How did you get into animal crossing?

[Spooky.]

I was looking for ways to help ease my anxiety, depression, and loneliness. I don't remember exactly what I searched for online that lead me to the game, but I read many reviews on how new leaf had helped so many people with mental health that it almost seemed natural to order it and try it for myself.

A year later and I owned 3 copies and played every day. I still use it for the same reason, though I feel like the villager interactions now are so less than new leaf that it feels more lonely again.


Edit: tfw you read through the thread and you're the only one with a depressing sob story fml

 

[usa-chan]

when i was younger, me and my siblings had to share one ds. my older sister got animal crossing - wild world - , and i started to play it. i fell in love with the cute villagers and simple dynamic of the game! since then, i bought other animal crossing games, except happy home designer, since i wasn't that into the designing aspect.

 

[aibo]

I saw an advertisement in New Leaf in National Geographic Kids magazine and knew it was the game for me.

 

[Fridaynightcatlady]

Sheer luck. I was out with my dad shopping and he'd always let me get a game if we got the chance (I was 9 at the moment). Back then I knew **** about most video games and just played whatever caught my interest, so I got AC mostly because I wondered how the game would play out (plus, it looked like a sim and I love simulators). I absolutely loved it. Of course, the addiction ran its course and I got Wild World a few years later when it came out and then City Folk. I actually joined this site back with City Folk and I had the most fun, specially with the mic feature on the Wii. I was very eager to play NL and I adored it. However, I probably didn't play as much as I wanted to (nor as much as, say, WW). NH has me hooked and lots of my friends are playing so it's super nice.

 

[sleepydreepy]

I was on Tumblr a lot in middle school/high school and saw a bunch of people's posts about New Leaf and thought it looked really fun, so I bought it a year later in May for my birthday and was hooked ever since. a few months later I joined this site and the rest is history

 

[Chachamaru]

Oh man yeah it was the gamecube game. I’m 21, but I dont even KNOW how old I was when I found it. Very very young, I know that.. it had to be 2004 or 2005, I spotted it on a gamestop stand and told my mom I wanted it. (Me and my sister always liked videogames, but she was more the one who played and I watched.)

This one had Something about it that drew ME in though. I knew i wanted to play it myself. Christmas was soon, and she told me to put it on my xmas list lol.

I got it, and I stayed up all night and all day for all of xmas break playing it. I forced her to play it with me and make her own character, my sister also made one, when I had friends come over id show them it, really I was just hooked. It became my most favorite thing and as a child with extremely severe ocd, anxiety, some anger issues, and a very sensitive personality, it became an escape too.

Since then I have never missed a title and I never will. If you added up all the hours I have spent on animal crossing, it might beat a few records, and im happy to say that.. all games and a k.k. Tattoo later, its well known to everyone im a dedicated fan. This game is something special.

 

[John Wick]

I was looking for ways to help ease my anxiety, depression, and loneliness. I don't remember exactly what I searched for online that lead me to the game, but I read many reviews on how new leaf had helped so many people with mental health that it almost seemed natural to order it and try it for myself.

A year later and I owned 3 copies and played every day. I still use it for the same reason, though I feel like the villager interactions now are so less than new leaf that it feels more lonely again.


Edit: tfw you read through the thread and you're the only one with a depressing sob story fml

Rest assured, many people with anxiety/depression have turned to AC therapeutically, myself included.

 

[cornimer]

I used to have sleepovers with my cousin at my grandma's house every summer, and one time she was playing Animal Crossing: Wild World while we were up at night. I watched her and was fascinated at how villagers would send letters and move out (where do they go?? my eleven year old self wondered). So I asked for the game for Christmas that year, and the rest was history. I played Wild World every day for about five years (overlapping with the release of New Leaf - there were two years when I would play both games every day). I fell away from the series a bit once I started university in 2016, but now that I'm finishing my last year of university (in quarantine, on top of that), New Horizons couldn't have come at a better time!

 

[superheroantics]

Started with GC back in elementary school, think I picked it up around 2005. I remember seeing the commercials for either GC or WW back in the day and thought the game looked fun. Fun enough to still be playing 15 years later, I guess.

 

[Stevey Queen]

My sister had wild world and I played it once and I was like eh this is boring and ugly and then I picked it up again a few days laters and got insulted by a villager and instantly fell in love.

Ended up buying GameCube and City Folk but mostly stuck with Wild World because it was a handheld and my first love.

Then I ended up joining this forum and eagerly waited for new leaf for like a year.

 

[mystery]

A friend brought a copy of the GameCube version over after seeing it I was so enthralled I asked my mom to get a copy she came back with a newly released wild world.

 

[Khaelis]

I don't really feel comfortable getting into detail with how I got into the series, but I will say it was the same year AC GCN released, either same month or a month or two after.

(Please don't press me to explain in further detail)

 

[Imbri]

I tripped across ACGC and fell in love. I didn't much care for WW or CF, but got back into it with NL. Now, here we are in NH, and it has a lot of the old GC vibes that I loved, with graphics that are kicked up. I'm having a lot of fun with it again.

 

[Strawberryllama]

When I was ten I found New Leaf in Target and I bought it on impulse. My brother and I got hooked and the next day we had to return to Target for his copy.

 

[MarzipanDragyn]

I started with Wild World, but it was in 2010 or so, and it was because my dad had found a random lost cartridge while he was working and he brought it home. I tried it out, dropped it for a while, picked it up again, dropped it again... In 2017, things started going south for me and my family, and I found myself turning to it again to help keep myself calm/ sane... Come 2018, my brother gave me a copy of New Leaf, and I started it just as we were moving into our new house. I haven't put the series down since. I recieved a Switch that x-mas, and could barely contain myself this March.
I'm not planning on leaving this series any time soon, and I'm just fine with that =^-^=