Animal Crossing: Wild World

Animal Crossing: Wild World
Game cover
Developer(s)	Nintendo EAD
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS
Release	23 November 2005 5 December 2005 8 December 2005 31 March2006
Genre(s)	Simulation game, Communication Adventure
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer, online multiplayer

Animal Crossing: Wild World, known in Japan as Come to Animal Forest (おいでよ どうぶつの森, Oideyo Dōbutsu no Mori) is a life-simulation video game developed by Nintendo for the the Nintendo DS handheld video game console in 2005. It is the follow-up to the GameCube video game Animal Crossing, a remake of the Nintendo 64 video game Animal Forest. Wild World shares many similarities to its predecessor, but also contains many changes. The most prominent change is the ability to play with anyone in their respective country utilizing the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. It is the third Nintendo DS title to take advantage of this, following Mario Kart DS and Tony Hawk's American Sk8land.

Gameplay

Animal Crossing: Wild World features minimal plot, instead letting the player roam freely and play at their own discretion. Thus the game is non-linear and forces no set objectives upon the player. However, there are certain obvious goals that the player will be naturally drawn to, such as collecting all the fossils in the game, or paying off all their house debt. Wild World makes use of the Nintendo DS’ internal clock, meaning the game is played in real time, with the weather changing throughout the seasons and certain events happening at specific times of the year, such as the Flower Festival in Spring.

New elements

Although Animal Crossing: Wild World is a follow up to 2002's Animal Crossing for Nintendo GameCube, it is not a sequel in the strictest sense. Wild World 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 whenever they turn brown, via a watering can, or automatically when it rains. The angle at which players view the town has also changed, as well as the removal of "acres", removing transitions between areas, and the towns are smaller in a sense. As a result, the world now moves in three-dimensional space. The script in 'Wild World' is also much bigger than the original's script. As a result there is less repeated dialogue from villagers, giving the game a more organic feel. The most notable addition to Wild World is the ability for players to 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 GameCube version to take advantage of the Nintendo DS' touch screen. Changes range from easier menu navigation and text entry to the ability to "wave" at on screen characters simply by tapping them.

Main Objectives

There are several objectives in the game that the player can choose whether or not to complete. Below are the most common goals.

House improvements

A main goal in Wild World is decorating the player’s house and expanding its size by paying off each mortgage to Tom Nook (Tanuki in Japan), the local shopkeeper. Since, unlike in the original, all players share a single house, each player can help pay off the mortgage. After the initial mortgage for the house is paid off, the player can choose to increase the size of the main room and add a second floor and three extra rooms on the main 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" (or 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.

Items to decorate the house with 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, such as Saharah – a carpet and wallpaper saleswoman - and Redd – a specialist in black marketing rare furniture and paintings, genuine and fake. Items can be obtained for free at the lost and found, overseen by Booker, and at the recycling bin at the Town Hall. Shaking trees also sometimes results in furniture and money falling out, and balloons carrying items can be shot down with a slingshot. Finally, running errands for the townsfolk, correctly guessing the answers to their 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.

Fossils, fish and bugs

Another goal that the player can choose to pursue is that of collecting the fossils, fish and bugs in the game. One of each species of bug and fish can be displayed at the museum, run by the curator Blathers. Fossils will also be exhibited here, but must be identified first by Blathers. Fossils are found by digging where cracks appear in the ground with a shovel. Fish are caught with the use of a fishing rod, pulling the rod up when the fish takes the bait, while bugs are caught with a net. The availability of most specimens of fish and bug depends on the time of year.

Other features

Items

Over 1000 unique items are available in the game, such as furniture, shirts, and accessories. Several promotional items are also available at determined dates by connecting to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, visiting Nintendo sponsored events, and writing letters to townspeople and other Animal Crossing: Wild World players.

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, "Mario, Zelda, and Starfox Items", such as a coin, Tri-force, and Arwing, were released over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and at Toys 'R Us, and the set of golden tools. Including the rare crown (1,000,000 bells), And the Royal Crown (1,200,000 bells). These cannot be purchased from the catalogue.

Pictures and Paintings

Every villager has a small, framed picture of themself that players can obtain as a gift from the villager after attaining a specific level of friendship with it. 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. However, many players have reported a glitch in which male villagers who have lazy personalities will tend not to give the player their picture, no matter what. This is further exacerbated by the instance that a lazy male villager actually does give the player his picture; this reduces the chance of receiving pictures of other lazy male villagers. The way to tell if a lazy male villager is glitched is if he talks about the pie fairy and mentions that he hopes the player will take care of an item that he supposedly has given, and when the player checks his or her inventory, the item in question is not there.

Crazy Redd sells one painting every week. These paintings are similar to the villager's pictures, but depict famous artworks (though they are only referred to by simple names, not their actual titles). These paintings are sometimes counterfeit. If the player has insurance from Lyle, he or she will be partially compensated if a fake picture is bought.

Boondox

Boondox is a town nearby the player's town (however it cannot be visited) which is a poor town that you can donate to. It is said to be so poor that the residents are forced to eat a breakfast, lunch and dinner of grilled dirt every day. Players can obtain different colored feathers by donating certain amounts of bells to the Boondox Flavor Fund. The feathers will be sent to the player's mailbox after they have donated enough. Boondox is also mentioned by surly residents of any town.

Characters

Main article: List of Animal Crossing characters

Aside from new characters like Brewster, Pascal and Lyle, some of the original Animal Crossing cast members return to the Nintendo DS version including Tom Nook, K.K. Slider, Blathers, Kapp'n, Pelly, Phyllis, Mr. Resetti, Saharah, and Rover, but some have different roles. Other characters such as Porter and Wisp do not make an appearance in the game. Along with Jack, many other holiday characters from the first game do not return. In fact, there are none of the same holidays exept for new years, although there are some new ones.

Most of the villagers from the original return as well, and some new ones have been added, bringing the number of villagers to 250+. Up to eight animals can live in ones town at any time, not including the shop owners & special visitors (this is a reduction from the capacity of 15 in the original Animal Crossing).

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection

Animal Crossing: Wild World's Wi-Fi capabilities will 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 Australia and North America versions can connect locally and via Wi-Fi, but they cannot connect to a version from Japan. 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." Animal Crossing is the most popular Nintendo DS Wi-Fi game (based on usage numbers). [1]

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 (the president of Nintendo) 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 a humorous town bulletin board notice to apologize for the mistake.

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 Nintendo DS [2] until the release of Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training 2. The game also sold over 100,000 copies a week for 7 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. [3]

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.

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

Reviews

• 1UP.com – 9.0/10
• Weekly Famitsu – 37/40
• Game Informer – 8.75/10
• GamePro – 3.5/5
• Game Rankings – 86.8%
• GameSpot – 8.4 (nominated for Gamespot's Best DS Game of 2005 and Funniest Game of the Year)
• GameSpy – 4.5/5
• Gamestyle – 7/10
• IGN – 8.8/10
• Metacritic – 85/100
• Rotten Tomatoes – 92% [4]
• ONM – 95% (Nintendo Gold Award)
• X-Play - 4/5

Awards

• IGN: Editors' Choice Award

Trivia

• Nintendo makes many references to their other games, such as Star Fox and other games with villager conversations and items.
• Sow Joan's name is a pun on the DOW Jones index, as they are both aspects of the stalk/stock market.
• One of the stranger, more unique villagers, a rabbit named Coco, is a joke thrown into the game by the developers referencing the "missing face" bug from the game's Nintendo Gamecube predecessor. Her name is also a reference to coconuts, which her face resembles (Coco was also found in the GameCube original. For more information on this bug, see the page on Animal Crossing)
• The character Cornimer appears just to be the mayor Tortimer wearing an acorn mask, because when you talk to Pelly/Phyllis when "Cornimer" is outside you can see that the place in the back of the hall where Tortimer usually sits is empty.
• The K.K. Slider song Forest Life is actually a remix of the full theme from the Gamecube Animal Crossing.
• The K.K. Slider song K.K. Song was originally a theme for the game Mario Paint. Unlike the original Animal Crossing, however, the player does not need to request the song.
• If one looks very carefully, they can see that Redd actually has two tails.
• Kapp'n is actually a kappa. But in the North American strategy guide it refers to him as a parrot (and the game translates his self-reference as a turtle).
• If the player is inside Tom Nook's store at 23:00, Tom Nook will force you to leave his store. However, the Able Sisters let the player remain inside until he/she leaves the shop. Harriet will also let you stay until you leave if you stay in the saloon.
• Just like the original Animal Crossing, most the songs when the player is "outside" of a building have tunes from the title screen theme.

Promotions

Toys "R" Us

In 2006, participating Toys "R" Us stores gave away twelve exclusive items from July 23 to August 1 using special Nintendo DS kiosk machines. The six main exclusive items were the Green Pipe, Fire Bar, Starman, 1-up Mushroom, Flagpole, and ? Block, and they were received from Tag Mode as bottle mail. The item would come with a letter from the fortune teller Katrina. These items are all from Mario games. However, there was an accidental hack in the game where you could get all of these items when you play on Wi-Fi. This was before Toys 'R' Us stores gave out these items. In addition, the first neighbor that would move after getting one of the six Mario themed items from the giveaway would be replaced with a mysterious monkey neighbor. Six reported monkeys include the snooty turquoise monkey Elise, the athletic chimp Champ, the lazy red-eyed baboon Simon, the cranky white ape Monty, the light blue simian Tammi, and the kind pink primate Nana. Like normal neighbors these six mysterious monkeys also have animal pictures that could be obtained. These six monkey animal pictures could also be considered Toys "R" Us exclusives, bringing the total to twelve items.

Nintendo Wi-Fi

Nintendo gives away in-game items via the Wi-Fi Connection service. To get these items all you needed to do was connect to Nintendo's Wi-Fi service on the day of the giveaway. Only one item so far has been exclusive, the coin. This item, like the six main Toys 'R' Us items, are from Mario games. The following items were given out on the following dates:

• 01/12/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: Coin
• 01/26/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: "Glitched Red Tulip"
• 02/13/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: 1,000 Bell Bag
• 02/14/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: Lovely Loveseat
• 02/21/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: Top Hat
• 05/05/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: Sombrero
• 05/08/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: Daffodil
• 07/27/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: Sleeping Bag
• 07/31/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: Lawn Chair
• 08/14/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: Jade Check Print
• 08/18/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: Combat Helmet
• 09/02/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: Kayak
• 09/09/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: Arwing
• 09/29/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: Candy Machine
• 09/30/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: Fall Leaf Shirt
• 10/06/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: Sewing Machine
• 10/20/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: Watermelon Chair
• 11/17/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: Master Sword
• 11/23/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: Bowling Pins
• 12/02/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: Red Pom-pom hat
• 12/19/06 - Wi-Fi Giveaway: Red Pom-pom hat

Nintendo Power

On page 97 of Nintendo Power Issue 209 (November 2006) the following promotion by Nintendo Power magazine was announced: "Each Friday, Nintendo sends a letter with an attached item to all residents of Animal Crossing: Wild World; all you have to do to receive it is connect to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Keep an eye out for the October 20th giveaway in particular, as Nintendo is planning to send out an especially valuable item that day in honor of the Clubhouse Games launch." A second Nintendo Power promotion was also announced on page 123 of Nintendo Power Issue 210 (December 2006): "Listen carefully, NP faithful. To commemorate the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for Wii on Nov. 19, Nintendo will be giving away a very special, very rare gift in Animal Crossing: Wild World. Be sure to connect to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection during the week of Nov. 17 to Nov. 24th to receive a letter from Nintendo (which will show up in the mailbox near your home) and collect the attached item -- you don't want to miss this one." All of Nintendo Power's promotional giveaway items were also given out through Nintendo's Wi-Fi service. To get these items all you needed to do was connect to Nintendo's Wi-Fi service on the day of the giveaway. The following items were given out on the following dates:

• 10/06/06 - Nintendo Power Giveaway #1: Sewing Machine
• 10/20/06 - Nintendo Power Giveaway #1: Watermelon Chair (Believed to be the 10/13/06 item delayed due to technical difficulties.)
• Unknown Date - Nintendo Power Giveaway #1: Unknown (The special 10/20/06 item mentioned in Nintendo Power's first article. Also believed to be delayed due to technical difficulties.)
• 11/17/06 - Nintendo Power Giveaway #2: Master Sword

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)

Fansites

• Animal Crossing Ahead, Animal Crossing: Wild World information and guides
• Animal Crossing Community Provides info on AC:WW and also provides many other AC:WW features.
• NookBay A place to trade items and talk about the game on forums.
• Wild World wiki guide at StrategyWiki (previously hosted by Wikibooks)

Interviews and media

• Interview with Jim Merrick, Nintendo of Europe at Puissance-Nintendo
• Animal Crossing: Wild World at MobyGames
• 1up's article about AC:WW
• AC:WW gameplay videos on IGN