Alolan_Apples
“Assorted” Collector
To continue the trend of Old School Animal Crossing blogs, I would like to discuss how the Museum changed over time. One thing all four Animal Crossing games have in common is that there are four museum exhibitions. Not just that, but the exhibitions have always been the same. And in just the first three games, we had to donate the same type of items (Fish, Bugs, Simple Fossils, Fossil Pieces, and Paintings). It wasn’t until New Leaf when we had statues and seafood, but even so, we had four exhibit wings. I don’t know if that will change in the future.
What was different about each game is the exhibit design. If anything, they have improved as time went by. Just looking at the GameCube Version’s museum would make you think it is under-funded compared to the newer games. In fact, even the background music was worse as it looks like Nintendo didn’t put much work into it (the insect exhibit being the worst). I can assume that Blathers has received more funds as the games rolled by. This is especially noted by the introduction to the Café and the Observatory.
Art:
The Art exhibition has always been the worst of the four exhibitions, but it has improved. Like really improved. In the GameCube Version, all you had were walls with openings as there are paintings on each wall. It looks like a poorly-designed maze. In Wild World, it still has the same notation, but with an extra wall. It finally began to improve in City Folk when we had two different rooms. In fact, I like the layout of it better. New Leaf’s art exhibit didn’t look as good as City Folk’s, but the fact that the paintings are all on the walls and the statues were in the center shows that they have improved a lot. From a nano-maze of paintings to two boxed rooms with paintings on walls and statues in the center. They can do better than that, but it’s still better than what was there before.
Fossils:
Like the art exhibition, the fossil exhibition improved over the games. Granted, it looked a lot better than the others back in the GameCube Version, but the GameCube Version was still when the exhibition was at its worst. The fossil exhibition always looked like a jumble or a hall of dinosaurs, but it started to look better when Wild World added five more simple fossils and a second room, City Folk had a wall of all 10 simple fossils and a staircase, and New Leaf having prehistoric vista paintings and three rooms of fossils. My opinion on fossils haven’t changed much, but at least the GameCube Version’s fossils were based on the most well-known dinosaurs (pterodactyls, plesiosaurs, apatosaurs, stegosaurs, triceratops, and tyrannosaurs).
Bugs:
The one thing the GameCube Version did right was that they made it look like a regular museum to walk through, but it still looked underfunded (in fact, there was no lighting). But as the series went by, the bug exhibit started to look more like a jungle or a forest, and they were able to have wallpaper. Wild World had two rooms, which helped separate the bugs into different categories, but City Folk had steps up and New Leaf has three rooms. City Folk’s was better, but New Leaf did a much better job at separating insects.
Aquarium:
The fish exhibition is a perfect example of now the Museum improved. If you looked at them in the GameCube Version, the tanks look a lot like fish tanks you can have at home or at a doctor’s office rather than a professional aquarium like in restaurants and zoos. Worse yet, the sea exhibit was meaningless because of how there’s only four fish to catch. Wild World was hardly any different. At least we had bigger fish tanks. And they put sea fish in a different room. City Folk’s aquarium looked a lot better, as you had steps and more tanks. And New Leaf, their aquarium is better than any museum exhibit in Animal Crossing history. It looks a lot more like a public aquarium rather than a home aquarium.
Other:
Aside to the improvements each exhibit faced, the Museum had additional attractions, like the Café, the Observatory, and the Museum Gift Shop and custom exhibits. The GameCube Version had none of that, while the rest did. I also mentioned how the soundtrack has improved. They had a better background music since Wild World, as we heard more orchestra in the art exhibit, percussion in the fossil exhibit, quieter music in the insect exhibit, and a filter in the fish exhibit.
What was different about each game is the exhibit design. If anything, they have improved as time went by. Just looking at the GameCube Version’s museum would make you think it is under-funded compared to the newer games. In fact, even the background music was worse as it looks like Nintendo didn’t put much work into it (the insect exhibit being the worst). I can assume that Blathers has received more funds as the games rolled by. This is especially noted by the introduction to the Café and the Observatory.
Art:
The Art exhibition has always been the worst of the four exhibitions, but it has improved. Like really improved. In the GameCube Version, all you had were walls with openings as there are paintings on each wall. It looks like a poorly-designed maze. In Wild World, it still has the same notation, but with an extra wall. It finally began to improve in City Folk when we had two different rooms. In fact, I like the layout of it better. New Leaf’s art exhibit didn’t look as good as City Folk’s, but the fact that the paintings are all on the walls and the statues were in the center shows that they have improved a lot. From a nano-maze of paintings to two boxed rooms with paintings on walls and statues in the center. They can do better than that, but it’s still better than what was there before.
Fossils:
Like the art exhibition, the fossil exhibition improved over the games. Granted, it looked a lot better than the others back in the GameCube Version, but the GameCube Version was still when the exhibition was at its worst. The fossil exhibition always looked like a jumble or a hall of dinosaurs, but it started to look better when Wild World added five more simple fossils and a second room, City Folk had a wall of all 10 simple fossils and a staircase, and New Leaf having prehistoric vista paintings and three rooms of fossils. My opinion on fossils haven’t changed much, but at least the GameCube Version’s fossils were based on the most well-known dinosaurs (pterodactyls, plesiosaurs, apatosaurs, stegosaurs, triceratops, and tyrannosaurs).
Bugs:
The one thing the GameCube Version did right was that they made it look like a regular museum to walk through, but it still looked underfunded (in fact, there was no lighting). But as the series went by, the bug exhibit started to look more like a jungle or a forest, and they were able to have wallpaper. Wild World had two rooms, which helped separate the bugs into different categories, but City Folk had steps up and New Leaf has three rooms. City Folk’s was better, but New Leaf did a much better job at separating insects.
Aquarium:
The fish exhibition is a perfect example of now the Museum improved. If you looked at them in the GameCube Version, the tanks look a lot like fish tanks you can have at home or at a doctor’s office rather than a professional aquarium like in restaurants and zoos. Worse yet, the sea exhibit was meaningless because of how there’s only four fish to catch. Wild World was hardly any different. At least we had bigger fish tanks. And they put sea fish in a different room. City Folk’s aquarium looked a lot better, as you had steps and more tanks. And New Leaf, their aquarium is better than any museum exhibit in Animal Crossing history. It looks a lot more like a public aquarium rather than a home aquarium.
Other:
Aside to the improvements each exhibit faced, the Museum had additional attractions, like the Café, the Observatory, and the Museum Gift Shop and custom exhibits. The GameCube Version had none of that, while the rest did. I also mentioned how the soundtrack has improved. They had a better background music since Wild World, as we heard more orchestra in the art exhibit, percussion in the fossil exhibit, quieter music in the insect exhibit, and a filter in the fish exhibit.
