Animal Crossing Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Nintendo Genre: Adventure Release date: September 16, 2002

What's up with this game? It looks weird, it seems to have no plot, and yet there is a similar based game, Animal Leader, also in the making. It was previously named Animal Forest +, which was due to the fact that it was a port from the N64 (Japan only). Plus, I guess, meant enhanced, like Director's Cut or something. I can only assume it takes place in a forest full of animals. Also, it did well for the N64 in Japan. It still is the top-selling N64 game in Japan, and the N64 has no sales anymore. This game was good enough to even be ported on the GCN. I'll never understand the Japanese.........

This game apparently has great gameplay, and an actual 24 hour clock to imitate real life. Days go by, as usually happens in the real world, and there are even seasons to simulate. All 4 are included: Winter, Spring, Summer & Fall. They go by actual month: In December, there are Christmas lights (no Chanukah Menorahs? I'm offended), in Fall there are brown & red leaves on the trees, in Summer the sun is blazing down on the Animal Crossing town. It seems quite enjoyable, with tons of replay value. It includes other creatures to meet in the forest, so interaction is a plus. You can even buy a house! Brilliant. You can do everything a pioneer did: Cut down trees, fish, farm, dig, and even colect insects! Sounds intriguing, no? 4 player action allows your friends to live in your environment. It's linked to the GBA game, too. Wait, they're making a GBA version of this? Oh God! Oh, and saving the BEST for last, heres the kicker: You can play classic NES hit games in various houses in the forest! Yes! Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, Tennis, Balloon Fight, Clu Clu Land, and even Ice Climber (if you missed it and just knew who Nana & Popo were from SSBM, here's your chance to play it). A few more are included. Here's the deal with the game: There's no REAL plot per say. You start off by going into the Animal Crossing (apparently a town) area, and you start your new virtual life there. You work for money, make friends with the other animals, and build your own house. This game is SO VERY realistic, it's known as a "communications game", as Miyamoto said when the N64 game was in development. This game is like Harvest Moon, in a sense that you earn money by a job, farm, buy clothes with your money, buy furniture, fish, and do things that pioneers (or hillbillies today) do. Also, there are many multiple choice questions, so you really do decide what hapens to you, social-wise.

The graphics are...... Unique, to say the least. Have you seen those blocky trophies in SSBM? Yeah, that's Animal Crossing & Animal Leader. Unfortunatly, the graphics do suck. They haven't upgraded from the N64 version! The gameplay depth takes up too much space, so I guess graphics are a bit shunned out. Oh well. The colors are still quite strong, and the gameplay seems quite strong and detailed.

Overall, this game seems like a strange, strange little game. Bad graphics, unique style, deep depth in gameplay, and many things to do, with clasic NES hits in there, somewhere. I don't think you CAN rent this game, there's no way you'd get the feel of it. You'd need it for at least a year.

-King Dedede

Blu and Squeaky give thanks to King Dedede for his efforts on this guide. We are hoping to add him to the staff as soon as possible.

Blu has found some new information on the game Animal Crossing. The information he has found has to do with the character interaction. In the hands-on testing by some of the Nintendo Power Magazine editors, I have found many cool features about the character interaction, PC and NPC.

As we have stated, each game has a completly different town. And in each town, up to four real people can live together. These four people will never see eachother, due to the fact that they are in the same game, but they can communicate through the postal service. If two people live in the same town, they live off the same trees, same stores, and same neighbors. This means that one person could steal all the fruit, causing the other to chop down all the trees in a rage, but the characters can also buy things and send them to the other players in the town. Also, players can leave their town and travel to a second town, where they could purchase different kinds of items, and could bring back other types of foods that could be planted to make trees that would provide more money.

As well as player to player interaction, there is also player to NPC interaction. As I stated before, players can travel to other towns, and while there can meet all the locals in this second town. If a NPC becomes particularly friendly with a player from a different town, that player may soon recieve a letter in the mail telling him that that NPC from the other town had moved to the player's town. This would also cause some interaction in the second town, because the player there would be asked by the locals where that NPC had gone, and would ask if the second player could travel to the the first town and drop off a gift. But this proccess could be greatly complicated if a player from a third town had traveled to the second town, adding the question of which of the two towns the local had moved to. And ALSO, what if a fourth player had visited the town the local had moved to, drawing it to a fourth town! The interaction in this game is massive, and the gameplay itself allows for a lot of fun in these small towns.

Now That Blu has told you about the communication aspect of the game, it is time for him to talk about some of the customization aspects. First of all, your town has its own name and so does your character. But did you know that you can make your own designs for your hat, and for other things around the town such as sign posts and your door? You go to the tailors and can select, or create patterns. There is also a town jingle that you can create! You can choose from pre-made jingles, or create your own 16 note jingle. It will be played several times throughout your character's life, but each time, depending on the situation, it will be played by different intruments and such.

There is also many aspects about outside equipment that can be used with your game, such as the GBA/GCN link cable and Animal Crossing Advance game which will allow you to unlock a secret island. On this secret island many new fruits, fish, and bugs will be available, and also other characters will be around to talk to. Another attachment is the Nintendo E-Reader. It hooks up to your GBA, and you swipe special E-Cards through it to unlock new features such as patterns and jingles.( The E-Reader also has Game and Watch cards that allow you to play game and watch games, classic game card sets for games like Donkey Kong Jr., and also Pokemon Trading cards will now be made in an E-Series where Pokemon mini games can be played, along with Pokedex info.)

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