How did you get into animal crossing?

[Vintage Viola]

I asked this question a few years ago in the new leaf thread, but with a new game and new people on the forum I felt like it was appropriate to ask again

For me, I started with "GameCube Crossing" when I was in the fourth grade (2004). I had a friend ask me during class if I'd ever heard of the game or if I'd played it. I had never even heard of it before and I told her so, then she started raving about how awesome the game was and how I needed to play. She brought her copy to school the next day for me to borrow, and told me to play it as soon as I got home lol.

At first, I didn't really see what she was so hyped up about, because the game does start pretty slow with the working for Tom Nook, small empty house, etc. But the longer I played, the more I started to get into it. She let me keep it for about a week, until I bought my own copy. The best thing is I didn't lose any of my progress (praise old systems using memory cards) I've loved it ever since. I named my town on that one vg (basically video game, I didn't know what to name it nor did I know the name was permanent lol) and my character's name was Carmen.

What's your story?

 

[Xara]

i don’t remember which year it was but one year for christmas my mom got me the pink DS and a copy of wild world - that was my introduction to the series and was my holy grail until i got new leaf in 2013 aha

 

[ThomasNLD]

I don`t recall completely, but I`ve been a fan of harvest moon for a very long time, I think it started when I finished one of those games and wanted to find something similar to play. I found New Leaf and at first thought it was way to cutesy, but I tried it anyways and fell in love with it. The rest is as they say history.

 

[coney]

I used to watch a lot of "Let's Plays" on youtube when I was like 10-11 . One of my favorite lets players at the time was playing animal crossing city folk and it just looked so fun and quirky, so of course I asked to buy City Folk and I fell in love with the series from there. I think that around was 2011?

 

[Zodiac Crossing]

i saw new leaf all over tumblr and decided to get my own copy! i was super bored of it and then forgot about it for a year and then came back to and got suppppper invested in it once i got my friends to play and i discovered pwp, the mainstreet shops, etc.

 

[Mayor-of-Bliss]

I had been gifted a semi broken game cube from my cousins in 4th grade. They gave us some games. I dont remember if animal crossing was with it I think I bought it maybe when I bought 4swords or windwaker? I remember the zelda games being a bit hard I was like 9 years old and I was stuck in windwaker at the forsaken fortress so I decided to take a break and try animal crossing.
My brother and I would play and a friend of mine and her sister had a copy as well so it was just super fun to talk about.

 

[Nefarious]

All I remember was that I was 6 and around Christmas time I was told I was getting a Gamecube, so my parents took me to Toys R Us (rip) and told me to choose two games to get for it. I immediately chose Pokemon Colosseum, Pokemon was my gateway to getting the system in the first place, so not knowing what other games to get I chose by the boxart. I remember seeing Animal Crossing and thinking it was really cute. I loved animals. A game with animals in it? Yes please.

I was a really slow learner, I couldn't read well, so with Animal Crossing being so dialogue heavy I had to have my dad help me play it. After a month he told me to read it on my own, so with the help of repeated dialogue and cute animals I leaned how to actually read no thanks to books and the school system haha.

I've gotten every game since then, even now as an adult, I love it to pieces. It's great to see how much it grew along all these years.

 

[PajamaCat]

I'm really about to show my age here but I rented it from Blockbuster to play on the gamecube. I had no idea what it was but thought it looked cute. One week later and I was heartbroken when I had to return it. Luckily my parents caved and bought me my own copy.

 

[Paperboy012305]

It was wayy back in 2006 where my brother got Wild World for his birthday and made me jealous. Until a few days later he didn't wanna play it, so I took it and got hooked on it.

 

[EvilTheCat6600]

Waaaaay back in 2007, a friend of mine and I watched the press release for City Folk (because this was a different era E3 back then, you see). Fell in love with the easy going gameplay and charm of it all. Played around in my friend's Wild World town just to see what the game was like.

I didn't have a Wii back then but I had a DS Lite. Sooooo after saving up a little spending money, I picked up a pre-owned copy of Wild World at GameStop and never looked back. I didn't really get into City Folk even though I'd find myself getting a Wii in 2013, especially since grass deterioration killed my enjoyment of New Leaf, and it was worse in City Folk, but that wasn't enough to kill my love of the series, thankfully.

And that's pretty much the story. For a while I had the GameCube version but it felt pretty bare bones compared to games like New Leaf and now New Horizons so I ended up selling that one for store credit. Honestly, though I'm glad I discovered the series. It's definitely a fun franchise and, despite my concerns, complaints and nitpicks with New Horizons, I definitely will keep playing and enjoying it.

 

[intestines]

For me it started with New leaf. My brother asked my Mum to buy him Harvest moon for his birthday but she came home with Animal crossing new leaf. He let me and my siblings have a character in the game until we eventually got our own because we loved it so much. I'm very grateful that my Mum made that mistake because I don't think I would have ever played any of the animal crossing series.

 

[Bunnikkila]

A friend pestered me until I downloaded New Leaf!

I'd been reluctant because I found a lot of villagers creepy and wasn't sure about a game that would penalize me for not playing every day... but I thought Isabelle was cute and my friend had been trying to get me to play awhile, so I finally bit the bullet!

Also one of the 'creepy' Villagers, Coco, is my favorite now....

 

[0orchid]

I first played it on the gamecube in around 2001 or 2002 so I was either 4 or 5, I forget. I've played every version as it came out and it's the ultimate sense of nostalgia for me because I've basically grown up with it

It's also the only video game I play haha

 

[deerprongs]

I got into Animal Crossing back during my childhood when I first played it on the GameCube. If I remember correctly, the game had been a birthday gift, and I have fond memories of staying up far later than I should have (I had a bedtime back then) and just enjoying the heck out of that game. I've played every game (except Wild World and the Japanese releases) since then! I've been a huge fan; the series has such nostalgia for me and I love it to pieces.

 

[Pyoopi]

When Blockbuster was around, I rented the GameCube version and had my first encounter being stung by bees/wasps. Then laughed at by a cow.

After that I either got it for my birthday or Christmas.

 

[ForbiddenSecrets]

My friend wanted to try New Leaf and bullied me into joining her XD Now I'm more into it than she is.

 

[claracampanelli]

honestly, i'm not even sure.

the first animal crossing that i played was new leaf.

i had a dsi in 2008 but i didn't even know that animal crossing existed.
a few years later, when 3ds was announced, i really wanted one because i really loved and missed playing mario and zelda on my dsi.
so in 2012 i traveled to the united states (i'm from brazil) and thought that was a perfect opportunity to buy a 3DS, because it would be cheaper than buying in brazil.
so i think i just searched recommended games for the 3ds and ended up buying Animal Crossing New Leaf and Zelda: A link to the past.
i specifically remember that when i was at GameStop to buy it, the girl working as a cashier got really happy when she saw that I was buying New Leaf and said "I really love this game! It's so cute, you will really enjoy it!"
and when i started played, i was immediately in love and completely addicted.

 

[Bentore]

20th February 2020

I never used to like Animal Crossing. I didn't like the "lack of gameplay", the robotic voices and I was never a fan of handhelds anyway. The initial footage of New Horizons looked alright, but not enough to sell me. Friends told me it was great, but I couldn't see it.

Somehow the direct just completely won me over, and I became obsessed with planning my island. I've been absolutely loving it so far, though I got really lucky with my starting islanders.

 

[GalacticGhost]

My first Animal Crossing game was on the Gamecube. I don't remember much about it, in fact all I remember was having no idea what to name my town, so I asked my mum but she was like 'just name it mytown' lol. Then a few years later, a few weeks before Christmas in 2007 I found out that there was an Animal Crossing game for the DS. I remembered that one specific memory of playing the Gamecube one, and apparently that was enough for seven y/o me to decide that I wanted Wild World for Christmas that year. I ended up getting the game, and very quickly fell in love with Wild World and all the AC games that came out since then.

 

[Romaki]

I saw Wild World in a store when it first came out and then asked for it for Christmas.