Animal Crossing: Wild World

Animal Crossing: Wild World
File:Animal-crossing-wild-world-20060323091032903.jpg
Developer(s)	Nintendo EAD
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS
Genre(s)	Life simulation, social simulation
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer, online multiplayer

Animal Crossing: Wild World, named Oideyo Dōbutsu no Mori (おいでよ どうぶつの森, lit. "Come to Animal Forest") in Japan, is a life simulation video game published and developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console, and the follow-up to Animal Crossing for the Nintendo GameCube. It was released in Japan on November 23 2005, North America on December 5 2005, Australia on December 8 2005, Europe on March 31 2006 and South Korea on December 6 2007.

Gameplay

The main objective of Animal Crossing: Wild World is to pay off a debt to Tom Nook, a character whom allows the player to move into a house owned by him until a mortgage is paid. After the first loan is paid, future loans increase as the player upgrades their house. While paying off a debt, the player can perform optional tasks including interacting with other villagers and filling the catalog of items attainable in the game, such as furniture, Gyroids, clothes and stationery. Animal Crossing: Wild World is non-linear and does not require the player to pay off their mortgage at all. Unlike the previous game, all the players characters share the same house and work to pay off the same mortgage, instead of each having their own house.

Animal Crossing: Wild World uses several of the Nintendo DS's features, including the touchscreen, dual screens, and internal clock. The touch screen is used for menu navigation and interacting with the surrounding area, including movement, using tools, talking to other villagers, entering buildings and picking up items. The dual screens are used to display the overworld on the touch screen and the sky on the top screen, by time of day and season. The internal clock is used to great extent; like the previous game in the series, Animal Crossing: Wild World is played in real-time (according to the time on the player's DS). The environment changes based on the time of day and the season; for instance, as it gets later in the evening, the sky goes from orange to dark blue, and the weather changes depending on the season. The game also has its own yearly holidays and other events, including "Yay Day", "La-Di-Day", fishing, bug, and flower tournaments, Acorn Festival and the Flea Market. Unlike Animal Crossing, it does not include any real-world holidays. However, it does have a New Year's countdown from December 31 until the new year.

New elements

Animal Crossing: Wild World is not a sequel in the strictest sense. It is very reminiscent of the original and contains the same basic premise and shops with some changes, such as an expanded museum that now contains an observatory and a café and the expanded Able Sisters tailor shop that now sells hats and other accessories. Flowers can now dry up and require watering when they wilt, either via a watering can or automatically when it rains or snows. Players can now invite villagers over to their house. The angle at which players view the town has also changed, as well as the removal of transitions between acres, and an overall reduction in town size. As a result, the world now moves in three-dimensional space. Players can now also choose from a wider variety of clothes and accessories, such as hats and umbrellas, and can change their hair style. The player can unlock a hair salon that comes with Tom Nook's final upgraded store. Only eight animals can live in one village at a time. Also, the player can apply custom patterns to the town's ground or their house's doormat.

Players can visit other players' towns by exchanging "friend codes" and connecting with the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

Play control for the game has also been modified from the first game to use the Nintendo DS touchscreen. Changes range from menu navigation and text entry to the ability to "wave" at on screen characters by tapping the touchscreen.

Main objectives

House improvements

A main goal in Wild World is to obtain Bells, the resident currency of the game. Decorating the player's house and expanding its size by paying off each mortgage to Tom Nook, the local shopkeeper is another. After the initial mortgage for the house is paid off, the player can choose to increase the size of the main room, add a second floor, and add three extra rooms onto the first floor. In addition to expanding house size, a player may be motivated to decorate their home in a preferable manner to obtain a high "Happy Room Academy" (HRA) rating. The HRA gives players a numerical rating based on their interior decorating skills. The rating is based on numerous factors; adding points for complete furniture themes and sets, and detracting points for furniture in unreachable locations and lack of neatness. The reward for having a high HRA score is to receive miniature model homes as placeable items in the player's house. The HRA reward items increase the player's HRA score, the higher it goes the bigger your house gets. The three items are One Story Model (70,000 points), Two Story Model (100,000 points) and Mansion Model (120,000 points).

Obtaining furniture

Items to decorate the player's house can be obtained in several ways. Tom Nook sells items at his store, changing his stock daily, and other businesspeople who visit the player's village will also sell their wares. Shaking non-fruit bearing trees also sometimes results in furniture and money falling out (however bee hives can also fall out, stinging the player), and balloons carrying items across the sky can be shot down with a slingshot. Occasionally, the town will hold a flea market, and the player can visit other town characters to purchase items from their houses, and vice versa. Sometimes, when the player connects to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, they will get a present from Nintendo in their mailbox. Additionally, the player's mother will send the player presents through the mail. Besides getting mail from Nintendo via the game's online capability, players can also connect to each other, and visit each other's towns to exchange items and Bells or engage in "cataloguing", where a player can add an item to their catalogue by picking up an item in a friend's town, then ordering it from Tom Nook's store in their own town via his or her catalogue. Running errands for the townsfolk, correctly guessing the answers to their pop quizzes, sending them things in exchange for others or sometimes just simply talking to them can result in them giving the player an item as a reward. These rewards can include furniture of low or medium rarity, clothing, bells, wallpaper or carpet.

Fruits and vegetables

The player's village starts off with a single, native fruit which the player can harvest and sell to Tom Nook for 100 Bells per piece. It is possible, however, to obtain six total fruits: apples, peaches, pears, cherries, oranges and coconuts. Players can receive these fruits in letters, as gifts from their animal neighbors, washed up on the beach, or by exchanging them with friends. The other key vegetation in Wild World is Turnips, which are traded stock market style. Trade is essentially the only function of Turnips. They can be purchased on Sundays only, but can only be sold Monday through Saturday. Once a week on Sundays, two types of Turnips, White Turnips and Red Turnips, may be purchased from Joan, a traveling warthog character. The cost of White Turnips varies randomly each week. The player can visit Tom Nook daily from Monday through Saturday to check the price of Turnips and in turn, try to sell them at a higher rate than what the player paid for them.

Fossils, fish, bugs and paintings

Another goal that the player can choose to pursue is collecting the fish, bugs (insects and arachnids), fossils and paintings in the game. One of each species of bug and fish can be displayed at the museum, run by the owl curator Blathers, who suffers from entomophobia. Fish are caught with a fishing rod, while bugs are caught with a net. These can be purchased at Tom Nook's shop. The availability of most specimens of fish and bugs depends on the time of year, but can also depend on the time of day or night and the weather conditions. To collect fossils, the player must first acquire a shovel. After digging up a fossil, the player must take it to Blathers to be identified. The player can then donate it to the museum for display, place it in their house as a decorative item or sell it to Tom Nook at his store. If the player attempts to sell a fossil before it has been identified, Nook will refuse to purchase it but will accept the fossil for free. Paintings are very rare and difficult to find. They can be bought at Tom Nook's store as his spotlight product, or Redd's tent, which comes around every week on a day determined by the player by talking to Lyle, a shady insurance salesman. However, there is a chance that a painting bought from Redd will be a counterfeit. Blathers will not accept any counterfeit paintings. Counterfeit painting insurance may be bought from Lyle. Filling the museum results in the player receiving the museum model.

Other features

Nook's shop

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Nookington's, the final upgrade of Nook's store

The main store in a player's village is run by the local merchant Tom Nook. When a new game is started, the store is in its smallest form, called "Nook's Cranny". After spending specific amounts of Bells in Nook's shop, the building will upgrade to "Nook 'n' Go", similar to a convenience store, allowing the player to buy more items. Tom Nook again closes his door for a day and opens "NookWay", similar to a supermarket, after more Bells are spent. To reach the final stage, "Nookington's", a department store, including an upper floor and a hair salon ("Shampoodle", owned by a pink poodle named Harriet), the player must pay Bells, then have a friend buy something in their store via wi-fi or DS to DS wireless communication.

The Museum

The museum, which can be found in the player's town, is owned by Blathers, an owl. As the player collects more fossils, insects, paintings and fish, they can be seen in their respective rooms after being donated to the museum. It also contains a café, in which on Saturday nights K.K. Slider, a singing dog, appears and plays music between 8 PM and 12 AM. You can request "Forest Life" which is the GameCube version's theme song.

The Roost

The Roost is a café owned by a pigeon named Brewster in the museum's basement, where the player can buy coffee and K.K. Slider appears after 7:30PM Saturday and will play songs for the player from 8:00PM to 12:00AM. Brewster is also the waiter of The Roost, and offers the player coffee each day. He does not like letting the player's coffee cool before they drink it, and does not let the player leave without drinking it hot. Although initially taciturn, Brewster reveals more about himself if the player buys coffee from him every day.

The Observatory

An observatory is on the second floor of the museum, and staffed by Celeste, Blather's younger sister. When talked to, she allows the player to look through the telescope, enabling the player to create constellations that are seen at night. The placement of constellations dictate their visibility throughout the year; Celeste will give the prime viewing time when asked.

Special items

Some items are only obtainable by special means, such as getting a specific number of Happy Room Academy points or trading items with characters. These include models of the player's house and Tom Nook's various stores, Nintendo-themed items (items based on classic Nintendo games), such as a Master Sword, the Triforce and an Arwing. There are golden tools to be found in the game, including the Golden Shovel, Golden Axe, Golden Net, Golden Fishing Rod, Golden Slingshot and Golden Watering Can. Special conditions need to be fulfilled to acquire most golden tools.

Exclusive Nintendo items

Nintendo gives away in-game items via the Wi-Fi Connection service. These items are be sent via the game's mailbox to all players who connected to Nintendo's Wi-Fi service on the day of the giveaway or before the next item is given away. Participating Toys "R" Us stores gave away six exclusive items (one different item each day) from July 23, 2006 to August 1, 2006 using special Nintendo DS kiosk machines. These items were received from bottle mail in the game. Players can collect various items from the Mario universe, alongside the F-Zero inspired item: "Blue Falcon" and a Pikmin related item. Overall, Nintendo released sixteen exclusive items for Animal Crossing: Wild World via this service.

Boondox

Boondox is a poor town far north of the player's town; it cannot be visited. The player can donate to it through the post office. At the beginning of the game, Boondox is so poor that "its residents are forced to eat grilled cheese, but they have no cheese or bread so they must eat grilled dirt without ketchup." Eventually, their living standards improve through donations from the player. (Thank-you for your generosity, Boondox is a happier place to live). Different colored feathers, a form of accessory that is worn in the hair, are obtained by donating specific milestones of bells to the Boondox Fund. After the player donates enough Bells, the name will change from Boondox to Boondopolis.

Mail

Residents are encouraged to buy paper from Tom Nook and write letters to the villagers. There are 64 paper designs, some of which can only be obtained by being written to by other villagers, such as Nook Paper, and cannot be bought by the player. There are also other types of stationery that cannot be used, such as Academy Paper and Fox Paper. Villagers will always reply to letters, which can be mailed at the Town Hall. Sometimes, the player may receive letters from "Mom" who will write to tell the player news from home. Occasionally, "Mom" may send the player gifts, including non-native fruit. Bottle mail can sometimes appear on the beach, and will either contain random letters or bottle mail released by other players, exchanged during Tag Mode. Also, villagers who are moving out will send the player a final letter to say goodbye. The player can also store their letters and bottle mail at the Post Office. When players are connected through their Nintendo DS, bottles from the other player can appear in their town.

Character pictures

Every villager has a small, framed picture of themselves, which players can obtain as a gift from a villager after attaining a specific level of friendship with him or her. Sending letters and going to birthday parties can help. They are furniture items, therefore the player can use them to decorate their house. Each picture has a caption in the form of a quote from the villager, depending on their species, personality and, sometimes, their color. They help you remember people that have moved and add a healthy bonus to your HRA score. There are also six exclusive "monkey" villagers, unlocked only by using Tag/Contact Mode with a promotional DS Download Station. These were first introduced in the Japanese version of Animal Crossing: Wild World.

Flowers and trees

Every Animal Crossing town has a native fruit, which grows on several trees in the player's town. Each tree carries three pieces of fruit at once, and once the tree has been shaken, it takes two days for new fruit to grow. The player will start with either pears, apples, oranges, peaches or cherry trees, but it is possible to obtain all of them. Tom Nook buys native fruits for 100 Bells each, and non-native fruits for 500 Bells each.

Fruit can also be sent as gifts with letters or planted to grow more fruit trees. Coconuts may wash up on the beaches, which can be buried close to the beach to grow further trees. Using the Wi-Fi Connection or DS Wireless Play, a player can get fruit from other towns to plant in their own town. The player can also receive non-native fruit (or occasionally an acorn) in the mail from "Mom" or other villagers. Non-fruit trees and cedar trees also grow in Animal Crossing, and can also be bought from Tom Nook and planted.

Flowers which grow in Animal Crossing are varieties of tulip, rose, cosmos and pansy. The flowers are usually red, white or yellow, though hybrids can be grown in pink, blue, orange, purple, black and gold by planting certain colors close together. Villagers will also plant flowers around their house every day during the Flower Fest, which is a week-long holiday that comes every second week in April.

In the game on the second week of October, there is an Acorn Festival lead by Cornimer, who is the mayor Tortimer in disguise, despite Cornimer's statements that he has no relation with the mayor. This festival requires players to collect acorns of any kind (except rotten), that are scattered around the town near trees. Giving them to Cornimer will be rewarded with special mushroom-themed furniture gifts.

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection

Animal Crossing: Wild World's Wi-Fi capabilities allow players to visit other players' villages no matter where they are in the world, assuming that access to a compatible wireless access point is available and that they are using a version of the game with a compatible language. For example, the Oceania and North America versions can connect locally and via Wi-Fi, but they cannot connect to a version from Japan due to a difference in character encoding. Up to four players can be in an Animal Crossing: Wild World town both via local wireless or through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Connection to random players is not possible, as connection is made by the mutual entry of "friend codes". The only random Wi-Fi interaction that is possible between players is through the character named Blanca, who is a cat that players can draw a face for, and share with random Wi-Fi users.

Problems

On January 26 2006, an accident occurred relating to the Wi-Fi features. A few weeks prior, Nintendo sent out a free Mario Coin item from Satoru Iwata to all who connected to Wi-Fi while it was available. On the same day, a failed attempt to send a second exclusive item sent a blank letter to all who connected to Nintendo Wi-Fi before 5:00 PM. This letter contained the "glitched red tulip" item. This item could be planted in cement as a tree or, if put into the player's house, would create an invisible, irremovable wall. The item could be disposed of by planting it in the ground or selling it. On February 13, 2006, Nintendo sent out a letter containing 1,000 Bells and an amusing town bulletin board notice to apologize for the mistake.

Reception

Critical reception

• 1UP.com — B
• Weekly Famitsu — 37/40
• Game Informer — 8.75/10
• Game Rankings — 86.8%
• GamePro — 3.5/5
• GameSpot — 8.4 (nominated for GameSpot's "Best DS Game of 2005" and "Funniest Game of the Year")
• GameSpy — 4.5/5
• IGN — 8.8/10
• EGM — 7.5/7/9
• Metacritic — 85/100
• ONM — 95% (Nintendo Gold Award)
• X-Play — 4/5
• Club Skill — 8/10
• Gamestyle — 8/10
• Rotten Tomatoes — 92%
• Hyper Magazine — 86 out of 100
• Power Unlimited — 93/100

Awards

• IGN Editors' Choice Award
• IGN 2005 Game of the Year Awards - Best Online Game (DS)
• Parents' Choice Videogame Award 2006

Sales information

On December 1 2005, Media Create stated that Animal Crossing: Wild World sold 325,466 copies in Japan in its first week of availability, beating the previous mark set by Jump! Superstars and becoming the best-selling title for the Nintendo DS [1] until the release of Brain Age 2. The game also sold over 100,000 copies a week for seven consecutive weeks, reaching 2,000,000 copies by March 5, 2006. As of May 8 2006, 3,000,000 copies have been shipped in Japan. [2]

In its first month of release, Animal Crossing: Wild World reached No. 3 on the United Kingdom All Formats sales chart and has achieved sustained sales success, remaining in the All Formats top 40 sales chart for 51 consecutive weeks before remaining in the Full Price top 40 chart.

As of March 31 2008, Animal Crossing: Wild World has sold 9.53 million copies worldwide. As of July 9, 2008, the game has sold 4,679,907 copies in Japan, according to Famitsu.

These strong sales have helped to establish Animal Crossing: Wild World as one of Nintendo's key franchises.

External links

Official sites

• Official Animal Crossing: Wild World website
• Template:Nintendo.com
• Official Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection site
• Animal Crossing: Wild World instruction manual (PDF)

Interviews and media

• Interview with Jim Merrick, Nintendo of Europe at Puissance-Nintendo
• Animal Crossing: Wild World at MobyGames