Animal Crossing: City Folk

Template:City Folk

North American box art

File:ACCF Main Theme.ogg

***Animal Crossing: City Folk***, known in Japan as ***Animal Forest: Let's Go to Town*** (街へいこうよ　どうぶつの森 *Machi e Ikō yo Dōbutsu No Mori*?)

​, in South Korea under a similar title as ***Animal Forest: Let's Visit the Town*** (타운으로 놀러가요 동물의 숲, *Tauneuro Nolleogayo Dongmul-ui Sup*) and ***Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City*** in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions. ***Animal Crossing: City Folk*** is a video game title in the *Animal Crossing* series. It is a life simulation game where the player lives with animals, same as the other games (ex. spin-offs). It was released in North America, Japan, Europe, and Australia on November 16, 2008, November 20, 2008, December 5, 2008, and December 4, 2008, respectively. The title boasts a variety of changes and additions to the *Animal Crossing* formula, including the ability to travel to the City.

## Blurb

***The city comes to Animal Crossing!***

*Relax in town, or go out and explore the city? It's up to you.*

***What's the buzz in town?***

*There are all sorts of discoveries for you, from new events to celebrate to new items to collect. Make new friends - or with old ones - and explore!*

***Stretch your legs in the city***

*There's something for everyone!*

*Get a Mii makeover!*

*The city's ripe with opportunities . Just hop on the bus downtown to get hold of rare items, give yourself a makeover, visit the theatre and more.*

## Gameplay

### Main gameplay

In *City Folk*, the player lives in a town consisting of 6-10 animal villagers. They can take the bus to travel between the town and city, exploring various locations and meet more characters. In the town and city, the citizens pay in a currency called bells, which buys tools, furniture, and certain services. As the player earns more income in bells, they can develop further town developments, unlocking new buildings and accessing further gameplay.

### Introduction

The player initially starts by riding a bus with Kapp'n to a new town. Afterwards, Kapp'n instructs them to go to the Town Hall. Upon meeting Pelly (or Phyllis if during nighttime), she will greet them and tell them about the selection of vacant homes to choose. Tom Nook greets the player upon leaving a vacant house, telling them about his services. After picking a home, meeting Tom Nook at Nook's Cranny lets him instructs the player to partake in a part-time job, which will pay off the player's initial home loan.

## New Features

*City Folk* takes advantage of the WiiConnect24 functionality 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. With Wii Speak, all people in a room may communicate with those in another room also containing the device, and can also have live text chat using a USB Keyboard. Players can communicate with other players by sending messages to either their town, Wii Message Board, mobile phone or personal computer. The Wii Remote pointer and motion controls are used for handling tools such as axes, fishing rods and bug nets.

There are now 64 insects and fish which is an increase of 8 since *Wild World*, which had 56 insects and fish.

For the first time, players live in individual houses spread apart from each other, unlike the original Animal Crossing where the four houses were grouped together, and in Animal Crossing: Wild World where the players shared a house. Also for the first time, a choice can be made from which of the four abandoned houses to live in. Players can now also customize back, front and sleeves of clothes, unlike previous games where the clothes were customized as a whole.

There is also free downloadable content such as new furniture, models, accessories, etc. that are released periodically. One carpet has been released and there is a rumor of a wallpaper yet to be released.

The game also supports Nintendo DS connectivity functionality. For example, owners of Wild World can now move their character and catalog into AC City. Additionally, the DS can be used to transfer characters between Wii consoles as a means of visiting other player's towns via DS Download Play.

### The City & New Attractions

This incarnation of the Template:GC 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. Shrunk and 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. Lloid the gyroid runs an auction house for auctioning items via Wi-Fi. The player can now find Gracie in her store, GracieGrace, who is managed by the new character Labelle. Villagers who do not live in the player's town can be seen wandering around the City Plaza, similar to how Happy Home Paradise would function many years later.

The game also features more holidays. Returning holidays include Halloween, Harvest Festival, Toy Day, and many others, which were missing in the previous installment, *Wild World*. New holidays including Bunny Day and Festivale make appearance.

### 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 Template:GC 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 Template:GC 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

Main article: Shampoodle

Shampoodle, the hair salon, is run by Harriet. The player can not only change their hairstyle, but can also opt to completely change their face into that of a Mii character. Her shop first appeared in *Wild World* and was a part of Nookington's.

### Kicks

Main article: Kicks (store)

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

Main article: Crazy Redd's

Crazy Redd's is a corner shop in the city run by Redd. It has a metal door and it is 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 the player has to make sure they are not fake.

### GracieGrace

Main article: GracieGrace

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

### Fortune Shop

Main article: Fortune Shop

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

### The Marquee

Main article: 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 Template:GC players, who have played all of the past Template:GC games, might not find as much in *City Folk*, than other Template:GC 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.

## References

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ru:Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Animal Crossing: City Folk. Nintendo.com. Accessed 7-24-08.
2. ↑ Animal Crossing: City Folk. Gamespot. Accessed 7-25-08.
3. ↑ https://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/ruuj/index.html
4. ↑ http://wii.ign.com/articles/709/709218p1.html
5. ↑ Casamassina, Matt (5-19-2005). E3 2005: Animal Crossing Revolution. IGN Wii. Accessed on 7-22-2008.
6. ↑ Harris, Craig (3-24-2006). GDC 06: Chat with Egsisterly. IGN Wii. Accessed 7-22-08.
7. ↑ Casamassina, Matt (5-18-2006). Interview: Wii Sports. IGN Wii. Accessed 7-22-08.
8. ↑ Casamassina, Matt (2-22-07). Nintendo Lists Major Wii Games for 2007. IGN Wii. Accessed 7-22-08.
9. ↑ Casamassina, Matt (7-12-07). E3 2007: Animal Crossing Update. IGN Wii. Accessed 7-22-08.
10. ↑ Casamassina, Matt (10-24-07). Rumor: MMO Animal Crossing. IGN Wii. Accessed 7-22-08.
11. ↑ Bozon, Mark and Casamassina, Matt (1-18-08). IGN Preview 2008 p.9. IGN Wii. Accessed 7-22-08
12. ↑ DeVries, Jack (7-15-08). E3 2008: Animal Crossing Coming to Wii. IGN Wii. Accessed 7-22-08.
13. ↑ name="GameSpotpreview" Kevin VanOrd (7-15-08). E3 2008: *City Folk* Hands-On.