How Would You Rank the Main Series Animal Crossing Games and Why?

[baconhwang]

I've been playing a lot of Pocket Camp recently and it's made me realize how well Nintendo did with New Leaf. With that said, how would you rank the main series Animal Crossing games in order from best to worst? And tbh there's no such thing as a bad Animal Crossing game (well... maybe we'll turn a blind eye to Amiibo Festival, although I actually enjoyed that game since I bought it for five bucks).

 

[MapleSilver]

New Leaf > Gamecube > City Folk > Wild World

 

[baconhwang]

Just wondering, why would you rank Wild World as last? I've been meaning to try the other main series AC handheld game, is it not as fun as Gamecube and City Folk versions?

 

[MapleSilver]

Just wondering, why would you rank Wild World as last? I've been meaning to try the other main series AC handheld game, is it not as fun as Gamecube and City Folk versions?

This post explains it pretty well.

Wild World vs City Folk is like comparing a vanilla game to the same one with all the expansion packs. Once you play the complete version, the vanilla just feels empty. City Folk is very similar to Wild World but is superior in almost every way. Also in Wild World you need to have a friend visit your town to unlock Nookingtons. If you don't know anyone else who plays the game, you're stuck with Nookway forever.

Basically, as someone who played City Folk first, Wild World simply feels like a downgraded version of that game.

 

[Lady Timpani]

Basically, as someone who played City Folk first, Wild World simply feels like a downgraded version of that game.

That's interesting! I'd never thought about how you might prefer one over the other due to the order you played them in. I guess I prefer WW over CF because I played it first, and having CF be so similar to WW after waiting for a new AC game was disappointing. CF is the AC game I've spent the least time on (probably less than a year).

My ranking would probably be NL = GC > WW > CF. Ngl GC is probably partially so high due to nostalgia, but there are a lot of things it does right that the other games don't (the music, the large town, villager dialogue, festivals). NL was incredibly innovative and introduced a lot of great features, though, and it was a breath of fresh air after CF was basically a retooled WW. I just wish the animals had more personality.

 

[baconhwang]

This post explains it pretty well.



Basically, as someone who played City Folk first, Wild World simply feels like a downgraded version of that game.

Thank you, very insightful!

 

[Sakura625]

New Leaf > Wild World > City Folk

Something about city folk never really stuck with me, I think animal crossing is better on mainly a handheld ^^
(and I've actually never tried out the gamecube version, should I play it?)

 

[ILikeFroakies]

New Leaf
Wild World
City Folk

Never played the gamecube version

 

[MapleSilver]

I would definitely recommend playing Gamecube. It's probably a good idea to emulate it on your computer, since Gamecube disks can be incredibly expensive.

 

[ForgottenT]

New Leaf > Wild World > Gamecube > City Folk.

 

[deuces]

new leaf, happy home designer, wild world
cant rank city folk and gamecube bc i never played aha

 

[Stackhouse]

I've only played Wild World and New Leaf.

New Leaf is better than Wild World, but also is lacking in Wild World humor and dialogue.

 

[Apriiil]

New Leaf > Wild World > Game Cube > City Folk

DISCLAIMER *never played City Folk*

 

[ESkill]

I'd say New Leaf and Gamecube are tied, or really close to being tied if the GC version was updated. There's so much about GC I love, but it's limited by the capabilities of its time. I hope they implement some of GC into the Switch version, or just port it to Switch and update some stuff. Then it'd City Folk, then Wild World. I remember getting bored with WW after one year. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't it lack holidays?
Not mainline, but HHD is super fun, I love it. Amiibo Festival isn't bad, it's fun to trash talk with friends, but yeah, can get old quickly.

 

[tiffanistarr]

GameCube
New Leaf
Wild World
City Folk

 

[jvgsjeff]

New Leaf > GameCube > City Folk > Wild World

When City Folk's online play was still supported, I saw GameCube and City Folk as roughly equals because I had so much fun playing online. But with that gone (officially at least), I give the edge to GameCube.

As for City Folk vs. Wild World, they are both similar of course. But City Folk is superior in most ways (graphics/frame rate, holidays, analog controls, the city), although Wild World had better dialogue and more backstory events.

All four are very good games, though.

 

[Quaint]

New Leaf > Wild World > GCN > City Folk

 

[Magpiecrossing]

New leaf-Gamecube-City folk-Wild world

 

[JCnator]

1. Animal Crossing: New Leaf - The role of mayor is now fully relevant, has plenty of things to do on both solo and multiplayer, completing that game is a nightmare, overall better designed game.
2. Animal Crossing - Plentiful of things to do in single-player, somewhat long-winded dialog that has a lot of personality, the acre-loading system can render certain tasks more difficult to perform than needed.
3. Wild World and City Folk - These games share the same rank, because they're heavily similar. Simplicity makes their gameplay more accessible, but the lack of things to do in single-player hurts a lot, considering the online multiplayer is no longer officially available.
4. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp - The Animal Crossing experience at its most accessible, yet greatly suffers in the long run. Tasks are incredibly repetitive, many events requiring to spend a lot of free time within a limited time-frame are stressful.

 

[Vonny]

New Leaf > Gamecube > City Folk > Wild World

Spot on pretty much. New Leaf feels like the best version of what CF/WW were while GameCube stands out because it feels so different. Wild World is the worst because it feels so bare bones.

My best memories were with Wild World and the GameCube version though.