1st Place: Animal Crossing: New Leaf
I give the 1st place spot to New Leaf because it's just so chock full of content and potential. The base game had a ton of things to do and collect, and that got even more expansive with the release of the Welcome Amiibo update. It's quite fun to be able to play with friends online and that functionality is also great in that you can adopt villagers from other players, purchase furniture from them, and visit Dream Towns from around the world. The ability to not only customize your town with Public Works Projects and your own custom-made designs, but also to share designs with the world through the use of QR Codes is awesome. It's just an all-around great game, one I've put many hours into and hope to continue to do so, and if the next installment can keep all of these positive aspects while improving upon that groundwork, we should be in for a real treat.
2nd Place: Animal Crossing: Population: Growing! (GameCube game)
I have fond memories of playing this game back in my younger days and even now, when I return to it once in a blue moon, it's still just as enjoyable. I never played Wild World, so I can't say how much was similar between the two, but this game had a unique feel and character all its own. I miss the ruder dialogue from Cranky and Snooty villagers that was present in this game. I miss the little things like morning aerobics and going inside and turning on the lighthouse. I miss working at Nook's shop when you first come to town. And of course, I also miss the few villagers who did not make the journey with the rest of the cast and didn't even get included in the Welcome Amiibo update. Oh, and it's pretty nice to be able to play some old school games on the NES consoles in this game. Overall, just a great game.
3rd Place: Animal Crossing: Wild World
I've never played this game, but it seems to be well enough regarded. Why is it given this rank? You'll see in just a moment.
4th Place: Animal Crossing: City Folk
What a disappointment this game was. I could never get into it. The navigation was wonky and you had to use a Wiimote & Nunchuk with no option for the GameCube controller, the dialogue was limited compared to the GameCube game, and grass deterioration. Goodness gracious. I also feel like it was a bit more difficult to earn bells, but since I disliked the game as much as I did, that perception might just be because I ultimately played so little of the game. The city itself was the only good part about it.
As far as the others are concerned:
Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer
Never played it. There were some aspects that interested me upon learning more about the game, but not enough for me to actually want to purchase it.
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
I've never played it and have no interest in playing it, but I like some of the new clothes and items I've seen pictures of. Seems that many people I know enjoy it, so that's cool.
Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival
I would have liked this game if they didn't have the ridiculous idea of tying characters to amiibo figures you actually had to buy separately. That made it go from "Looks neat, I might get it sometime" to "Nope." The gameplay was not good or interesting enough to waste that kind of money on top of what you're already spending on the main game. A really awful concept overall that spoiled what could have been a fun enough party game experience. If we were ranking all AC games, this would be in last place just for scummy business practices.
