Animal Crossing: Wild World

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Animal Crossing: Wild World
Developer(s)	Nintendo EAD
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS
Release date	JP November 23, 2005 NA December 5, 2005 AUS December 8, 2005 EU March 31, 2006
Genre(s)	Life simulation, Communication Adventure
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer, online multiplayer
Rating(s)	CERO: A ESRB: E OFLC: G PEGI: 3+ USK: Unrestricted
Media	Nintendo DS Game Card
Input methods	D-Pad, buttons, touch screen

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

Animal Crossing: Wild World is the follow-up to the video game Animal Crossing, which was released on the Nintendo GameCube. The most prominent change is the ability for the player to play with anyone in the world whose Friend codes they have.

Contents 1 Gameplay 2 New elements 3 Main objectives 3.1 House improvements 3.2 Earning bells 3.3 Fossils, fish, bugs and paintings 4 Other features 4.1 Nook's shop 4.2 The Roost 4.3 Celeste 4.4 Special items 4.5 Boondox 4.6 Mail 4.7 Flowers and Trees 4.8 Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection 5 Reviews 6 Awards 7 Sales information 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Gameplay

The objective of Animal Crossing: Wild World is to pay off a debt to Tom Nook, who allows the player to move into a house he owns. If the mortgage is paid off, the player's house will expand until an upstairs, left, right, center and back room are included. After the first loan is paid, for 19,800 bells, the loan expands. You can get up to a 3 room main house and 2 upstairs rooms.This is slightly different from the first game, in which the finished house only consisted of a basement, a main room, and an attic. While paying off a debt, the player can do a variety of optional tasks, including interacting with other villagers and filling the catalog of the things they have, like furniture, fish, clothes and stationery. Animal Crossing: Wild World is entirely non-linear and does not require the player to pay off their mortgage immediately. 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 makes use of several of the Nintendo DS's features, including the touch screen, 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, picking up items, etc. 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 uses the internal clock so that the game can be played in real-time (or according to what time it is 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 what season it is on the calendar. The game also has events which take place on certain days, including "Yay Day", "La-Di-Day", Fishing, Bug, and Flower tourneys, Acorn Festival and the Flea Market. Unlike the first Animal Crossing game, it does not include any real-world holidays, such as Valentine's Day, April Fools' Day, Halloween, Christmas, etc. However, it does have a New Year's countdown from December 31st until the new year.

[edit] 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^{[citation needed]}. 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 wilted, 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 making the towns smaller in a sense. As a result, the world now moves in three-dimensional space. Now, only eight animals can live in one village at a time. The script in 'Wild World' has more of a variety than the original script. As a result, there is less repeated dialogue from villagers, giving the game a more organic feel. Also, each villager has his or her own theme, and enjoys certain types of furniture. Players can now also choose from a wider variety of clothes and accessories, such as hats and umbrellas, and can also change their hair style. You can now unlock a hair salon that comes with Tom Nook's final upgraded store. The animals also have their own separate personalities like in the Gamecube version. There are cranky animals, like Curt and Apollo, jocks, like Kid Cat and Roald, peppy animals like Dotty and Pompom, lazy, snack consuming animals, like Bones, Stitches and Jeremiah, normal animals, like Melba and Margie and snooty, fashion animals, like Robin, Blaire, and Amelia. The lazy animals tend to be kinder and easier to get along with. The cranky animals are always grumpy and have lower voices. The jocks are concerned about their muscles and always talking about their groin cramps and pumpin' iron at their pads. The peppy animals are energetic, and tend to be more outgoing than others.The snooty animals are always talking about looking good, and Ms. Nintendique. They are friendly on some occasions. However, the normal animals are nicer, and are very generous. They are considerate, but they are usually in arguments with others. This all comes at a cost, although, because many of the characters that appeared in "Animal Crossing" do not appear in "Animal Crossing: Wild World"

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 first game 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 on the touch screen, making it basically an upgrade from its previous Gamecube version.

[edit] Main objectives

[edit] House improvements

A main goal in Wild World is to get bells, the resident currency of the game, and decorating the player’s house and expanding its size by paying off each mortgage to Tom Nook, the local shopkeeper. 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" (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. The reward for having a high HRA score is to receive miniature model homes as placeable items in the player's house. Interestingly, the HRA reward items increase the player's HRA score. The three items are One Story Model, Two Story Model and Mansion Model.

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. 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 (NPC character) 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 (the currency of the game) or engage in "cataloging," 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. Finally, 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.

[edit] Earning bells

Another main goal is to accumulate as many bells as possible in a savings account. There are different rewards for certain amounts of bells in the account, starting at 1 million bells, and ending at 999,999,999 bells, just like in the GameCube version where gifts from the Post Office would be earned at high denominations.

[edit] 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 ironically suffers from entomophobia. Fish are caught with a fishing rod, while bugs are caught with a net. 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. Then, after digging up a fossil, the player must take the it to Blathers to be identified. After Blathers has identified the fossil, the player can: give it to the museum; place it in their house as a decorative item or sell it to Tom Nook at his store. If the fossil hasn't been identified he will say that he does not buy that type of stuff, 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.

[edit] Other features

[edit] Nook's shop

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 and sells 2 tools, 1 medicine bag, 1 type of stationery, 2 types of seeds, 1 type of plain tree seedling, 1 wallpaper, 1 carpeting, and 2 types of furniture, all random. At this stage of the game, the shop is 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). Tom Nook will close his door for a day and open "NookWay,"(similar to a supermarket) and ultimately "Nookington's," (similar to a Department store) the final stage including an upper floor and a hair salon ("Shampoodle," owned by a pink poodle named Harriet). NOTE: You have to have a friend visit and have him/her buy something from NookWay to upgrade to Nookington's.

[edit] The Roost

The Roost is a café owned by a pigeon named Brewster located in the museum's basement, where the player can spend 200 bells for a cup of coffee or, on Saturday nights, listen to K.K. Slider after 8:00 PM. Brewster is also the waiter of The Roost, and, despite his timid personality, will gladly offer the player a cup of coffee each day. He is vehemently against letting the player's coffee cool before he/she drinks it, and he will not let the player leave without drinking it hot. Many other characters, including Rover, Kapp'n, Harriet, and also Pelly and Phyllis come the hour before their shift at the Town Hall

[edit] Celeste

When you are in the museum you will see some stairs behind Blathers. If you run up these stairs you will meet Celeste. Talk to her and you can look through a telescope. The telescope allows you to make constellations that you will see at night. You can also view constellations you have already made and erase ones you don't like from here.

[edit] 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 Mario coin, the Triforce and an Arwing. There are golden tools to be found in the game. These items are the Golden Shovel, Golden Axe, Golden Net, Golden Fishing Rod, Golden Slingshot and Golden Watering Can. Special conditions need to be fulfilled in order to acquire most golden tools. Some items will earn extra points with the HRA and with that you will get bonus points.

[edit] Boondox

Boondox is a poor town far north of the player's town; however, 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.

[edit] Mail

Residents are encouraged to buy paper from Tom Nook and to write letters to the villagers. This is an important part of friendship with villagers. There are 63 different 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 some other types of stationery that can't be used such as the 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 his or her letters and bottle mail at the Post Office. If you visit another town by doing DS to DS you may receive mail from people that you met in the town you visited.

[edit] Flowers and Trees

Every Animal Crossing town has a native fruit, which grows on several trees dotted about 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 there are ways to maintain 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. From time to time coconuts may wash up on the beaches, these can also be buried on the beach but not in the sand 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 may also receive non-native fruit (or occasionally an acorn) in the mail from 'Mom' or sometimes from 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.

One rare flower, the Jacob's Ladder, is a bluebell-like plant that only appears if you maintain a "perfect town."

Flowers are fragile and can be destroyed by running through them. It is safe to walk through them, but running through could cause a flower to disintegrate.

Every day 3 weeds automatically grow around the town. Weeds are represented by two or three long stalks of grass that when uprooted can improve the villagers' ratings of town quality. Three- and four-leaf clovers, not classified as weeds, may grow on grassy areas as well. If a town becomes too weed-infested, a giant Rafflesia will appear.

In the 2nd week of October, there will be an Acorn Festival lead by the mysterious Cornimer, who is really the mayor Tortimer in disguise, despite Cornimer's statements that he is in no relation with the mayor. This festival requires players to collect acorns, of any kind but rotten, that are scattered around the town, and give them to Cornimer in exchange for a special set of mushroom-themed furniture gifts.

[edit] 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.^[1] 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."

Nintendo gives away in-game items via the Wi-Fi Connection service. These items will 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. These special giveaway items include the 1-Up Mushroom and Flamebar.

[edit] Reviews

• 1UP.com – B ^[2]
• 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
• Metacritic – 85/100
• ONM – 95% (Nintendo Gold Award)
• X-Play - 4/5
• EGM - 7.5/7/9

[edit] Awards

• IGN Editors' Choice Award^[3]
• IGN 2005 Game of the Year Awards - Best Online Game (DS)^[4]
• Parents' Choice Videogame Award 2006^[5]

[edit] 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 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. [2]^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

As of December 31, 2007, Animal Crossing: Wild World has sold 9.2 million copies worldwide.^[6]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Official sites

• Official Animal Crossing: Wild World Website
• Animal Crossing: Wild World at Nintendo.com (archives of the original at the Internet Archive)
• 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

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