Animal Crossing
- This article is about the Animal Crossing series. For the Nintendo GameCube game, see Animal Crossing (GameCube). Or for the Nintendo DS game, see Animal Crossing: Wild World.
The Animal Crossing series (どうぶつの森, Dōbutsu no Mori) is a video-game series, developed by Nintendo, in which the player lives his/her own virtual life, in real time.
Series
Games
| Game | Format | First Released | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Animal Forest Dōbutsu no Mori (どうぶつの森) | Nintendo 64 | 2001 | First game in the series |
| Animal Forest+ Dōbutsu no Mori+ (どうぶつの森+) | Nintendo GameCube | 2001 | |
| Animal Crossing | Nintendo GameCube | 2002 | First game released Outside of Japan |
| Animal Forest e+ Dōbutsu no Mori e+ (どうぶつの森+) | Nintendo GameCube | 2003 | An expanded port of the North American verison |
| Animal Crossing: Wild World | Nintendo DS | 2005 | First Animal Crossing game to use Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection |
| Animal Crossing Wii | Wii | 2007 |
Anime
| Title | Released | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Animal Crossing Anime | December 16, 2006 |
Seasons
As the Animal Crossing series games play in real-time, the seasons within the games change accordingly. A number of noticeable changes occur during each of the four seasons.
Spring
During Spring, players can find a number of insects living in their natural habitats. This season includes a fair amount of holidays: in Animal Crossing, there is the Cherry Blossom Festival, during which tree leaves turn pink; in Animal Crossing: Wild World, there is the Flower Festival, a week during which players compete with villagers for the best garden.
Summer
Summer is when players can find the most insects buzzing about. In Animal Crossing, one can find a tent set up by a villager on weekends; if the player talks to the villager residing in the tent, the player may play a game with him/her. Sometimes villagers will give the player a summer-related item such as a Campfire. In Animal Crossing: Wild World, there is the Bug-Off, a bug-catching contest. Also, in Animal Crossing: Wild World there tends to be more fish in the rivers and ocean.
Autumn
During Autumn, the leaves start to change colors and the grass starts to become dormant for the year. There are several holidays in this season: in Animal Crossing, there is Thanksgiving (called the Harvest Festival) and Halloween; in Animal Crossing: Wild World, there is the Acorn Festival, during which the player is awarded pieces of the "Mush series" for collecting certain amounts of acorns.
Winter
During Winter, snow falls and blankets rooftops, trees, and the ground itself. Small snowballs form randomly on the ground, and when these are pushed by players they can make snowmen; should the player create a "perfect" snowman, he/she will receive a piece of "Snowman furniture" in the mail. This is also when Jingle the reindeer comes around to give the children their Christmas presents (Christmas is known as "Toy Day" in Animal Crossing). When it nears Christmas in Animal Crossing, some trees will be decorated with flashing lights (resembling Christmas lights) on their branches. Several of the villagers also build igloos at this time of year, allowing players to play games with the inhabitants. Sometimes the villager will give the player the infamous "DUMMY" item. Other times, villagers may give the player a winter-related item such as a Snow Bunny. In Animal Crossing: Wild World, the town celebrates "Bright Nights," a week during which villagers' houses will be decorated in lights; the player is allowed to vote which neighbor's house is the best-decorated.
Gaming Features
Animal Crossing maintains a list of all fish and insects caught by the player, one of the goals of the game being to catch every fish and insect, as well as to completely fill the museum. Some types of fish and insects are only available during certain parts of the year or at specific times. Both fish and insects can be donated to the museum, kept in the house as a decoration, or sold to shopkeeper Tom Nook for varying amounts, with some fetching prices as high as 15,000 Bells, such as the Stringfish, and others, such as the Cockroach, selling for only 5 Bells.
Insects
Capturing insects requires a net, which can be purchased at Tom Nook's store. Most insects can be found during the summer, and very few are available during winter. Most insects are found by walking around and listening to the loudness of an insect's chirping, or looking at trees or flowers, but some take more dedication. Pill Bugs must be found by using shovels or axes on rocks, and it is quite difficult to capture a Bee before it has the chance to sting the player and leave his/her left eye swollen shut. Ants and Cockroaches may be lured by spoiled turnips or Halloween candy. The Mole Cricket can only be found by listening for its distinctive sound and attempting to dig it up. The player's reward for capturing every type of insect is the golden net, which is larger than the standard net, and a butterfly model for the player's roof.
Fish
Catching fish requires a fishing pole, which is also available for purchase at Tom Nook's store. Ponds, lakes, rivers, and the ocean are available for fishing. Certain fish live only in certain bodies of water, and some fish can only be found while it is raining, as well as at certain times of the year and day. Fish are caught by placing the bait in front of the silhouette of the fish, then pressing the A button at the exact time the bait is pulled under the water. (This mechanic changed for the DS version, 'Wild World', in which you have to wait for the fish to start to 'struggle'.) The player's reward for capturing every type of fish is the golden fishing rod, which causes fish to stay on the line longer, thus making it easier to catch fish, and a fish-shaped weather vane for the player's house.
Fossils
When a player digs up a fossil in the ground it is unidentified. In Animal Crossing, the player must send it in the Farway Museum to identify the fossil; in Animal Crossing: Wild World, the player instead asks the curator, Blathers, to identify it. Once identified, fossils can be sold to Tom Nook, donated to the museum, or displayed in the player's house.
Gyroids
Gyroids in Animal Crossing resemble "clay figures" and are found in the ground, usually after it has rained in the game. In the Japanese version of the game, "gyroids" are called haniwa, after a kind of archaeological artifact native to Japan.
Pitfalls
While going about their daily lives, players may encounter an item known as the Pitfall. Pitfalls can be obtained by talking to villagers or by digging them up. To use a Pitfall, one must dig a hole and bury the Pitfall in the hole. When a villager, another player, or even the person who planted it steps on the buried Pitfall, they fall into a pit, hence the name, and must press buttons or move the analog stick in order to climb out. Non-villager NPCs are not affected by pitfalls. Since many newcomers to the Animal Crossing world are unfamiliar with Pitfalls, many of them have confused the Pitfall with the glitch-inducing "DUMMY" item, or the Activision game Pitfall!. To avoid this confusion, the name of the item was changed from "Pitfall" to "Pitfall seed" in Animal Crossing: Wild World.
Pattern design
Players can also design patterns at the village tailor shop, the Able Sisters, which is run by two sister hedgehogs, Mable and Sable Able, at a cost of 350 Bells. These patterns can be used for wallpaper, flooring, umbrellas, and shirts; in Animal Crossing, the player can use the pattern on the door of his/her house. Players can also use the Game Boy Advance, hooked up to the Nintendo GameCube with a GCN-GBA link cable, to design for free. After a player designs patterns, he/she can put up to eight of them on display at the tailor shop: four as shirts, and four as umbrellas; in Animal Crossing: Wild World, all eight patterns are displayed as shirts. This allows other villagers to wear those patterns. If players put up signs of those patterns around town, they could become more popular. Mable Able will tell the player the most popular shirt and umbrella patterns if asked. In addition, Sable Able becomes more friendly to the player when she is talked to enough and the player has created a number of designs. Sable Able is the eldest of the Able sisters by 10 years and seems to be somewhat attracted to you.
Happy Room Academy
Once a player finishes Tom Nook's chores, the Happy Room Academy ("HRA") will begin judging the interior design of the player's house every other day (in Animal Crossing: Wild World, the player's house is judged every Sunday). Providing the player has changed their interior since the previous inspection, the HRA will send the player a letter informing him/her of his/her point rating. The HRA judges every part of the players house, excluding the basement, according to a point system. Upon earning certain point marks, the player will receive prizes.
Shopping
While in Animal Crossing, the main way to obtain new items is via purchasing them from Tom Nook's shop. When players begin their adventure, the store is an understocked, tiny building, resembling a log cabin and called Nook's Cranny. As players progress through the game, Tom Nook expands his store, each time making it larger and increasing the daily inventory.
Eventually, a department store is opened by the raccoon, called Nookington's, which is staffed by Nook and young twin raccoons named Tommy and Timmy. Though most believe them to be in relation to Nook (sons, nephews, etc.), they are actually not related to him at all. However in Animal Crossing: Wild World, cranky villagers sometimes ask the player if they have heard of Tommy and Timmy Nookling; if the player says yes, the villager says, "If I had children like that... oh never mind." This implies that they could be related to him; also, Nook states in a side story in Animal Crossing: Wild World that they are of no relation (also quoting, "Why, haven't you ever heard them refer to me as 'Mr. Nook?'" and "I'm still a bachelor."). The latter may be why many fans consider them to be his nephews.
At the end of every month in Animal Crossing, Nook runs a raffle, which players can enter by handing over five raffle tickets, won by buying furniture, wallpaper, flooring, clothes, and umbrellas over the course of the month. Items cannot be purchased or sold on Raffle Day. Tickets for a particular month must be used in that month, but of any year; e.g. a set of April tickets obtained in 2006 cannot be used in May 2006, but can be used in April 2007.
Feng Shui
Certain furniture items in the game have the properties of feng shui. If certain colored items are placed on certain sides of the player's house, the player will have an increased chance of finding rare items, Bells, or both. The use of feng shui will also result in a higher Happy Room Academy score.
Other items, such as trophies and items received on holidays, will provide good luck in money and items regardless of placement or color.
Places
Museum
A player may choose to visit the local museum, but will not find much there initially. The museum has rooms to house fish, insects, paintings, and fossils, but relies on the player to complete the exhibits by making donations to Blathers, the owl curator. The fish and insect rooms can be filled by catching specimens to donate. However the player must be careful as to the order they donate their catches, as such fish or bugs donated will crop up more often in the game. Because of this, players often found it advisable to make a "store" of their catches in the basement of their house once they had received the expansion. Paintings are found like other furniture; in Animal Crossing: Wild World, the player must purchase a large number of paintings from "Crazy Redd," a sly fox dealing in the black market (some of these paintings may indeed be forgeries). Fossils can be dug up using a shovel.
Able Sisters Shop
The tailor shop run by Mable and Sable. In Animal Crossing: Wild World, it functions as a store from which players can buy shirts, umbrellas, headgear, and accessories; it sometimes has rare items for sale that cost a great amount of Bells and cannot be purchased from Tom Nook's catalogue. Players can also display designs of their creation and may even find their town's villagers wearing the designs! The Able Sisters can not be upgraded.
Tom Nook's Stores
Nook's Cranny
In both games, this is the first shop your town begins with. Although very small, if you spend and sell a total of 25,000 Bells in it, it will close for one day to become Nook 'n' Go.
Nook 'n' go
The first upgrade after Nook's Cranny, it has more items for sale but is still rather small. After spending and selling a total of 65,000 Bells, it closes for one day to become Nookway. It resembles a gas station without the pumps.
Nookway
The second upgrade, slightly larger than Nook 'n' Go, Nookway has much more items for sale. After spending and selling a total of 240,000 Bells and having a visitor from another town complete a transaction there, it closes again for a day to become Nookington's. Nookway resembles a superstore such as Walmart.
Nookington's
The final upgrade, Nookington's has a second floor; in Animal Crossing: Wild World, there is also a barber shop, Shampoodle, on the first floor. Extra staff now include Tommy and Timmy, two young raccoons who run the second floor, and Harriet, the pink-haired female poodle that runs Shampoodle.
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Nook's Cranny
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Nook 'n' go
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Nookway
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Nookington's
See also
Notes and references
- The following games, their instruction manuals, and their official game guides: Animal Crossing • Animal Forest • Animal Crossing: Wild World and Animal Crossing Wii.
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