Animal Crossing turns 20! Feedback on this flagship Nintendo series

Game news Animal Crossing turns 20! Feedback on this flagship Nintendo series

Already 20 years! Time flies ! It’s been twenty years since Tom Nook gave us credits, and twenty years since Mr. Resetti hit us on the nervous system to remind us for the umpteenth time that we weren’t going to play our game on the Nintendo 64 version of the game. Nintendo 64? On Nintendo 64, and more precisely in April 2001, the Animal Crossing saga takes its first steps. In addition, Katsuya Eguchi’s series was only available in Japan under the name Dōbutsu no Mori at the time. A few months later, in December 2001, the title landed in that area again in an upgraded version on Nintendo GameCube, an upgraded version that added some extra features and a handful of legendary characters, starting with Tortimer, the village mayor and admiral. our favorite sailor.

It wasn’t until 2004 that the series landed in our regions under the name Animal Crossing. And just like the Japanese version of the game, the title is inspired by the Sims to give us a great simulation of life, only here we’re moving to a village where anthropomorphic animals live with the game developed by Nintendo EAD. A concept, to say the least, that nevertheless quickly finds its audience thanks to its particularly accepted sandbox aspect.

In Animal Crossing, the player can go about their business to pass their days, e.g. B. collect seashells on the beach, meet villagers, rearrange their living space by buying furniture and various fun accessories from the insatiable Tom Nook, or even work the latter to earn a few bells. Here everything has to be paid for, despite a particularly colorful and enchanting universe! Especially when you want to expand your home or decorate your bedroom. But that’s not all ! The title always seems to offer something new, because just like our daily life, time and seasons pass by. If your console’s internal clock shows the month of December, then your beautiful village is covered in snow and the various villagers are giving tons and tons of gifts. If you venture onto the track in mid-August, the sun will be shining brightly! And if you shake trees in the spring, the bees will brutally punish you. As you can see, the world of Animal Crossing is evolving and we have a new surprise in store every day. It is obviously this innovative aspect that got the players excited in the first place.

The success is so great that several sequels are quickly created. In 2005, the weird world of Animal Crossing is embedded in Nintendo DS with Wild World, a title whose main interest is mobility. Playing Animal Crossing is like having several short sessions on the same day, and Nintendo got that very well. In 2008, Let’s Go to the City, the series invites you to visit a charming little town alongside your village with a handful of stores to do your shopping and personalize your avatar. The icing on the cake, the Japanese creation released on the Wii, gives you the opportunity to meet up with friends online and communicate with them through a microphone for the first time. Animal Crossing: New Leaf debuted on Nintendo 3DS in 2013. In this episode, Tortimer withdraws and asks you to be mayor of the village for the first time. This work is undoubtedly a turning point for the series, as it highlights the creative aspect of the game, an aspect that we will flesh out in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been out for over a year and is Nintendo’s hit last year. To date, the title of the first containment accounts for more than 31.18 million games sold worldwide. Just like the old games, it offers players a second life in a colorful and non-violent world. However, as we mentioned above, the game also emphasizes the creative aspect of the license. With Animal Crossing: New Horizons it is now possible to shape your own island by building bridges, building new houses for your villagers, or even changing the level of the terrain. It’s simple, anything is possible, and that’s why we rated it 17 out of 20 at launch. Nintendo’s flagship game also features a particularly welcome online mode, especially during a pandemic. It allows budding developers to visit other users’ islands to have fun together, but also to find new ideas, to develop or exchange objects. So your imagination is the only limit!

Not counting the three spin-offs (Happy Home Designer, Amiibo Festival and Pocket Camp), the Animal Crossing series has now sold more than 50 million copies worldwide, which means that you could almost dream of so many players by watching them live has made fabulous adventures and you will meet a wide variety of unforgettable characters. Marie, Tortimer, Kéké, the Doigts de Fée sisters, the police officers Maret and Chausset … thank you for everything you have done and therefore we wish you all the best and a happy birthday!

Animal Crossing: New Horizons: Island Dream Destination

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