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Animal Crossing (Wii)
Encyclopedia
, known in Europe and Australia as Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City, is a 2008 life simulation
video game developed and published by Nintendo
for the Wii
console
and the third game in the Animal Crossing series
.
In City Folk, the player character
lives in a rural
village
populated with anthropomorphic animals, taking part in various activities such as collecting
and planting. Similar to other games in the Animal Crossing series the game is synced to the Wii system clock and calendar, allowing the game to be played in real-time
and affecting the occurrence of in-game events based on the current time of day
or season
. City Folk utilizes Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
, allowing players to visit one another's villages via online play. The game is also the first Wii title to be compatible with the Wii Speak accessory, which enables voice chat
.
City Folk was officially announced at E3 2008. While the game is one of the best-selling games on the Wii with 3.38 million copies sold worldwide, the game received mixed reviews, gaining aggregate scores of 73 and 73.48% on Metacritic and GameRankings respectively; common criticism was directed towards the game's similarity to its predecessor, Animal Crossing: Wild World
.
pointer and motion controls (including the Nunchuk) can be used for handling tools, such as axes, slingshots, fishing rods, and bug-catching nets. The game also has shovels and watering cans. Players live in individual houses spread apart from each other, unlike Animal Crossing, in which all four houses are located in a central plaza, and Animal Crossing: Wild World
, in which all players share one house. Each town begins with six animal residents, and can grow to a maximum of ten. In Animal Crossing for the Nintendo GameCube
, up to 15 animal residents can live in a single town, and in Animal Crossing: Wild World, there can be only 8. In previous iteration
s of Animal Crossing, custom clothing involves a single image that is repeated on the front, back and sleeves; in City Folk, the player can make separate images for each, which is called a "Pro" design.
The player will be able to celebrate as time progresses through several real-world holidays, such as Christmas Eve
, Christmas Day, Thanksgiving
, Easter
, Father's Day
, Mother's Day
, and Halloween
, although they are named differently in the game itself. Holiday-associated characters from previous games return, as well as new additions such as Zipper T. the Easter Bunny
, Pavé (a peacock who celebrates "Festivale"), and Nat (a chameleon who hosts the "Bug-off", a bug catching contest).
The city is a new area added to the game. The player can go there by taking a bus from town, driven by Kapp'n, and once at the city, players can buy clothes, get their hair done, go to a theatre and much more. Also, characters may appear in the city such as Phineas (who hands out prizes) and Kicks (who polishes shoes).
(WFC). With Wii Speak, all people in a room can communicate with those in another room also containing the device, and can also have live text chat using a USB Keyboard. Players can communicate with other players by sending messages to their town, Wii Message Board, mobile phone, or personal computer.
An auction house run by Lloid, a Gyroid, is available in the city and is where players can auction items to other players via Nintendo WFC. There is also an office for the Happy Room Academy run by Lyle, where players can see how other players' towns are progressing.
The game supports Nintendo DS
connectivity functionality. Instead of creating a new character, players can import characters from Wild World
. Only the character's face, hair (including color and style) and catalog (the items purchasable from Tom Nook) are imported; bells and items owned by the character (including items in the character's inventory, house, town, or dressers) are not transferred. The data in Wild World is not modified when a character is copied to City Folk, so the character can continue to be played on the DS as well. Items from the character's catalog can be repurchased with bells from City Folk. A system error occurred with the Australian version of Let's Go to the City when connecting with the Nintendo DS claiming that it was "the wrong game card". Nintendo Australia allowed gamers to send back their game discs to fix the error to allow compatibility. Additionally, the Nintendo DS can be used to transfer characters between Wii consoles as a means of visiting other player's towns via DS Download Play.
Hat". Other items given to players include a "Girl's Day updo" and "Top", Saint Patrick's Day
hat, DSi
chair (White for EU; black or pink for US), a bag of bells for Tax Day, and a bus model for teacher appreciation week. After summer '09 began, Nintendo sent to North American players a hot dog hat, the dolphin model from Pikmin
, ladder shades, a hopscotch flooring, a dresser in the shape of a Nintendo GameCube
, a pile of leaves, an election poster, an anniversary cake, and a Wii locker.
These items can be ordered from Nook's catalog provided that they had been downloaded when they were available. In the case of patterns given by Wendell the Walrus, if they were originally Japanese only, then they will keep their Japanese name if used in a European or American version of the game, while regular items will have English names.
feature of the console. In a 2006 interview, Katsuya Eguchi
, leader of Animal Crossings production development, stated, "someone could send a letter from their cellphone or from an email address on a PC to the Wii, and then the player living in the town in Animal Crossing could receive that letter." In another interview with IGN
, Katsuya Eguchi also discussed how his team continues exploring potential ways to take advantage of the WiiConnect24 feature such as allowing friends to visit other towns or to leave messages while the machine is in standby mode.
gave it a score of 33/40, lower than the 37/40 scores of its predecessors, while Nintendo Power
gave the game an 8.0. Cheat Codes Central gave the game a score of 4.4/5, calling the game great, but too similar to its predecessors. IGN
gave the game a 7.5/10, claiming that while the design of the game is sound, they believed it was too much like its DS predecessor to the point of suggesting it to be just a port with enhanced features. 1UP.com
gave the game a C grade, claiming "City Folk seems like a missed opportunity to improve and enhance the series in almost every possible way." X-Play gave the game a 4 out of 5, praising the gameplay and the addition of WiiSpeak while finding it too similar to previous titles. The British Official Nintendo Magazine gave the game 90%, saying that the game was "Packed full of Nintendo Charm" and "You'll be playing it for months", but criticized the game as it being "Not new enough for veterans". It was awarded Best Simulation Game for the Wii by IGN in its 2008 video game awards. IGN also nominated it for Best Family Game and Best Online Multiplayer Game. GameSpot
also awarded it as being the Least Improved Sequel.
As of January 4, 2009, Animal Crossing: City Folk has sold 949,000 copies in Japan. It was the 10th best-selling game of December 2008 in the United States, selling in excess of 497,000 copies. It is also the eighth best-selling game of Japan in 2008. As of May 2009, Animal Crossing: City Folk has sold 3.38 million copies worldwide.
Life simulation game
Life simulation games is a sub-genre of simulation video games in which the player lives or controls one or more virtual lifeforms...
video game developed and published by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
for the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
and the third game in the Animal Crossing series
Animal Crossing (series)
The Animal Crossing games have garnered positive response. The first three games are among the best-selling for their respective consoles. Animal Crossing has sold 2.321 million copies; Wild World 10.79 million; and City Folk 3.38 million...
.
In City Folk, the player character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
lives in a rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
populated with anthropomorphic animals, taking part in various activities such as collecting
Collecting
The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector. Some collectors are generalists, accumulating merchandise, or stamps from all countries of the world...
and planting. Similar to other games in the Animal Crossing series the game is synced to the Wii system clock and calendar, allowing the game to be played in real-time
Real-time (media)
Real time within the media is a method of narratology wherein events are portrayed at the same rate that the audience experiences them. For example, if a movie told in real-time is two hours long, then the plot of that movie covers two hours of fictional time...
and affecting the occurrence of in-game events based on the current time of day
Hour
The hour is a unit of measurement of time. In modern usage, an hour comprises 60 minutes, or 3,600 seconds...
or season
Season
A season is a division of the year, marked by changes in weather, ecology, and hours of daylight.Seasons result from the yearly revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the plane of revolution...
. City Folk utilizes Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
The is an online multiplayer gaming service run by Nintendo to provide free online play in compatible Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and Wii games. The service includes the company's Wii Shop Channel, DSi Shop, and Nintendo eShop game download services...
, allowing players to visit one another's villages via online play. The game is also the first Wii title to be compatible with the Wii Speak accessory, which enables voice chat
Voice chat
Voice chat is a modern form of communication used on the Internet. The means of communicating with voice chat is through any of the messengers, mainly Skype, Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, inSpeak Communicator or Windows Live Messenger...
.
City Folk was officially announced at E3 2008. While the game is one of the best-selling games on the Wii with 3.38 million copies sold worldwide, the game received mixed reviews, gaining aggregate scores of 73 and 73.48% on Metacritic and GameRankings respectively; common criticism was directed towards the game's similarity to its predecessor, Animal Crossing: Wild World
Animal Crossing: Wild World
is a 2005 social simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console, and is the second game in the Animal Crossing series....
.
Gameplay
Animal Crossing: City Folks gameplay is built upon the gameplay of previous Animal Crossing games. The Wii RemoteWii Remote
The , also known as the Wiimote, is the primary controller for Nintendo's Wii console. A main feature of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on screen via gesture recognition and pointing through the use of accelerometer and...
pointer and motion controls (including the Nunchuk) can be used for handling tools, such as axes, slingshots, fishing rods, and bug-catching nets. The game also has shovels and watering cans. Players live in individual houses spread apart from each other, unlike Animal Crossing, in which all four houses are located in a central plaza, and Animal Crossing: Wild World
Animal Crossing: Wild World
is a 2005 social simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console, and is the second game in the Animal Crossing series....
, in which all players share one house. Each town begins with six animal residents, and can grow to a maximum of ten. In Animal Crossing for the Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
, up to 15 animal residents can live in a single town, and in Animal Crossing: Wild World, there can be only 8. In previous iteration
Iteration
Iteration means the act of repeating a process usually with the aim of approaching a desired goal or target or result. Each repetition of the process is also called an "iteration," and the results of one iteration are used as the starting point for the next iteration.-Mathematics:Iteration in...
s of Animal Crossing, custom clothing involves a single image that is repeated on the front, back and sleeves; in City Folk, the player can make separate images for each, which is called a "Pro" design.
The player will be able to celebrate as time progresses through several real-world holidays, such as Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
, Christmas Day, Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
, Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
, Father's Day
Father's Day
Father's Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. Many countries celebrate it on the third Sunday of June but it is also celebrated widely on other days...
, Mother's Day
Mother's Day
Mother's Day is a celebration honoring mothers and celebrating motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, yet most commonly in March, April, or May...
, and Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
, although they are named differently in the game itself. Holiday-associated characters from previous games return, as well as new additions such as Zipper T. the Easter Bunny
Easter Bunny
The Easter Bunny or Easter Rabbit is a character depicted as a rabbit bringing Easter eggs, who sometimes is depicted with clothes...
, Pavé (a peacock who celebrates "Festivale"), and Nat (a chameleon who hosts the "Bug-off", a bug catching contest).
The city is a new area added to the game. The player can go there by taking a bus from town, driven by Kapp'n, and once at the city, players can buy clothes, get their hair done, go to a theatre and much more. Also, characters may appear in the city such as Phineas (who hands out prizes) and Kicks (who polishes shoes).
Online connectivity
Animal Crossing: City Folk is the first Wii game to use Wii Speak, a new microphone option for the Wii that enables voice communication over Nintendo Wi-Fi ConnectionNintendo Wi-Fi Connection
The is an online multiplayer gaming service run by Nintendo to provide free online play in compatible Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and Wii games. The service includes the company's Wii Shop Channel, DSi Shop, and Nintendo eShop game download services...
(WFC). With Wii Speak, all people in a room can communicate with those in another room also containing the device, and can also have live text chat using a USB Keyboard. Players can communicate with other players by sending messages to their town, Wii Message Board, mobile phone, or personal computer.
An auction house run by Lloid, a Gyroid, is available in the city and is where players can auction items to other players via Nintendo WFC. There is also an office for the Happy Room Academy run by Lyle, where players can see how other players' towns are progressing.
The game supports Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
connectivity functionality. Instead of creating a new character, players can import characters from Wild World
Animal Crossing: Wild World
is a 2005 social simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console, and is the second game in the Animal Crossing series....
. Only the character's face, hair (including color and style) and catalog (the items purchasable from Tom Nook) are imported; bells and items owned by the character (including items in the character's inventory, house, town, or dressers) are not transferred. The data in Wild World is not modified when a character is copied to City Folk, so the character can continue to be played on the DS as well. Items from the character's catalog can be repurchased with bells from City Folk. A system error occurred with the Australian version of Let's Go to the City when connecting with the Nintendo DS claiming that it was "the wrong game card". Nintendo Australia allowed gamers to send back their game discs to fix the error to allow compatibility. Additionally, the Nintendo DS can be used to transfer characters between Wii consoles as a means of visiting other player's towns via DS Download Play.
Downloadable content (DLC)
Using WiiConnect24, Nintendo periodically sends out downloadable content, DLC for short, to online players. These range from items to celebrate particular holidays or to commemorate the release of new games. The first item released from Nintendo was the "Red PikminPikmin
is a strategy video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube video game console in 2001. Pikmin is the first game in the Pikmin series of video games, and the third game for the Gamecube overall. It was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto. Pikmin was released on October 26, 2001...
Hat". Other items given to players include a "Girl's Day updo" and "Top", Saint Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day is a religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick , the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of :Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion , the Eastern...
hat, DSi
Nintendo DSi
The is a handheld game system created by Nintendo and launched in 2008 and 2009 in Japan, North America, PAL territories, and other regions. It is the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, and its primary market rival is Sony's PlayStation Portable...
chair (White for EU; black or pink for US), a bag of bells for Tax Day, and a bus model for teacher appreciation week. After summer '09 began, Nintendo sent to North American players a hot dog hat, the dolphin model from Pikmin
Pikmin
is a strategy video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube video game console in 2001. Pikmin is the first game in the Pikmin series of video games, and the third game for the Gamecube overall. It was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto. Pikmin was released on October 26, 2001...
, ladder shades, a hopscotch flooring, a dresser in the shape of a Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
, a pile of leaves, an election poster, an anniversary cake, and a Wii locker.
These items can be ordered from Nook's catalog provided that they had been downloaded when they were available. In the case of patterns given by Wendell the Walrus, if they were originally Japanese only, then they will keep their Japanese name if used in a European or American version of the game, while regular items will have English names.
Development
The game was announced as a Wii game that markets the WiiConnect24WiiConnect24
WiiConnect24 is a feature of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection for the Wii console. It was first announced at E3 2006 by Nintendo. It enables the user to remain connected to the Internet while the console is on standby...
feature of the console. In a 2006 interview, Katsuya Eguchi
Katsuya Eguchi
is a game designer and manager at Nintendo EAD. He was born in 1965 in Tokyo, Japan and grew up in the Chiba Prefecture. He began work at Nintendo in 1986 and spent some time doing promotional artwork before starting as a designer on Super Mario Bros. 3. He first served as director for Star Fox in...
, leader of Animal Crossings production development, stated, "someone could send a letter from their cellphone or from an email address on a PC to the Wii, and then the player living in the town in Animal Crossing could receive that letter." In another interview with IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
, Katsuya Eguchi also discussed how his team continues exploring potential ways to take advantage of the WiiConnect24 feature such as allowing friends to visit other towns or to leave messages while the machine is in standby mode.
Reception
The Japanese gaming magazine FamitsuFamitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
gave it a score of 33/40, lower than the 37/40 scores of its predecessors, while Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
gave the game an 8.0. Cheat Codes Central gave the game a score of 4.4/5, calling the game great, but too similar to its predecessors. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave the game a 7.5/10, claiming that while the design of the game is sound, they believed it was too much like its DS predecessor to the point of suggesting it to be just a port with enhanced features. 1UP.com
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....
gave the game a C grade, claiming "City Folk seems like a missed opportunity to improve and enhance the series in almost every possible way." X-Play gave the game a 4 out of 5, praising the gameplay and the addition of WiiSpeak while finding it too similar to previous titles. The British Official Nintendo Magazine gave the game 90%, saying that the game was "Packed full of Nintendo Charm" and "You'll be playing it for months", but criticized the game as it being "Not new enough for veterans". It was awarded Best Simulation Game for the Wii by IGN in its 2008 video game awards. IGN also nominated it for Best Family Game and Best Online Multiplayer Game. GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
also awarded it as being the Least Improved Sequel.
As of January 4, 2009, Animal Crossing: City Folk has sold 949,000 copies in Japan. It was the 10th best-selling game of December 2008 in the United States, selling in excess of 497,000 copies. It is also the eighth best-selling game of Japan in 2008. As of May 2009, Animal Crossing: City Folk has sold 3.38 million copies worldwide.