Friends of Mineral Town has always been my favourite. Bought the remake for the Switch too. I think I might even like it more than ACNH.
How did you get into Animal Crossing?
- Thread starter The Loyal Rat
- Start date
My sister and I had a GameCube when we were a lot younger, and decided to pick up Animal Crossing for it. I helped her finish her house upgrades in the game, and I’ve played every iteration of the series since.
Animal crossing new leaf was my first ever AC game, and I got into that because I had just been introduced to nintendo 3DS at the time (back around winter of 2013), and after finished walkthrough of fire emblem awakening was looking for the next game to play so I went and looked up popular games on the 3DS console. ACNL caught my attention because it was marketed as a life simulation game and there's almost no negative reviews. People raved and raved about it. And there I was, thinking, isn't this just a childish version of the sims? What's all the hype? So I got curious and went to look it up on youtube. Then I came across Chuggaconroy's let's play series.... and I was hooked ever since before even got my hands on the game. I immediately purchased a copy off from friends after that. It was right around winter break for school and I remember that's all I did that break was playing animal crossing and trading with people on this forum for items (as NL had a lot of region locked furnitures and villagers are harder to hunt)... and the rest is history. 8 years later, I'm once again hooked to the sister installment of NH, with no regrets - This game has brought so much joy to my life, and I'm forever grateful about it.
LuluLove102
Senior Member
I had my first DS after a constant fight with my mom because she wasn’t really keen on giving it to me. So when she made up her mind she put the condition of choosing the games for me. She wanted kids friendly and not too distracting games, also, games with no goals. So, really, she was the one getting me into the game. Christmas morning, I was ten, a pink DS, Nintendogs(which was the most popular one at that point, at least in Italy) and animal crossing Wild world. That’s when a long love story between me and this charming game was born and honestly AC is the only game I like to play to this days(I’m 23) so...thanks mom 
My parents bought Wild World for me after getting my DSi. Later my sister got a 3DSXL and our parents bought us NL. I don't know how many hours we spent on these games, we were both very focused on upgrading our houses and buying clothes but we would keep time travelling and resetting every two weeks...
I guess that's why I don't have a ton of nostalgia for the old games, I really only cared about a very small portion of the gameplay. Now in NH I actually go and talk to my villagers, I grow hybrids and trade stuff with people online. I probably spent more time playing NH this year than I played WW and NL since I got them.
I guess that's why I don't have a ton of nostalgia for the old games, I really only cared about a very small portion of the gameplay. Now in NH I actually go and talk to my villagers, I grow hybrids and trade stuff with people online. I probably spent more time playing NH this year than I played WW and NL since I got them.
Junebugsy94
🌧 April showers, bring May flowers 🌷
My boyfriend bought a nintendo switch and started playing animal crossing last year. He played it as a kid and was familiar with the game. I had never played it before so he made me an account on his game and I enjoyed it so much I bought my own game and system. For some reason I never played it when I was young even though I had a nintendo DS.
I got a new game on DS back in 2006 or 2007 and often included along with the instruction booklet were little ads for other games. I saw this and thought it looked like the coolest thing so I asked my Mom to get it for me for my next birthday or following Christmas. The rest is history.
Honestly, this thread is such a lovely and wonderful idea since I'm the same in wanting to know about how people got into the game too! City Folk looks like such a fun game although I never had the means to ever play it. It's cool that you're able to make own your character after playing as your sister's characters and doing all the tasks for her! Ahhh yeah life simulation games can be pretty fun too so it makes sense as to how you got into the series! Thank you for making this thread and sharing your experience as well!
As for me and my start with Animal Crossing, I was always curious about the original game when it was first released on the Gamecube back in 2002 but at the time seeing as my parents wouldn't buy me a gaming system and having not grown up with playing video games, I actually didn't get fully into it until 2014. All I remember was seeing how cute the villagers were and you got to live with animals in the same time. There were commercials for the game if I recall watching on TV and was pretty odd for me since I didn't understand it back when. I also would see advertisements in magazines, Youtube videos, and whenever I went to the video game store, the boxes for the games on display especially the first game and City Folk. There were times I saw gameplay screenshots for the older games and that made me excited because having never played the actual game, I actually liked the concept of the game. I envied people who could afford game systems and were able to actually play it at the time. Both the curiosity and want for the series grew over time and I vowed that I would eventually play it one day. Or at least one game if not all.
This was somewhat fulfilled when I was able to purchase my first physical copy of Animal Crossing as it was part of this special deal that Nintendo had and I remembered getting the copy of it at Walmart. I admit that I also wanted to get it because the digital version of Pokemon X at the time was part of the offer too. It was lucky that I had money to buy my first handheld system at the time: Nintendo 2DS. So that was great deal for me as a new player. Playing the game, I got to enjoy not only meeting special NPCs like Isabelle who helped you fulfill your goals as a mayor and building your town but also relax and doing things like fishing, bug catching, digging up fossils, gyroids, and other things, interacting with other villagers, and so forth. The shopping plaza always had me excited because of how it felt like a mini downtown and while the game is about relaxation, not going to lie, one of my biggest goals was to expand the Main Street seeing as I visited other people's town and admired them for not only making their town so pretty but having the shopping plaza/district feel as if it were completed. I learned many things from this game including time traveling, selling items and villagers, and how to move out villagers you didn't want. One of the earliest thing I recall is that I ended up being really into fishing since I enjoyed being able to catch fishes more than I did with Bugs. (Guess this where Blathers and I related haha). Another thing I enjoyed doing was actually going to talk to Sable and getting to not just know her but seeing her open up so that you could. I actually loved when she chatted with me about the weather to her favorite soap opera and whatnot. Quite frankly, while it did help enable the use of QR Codes in the game, the interaction with Sable made it actually more enjoyable and intriguing. Thinking back, I was able to come into the game where I was introduced to not only the NPC (classic?) characters like Tom Nook, The Nooklings, and The Able Sisters but also newer characters like Isabelle, Reese and Cyrus, and Kicks. There were many things I also enjoyed about this game including but not limited to: visiting other players (made a friend on here who gave me some Sanrio items while another helped me with a villager), Club KK, sending mail, gifting villagers, going to their houses for their birthdays, the villagers inviting me to their house or they coming to mind, trying to pass Gracie's fashion checks for her to open her store in your town, enjoying the holiday events, and definitely the music. The game also gave me a sense of not only a sense of relaxation and rest from the real world but just had the positive vibes that wasn't forced (if that makes sense) and definitely grew on me as I kept playing more of it. The music also was one of my personal favorites as I became used to it and now listen to it outside of the game for leisure activities and or to help me write.
New Leaf also helped me become not only hyped and excited for New Horizons as the years went on but the series in other ways as well--I made friends with a few people on here or elsewhere who loved the game, would try and watch more people play the games, listen to a podcast about the game, admiring people's islands through Dream Addresses, read blog entries about it on various of sites, look into buying AC merchandise, would read theories and or speculation for future games be it on here or other sites, played Pocket Camp for a while too, and or just listen to the music on Youtube and so forth and getting to play Happy Home Designer and Wild World somewhat at one point! Also, this is lengthier than expected but New Leaf is the game that really helped me not only experience my first Animal Crossing game but come to love the series even more in a sense. <3
As for me and my start with Animal Crossing, I was always curious about the original game when it was first released on the Gamecube back in 2002 but at the time seeing as my parents wouldn't buy me a gaming system and having not grown up with playing video games, I actually didn't get fully into it until 2014. All I remember was seeing how cute the villagers were and you got to live with animals in the same time. There were commercials for the game if I recall watching on TV and was pretty odd for me since I didn't understand it back when. I also would see advertisements in magazines, Youtube videos, and whenever I went to the video game store, the boxes for the games on display especially the first game and City Folk. There were times I saw gameplay screenshots for the older games and that made me excited because having never played the actual game, I actually liked the concept of the game. I envied people who could afford game systems and were able to actually play it at the time. Both the curiosity and want for the series grew over time and I vowed that I would eventually play it one day. Or at least one game if not all.
This was somewhat fulfilled when I was able to purchase my first physical copy of Animal Crossing as it was part of this special deal that Nintendo had and I remembered getting the copy of it at Walmart. I admit that I also wanted to get it because the digital version of Pokemon X at the time was part of the offer too. It was lucky that I had money to buy my first handheld system at the time: Nintendo 2DS. So that was great deal for me as a new player. Playing the game, I got to enjoy not only meeting special NPCs like Isabelle who helped you fulfill your goals as a mayor and building your town but also relax and doing things like fishing, bug catching, digging up fossils, gyroids, and other things, interacting with other villagers, and so forth. The shopping plaza always had me excited because of how it felt like a mini downtown and while the game is about relaxation, not going to lie, one of my biggest goals was to expand the Main Street seeing as I visited other people's town and admired them for not only making their town so pretty but having the shopping plaza/district feel as if it were completed. I learned many things from this game including time traveling, selling items and villagers, and how to move out villagers you didn't want. One of the earliest thing I recall is that I ended up being really into fishing since I enjoyed being able to catch fishes more than I did with Bugs. (Guess this where Blathers and I related haha). Another thing I enjoyed doing was actually going to talk to Sable and getting to not just know her but seeing her open up so that you could. I actually loved when she chatted with me about the weather to her favorite soap opera and whatnot. Quite frankly, while it did help enable the use of QR Codes in the game, the interaction with Sable made it actually more enjoyable and intriguing. Thinking back, I was able to come into the game where I was introduced to not only the NPC (classic?) characters like Tom Nook, The Nooklings, and The Able Sisters but also newer characters like Isabelle, Reese and Cyrus, and Kicks. There were many things I also enjoyed about this game including but not limited to: visiting other players (made a friend on here who gave me some Sanrio items while another helped me with a villager), Club KK, sending mail, gifting villagers, going to their houses for their birthdays, the villagers inviting me to their house or they coming to mind, trying to pass Gracie's fashion checks for her to open her store in your town, enjoying the holiday events, and definitely the music. The game also gave me a sense of not only a sense of relaxation and rest from the real world but just had the positive vibes that wasn't forced (if that makes sense) and definitely grew on me as I kept playing more of it. The music also was one of my personal favorites as I became used to it and now listen to it outside of the game for leisure activities and or to help me write.
New Leaf also helped me become not only hyped and excited for New Horizons as the years went on but the series in other ways as well--I made friends with a few people on here or elsewhere who loved the game, would try and watch more people play the games, listen to a podcast about the game, admiring people's islands through Dream Addresses, read blog entries about it on various of sites, look into buying AC merchandise, would read theories and or speculation for future games be it on here or other sites, played Pocket Camp for a while too, and or just listen to the music on Youtube and so forth and getting to play Happy Home Designer and Wild World somewhat at one point! Also, this is lengthier than expected but New Leaf is the game that really helped me not only experience my first Animal Crossing game but come to love the series even more in a sense. <3
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JellyBeans
only half awake
my cousin I think? she's about 10 years older than me and I totally looked up to her, and whenever we went over at christmas I'd ask to go play animal crossing with her on the wii. from there I guess I got my own wii + copy of city folk, and then I think later went back to play wild world? NL was the first game I was properly invested in, because at that point I was old enough to do more than just run around talking to people, and also I hung out with my friend a TON and we'd play together.
I think that's the way it went anyway, I don't fully remember haha but I do know my cousin was for sure a key turning point in me getting into animal crossing. she actually also got me into harvest moon!
I think that's the way it went anyway, I don't fully remember haha but I do know my cousin was for sure a key turning point in me getting into animal crossing. she actually also got me into harvest moon!
OtakuTrash
mushroom lady
This is going to sound really, really dumb.
I watched a let's player play it. It was interesting, and an escape from reality sounded really, really, great. Plus, having friends that DIDN'T scream at you for liking stuff seemed cool, even if they were animals...
I watched a let's player play it. It was interesting, and an escape from reality sounded really, really, great. Plus, having friends that DIDN'T scream at you for liking stuff seemed cool, even if they were animals...
HoennMaster
Senior Member
My cousins had a GameCube before I did and they had the original Animal Crossing. I always wanted to play when I went over there and of course that was sort of a waste of time when we were supposed to be doing other things, so I begged my mom to get me my own copy when I got a GameCube for my birthday that year.
My cousins and I had a "moving away ceremony" where I used my character on their game to bring my stuff over to my own town
Wild World is the only AC game I have never owned. My brother had it and I checked it out a few times, but those years were the peak of my Pokémon craze so I was always playing Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver/Platinum, or the spin-off games instead. I have City Folk, but it felt very boring to me, so didn't play long. Got back into the series with New Leaf.
My cousins and I had a "moving away ceremony" where I used my character on their game to bring my stuff over to my own town
Wild World is the only AC game I have never owned. My brother had it and I checked it out a few times, but those years were the peak of my Pokémon craze so I was always playing Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver/Platinum, or the spin-off games instead. I have City Folk, but it felt very boring to me, so didn't play long. Got back into the series with New Leaf.
LuluLove102
Senior Member
What always makes me laugh is thinking about the fact that I understood that time traveling was a thing after ONE whole year into new leaf and back there I was something like 14/15 I’m pretty sure. Before that, I didn’t know it was a thing
so I can say that I’ve never time travelled playing Wild world because I didn’t even know it was possible 
A family member mentioned it being one of their favorite games. The idea of the game seemed boring to me but I was curious about it since they always had similar tastes to me. Luckily, I found a secondhand copy of Wild World for 5 euro. I was hooked instantly, lol.
angelcat621
Island Rep of Pookydise 😺
I'm pretty new to the franchise. I've heard of Animal Crossing in passing for years but didn't really know what it was. To be honest I thought it was like Zoo Tycoon or something, lol. On the other hand, I've been playing Pokemon for over 20 years. What got me pulled into Animal Crossing was a YouTuber who usually does lots of fun and silly Pokemon playthroughs, especially fangames. One day he uploaded an Animal Crossing New Horizons video and I was intrigued by the cute thumbnail so I watched it. Talk about love at first sight! I loved the cute animal characters and gameplay so much that around Mother's day, I bought and downloaded the game, determined to make a cat-themed island. I think I've succeeded. 
Lord Citron
spore enthusiast
For chirstmas in 2008 I received a gamecube and 'animal crossing: population growing' from my divorced parents, who both chipped in so I could have it. I played my gamecube copy for a long time, even when we got a wii. ended up never playing city folk, but had wild world on my ds. later on I played new leaf and here I am playing new horizons as well!!
animal crossing has been such a comforting constant in my life, my first tattoo ended up being the leaf icon because I was pretty sure I would never regret it, and I still don't hehe
animal crossing has been such a comforting constant in my life, my first tattoo ended up being the leaf icon because I was pretty sure I would never regret it, and I still don't hehe
sarosephie
Senior Member
I actually saw a bunch of people playing wild world after school. And I asked my mom I thought she could get it and she got it for me. And I guess I kind of fell in love with the game series. I downloaded New leaf cuz I was bored lol.
RollingAntony
Senior Member
I knew of Animal Crossing but I never got around to buying a game from the franchise. When New Leaf was out, I started seeing more of it through Tumblr and other sites, and while I liked the animals, I wasn't sure about the whole gameplay. I saw the game on sale and decided to read some things about it, and I kind of didn't like some of the "QoL" aspects- like how neighbors would move out, the grass and flowers would deteriorate/wilt, etc. so I just skipped it. I still liked watching the game be successful, and the community looked nice.
However, the "first" contact had already been initiated and when New Horizons was announced, I looked forward to watching the trailers (and the Direct) to see if the animals caught me (and if some "QoL" things were there). Turns out I was indeed very impressed by the game and my interest was high. The perfect storm happened when I had to start working from home so I decided to buy the game and was immediately charmed and hooked.
So I kind of liked the franchise from afar, even if I wasn't playing the games- I liked using the Villager on Smash Bros 4 and driving with Isabelle on Mario Kart 8; so I only needed a little push and that's how I got here.
However, the "first" contact had already been initiated and when New Horizons was announced, I looked forward to watching the trailers (and the Direct) to see if the animals caught me (and if some "QoL" things were there). Turns out I was indeed very impressed by the game and my interest was high. The perfect storm happened when I had to start working from home so I decided to buy the game and was immediately charmed and hooked.
So I kind of liked the franchise from afar, even if I wasn't playing the games- I liked using the Villager on Smash Bros 4 and driving with Isabelle on Mario Kart 8; so I only needed a little push and that's how I got here.
I started with Animal Crossing City Folk on the Wii I never heard of Animal Crossing previously though I did own a gamecube (and still do). I think I was mostly just attracted to the game artwork I don't think I knew a single thing about the game before trying it. It quickly became a favourite of course I remember playing in the evenings after school to do my dailies.
I never heard of Animal Crossing previously though I did own a gamecube (and still do). I think I was mostly just attracted to the game artwork I don't think I knew a single thing about the game before trying it. It quickly became a favourite of course I remember playing in the evenings after school to do my dailies.
CrankyCupcake
overthinks everything
I grew up without video games. Back then, we played simple games. Paper dolls, five stones, kuti kuti, rubber band skipping. Games that did not require a whole lot of money to play.
It wasn't until I grew up and worked and got married that I could afford--in terms of time as well as money--something like a PC. I knew about Animal Crossing from being online. It sounded so interesting to me. I can talk to animals!? They can be friends with me!? Wow. So, when Wild World released, I bought a Nintendo DS just to play it. I was in my 40s. Since then, I've played New Leaf and now New Horizons.
Better late than never, as they say. I'm mostly a PC gamer. Having a total blast every day playing different games.
It wasn't until I grew up and worked and got married that I could afford--in terms of time as well as money--something like a PC. I knew about Animal Crossing from being online. It sounded so interesting to me. I can talk to animals!? They can be friends with me!? Wow. So, when Wild World released, I bought a Nintendo DS just to play it. I was in my 40s. Since then, I've played New Leaf and now New Horizons.
Better late than never, as they say. I'm mostly a PC gamer. Having a total blast every day playing different games.
