A Brief History of Animal Crossing
In this episode of Haken: An Animal Crossing Podcast, I do a deep dive into the history of the very first Animal Crossing game. The original title was only released in Japan on the N64 as Dobutsu No Mori, which translates to Animal Forest. The game was created by Katsuya Eguchi who joined Nintendo in 1986. He worked on games such as Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and Starfox. While away from home, he was inspired by his loneliness to create a game that addresses the distance he felt from his family and friends.
Dobutsu No Mori was later updated and released on the Nintendo Gamecube. On this system, it could take advantage of the real time clock that was built into the system. Meaning, every time you logged, you’d be thrown right into that actual time. From there, the game was finally localized to North America where the NOA (Nintendo of America) team added a lot of updates that have since become staples to the series. Their updates included holidays and a wide variety of different dialogue text. Nintendo of Japan was incredibly impressed with their work and a 3rd version with these updates made its way back to Japan.
My Experience First Playing Animal Crossing
My experience with the first game came at the best time in my life. I was a freshman in high school and I had gotten very used to the education system and the general control adults had over my life. I borrowed Animal Crossing: Population Growing for Gamecube from a friend and was instantly struck by the freedom when I first turned the game on. K.K. Slider, a guitar playing dog, greeted me and told me I could get away from all the bossiness of adults and do whatever I wanted. This was the type of freedom my young self truly longed to experience.
Along with my brother and our good friend, we moved into this town of Haken and started building our own little homes. It was wonderful getting to earn more money, pay off my loans, expand my home, and decorate my own home the way I wanted. Meeting the quirky anthropomorphic neighbors and doing odd jobs to collect furniture, wallpaper, and carpets was always a joy. Best of all, I could see my brother and friend’s progress as they also lived their life in this quaint little town.
Animal Crossing Mobile Title
I also discuss rumors about the Animal Crossing Mobile title. There was a rumor that the game was delayed until December. Of course, there is no way to know how true this rumor could be. The only detail we have received from Nintendo is that the game was going to be released within their current fiscal year. That means the game could be released by March, 2018.
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If you enjoy this podcast and want to see it improve, come out more frequently, or offer more for the community, you can support the show through Patreon. For 1 dollar, you get my friend codes on Switch, Wii U, and 3DS along with a lot of other opportunities to make your voice heard on the podcast. With enough funding, I can offer this show on a weekly basis, invest in streaming and video capture equipment to create more Animal Crossing content, and eventually create some excellent physical merchandise. To support, please visit my Patreon Page today!
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