Nintendo DS - Animal Crossing: Wild World

Format
Nintendo DS
Publisher
Nintendo
Developer
Nintendo
Country of origin
Japan
Genre
RPG

Animal Crossing: Wild World

By David Rasmussen
12th Feb 06

It’s a wild wild wild world in video games ever since the original came out.
A few years ago an addiction that seduced both children and adults came to life on the Nintendo GameCube in the form of Animal Crossing, the 24 hour a day, 7 day a week, 365 day a year addiction that adults were not afraid to admit they were hooked on. They played it, loved it, and lived it. The game was everything.
It did have it’s flaws, the most telling being the inability to link to other players via online… a flaw now gone from the newest incarnation of the addiction known as Animal Crossing, in Animal Crossing : Wild World for the Nintendo DS.

First off if you think you are going to be playing the same old same old from the GameCube you are sadly mistaken. The game takes the world into a new direction with gameplay that has elements that are familiar, with takes those elements in brand new directions which mostly work (though a few times also falls short of the original). The game is a brand new beast, and as you play you’ll learn just how different.
This is just part of the review, by the way! The game is so big that I have only unlocked a part of the contents, with more yet to be found in this seemingly limitless world of wonder.
Let’s start with the beginning…

You’ll find that the train is gone. Your new transport into the world is a taxi, driven by Kapp’n (he who transported you to the island of the original GameCube, which no longer exists in the DS version).
He questions you the same way Rover did, and sets up your village. Once you arrive you start playing.
You’ll notice a few changes right off the bat. First off you and the three others you share your village with now live in one house, no longer do you each own your own home. This is a burden since you have to work long and hard in order to expand the house enough for some ability to allow every resident to have their own spot to express their furniture decorating skills (which is a little drag since it takes so long to make the money).

Right off the bat you’ll notice the town is different, with new locales added and old locales removed.
The Wishing Well, Town Dump and Post Office is gone, replaced by a single building that handles the duties of all three under this one roof. Pelly, Phyllis and the Mayor all hang out here… as to whether or not Pete is there is something else.
The Able Sisters now handle all clothing sales, which is more than you just doing the usual design making. They hold new shirts, umbrellas, hats and accessories. Oh, yes, now you can really dress your character to success with more options for wear, even to the point that you can (with some work) assemble your own Halloween costume for all year ‘round wearing.
Tom Nook’s store has a new system for tracking your shopping, where you earn points from purchases which earns you Membership. The first Membership is easy, but Silver Membership is hard to earn… should take you quite a few months to earn, and don’t even ask me how long Gold Membership will take.
This is good though, because while the monthly raffle is gone (which is still good since you don’t have to horde tickets for a month and the store doesn’t become useless one day out of the year), you now have better sales like half off sales and special item sales more often than you used to (good). Also once the store expands to it’s final stage Tom Nook will add a beauty parlor to the store and you can change your hairstyles in the store (making your look even more unique).

The Police Station is gone. Officer Copper and Booker now work out of the Town’s Gate station, complete with new uniforms for their new positions. Officer Booker now keeps track of who enters the town, the design on the town’s official flag (which used to reside on the island back in the GameCube version), as well as his usual Lost & Found duties (now relegated to a sub screen instead of it’s own room area). Meanwhile Officer Copper now is responsible for connecting you online via the Wi-Fi Connection (or USB Connector), which probably means the days of Officer Copper leaving his station to conduct his exercise classes is probably a thing of the past (sad).

The Museum is the same, but now expanded. Up to six rooms from it’s original four, the museum (besides sporting it’s original fish, insect, painting and fossil exhibits) now have two new things.
There is now an Observatory run by Blather’s family relation Celeste, she who helps you design your own constellations visible from the village throughout the year… unless it’s rainy. By the way, weather now changes more quickly than before with it raining or snowing one hour then changing hours later to clear or something else (which is different than the uniform 24 hours a day weather systems of the GameCube).
The other room is a Café called The Roost, run by a strange bird named Brewster (who brews up a strong cup of joe for the price of 200 bells), this is also the hangout of KK Slider who drops in every Saturday.

Other than that that’s it. The sights to see at the village is down from before, but then again so is the villager count of the village. In the GameCube version the minimum of the village was 5 animals, with a maximum of 15 animals. However in this version the animal count is halved, minimum 3 animals and maximum 8. This might, in fact, be good since it means you’ll have less animals to micromanage at one time. That and you’ll still have lots since there’ll be visitors and there’ll be online people who can drop into your town (three at a time). Also unlike the previous game you’ll not have subtle hints to when animals are preparing to bolt. When they move in they have all their stuff packed up, and it takes them a day to unpack. When they move they’ll do the reverse, pack up and spend a day preparing before they leave.
Also letters are easier now, and not just because you can now use the stylus to quickly peck out a letter instead of using the controller to slowly belt out a letter. Now animals respond more often in the positive, and less in the 101 ways of saying “I don’t understand you” which means you don’t have to muddle through fistfuls of unresponsive letters because the old letter system made it too easy for you to write an “unintelligible letter”. One drawback on this is animals seem to have patterns and write the same thing over and over again. Vesta is forever in love with pasta, Octavian talks about his night job (and his habit for eating your letters once they drop into his soup), etc. etc. etc.

Another thing is animals are now more proactive and participate in challenges they issue you, as well as give you a chance to participate in their lives. For instance if you are issued a challenge to fish, or catch bugs (which is now obvious since the animal will carry the item associated with the challenge, like you’ll see an animal carrying a fishing rod when they want to challenge you to a fishing challenge) they will participate. While they won’t have the animation to fish, or look for bugs, if you don’t hurry fast enough they’ll catch their own item and proclaim victory over you.
Another thing is, unlike before, if two animals begin talking you can quickly “jump in” by talking to one of them to listen in on their conversation. You can hear their exchanges, occasionally input if they turn towards you for wisdom, and basically watch them go at it and see what they say that makes them happy, or upset, or sad, or whatever post discussions (and not just wonder what they said that brought up these emotions).

Your visiting guests returns, but only to a degree.
Gracie returns, but instead of having you compete in the car washing game (which would probably have been a snap with the stylus) you are now given a fashion quiz (which means you no longer get a shirt automatically when speaking to her).
While Saharah returns it seems she now takes up the duties of herself and Wendell, now carrying both carpets and wallpaper when she once only handled carpets. Also she no longer is willing to barter with you for her wares, instead having you deliver her stuff to the town’s personalities (Tom Nook, Pelly, Blathers, etc) in order to earn a carpet or wallpaper (one pick of either one, and no chance to “pick and choose” by rejecting until you find the one you want).
Crazy Redd returns, but you need to grill animals until somebody tells you the password. Then you have to give Tom Nook 3000 bells so he sends you the password on a regular basis. Also an animal with a quizzical will show up eventually at your front door, and he’ll set it up for when Crazy Redd shows up weekly (Monday to Friday). (instead of him randomly appearing and sending you notices of his arrival)… then he makes you buy insurance. First it was accident insurance for 3000 bells, now (as I write this) it’s fraud insurance for 6000 bells… wonder what’s next.

Holidays are still there, but now there are more random holidays. Held on weekends there are this batch of odd meaningless holidays, seemingly more for participation from players than for any actual real significance. Holidays like “La Di Day” (where animals pitch their idea for new town themes from which you have to pick) and “Yay Day” (compliment giving day) are seemingly randomly generated to stand alongside traditional holidays like New Year’s and so forth. Also it seems the fishing tournament is now random, no longer set into certain months it seems occasionally a fishing tournament is thrown (now open to all fish entries instead of just Bass from the river). The contest is run by the Mayor (which means Chip doesn’t return), and it is now too easy for the animals to win since they seem to quickly catch the largest fish with little difficulties.

There are new furniture sets, like a more complete kitchen set , the return of the previously deleted bathroom set, and more. Also, strangely holiday sets seem to be available now through Tom Nook which makes me wonder if there is going to be problems when the holidays come up. Does this mean there’ll be no Jack the King of Halloween, Tom Turkey or Jingle the Christmas Reindeer? Damn.

And this is only the beginning. There is a full year yet to go and lots to do, with many questions…
- Is the Sports Fair still on, or is it gone?
- What of holidays? Now that it seems Tom Nook is beginning to sell more and more items associated with these holidays are any of the traditional holidays from the GameCube version making a comeback?
- Where is Wisp? I have wandered the village at low hours of the morning and yet I have not run into Wisp.
- More missing, a few who may or may not still appear depending on what happens in the coming months.
I have not seen Pete once. Porter is gone (since there is no train). Wendell is a no show since Saharah now handles wallpapers. Blanche (aka the Mysterious Cat) has yet to appear yet the option is available (she is supposed to come through while the game is linked via Wi-Fi Connection). Chip is gone, replaced by the Mayor in fishing tournaments. Also there has yet to be any appearances of the major holiday or event characters, which should be sorted out -- around Halloween. A long way away to figure out if any of the few holiday geared characters will return.

The game is only in it’s first month of play and there is still lots yet to figure out about it, but for now I can give you a review completion right now… let’s break it down.

Animal Crossing : Wild World Breakdown
What’s Hot?
The addiction is still hot, and still burning bright. Once again you have returned to the world, and found the addiction still strong. The game that addicted you back in the GameCube time (which is nearing the end of it’s console cycle thanks to negligence from Nintendo) has returned to the DS, with an even stronger addiction to keep you writing letters, doing chores, fishing and bug catching day and night.
If you think you were strong enough to eventually ween yourself away from your old addiction? You will find that this new addiction will be 10 times harder to shake, and 10 times harder to beat.

What’s Not?
Yes, I know. I nitpicked here and there from the things that were missing from the last version, but those are not enough to be really down on in my book… this is. Yes, the game does offer the chance to link via the Wi-Fi Connection to expand your gameplay… IF you already have friends you can swap Friend Codes with! I thought the whole purpose of playing this was to make friends, not to get this game only to find out the only way you can utilize it’s online version was you needed to have friends to begin with in order to “make” friends online! You can’t leave your village without a friend code, you can’t gain a friend code unless you input it from someone else with a DS (a friend), and you can’t explore to make friends until you already have made friends! This sucks because if you are like me then you don’t know anyone else who owns a DS, let alone presently plays Animal Crossing : Wild World… it seems I am the only one willing to get kicked off the Animal Crossing wagon and return to addiction. Anyway this means I couldn’t review the online portion of this game DESPITE the fact it’s available because the only way I could do that was I needed to have a Friend Code (and vice versa the person I wanted to visit needed my Friend Code)!
I thought (again) the whole purpose of the game was to make friends online with this game, but how can I make friends if I can’t find friends! Damn! Maybe I have to get a game like Mario Kart DS in order to actually enjoy the online portion of the game… or do I need to have a Friends’ list in order to play online?

Moments to Remember?
Wow… isn’t that a long list! Better not go into it.

What to Ignore?
Well despite what I say about the game it’s not an insufferable addiction! Yes, you will be able to stop playing from time to time and it won’t become the end all and be all of your life! I only play it so many hours a day, and I do know when to stop… so it’s not that horrible an addiction. Then again the past game was also stoppable, so maybe I’m not the type that is lured completely into this game. I did stop before on the GameCube version after awhile, and didn’t play non-stop, so maybe I’m not the type that is truly “addicted” after all despite the fact I feel that I might have some sort of “addiction” to the game.
Anyway now the game is even more addictive than before now that it’s portable, and you can play it just about anywhere… so maybe it will be an even worst gaming addiction than the previous… we’ll see, like when somebody opens up an Animal Crossing Anonymous clinic to cure Wild World addiction.

I guess the true test of the addictive power of Animal Crossing will come when the Revolution hits and the TRUE sequel to the GameCube’s Animal Crossing, Animal Crossing 2 (long rumored to be compatible with the Nintendo DS, an obvious reference to Wild World) finally comes. What? Isn’t this AC2? Can’t be. There are too many missing things from what I know about Animal Crossing 2. Also Animal Crossing 2’s graphics is in line with the original GameCube version, while this sports a new feel to take advantage of the Nintendo DS system. I have a feeling one of the launch titles of the Revolution will be Animal Crossing 2, which will test the mettle of Animal Crossing fans worldwide… risk buying what may be an inferior console for a new Animal Crossing fix? Well… with this game you probably wouldn’t have to. So there, Nintendo! Chew on that for awhile!

Overall?
The addiction returns, and it seems to return with a greater potency than before.
Yes, there are some elements missing from the previous game, as well as changes that make it an all new beast from the previous game, but that makes it just that much more of an addiction over the previous game. Now I don’t know if the lovable quirks (and unique characters like fan fave Tom Turkey) will return, especially since a few seem doomed with their unique items appearing in Tom Nook’s store for sale, but hopefully the strangest and most beloved of the last game hasn’t gone the way of the dodo in this version.
But again that is something I can’t answer now. Only time, and a full year’s worth of gameplay, will answer all the questions concerning every quirk and slant on the new Animal Crossing.
I’ll come back with a year ending write up wrap-up of the game, answering (hopefully) any lingering questions about the game when we bring 2006 to it’s close. Stay tuned.

UPDATES
As this was going to the Editor the following events happened…
- A Pete sighting. So Pete IS in this game, but at the time of the sighting I was too far away… it was basically sort of like a UFO sighting… wonder if I can shoot Pete down… naughty as that thought is.
- I can now confirm that Gulliver is now gone, replaced by a… a BEAVER?!? Since when do beavers traverse the oceans? I… I think it’s a Sea Otter… hope so… anyway this new character has none of the charm of Gulliver and is yet quite annoying, wasting his (and your) time by thinking up of profound bits of logic to tell you before he hands off a gift of nautical furniture and vanishing.
Problem with this furniture is that it’s not rare (you can buy it), and it’s not the same as the beautiful artifacts of the world furniture that Gulliver carried with him… not to mention the new guy has no personality unlike Gulliver.
- Looks like Crazy Redd will be carrying a painting everytime he shows up, which means he might be the only source of the material needed to stock up the museums with artwork.
- Also it looks like there is a purpose to funding Boondox. After awhile of funding it the fund will “evolve” from feeding (which I guess is now possible once it changes) to housing. At this point they’re at building houses, so who knows what will be next once that is done? Oh, and you’ll get a thank you letter from the Boondoxians for feeding them. I’m not sure how that works, since I used all four characters to pay and only one got the letter, so… who knows.
- Animals now leave you their portraits once you get to know them better. These pictures are similar to Nook’s Picture from the original GameCube game, with the difference being that these are personally signed by the animals themselves. Also it’s yours to keep once they leave, so you can always… I don’t know… build a shrine in your basement to them once these animals leave or something like that.

And that’s all I have to say… until the big update on the game in 2006.

-- David Rasmussen 12th Feb 06

Nintendo DS Animal Crossing: Wild World Images