Your Experiences with AC Games

[TurnipBell20]

Hello,

I am interested in which Animal Crossing games you played, which ones you liked best, which ones you didn’t like, memories etc. I‘ll start:

- I never played AC: Population Growing.
- I enjoyed AC: Wild World. It was my first Animal Crossing game, and I had lots of fun discovering all the different possibilities.
- I loved AC: City Folk. My cousins played it on the Wii and it was one of the primary reasons for me to get a Wii. I played it for hours everyday, and achieved almost everything that was achievable. Discovering the city and unlocking new areas felt so exciting. Also playing online with my cousins was very new to me and really enjoyable.
- My least favorite game was AC: New Leaf. The small 3DS screen gave me a headache every single time I played. I was excited for the game to come out, but it wasn’t exactly how I imagined it to be. The customization possibilities were very limited. I was disappointed and didn’t play it for very long.
- I didn’t play AC: Happy Home Designer.
- I played AC: Amiibo Festival. It wasn’t as bad as many people say, but it got boring after a while. At least I own Animal Crossing amiibos because of that game.
- I played AC: Pocket Camp for a while, but hated it due to the limited possibilities and the option to pay real money.
- I still play AC: New Horizons. I spent a lot of time on it and like the game overall. It just doesn’t have the same magic Wild World and City Folk had for me.

 

[Introspective Onlooker]

I made an unorthodox start with Pocket Camp in late 2018. I'd play small bouts of it infrequently because even before I've played any of the main games, I could tell it was a soulless, limited fraction of what the actual Animal Crossing games were. I wanted to play the GC game (mainly AFe+ translated into English), but it just wasn't feasible, and I didn't want to have to emulate it. Here's a short(ish?) record of my own experiences with this series:

• I wanted to try out the older games first before I played NL and NH, and I wanted to go back as early as possible, while trying out the most accessible game, economically-wise. I bought and played City Folk on June of 2021. I wanted to start with Wild World, first, but I kept reading online that CF made it "obsolete" because it was "essentially WW on console, with more content". That assessment is only accurate at face value, because I would soon figure out why the game was criticized heavily when it first came out. The more I played it, the more the novelty wore off.
• I decided to emulate Population: Growing!, around the same month, then I did the same thing to WW a month later while I waited for my copy of NL to arrive. Didn't get to spend as much time as I wanted because both my PG! and WW towns got deleted when my computer formatted. It was a virus.
• I bought my New 2DS XL for two reasons: Samus Returns, and New Leaf. And no offense, but I have to disagree with customization being "limited" in NL when everything that came before was barebones at best. No longer being locked into a long dress-like shirt or shorts based off my gender (since all clothes can be worn by both genders) and being able to create PWPs is fantastic. The Main Street was a natural evolution of the City, and makes way more sense in the context that it's just another part of your town, so the size is actually justified in this case. The City in the last game was way too small to be a city, and I feel it should've been bigger, or at least have a bit more to do in it.
• I started my own town on どうぶつの森 (Animal Forest) on an N64 emulator back in October. It's very crude and feels very restricted compared to its GameCube ports, though it's nice seeing just how much Japanese culture is represented in the game.
• どうぶつの森e＋ is quite an interesting case; I'm going to have to make a thread on that game, one day. To put it simply, it's the definite version if you want to play the original game. It still hasn't been fully translated into English, but if you know very basic Japanese and have a guide to reference, you shouldn't have much trouble.
• A month and a week has gone by since I started my island, and I've already lost a good deal of interest in playing New Horizons. I still have a one-star rating in my town, but I just don't care, anymore. It's not that I hate the game, I just don't find that there's not much that interest me, and would rather play どうぶつの森e＋ over anything else at the moment.

New Leaf is easily the best game in the franchise for a multitude of reasons, and it's the first one I'll definitely come back to whenever I decide to take a break from Animal Crossing altogether.

City Folk is my least favorite, because it decided to slapped elements from both the GameCube game(s) and Wild World without considering how and why these elements worked in those games in the first place. It removed certain mechanics from WW despite how much it pays tribute to it, and ANIMAL TRACKS... the less said about that, the better. I don't hate City Folk, either, but I have to wonder what exactly were they thinking with some of the decisions they made with the game.

And those are all the AC games I've played so far. I don't plan on trying out Welcome Amiiboo, but I wouldn't mind giving Happy Home Designer a shot.

 

[LadyDestani]

I will admit that I have not played most of the AC games, but I'll give my thoughts on the ones I have played.

Animal Crossing: GameCube
This was the first Animal Crossing game I played and I have very fond memories of it. I would say that it's my favorite game of the series based on the ones I've played. I loved the personality of the villagers, including the meanness. This game had so much quirkiness and I loved seeing what was going to happen next. I enjoyed decorating my home to some degree, but I spent most of my time fishing, bug catching, and interacting with my villagers and the NPCs. Those were the days.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf
This was my re-introduction to the series. I didn't even realize it had become a series until I learned about New Leaf, so I decided to try it out. I have enjoyed New Leaf a lot, but the longer I played, the more I felt like something was off. I finally realized that it was because the villagers were all nice to me from the beginning. I never had to win their friendship and the interactions didn't have the same quality as the GameCube. This went for the NPCs as well as the villagers. I was so disappointed the first time I made a donation to the museum and Blathers didn't tell me anything about it. I have still gotten a ton of mileage out of the game and even bought a second copy to build a second town, so I do really like New Leaf, but it's missing some of the personality that the original had. In exchange, we got better graphics, more customization, and a lot more freedom. I like the concept of PWPs, but I'm still not that interested in landscaping so it takes me a very long time to decorate my town. That's okay because there's plenty of other things to do, though. There is plenty of dialogue and even a few years later I sometimes come across something I haven't seen before or don't remember. This game would have been perfect for me if only the villagers warmed up to you over time and Blathers still blathered. Even though it's not my favorite, I do think it's probably the best entry in the series because it's so well-rounded.

I have not played Wild World, but I really want to give it a try. Because of the things I loved about the GameCube version, I think I would also love Wild World. I'm really interested in all the little stories I keep hearing about and the Observatory sounds like fun. I may pick this up after I finally complete my New Leaf towns.

I have not played City Folk, but I am not interested in it. I think I'd personally get more out of Wild World and since City Folk introduced grass deterioration, which I hate, I really don't want to have to deal with that.

I have not played New Horizons and I have no intentions of playing it. The extra emphasis on designing and decorating doesn't appeal to me at all. I have paid attention to all of the new features introduced in this game, and while I admit that it is a lot, I would not care to utilize any of the new features. So it's just not a game for me.

I have not played Pocket Camp and have no intention of playing it. I don't play mobile games and the gacha aspect is a huge turn off for me.

I have not played Amiibo Festival and have no intention of playing it. I don't usually play party games.

I have not played Happy Home Designer and I don't intend to play it. While I like interior design a lot more than exterior landscaping, I don't think I'd enjoy an entire game centered around it. It's more something that I like doing once in a while.

 

[Croconaw]

I’ve played all Animal Crossing games except those weird spin-offs. My favorite game is always going to be the newest iteration for one reason and one reason only. I like how everyone plays at the start of the release. I like the insane amount of threads popping up about the game. I like how everyone talks about it and how active people are within the community. I think the activity is the biggest thing for me. This is why I like to get games on or very close to release day. I love being involved in that burst of activity.

I have very fond memories from all of these games. I remember playing Wild World on the way back from middle school. I remember being happy to check on my villagers because I didn’t really have any friends at school. I saw my villagers as my friends, as cheesy as that sounds. I appreciate the franchise as a whole. Animal Crossing helped me through a lot.

 

[Xara]

i’ve played wild world, new leaf, pocket camp and new horizons, and have loved each game in their own way. out of the 4 games that i’ve played, there isn’t one that i didn’t enjoy.

wild world
wild world was my introduction to the series and for that, it’ll always be incredibly special and nostalgic to me. i received it in 2007-2008 as a christmas present, and spent the whole night playing it. my memory of it is in fragments (like the rest of my childhood lol), but i remember tangy being the first villager i ever met. i remember not saving and meeting resetti the next day and thinking that he was a friend, only for him to yell at me — i remember crying to my mom about it, too lmao. i remember thinking that i would have the option to become an animal once i completely paid off my loan. i remember discovering hacks such as how to obtain golden shovels, how to shoot down pete/the ufo/etc, etc and getting so excited and falling in love with the game even more. all of my memories of it are good ones, and i love the game to pieces.

new leaf
despite not being my introduction to the series, new leaf is what really made me love animal crossing. it was my introduction to trading and playing with others (and boy are those memories plentiful! i have so many that i can’t choose which ones to share lol), paying attention to villagers and discovering my favourites, etc. it’s also what brought me here, and for that i’ll always be incredibly grateful. <3

pocket camp
as i do with all other mobile games, i have an on-again-off-again relationship with pocket camp lol. i love the furniture and events, but it’s really not a game that i can play consistently for longer than maybe a week tops. i last reinstalled it back in 2020 while waiting for new horizons, but i deleted it 2-3 weeks later and haven’t played it since other than to unlock the pocket camp items in new horizons.

new horizons
my favourite animal crossing game! again, i have way too many memories to share, but i love all of the new features, the villagers, the freedom we have compared to the past games, the quality, all of it. it certainly has its flaws, but i still love it and the friendships that its brought me.

 

[VanitasFan26]

I'll keep it short:

Original Animal Crossing: For its time I really enjoyed talking to the villagers in this game even though they were rude they had more character to them than the new AC games.

Wild World: It played just like the original except that it was basically the same goal as trying to pay off your loan and of course try to make friends with the villagers.

City Folk: Its sad how this game is so underrated and its probably my favorite. It has features that never made a return in newer AC games and I always enjoyed the city aspect of the game since I've always found cities fascinating throughout my life.

New Leaf; Its always good being the Mayor because every villager appreciates what you do for them and I always like how they celebrate my anniversary for being the Mayor of the Town. I always liked this one because it had so much things to do and it felt really relaxing at the time.

New Horizons: Oh boy where do I even begin? I do not hate the game, I actually do like it when it does click with me again, but other times it does get stale, but I've learned that when that happens its best to take a break from the game and come back with a refreshed mindset. The idea of making your island however you want and you control of where buildings go was a much needed change for the series.

 

[Khaoticnoize187]

The one i played the most is going to have to be new horizions my expierences with it, personally its fun and relaxing and it did took me sometime trying to get used to the tedious aspects of it coming from someone who often plays jrpgs lol but after awhile i started having lot more fun with it and liking it alot to this day.

 

[Beanz]

i actually own all the mainline animal crossing games released in north america.

-population growing: i’ve only played it a few times but it’s very tedious. big map with no mini map so i kind of have to memorize where things are. also i can only sell items to nook one at a time. you really got to GRIND to get stuff in this game.

-wild world: i don’t play it on a regular basis but i appreciate how i can take this game anywhere because it’s on DS. animal crossing games solely on stationed TV consoles are harder to get back into IMO. i feel like i can get back to this whenever meanwhile i have to make time to play PG and CF. it’s a bit easier to play than PG but the gameplay is still tedious. let’s just say new leaf’s ability to quick switch tools with the game pad is the best thing ever.

-city folk: i’ve only played this twice but i love the city area. i hope nintendo incorporates it into the next game, in fact i’d prefer it over new leaf’s main street. i really don’t like having the shops in town, i like having a separate area.

-new leaf: great memories. i love the vibe, its different from past games but not too different. i like the mayor aspect, a little power but not overwhelming. this is still my favorite game after 9 years.

-new horizons: very different vibe from the last games but the furniture and attention to detail is amazing. even though this is my least favorite AC, i’ve had an itch to play it recently. it’s obvious that there was a lot of hard work put into it but it’s missing some essential components.

 

[jvgsjeff]

also i can only sell items to nook one at a time.

You can sell multiple items at a time, just press the X button to highlight each item first.