2001-2002 Nintendo
There comes a time in a young animal's life when he has to move out and live on his own. You say goodbye to your friends, pack up your things, and you get on the first train headed to the Animal Forest. Upon arriving on your destination, important decisions must be made. Where are you going to live, where are you going to work, who are you going to make friends with, how will you decorate your home, what wardrobe do you want to sport, who will you give Christmas presents to, and what Nintendo games you want to add to your collection. These are all important every day tasks that the player will have to tackle in Animal Crossing.
Animal Crossing is a quirky simulation game that utilizes the GameCube clock to simulate life in the Animal Forest three hundred sixty five days a year, seven days a week, and twenty hours a day. Everyday your experience in the Animal Forest will be different, wheather it's going fishing on a Sunday, helping out a friend find his lost keys on a Thursday evening, or getting a mysterious love letter on Valentine's Day from a secret admirer. Everything can change according to your day to day actions and the time and date when you decide to turn your GameCube on.
Features
- Digicard can be used to store your character and you can visit other player's forest
- Real-time clock tracks and mirrors real-time date and time
- Game Boy Advance mini-game can be downloaded from Animal Crossing
- Virtual Famicom allows you to play classic NES titles
- Dolby Pro Logic Surround Sound
- Four players can live per town
- Only for Nintendo GameCube
N-Side The Game
Animal Crossing is a charming, laid back, game experience. There are no guns, no dungeons to explore, no speedways to race through, just a simple village. Nintendo's simulation game, takes elements from Harvest Moon, Legend of the River King, Shenmue, Zelda, and many other simulation, adventure and RPG games. The game adds innovative communication features as well as charming characters and an endless amount of innovative spins on the aforementioned games.
Upon settling on a home, you waste no time in looking through want ads to find a new job, so you can pay the mortgage to your new home. Finding a job and earning a decent paycheck enables you to buy food, nice clothes, and nice furniture so you can decorate your home. Living on your own, means having responsibilities. You also have to attend to many chores like mowing the lawn, planting flowers, cutting down trees, gathering wood, and running errands.
All work and no play ? Not true at all. In Animal Forest you can do tons of fun things like listen to music, dig for treasure, meet new friends, send and receive letters, post on the town bulletin board, build an orchard or a garden, go to carnivals, collect insects, go hiking and even play the stock market. One of the coolest things you can do, is play classic NES games on your Nintendo system. There are several NES titles hidden away in the game, which you can collect and store in your home. Once in your home, you can pick any game and play it on your NES/Famicom. You can win most of the games during the carnivals held throughout holidays in the Animal Forest.
- NES Classics
- Balloon Fight - Clu Clu Land - Donkey Kong -Donkey Kong Jr. - Math - Golf - Pinball - Tennis - Punch-Out - etc
Animal Crossing uses the GameCube's built in clock to keep track of the time and the date. Of course, the game will have a day and night setting, and days will progress naturally using the clock. There will also be many holiday and event triggered celebrations depending on the date. For example, on the 4th of July, the whole village will be off from work and will celebrate with a fireworks display. There will be many special fairs and holiday celebrations depending on the time and date. The environment, weather, and seasons also change throughout the game. Elements can even change in Animal Crossing when you are not playing the game, so it's a good idea to play the game often.
One aspect of the game, pushing the communication features, is that no two games will be the same. Each game will have its own set of characters, and a distinct looking town. Players can be introduced to each others town via the GameCube digicard, at least four players can move into your town (from other digicards). You can also briefly visit other players towns by simply loading their save and your save together, unless you decide to move in to their town, you will have to leave and say good bye.
Outlook
Animal Crossing is a game I have been interested in since the Nintendo 64 version Animal Forest was released in Japan. It has taken a very long time for the GameCube version to arrive stateside, but understandably so with the amount of text and event-triggers being changed from Japan to America. Those interested in less linear games with a near infite amount of replay value for a single player game should best keep an eye out for this gem when it's released in the third quarter of 2002.
--Anthony J C