Animal Crossing: City Folk
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| North American game cover North American game cover | ||||||
| Developer(s) | Nintendo EAD<ref name="NOA Product Page">Nintendo of America. "Animal Crossing: City Folk". nintendo.com. Archived from the original on December 8, 2008. </ref> | |||||
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| Publisher(s) | Nintendo<ref name="NOA Product Page"/> | |||||
| Director(s) | Hisashi Nogami | |||||
| Platform(s) | Wii | |||||
| Release date(s) | United States of America November 16, 2008<ref name="NOA Product Page"/> Canada November 17, 2008 Japan November 20, 2008 Australia December 4, 2008 Europe December 5, 2008 South KoreaJanuary 28, 2010 | |||||
| Genre(s) | Simulation | |||||
| Language(s) | United States of America English, French, Spanish Japan Japanese Europe Australia English, French, Italian, German, Spanish South Korea Korean | |||||
| Modes | Single-player Multiplayer (1–4 player online) | |||||
| Ratings | ||||||
| Media | Wii Optical Disc | |||||
| Input methods |
Wii Remote, Nunchuk, Wii Speak, USB keyboard, Nintendo DS | |||||
| style="text-align:center; line-height:12px; border-radius: 9px;
" colspan="6" | Guide at StrategyWiki | ||||||
Animal Crossing: City Folk, released outside of North America as Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City,<ref group="nb">Japanese: 街へいこうよ どうぶつの森 Hepburn: Machi e Ikō yo: Doubutsu no Mori, Animal Forest: Let's Go to the City</ref> is a simulation game for the Wii released in 2008. It is the third main installment in the Animal Crossing series outside Japan. The game shares its art style, soundtrack, and much of its content with its direct predecessor, Animal Crossing: Wild World for the Nintendo DS.
An open-ended game, City Folk follows a player-controlled human living in a town populated with animals and performing various tasks, such as interacting with characters and collecting items. Like all games in the Animal Crossing series, the game is synced to the system clock, which affects the gameplay based on the current time and day. New to City Folk is the city, a shopping center that the player can travel to from their town.
City Folk was released alongside the Wii Speak accessory, which allowed for voice chat during online multiplayer, and certain copies of the game were bundled with the accessory. Like Wild World, City Folk received positive reviews from critics, although it was criticized for being too similar to its predecessor. The game sold a total of 4.32 million units as of December 2014. It was one of the four initial Wii titles to be re-released at a reduced price under the Nintendo Selects brand on May 15, 2011.<ref>Chris Kohler (May 4, 2011). "Nintendo Drops Wii Price to $150, Unbundles Wii Sports". Wired. Retrieved December 27, 2024. </ref>
Gameplay
Like previous Animal Crossing games, Animal Crossing: City Folk is an open-ended game where the player takes the role of a human moving into a town of animals. Tasks the player can partake in include socializing with villagers, collecting items, catching fish or bugs, and paying off their home loan. The game takes place in real-time, meaning the in-game time of day and year matches that of the Wii.<ref group="nb">The clock can also be changed in-game to be an offset of the Wii system clock.</ref> The time of day and year affects aspects of gameplay such as whether or not shops are open or villagers are awake, seasonal events, and the availability of certain fish, bugs, and items.
Controls
City Folk can be played with either a Wii Remote by itself or with a Nunchuk attached. The player can be moved either with the Template:Input of the Nunchuk, or by dragging the pointer across the screen while holding Template:Input. The pointer is required to navigate the game's menus, although motion controls are otherwise seldom used and optional.
The game's typing interface is compatible with USB keyboards.
Multiplayer
Up to four players can live in a town, and unlike in Wild World, each now has their own house.
Like Wild World, City Folk allowed players to visit other towns via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection until the service's discontinuation in May 2014. However, there is no local wireless option in City Folk, meaning simultaneous multiplayer is no longer possible without the use of third-party online servers.
The DS Suitcase is another form of multiplayer, allowing the player to send their character to a Nintendo DS and load them into another Wii to visit someone else's town. However, only the visitor plays during this form of travel, much like the multiplayer in the first-generation games.
Save data transfer from Wild World
When creating a new player, there is the option to transfer one from Animal Crossing: Wild World by connecting to a Nintendo DS. Players transferred through this method retain their name, appearance, and all re-orderable items in their catalog.
New features
The city
The city is a shopping district that the player can travel to by visiting the bus stop at the north end of town. Shops and buildings in the city include:
- Crazy Redd's, which sells exclusive furniture at a markup, in addition to common furniture and forged paintings.
- The Marquee, where the player can pay to view a stand-up performance from Dr. Shrunk to learn an emotion.
- The Happy Room Academy, where the player can speak to Lyle to see their home's HRA score at any time.
- GracieGrace, which sells exclusive clothing and furniture. Its selection changes each season.
- The auction house, where the player can list items for sale to be purchased by other players.
- Shampoodle, where the player can change their hairstyle or purchase a Mii mask, which uses one of the Miis saved on the Wii console to create a mask covering the player's head.
- The Fortune Shop, where Katrina can tell the player's fortune.
Additionally, Kicks appears in the city plaza to change the color of the player's shoes, and Phineas can appear to give the player various handheld items.
Several of the characters who have shops in the city were previously regular visitors to town in Wild World, including Redd, Dr. Shrunk, Lyle, Gracie, and Katrina.
Events
Template:Multiple Image Several events, including the major holidays—Halloween, the Harvest Festival, and Toy Day—return after being removed in Wild World. Additionally, several new events are added, including the major holidays of Festivale and Bunny Day.
Festivale, which is based on Mardi Gras, is hosted by Pavé. He asks the player to bring him three of a specific color of candy in exchange for an item from the Pavé Series. The candy can be obtained by playing various minigames with villagers.
Bunny Day, which is based on Easter, is hosted by Zipper T. Bunny. He tasks the player with finding Bunny eggs that are buried around town. Within each of these eggs is either a candy or Bunny foil, the latter of which can be given to Zipper in exchange for an item from the Egg Series.
Region-exclusive events
The North American, European, Japanese, and Korean versions of the game all feature exclusive events:
- Explorer's Day, Groundhog Day, and Labor Day are exclusive to North America.
- Midsummer's Day, Midwinter's Day, and Naughty-or-Nice Day are exclusive to Europe.
- Bean Day, Boy's Day, Girl's Day, and Starcrossed Day are exclusive to Japan.
- Daeboreum, Lunar New Year, Teacher's Day, and Tree Day are exclusive to South Korea.
- The Autumn Moon has a different item in the North American, European, and Japanese versions. The event is not in the Korean version.
- In the European version, the dates of Mother's Day and Father's Day differ between languages. The date for Mother's Day is also different in the Korean version, and Father's Day is replaced with Teacher's Day.
These events, along with their exclusive items, can only be experienced outside of their native region by visiting a town from that region through online multiplayer.
Bugs and fish
Seven bugs and eight fish are introduced to the series, while three bugs return from Doubutsu no Mori e+ after being removed in Wild World.
- The centipede, cyclommatus, golden stag, giant petaltail, Raja Brooke butterfly, violin beetle, and walking leaf are introduced. The bagworm, diving beetle (making its international debut), and miyama stag (previously known as the mountain beetle) return from Doubutsu no Mori e+.
- The butterfly fish, lobster, moray eel, Napoleonfish, neon tetra, pike, ray, and surgeonfish are introduced.
Town fund and landmarks
Players can donate Bells to the town fund, which causes structures to be built around town once donation goals are met. These structures include another bridge (File:99k Bells NH Inv Icon cropped.png 200,000 Bells), a fountain (File:99k Bells NH Inv Icon cropped.png 400,000 Bells), and either a lighthouse or windmill (File:99k Bells NH Inv Icon cropped.png 1,000,000 Bells),.
The fountain is where Serena, a new special character, resides. If the player throws an axe into the fountain, she appears and can give the player a silver or golden axe.
The lighthouse and windmill are chosen by a vote among the players living in town, and unlike the fountain, they are purely decorative.
Downloadable items
From 2008 to 2012, 87 exclusive items were added to the game and distributed to players via WiiConnect24. These items were often in celebration of a real-world event or Nintendo-related anniversary or game release. They are not present on the game disc; instead, there are reserved slots in the save file for DLC items to be written to. Many of these items were only distributed in certain regions.
Miscellaneous
- The player is rewarded with a flag outside their house after fully paying off their home loan.
- New villager activities have been added:
- Villagers may ask to play hide-and-seek, where the player must find them and two other villagers hidden throughout town.
- Villagers may lose the key to their house, leaving them stuck outside. The player can find the key by fishing in the river.
- Silver versions of each tool can be obtained in various ways. These tools have more capabilities than standard tools, but generally not as many as golden tools.
- Tools and handheld items can be quickly equipped by pressing Template:Input, and switched between by pressing Template:Input.
- Pro designs, which include separate patterns for the front, back, left sleeve, and right sleeve of a top, can be made at the Able Sisters.
- Once Nookington's has opened, Tom Nook will occasionally give the player the option to switch the store between Nook 'n' Go, Nookway, and Nookington's.
- Nookway no longer requires a friend to visit before it can upgrade to Nookington's.
- The ability to save a screenshot returns from Doubutsu no Mori e+. Screenshots can be taken with Template:Input and then saved to an SD card.
Characters
Special characters
Animal Crossing: City Folk introduces eight new special characters, while seven old ones return after being absent in Wild World.
New special characters
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Kicks
Shoe shining
Returning special characters
The following special characters return from the first-generation games after being absent from Wild World.
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Lloid
Auctioneer
Villagers
There are a total of 210 villagers in City Folk, which is 60 more than Animal Crossing: Wild World. 18 new villagers have been added, and 42 have returned after being absent from Wild World.
New villagers
Returning villagers
42 villagers return from the first-generation games after being absent from Wild World. 14 villagers (marked Template:E+ icon below) initially only appeared in Doubutsu no Mori e+ and received localized names for the first time in City Folk. Two of the returning villagers have their personalities changed.
Development and unveiling
In May 2005, months before the release of Animal Crossing: Wild World, during an interview with IGN, series creator Katsuya Eguchi confirmed that an Animal Crossing game was in development for the Wii and considered the possibility of Nintendo DS connectivity.<ref>Matt Casamassina (May 19, 2005). "E3 2005: Animal Crossing Revolution". IGN. Archived from the original on August 9, 2006. Retrieved December 27, 2024. </ref> A year later in May 2006, Eguchi revealed that the game was still in the concept stage of development.<ref>Matt Casamassina (May 18, 2006). "Interview: Wii Sports". IGN. Archived from the original on August 9, 2006. Retrieved December 27, 2024. </ref> An Animal Crossing game for Wii was promoted in the end credits for 🎬 Gekijōban Doubutsu no Mori (released in December 2006), and in February 2007 the game was listed as one of Nintendo's upcoming releases for 2007 at a Japanese press conference.<ref>Matt Casamassina (February 22, 2007). "Nintendo Lists Major Wii Games for 2007". IGN. Archived from the original on February 26, 2006. Retrieved December 27, 2024. </ref> However, 2007 passed with no new information released about the yet-to-be-titled game.
Animal Crossing: City Folk was first publicly shown at E3 2008. The game's title was revealed, alongside the city, compatibility with Wii Speak, and its final North American release date of November 16, 2008.<ref>Jack DeVries (July 15, 2008). "E3 2008: Animal Crossing Coming to Wii". IGN. Archived from the original on July 18, 2008. Retrieved December 27, 2024. </ref><ref>Kevin VanOrd (July 17, 2008). "E3 2008: Animal Crossing: City Folk Hands-On". GameSpot. Retrieved December 27, 2024. </ref>
Localization
Animal Crossing: City Folk was the first Animal Crossing game to receive French and Spanish localizations for its North American release. These localizations differ from those in the European version. Like its predecessors, the European version features English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish localizations.
The game was released in PAL regions as Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City, a direct translation of the Japanese title.
Reception
| Publication | Rating |
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| Eurogamer | 6/10<ref name="Eurogamger Review">Simon Parkin (November 17, 2008). "Animal Crossing: Let's Go To The City". Eurogamer. Retrieved December 27, 2024. </ref> |
| Famitsu | 33/40<ref>Kevin Gifford (November 12, 2008). "Japan Review Check: Animal Crossing: City Folk". 1up.com. Archived from the original on November 20, 2008. Retrieved December 27, 2024. </ref> |
| GameSpot | 7.5/10<ref>Justin Calvert (November 18, 2008). "Animal Crossing: City Folk Review". GameSpot. Retrieved December 27, 2024. </ref> |
| IGN | 7.5/10<ref name="IGN Review">Craig Harris (November 16, 2008). "Animal Crossing: City Folk Review". IGN. Retrieved December 27, 2024. </ref> |
| Metacritic<ref group="nb">Based on 50 critic reviews</ref> | 73/100<ref name="Metacritic"> "Animal Crossing: City Folk Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved December 27, 2024. </ref> |
Animal Crossing: City Folk received generally positive reviews, although it was less well-received than its predecessors. The general gameplay was praised, but its main criticism was the lack of substantial new content compared to Animal Crossing: Wild World. The city was criticized both for not having much new content, and for replacing many of the special visitors with shops that are always accessible.<ref name="IGN Review"/><ref name="Eurogamger Review"/>
With an aggregate score of 73/100 on Metacritic, City Folk is the lowest-rated mainline Animal Crossing game and the only to score under 80.<ref name="Metacritic"/>
Sales
As of December 2014, Animal Crossing: City Folk has sold 4.32 million copies worldwide,<ref>Celine (October 30, 2017). "Nintendo software and hardware sales data from 1983 to present". ResetEra. Archived from the original on January 11, 2019. Retrieved December 27, 2024. </ref> making it the 21st best-selling Wii game and best-selling home console Animal Crossing game until Animal Crossing: New Horizons in 2020.
Related media
City Folk received two soundtrack CDs: Machi e Ikou yo Doubutsu no Mori ~Mori no Ongakukai~ in Japan and Animal Crossing: Your Favourite Songs - Original Soundtrack in Europe.
A one-shot manga based on City Folk, Machi e Ikō yo Doubutsu no Mori: Tanpopo Murada Yori, was released in 2010 in Japan.
Gallery
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The logo for Let's Go to the City in PAL regions
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A player fishing
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A player exploring the city
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A group of players in a house
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A player exiting the bus
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A player in the fish exhibit of the museum
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A player witnessing a balloon fly by
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Entering the checkpoint
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Leaving the checkpoint
Names in other languages
| Japanese | 街へいこうよ どうぶつの森 Machi e Ikou Yo Doubutsu no Mori |
Animal Forest: Let's Go to the City |
| Korean | 타운으로 놀러가요 동물의 숲 Taun-Wuro Nolleogayo Dongmur-Ui Sup |
Animal Forest: Let's Go to the City |
| German | Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City | - |
| European Spanish | Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City | - |
| Latin American Spanish | Animal Crossing: City Folk | - |
| European French | Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City | - |
| Quebec French | Animal Crossing: City Folk | - |
| Italian | Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City | - |
Notes
References
External links
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