My first Animal Crossing was Wild World. We were about to move interstate, so Mum let us pick one DS game to help us last the long trip. Looking at the shelves of the game store we saw it. I think what made our decision was the co-op connection that let us play together. While I didn’t know the genre name then, life simulation games were the kind I liked to play best. Animal Crossing was a perfect fit, and looking at guides online I was amazed by the different things in it.
I’ve since lost my copy but I have my little brother’s. It still has his original town named Fernwood. A pretty name taken from a women’s gym franchise. It doesn’t matter too much that I gave mine up a while ago. As I restarted a lot when I learned you could get different fruits and villagers. That did help my brother collect the fruit types at least.
Home Consoles
We never had our own copy of City Folk. I initially thought it was cool from reading about it. After playing with it a few times I can say it’s my least favourite.
New Leaf and Beyond
We both got 3DS’s for Christmas specifically because New Leaf was coming soon. I spent an awful lot of time on it, especially staying up late to catch beetles. Eventually I stopped playing it seriously, picking it and and restarting every so often.
I got Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival when it had price dropped a touch just to get the amiibo bundle. The game is cute but not that fun, and the good side games got added to New Leaf in the Welcome Amiibo update.
I wasn’t disappointed by Happy Home Designer, probably because I knew what to expect. I played through it fairly fast and burnt out. The only thing I didn’t really like was that some items you could only get by participating in the online timed competitions. Eventually they also added the new furniture moving features to New Leaf as well.
At one point I bought Wild World on my Wii U, because I was sick of having to be the mayor. I really hope it’s at least an optional feature in the next game. Perhaps maybe you have to work hard to get elected. My latest save in New Leaf I actually made a second character to play as instead of the mayor. Obviously, New Leaf is the best Animal Crossing game but Wild World feels more at home with me.
Animal Crossing is a lovely series, and has usually been a shared experience with my little brother. Perhaps whenever the new one comes I can introduce my little sister into it as well.