as it can be. The goal is whatever you want it to be. You can become friends with the animal villagers, collect furniture, complete museum entries for fish, fossils, or bugs. The games are really what you make it to be.
The closest comparison we had was to Harvest Moon. Anyone who has played both games knows that they’re worlds apart though.
So let’s get started with our ranking of the best Animal Crossing games:
Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer
Each of their platforms gets just one main installment in the franchise, but that doesn’t mean Nintendo limits themselves when it comes to spin-offs! For this outing they decided to do away with the whole life-sim angle and instead focus on designing homes.
What makes it stand out:
Honestly, this one is kind of a dud. The developers apparently had no idea why fans like the franchise. It sure isn’t for the design aspect alone. We like to interact with characters and watch our town grow. Designing your home and setting up furniture is just a nice diversion! A whole game focused around that was just bound get lost in the shuffle. This certainly is not one of the best Animal Crossing games.
Animal Crossing: City Folk
The series hit the Nintendo Wii, but it was more of a whimper than a roar to be honest. Nintendo didn’t have a lot of new ideas but they stuck to the basic formula. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad game, rather, it just didn’t add a lot to the formula.
What makes it stand out:
This is basically the same game we played on the Nintendo DS, but it included a city you could travel to and explore. Before you get too excited there’s not a lot you can do in the urban environment. It didn’t add a lot to the experience to be honest. That’s why this game landed so low on the list. It’s just not one of the best Animal Crossing games because it’s the least inspired.
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
The franchise lends itself well to the mobile gaming environment. Nintendo saw this and released Pocket Camp to a very receptive market. The game maintains most of the elements that made the franchise so popular. In this one you design a tent and camp, but still interact with the typical cast of characters.
What makes it stand out:
Well it’s on a non-Nintendo platform for one thing. Additionally the outdoors setting is unique but fits the franchise really well. It’s not as customizable as the other games, but there’s still a lot to do and the series’ trademark charm is still intact. If you’re looking for the best Animal Crossing experience you’re better off looking elsewhere.
Animal Crossing: Wild World
From the second I saw this game I knew it was going to be where the franchise hits it big. Animal Crossing lends itself perfectly to the handheld format, and considering the original game was released on weaker hardware I knew the DS would be able to do it justice. It did. In a really major way in fact.
What makes it stand out:
Wild World was the first handheld installment, and it came out with a bang! I always knew the franchise lent itself more toward handheld play, but I never could have imagined it would be this well fitting. This was the first time you could play with another player at the same time via linking two systems together. It added a whole new dimension to trading and designing your home. The graphics and music took a hit but nobody cared.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
This is the latest, but not greatest installment in the franchise. It’s also the first mainline game to be released in high definition! Animal Crossing New Horizons takes you out of the forest and instead ships you off to a deserted island. Despite the change in scenery it’s a lot like the previous games with NPC villagers moving to and fro your island and it’s a collect-a-thon at heart.
What Makes It Stand Out:
The new setting, for one thing. We’re way past Nintendo taking any kind of chances with this franchise and so such a change was pretty unexpected if you ask me. The jump in graphics isn’t earth shattering, but it is finally nice to play the game in HD. It’s not going to set the world on fire visually, but hey, who cares? The mechanics have been fine tuned and it’s has never been more fun to start a new life in a town (or in this case, island) full of quirky animals.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Of course Nintendo wasn’t going to sit on the franchise when the 3DS came out. New Leaf was one of the first million selling titles released for the platform. This release featured greatly enhanced graphics, audio, and a host of new furniture and items to collect. That’s not to mention the fact that the game had stereoscopic 3D graphics.
What makes it stand out:
Honestly, not much. Animal Crossing: New Leaf was more of the same. That didn’t matter because it had more refined graphics, multiplayer, more items, and was bigger and better than any other Animal Crossing game released to date. As of right now this is the most feature intensive version with online play and wireless connectivity. This one re-invigorated my love for the franchise.
Animal Crossing
What we got here was an enhanced port for the original Nintendo 64 game. Nintendo increased the resolution and they capped the framerate, but the biggest change was the addition of some Game Boy Advance features. You could use the 32-bit handheld to design logos, and to visit an island specific to the connectivity. This was a pretty big deal because it was the first game in the franchise released in North America. It made a pretty big splash even featuring ‘Real World’ inspired ads. That’s pretty unusual for the house of Mario.
What made it stand out:
This was the first game of its kind on the Nintendo GameCube. Heck, maybe anywhere. It genuinely felt like you were connecting and building relationships with fictional animal based characters. Building up your home with matching sets of furniture was far more rewarding than it should have ever been. This version has the best interactions with the animal characters allowing you to choose to speak to them regularly or to ask for delivery jobs. It’s really cool. The atmosphere is also the best here. While it doesn’t have online play there’s a password trading system, and you can visit a friend’s village if you plug their memory card into the second slot on the console. You even have classic NES games that you can play here, that is, if you can find them!
And that’s our list! Please be sure to check back after the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons to find out where it places! In the meantime keep paying your bell to Tom Nook, continue collecting furniture, and go on making all the new friends!
