City folk

## New Features

*City Folk* takes advantage of the WiiConnect24functionality of the Wii console. It also uses a new feature called Wii Speak, which allows players to talk to each other when visiting each other's towns. There are now 64 insects and fish which is an increase of 8 since *Wild World*, which had 56 insects and fish.

### The City & New Attractions

This incarnation of the *Animal Crossing* series features a newly accessible location called the City. The City houses most of the characters that, in previous games, were considered special visitors. These include Gracie the Giraffe and Redd the Fox, among other characters such as Dr. Shrunkand Lyle. This area of the game is available via Kapp'n's bus, and is open all hours of the day. Most of the shops close at 9 PM daily, with the exception of Redd's Store and The Resetti Surveillance Center. The City Plaza also features new characters Phineas the sea lion and Kicks the skunk. Lyle now works in the Happy Room Academy and Shrunk now works at the Marquee next door. The player can now find Gracie in her store, GracieGrace, who is managed by the new character Labelle. The game also features more Holidays, such as; Halloween, Harvest Festival, Toy Day, Festivaleand many others.

### Moving

When moving in, the player has two options; to start fresh or to move in as their DS character. Moving in as their character will only keep the *Wild World* character's catalog and appearance. However, not all items transfer from a *Wild World* save, such as the Royal Crown. No items, Bells or house size will be ported with the character. If the player has an illegal game storage device, such as an R4 card or a TTDS, the moving function will not work.

### Wi-Fi

This installment of the *Animal Crossing* series features Wi-Fi capabilities, which was earlier implemented in the previous game, *Wild World*. This feature gives the player access to other towns, enables them to communicate with friends' towns with letters, and also subjects them to special furniture items sent from time to time from Nintendo, such as *Nintendogs* statues and the *Red Pikmin Hat*, which reference some of the company's best-selling franchises. It also allows players to experience another feature, which in-game is the *Mysterious Cat*. This enables a visit from Blanca, a character who travels via Wi-Fi into towns, which promotes connectivity between players locally and globally. It has no compatibility with its 3DS counterpart. On May 20th, 2014, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection was officially discontinued by Nintendo, thus making the Wi-Fi features of ***City Folk*** unavailable through normal means.

## Development and unveiling

The conception of *City Folk* began during the production of *Wild World* and was confirmed that an *Animal Crossing* title for the Wii, then codenamed Revolution, was in development. Katsuya Eguchi, the producer of both titles, suggested that the two titles may be able to link up to one another at E3 2005. In 2006, Eguchi confirmed that *City Folk* was still just a concept and very little work had been completed. His time was being consumed by research and development of the Wii console. The *Animal Crossing* team explored ways to involve the Wii Remote. They planned to allow players to use tools, such as the axe, shovel, and fishing rod. They also explored the use of WiiConnect24 in the hopes that a player could visit a friend's town even when they were not playing. The friend could then leave letters or gifts. Additionally, they planned to use Wi-Fi Connection to allow simultaneous play. At this point in time, however, the title was still not playable. In early 2007, Nintendo of Japan unveiled its video game lineup for the coming year. It included "Doubutsu no Mori" (*Animal Forest*). Having finished the Mii Channel for Wii, *Wild World* director Hisashi Nogami joined the *Animal Crossing* team. Later that year, Edge Magazine reported that a trusted source confirmed that *City Folk* would be a massively multiplayer online game. The publication declined to name the source. Nintendo failed to release the title in 2007. Online publication IGN predicted that the title would arrive in 2008. At E3 2008, Reggie Fils-Aime unveiled the title in playable form under the name *City Folk*. It was released in November 2008.

## Shops in the city

### Shampoodle

Shampoodle, the hair salon, is run by Harriet. Her shop first appeared in *Wild World* and was a part of Nookingtons.

### Kicks

Kicks owns a business of shining shoes. He can be found between the auction house and Shampoodle. He doesn't have his own building and does his business outside.

### Crazy Redd's

Crazy Redd's is a corner shop in the city run by Redd. It has a metal door and it's found near the west side of the City, next to the Marquee. The shop sells art such as paintings and statues. These can be later donated to the Museum but you have to make sure they aren't fake.

### GracieGrace

GracieGrace is a shop run by Gracie. Exclusively obtainable expensive items not found by alternate means are sold here.

### Fortune shop

Katrina runs fortune telling services in the City. Her shop is next to Shampoodle.

### The Marquee

The Marquee is a theater in the City. For 800 Bells the player can see Dr. Shrunk's or Master Frillard's show and learn new emotions.

## Release and reception

Initial editorial previews of the title from IGN and GameSpy indicate that, as with the title's predecessor, *Wild World*, Nintendo has made very few changes to the title and that some *Animal Crossing* players, who have played all of the past *Animal Crossing* games, might not find as much in *City Folk*, than other *Animal Crossing* games, although, the game is still fun and might appeal to newcomers. IGN gave *City Folk* a 7.5/10 rating. E3 2008: Animal Crossing: City Folk Hands-on. GameSpot gave a positive preview of the title, noting the charm of the game, but gave the game a 7.5/10 rating. The game's MSRP was $49.99 on release, but was later dropped to $19.99. Some copies of *City Folk* include Nintendo's Wii Speak. These copies of *City Folk* were sold for $69.99, but was later dropped to $34.99-$49.99.