More Thoughts From Me #212: A Look Back At The Animal Crossing Series

Animal Crossing New Horizons will be out next week! But this week we’re not talking about that game. Instead, let’s take a look back at past Animal Crossing games. What are my thoughts on the series so far? Which game do I like the best? Which one is the worst? Will I talk about amiibo festival and Happy Home Designer? Time to find out!

Animal Crossing is my all-time favorite video game series. I’ve been addicted to it since the very first game. And so in honor of the newest game, Animal Crossing New Horizons, I thought I’d take a look back at the series so far. Here we gooooo:

Animal Crossing (Gamecube): The first Animal Crossing. No, its not called ‘Population Growing’. Stop calling it that. This game is called Animal Crossing. If you must, you can say Animal Crossing Cube or Animal Crossing Gamecube. But its NOT POPULATION GROWING! UGH. Ok, got that out of my system. Sorry.

The first game in the Animal Crossing series is still good. Many have argued and they are probably right, that this game has the strongest writing of any of the games so far. The animals in this game can be mean. Whew. So mean. But they can be pretty nice too. Theres a lot of villager personality in this game. Also there are some holidays, like Sports Day, that don’t return after this one. Animal Crossing Cube is a good place to start with the series if you’ve never played one of these games before. The graphics are not great but its still a fun game.

P.S. The NES games are NEVER coming back. Stop hoping for them.

Animal Crossing Wild World: The first handheld Animal Crossing. This was also the first game in the series to have local and online multiplayer.

Wild World doesn’t hold up graphically but it does have its charms, such as a huge (bold) house to live in, messages in a bottle, and funny animals. Gulliver had a UFO in this game and it was easy to shoot down too.

The holidays in Wild World suck though. There is no Halloween, Christmas, or any other regular holiday. Instead we got replacements like Yay Day and Acorn day. Wild World is the worst game in the series. I know some people think its the next game, but to me, its Wild World. That said: I still love this game!

Animal Crossing City Folk: Many have said that City Folk is the worst game in the series but for me, its not. Why? Animal Crossing City Folk is the only game so far to have voice chat (Wii Speak). Sure, the voice chat wasn’t perfect but when it worked, it worked well. So why is it important that City Folk had voice chat?

City Folk was the Animal Crossing that I played the most online. I met a ton of people, in North America and overseas, via this game. I have a bunch of British friends because of this game. Wii Speak was a big part of that. It was a lot of fun talking to and playing with people from other countries.

Also holidays returned in City Folk. Another thing that makes City Folk better than Wild World. I actually still miss playing this game.

Animal Crossing New Leaf: The best game in the series. So far. I’m sure New Horizons will change that but at the moment, New Leaf is the best. What makes it the best?

New Leaf didn’t have voice chat like City Folk but it did introduce some really great new features. In this game, you play as the mayor of the Animal Crossing town you move into. You get to decide where some outdoor projects go and you have a secretary, the amazing Isabelle.

Animal Crossing New Leaf also introduces swimming, Tortimer Island, and plenty of cool new animals, including hamsters and deer. New Leaf features the best graphics in the series (at the moment). Its a great game!

And just for kicks (ha), I’ll talk about amiibo festival and Happy Home Designer now.

Bonus round:

Animal Crossing amiibo festival: amiibo festival was not a great game. It had the bad luck of coming out at the wrong time too. People wanted a new Animal Crossing for the Wii U and instead we got…a party game. And not even a Mario Party level party game. Not that I’m a huge Mario Party fan but at least some of the mini-games there are pretty good.

Yes amiibo festival had the fun Desert Island Escape mini-game. But thats just about all it had going for it. Well that and it came with some AC amiibo figues and cards. The amiibo figures and cards are really the main reason to buy this game…

Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer: Meanwhile, Happy Home Designer is actually a really good game! Its all about designing homes for animals but you actually can interact with all of them. For the first time EVER, you can actually have all the animals in one town! The downside is that you can’t actually wander around in the town.
There is a shopping area that you create that you wander around in though. Its pretty neat. You even get to design a hospital and a school!

I had a lot of fun with Happy Home Designer. If you like Animal Crossing and you’ve never played this one, you should totally go get it. Its not a typical AC experience, but its still a good game. I would love to see a Happy Home Designer 2 someday.

And thats it….wait. Am I forgetting something?

Oh yeah. Pocket Camp. I’ve never played PC. I don’t even own a cellphone. So nah, I won’t be talking about it…

So thats what I think of the Animal Crossing games so far. What do you think of them? Which of the games is your favorite?

Next week: Animal Crossing New Horizons comes out THIS WEEK! I talk about all the latest news about the game, plus my thoughts about the game’s impending release!

More Thoughts From Me is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed here are mine and mine alone. I still play New Leaf every single day!