Review By:  Jared Black
Developer:	Nintendo
Publisher:	Nintendo
# of Players:	1-4 (alternating, per town)
Genre:	Simulation
ESRB:	Everyone
Online:	No
Accessories:	Memory Card (included), GBA, e-Reader
Date Posted:	10-7-02

Even with all of these amazing touches, perhaps the biggest reason why the player will keep playing long after the newness wears off is because other human beings can join in on the fun. The best way to explain this is to relate my own experience. Somehow I was able to convince my lovely wife to play in order for me to better judge the game’s multiplayer. A couple of days later we were practically competing to see who could pay off their loan, catch all the bugs/fish, and just generally succeed better than the other. We leave each other messages on the bulletin board, trade items we don’t want, and laugh when another animal insults one of us. We plan a lot of activities around scheduled Animal Crossing events (as of this writing today we’re planning on meeting up for Crazy Redd’s furniture sale at 6pm), and discuss the game at length even when neither of us is playing. Despite the fact that she’s the very definition of a casual gamer (past favorites include Mortal Kombat, Super Breakout, Pac-Man, and Sega Bass Fishing), Animal Crossing has given us both another common interest to share in. That’s pretty amazing.

(Animal Crossing on GBA)

Don’t want to share your town with another? No problem, just create your own on another memory card. Players from one town (memory card in Slot A) can travel to another (the other memory card in Slot B) via the train they rode in on and interact with the characters there and bring back items they might not have otherwise received in their own town. Or they can save travel data to another memory card, then take that card over to a friend’s house and play on their GameCube. Other residents will even move from one memory card to another, sending their favorite player a farewell letter encouraging them to visit. Even if you don’t have any friends close by, you can still trade items online via a password system. Simply tell Tom Nook your trading partner’s name (in the game), town name, and the item to trade, and Tom will spit out a password. Give them the password, and once they tell it to Tom he’ll give that item to them. Despite the system’s clumsiness, it’s proven to be a huge hit on our message boards already.

The graphics have been only marginally improved over the N64 version, and that’s about the only disappointment to be found. While it does help to give the game a unique sense of style (like Cubivore), the low-poly characters and blurry textures are definitely relics of the last generation of consoles. I wouldn’t expect them to give it a complete overhaul or turn it into a fully 3D game or anything, but more could’ve been done in the way of crisper textures or some gimmicky effects to make it look more modern. The overall design and style still looks OK (your eyes won’t bleed or anything), but by GameCube standards it’s archaic. Honestly though, it won’t really matter once you get immersed in the game.

The sound work, however, shines. The laid-back music fits the pacing and feel of the game nicely, the hourly town theme helps to break up the monotony of the same song looping, and the animalese (garbled human speech only partially understandable) is a nice touch. The various tunes that play while the player is running around town never really get old, and are well composed. KK Slider, aka Totakeke, is hilarious and provides over 50 different tunes that can be played in the player’s home stereo system inside their home. Sound effects are numerous, including unique sounds for each tool, water sloshing up on the beach, footsteps that change on different surfaces, the passing train, crickets chirping, and other nice ambient sounds.

Highs:

• A wholly unique game that’s unlike anything you’ve ever played.
• 10 or more (who knows what else is lurking on that disk?) NES games alone make this worth the money.
• The best use of connectivity yet: scan in e-Reader cards, visit the GBA island and play there, download NES games to the GBA, or simply travel to a friend’s (via memory card) town.
• Nintendo smartly packed in a free Memory Card 59, as this game takes up a full card and simply cannot be played without one.
• The emphasis on community creates a different kind of multiplayer experience.
• An amazing attention to detail, from the anti-theft mirror in Nook’s store to the changing animal dialogue as each day wears on.
• Totakeke is one of the best video game characters ever.  I'm totally digging his scene, man.
• There are a ton of other things to do and surprises to find in Animal Crossing that I haven't even mentioned. 

Lows:

• The GameCube port offered Nintendo a chance to put this online in some form, and they didn’t. This game is begging to be played online.
• Extremely minor graphic improvements are a disappointment.
• After accomplishing most goals, it  realistically won't be played more than an hour or two a day. But that hour or two a day can last for years and years…
• Too much repeating and/or useless text to wade through when trying to perform some simple tasks.

Final Verdict:

Forget Super Mario Sunshine and it’s Crazy Cam™, this is Nintendo’s best first-party GameCube title yet. Judging from my experience with the game and the overwhelmingly positive response to the game thus far on our message boards (we had to give the game it’s own forum for crying out loud), I sincerely hope that this becomes Nintendo’s next big franchise. I can think of a million things that Nintendo could’ve added (and definitely should in future installments), but despite that I’m thoroughly addicted to the game as it is.

Overall Score: 9.1

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