GameCube Version vs Wild World vs City Folk: Which game is best?

[Alolan_Apples]

Normally, I would be excited to participate in the Bell Tree Weeks events, but an Old School Animal Crossing event isn’t going to interest me. To celebrate the Old School Animal Crossing event, I would blog about the older games and what were great about the games.

If New Leaf was in the bunch, New Leaf easily wins by a huge landslide. The little charms of each older game would be greatly invalidated because of New Leaf, especially after the Welcome amiibo update. But it won’t be king any longer when Animal Crossing: New Horizons comes out. Now let’s completely take out New Leaf and the other Animal Crossing games that came out after New Leaf. With that out of the way, the older games will at least have more competition.

It’s time to adjust the in-game clock again. This time, we’re going back 10 years.

GameCube Version:

We are back in time when Tom Nook used to do almost everything, when Tortimer was still the mayor, when we had a wishing well instead of the town hall, when we had to mail fossils to identify them, and when sea basses, red snappers, and barred knifejaws were the only fish we caught in the ocean. This was the Animal Crossing game we started with, and my first Animal Crossing game. I started playing it when I was 10 years old. I was done with the 4th grade, as it was the summer between the 4th grade and 5th grade. I was also into turtles (more specifically sea turtles). I played this game every year until 2007, when I had my first town in Wild World. I have not played this version again.

I’m not blinded by nostalgia or biased in favor of older games, but it’s true that Animal Crossing’s GameCube game has its merits that make it better than both Wild World and City Folk. Here are the 10 things that made Population Growing (pun intended):

• We hade NES Games as furniture. Wild World and City Folk didn’t even have mini-games.
• The big lake was larger, had a dock, and was used as a plaza in some events.
• There were random Bells hidden in the ground as they shined.
• You had a code system, which was not only good for online trading, but also a place where you can get free goods from universal codes (which is good if you don’t have the items on the catalog).
• Balloons, pinwheels, and tools can be ordered on the catalog.
• Even though holidays weren’t as good back then, you at least had more animals participating in holidays. In addition, there were exclusive holidays like the Cherry Blossom Festival and the Sports Fairs.
• You had town models, not just for facilities, but also for everything (such as tree models and weed models).
• The villager limit was 15.
• Towns can have islands within main land, three levels of elevation, and interesting earthen ramps.
• You had journals you can write in as items.

Other honorable mentions: You had a separate island (which included a flag, an islander, and a personal hut), tent campers and igloo campers, Redd never sold counterfeit paintings, Able Sisters had much longer opening hours, and there was a slot machine furniture piece.

It also has a bunch of problems (like sea basses being so annoying, rude villagers, and Resetti), but there are a few that Nintendo fixed in the next game that we’re definitely glad to not see again:

• You could only store three items per bureau, and they can only be small items. It made sense for the time, but for the most prolific designers, this isn’t good.
• Every time you bought a particular merchandise in Tom Nook’s Store, you are forced to have raffle tickets.
• Animals used to be a lot meaner or ruder. They sometimes force you to give up your items, they repaint your roof without permission, and they sometimes ask for all of your money. I also don’t like how them moving is unpredictable.
• Doing chores for animals. Some have lent items to animals that lent them to others. I also don’t like writing letters as a chore or growing a garden as a chore.
• You had to mail fossils in order for them to be identified.

Wild World:

The next Animal Crossing game wasn’t a true sequel to the GameCube Version like New Leaf was, but it has changed a lot as we got to see new stuff. But at the same time, many items, villagers, and features were removed due to data limitations. Even so, Wild World has these 10 advantages that beat both the GameCube Version and City Folk:

• You could play on the go. It was on a handheld device I can play in hotels and in cars.
• You had a larger house.
• Redd was in your town every week (except week-long events).
• You can move to other towns. You can even jump in between towns, and it doesn’t reset your catalog.
• You had the Acorn Festival, which was the best holiday in Animal Crossing ever.
• You can have two to four active players in one town without using the Wi-Fi.
• There were red turnips and a trading process to get the golden axe.
• Animals decorated their houses with lights in February.
• You had the golden slingshot and golden watering can, but no silver tools.
• You can get villager pictures.

If I had to even exclude City Folk, I would also added hats, hairstyles, Museum was better, you can save your game anywhere, and contests where you can earn fish and bug trophies.

And here are the downfalls that made Wild World a bad game:

• If you listened to animals about nicknames, they would force the nickname on you and other animals can call you that without your permission.
• The insurance system. Not only Lyle was annoying, but the insurance thing is a scam.
• Many holidays were missing, as some of the holidays that were in Wild World sucked.
• Everything was on one level of elevation, as you had no ramps to go up.
• All human characters had to share a house.

City Folk:

Before New Leaf came out, City Folk was the biggest Animal Crossing game. It is greatly inferior when compared to New Leaf, but it was king of the previous Animal Crossing games. I give it two thumbs up for solving some of the problems Wild World had while having the advantages Wild World had over the GameCube Version. Here’s where City Folk beats the others:

• Nookington’s didn’t have the remodeling restriction where a shopper from another town must buy from your town’s shop.
• You can choose your Nook’s store upgrade.
• The Shampoodle was available from the very beginning.
• Everyone had their own homes, and they can live anywhere.
• The Museum had the best exhibit design.
• You had town funding, where you can build new landmarks.
• There was GracieGrace and its themes.
• The HRA was optional.
• You had shopping cards, which is easier on your pockets.
• You had holidays, and they were improved compared to the GameCube Version’s holidays.

City Folk was also the first game to have Pro Designs, the ability to design any pattern anywhere, quick tool swap, roaches exclusively as pests, and the ABD. While it’s retro compared to New Leaf and New Horizons, it’s modern compared to the GameCube Version and Wild World.

Of course, City Folk had a few problems that made it a bad Animal Crossing game. Some were significant problems. Although I quit because I messed up with DS Suitcase, here’s what City Folk had wrong:

• Grass Deterioration was really bad in this game.
• You had one town per console.
• Villagers had very limited dialogue.
• Motion Controls were the dominant controls.
• Getting the golden axe was more complicated.

Conclusion:

In my opinion, Wild World is the best of the older Animal Crossing games. Not only I felt more nostalgic to Wild World than other games, but it’s because I like playing on the go rather than at a single location. That’s one reason why I’m primarily a mobile user on this site. That’s one reason why I think New Leaf was the best Animal Crossing game. And I like more features with less complicated controls, and Wild World fits the bill in both places. It may suck to not have balloons or cool holidays, but I can enjoy Wild World without these.