5. Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii)
Oh Animal Crossing: City Folk. It had all the ingredients required to be a smash-hit game that put Animal Crossing on the map in a bigger and better way than ever before. It was introducing a city area for players to explore, it featured Wii Speak, allowing players to speak to one another online, and it was on the Nintendo Wii, which sold an absolute ton. Over 100 million units to be precise.
Yet when City Folk arrived, it felt like a bit of a disappointing cash-in on Nintendo’s part. The city area was lackluster and didn’t really offer that slice of metropolitan life that players were craving. Outside of that, there weren’t any major new features or improvements from the DS entry, Wild World.
What you’re left with is an Animal Crossing game that was underwhelming at the time, and the weakest in the mainline series so far.
4. Animal Crossing (GameCube)
Animal Crossing on GameCube was the very first game in the series. It was essentially a port of the N64 game that had only released in Japan, and it didn’t take long for players to fall in love with their anthropomorphic villager friends. Not to mention the ever-compelling grind to pay off your loans.
Despite being a good game, the fact that it’s the first title in the series more or less means it’s the foundation that every single game that followed it developed from. There was no crafting, the world was fairly small, and the amount of bugs and fish wasn’t quite as extensive as it was in future iterations.
Even in terms of shops, the GameCube game was far more limited than its successors. That being said, it doesn’t get the bottom spot, simply because City Folk just felt like such a disappointment when it released, compared to the breath of fresh air that the GameCube title was.
If you’re wanting to check out where this crazy life sim series started out, then give the GameCube game a try. If you’re looking for the very best Animal Crossing game, look towards the more recent titles.
3. Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS)
Animal Crossing: Wild World was the Nintendo DS follow-up to the popular GameCube title. In terms of new features it introduced, Wild World introduced a ‘rolling world’ where as you walked up and down the island, there would be a natural curve to the ground, as if you were walking around a spherical world. It was a small aesthetic tweak, but one we appreciated all the same.
Thanks to the DS’ dual screens and touch screen capabilities, too, Nintendo took great advantage of these. Players could now create their custom designs for clothing with precision using the stylus, while the upper screen would be used for admiring the day and nighttime skies that’d change in real-time.
What made Wild World so popular with fans, however, was the fact that it brought the series to a handheld system for the first time ever. Players could now do a spot of fishing on their morning commute, and generally work towards paying off their loan debt whenever they wanted, wherever they were.
Not to mention you could get pictures of your favorite characters if you befriended them enough, and Brewster and Celeste set up in the museum for the first time offering a coffee shop and observatory respectively.
Wild World didn’t just feel like a straight port of the GameCube title. Nintendo took the time to carefully introduce new features and make the most of the DS’ form factor and various features. A true gem in the DS’ library of games.
2. Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS)
If you liked Animal Crossing: Wild World, you’ll love New Leaf. Releasing on the 3DS, the game retained the x-factor of portability that the DS game kickstarted.
This time around, though, you weren’t just some lowly resident living in your town. You were the Mayor and had the ability to build public works projects around town such as bridges, bells, benches, bus stops, clocks and a whole lot more.
On top of that, New Leaf refined City Folk’s metropolis area, introducing Main Street instead. This area in the north of town introduced a number of new shops and facilities for players to make the most of which they could unlock the more debt they paid off and the more they progressed in the game.
New Leaf was the gift that kept on giving. With a slight change on how the game played out and the role in our town, it was fresh enough to keep long-term fans coming back every day, while still retaining that Animal Crossing magic that makes the series so special.
1. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)
New Horizons is just bigger and better, improving on just about every single aspect that New Leaf introduced, which itself really pushed the envelope when it came to gameplay in Animal Crossing.
Putting players on an enormous deserted island, players must help assist Tom Nook in setting up different amenities and buildings around the island, they can terraform the land as they see fit, and you can even use crafting materials to make new tools and furniture.
While some iconic faces may not be here at launch such as Brewster and Crazy Redd, there’s still the likes of Isabelle and K.K. Slider that should be enough to keep fans happy. Plus, the inclusion of Nook Miles as ‘daily challenges’ means players have constantly got something to work towards, rather than aimlessly walking around their island looking for things to do.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons might have only been out for about a week, but we’re already enamored with how much it’s brought to the table, and the small quality of life improvements that make previously tedious moments a breeze.
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