life when you began playing animal crossing compared to now

eviemath

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With new horizons coming out I?ve been thinking a lot about how I?ve grown up with animal crossing.

When city folk came out I was 5 and only in my first year of primary school, then when new leaf came out I was in my final year of primary school about to face high school. Now with new horizons coming out I would?ve been in my final year of high school, however I left to start college instead.

As silly as it sounds, it?s quite cool how at different times of major changes in my life there has always been an animal crossing game not far behind them, almost like another home you can retreat to to escape the big bad world. It?s nice to know there?s a place where you can go where your main worry is completing that bug collection or watering wilted flowers rather than thinking about the scary future:)

Has anyone else had a similar experience with animal crossing weirdly connecting to real life?
 
Well, compared to when I first began playing Animal Crossing games- when I was around ten or twelve- everything was pretty hunky-dory in my life. City Folk was simply a happy part of my childhood that has a special place in my memories.

As for New Leaf, I only got it early last year. That was before a lot of negative things started happening to my family and I. Looking back, I totally understand what you mean. I'm glad I had New Leaf as a distraction from all the garbage. Seeing the changes in myself as the year went on- all well having Animal Crossing when I had to fall back for a while- was a wonderful thing.

Watering flowers, planning the town layout, or caring for moochy villagers before going back to taking on the big bad world was actually kinda healthy.

Besides faith, I'm glad I had Animal Crossing, lol.
 
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I started playing in 2005.

It's just always been there.
I'll still be playing (if I live that long) it in my 70's. :)
 
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Animal Crossing definitely has been my main interest for a long time!
Basically the whole time I was in school I have played it almost everyday.
 
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To be honest I was playing it on the Gamecube before I could even read haha. It was my brother's system and game, but he let me play it sometimes. I have a very vivid memory of being little and getting SO frustrated because of all the dialogue at the beginning of the game with KK slider playing his guitar on that little stool. I had to have my dad read through it and start the game up for me lol. I still enjoyed it and it actually did help me learn how to read!

I've played every game since then and I've never looked back. It's my favorite game series and I don't think that could change even if I wanted it to.
 
The first AC game I played was WW and I was in high school at the time. I had a lot of phases for my interests back then, especially with games and hobbies. ACWW was one of those phases and after I got out of it I thought I wouldn?t get back into it (I moved onto MMORPGS after hah). I played ACWW with one friend in high school who was also my partner in crime I roped into my other interests. I remember even skipping school with her a few times to go to a cafe and play ACWW all day, yes we were wild :?D After we graduated we lost in touch and I found out she wasn?t very interested in ACNL although I was freaking out over it and all our ACWW memories, so that was sad. Even though I didn?t have someone IRL to play ACNL with, I ended up sticking with it even to this day with such a great online community. I?m also an illustrator for a living, and although my work has nothing to do with games or the fandom, I found myself drawing AC characters and subject matter to test out new styles, brushes, or to loosen my hand. I don?t even remember my life without AC on the back of my mind haha. I can?t wait to play AC for many more years to come :?)
 
I got Wild World in middle school, and City Folk in high school (although I didn't play CF that long).

The New Leaf was when I was in college - the same year I started dating my current boyfriend. I used to hang out with him and his best friend in the basement while they played FPS games, and I'd play NL. It was nice times and happy memories. I couldn't get my boyfriend into AC because I only had one 3DS.

But now with New Horizons, he said he would play the co-op with me. Occasionally. Haha. Its not his type of game.
 
I was in Year 10 when I first played Wild World, now in my mid-twenties. Time flies too fast.
 
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Well, when I first started playing, I was finishing up my 4th year of Elementary school, and didn't have that many friends (I wasn't too upset about it.) and was somewhat extroverted (A reason I think I didn't have too many friends was because I was the only girl in my class who loved playing video games, almost nobody had played any VGs) I also started fully diving into art at this time.
Now i'm fully introverted and have a good handful of friends (and have anxiety and some phobias that I won't get in to). My art has also improved a ton over these 6 years, and have even started digital artwork back in late 2018.
 
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I can't remember exactly how old I was when I first started playing Animal Crossing: Wild World, but I do know it was somewhere around 2005 or 2006, so I think I was about nine or ten when I did. My one and only best friend I had back then introduced me to the series. We even played a little bit together and even one time fought each other because something happened with our games and we were arguing about who's game was who's. When I left eighth grade and started doing high school online, I never saw my best friend again. I played a little bit of City Folk in those last years, but really didn't get back into Animal Crossing till New Leaf came out.

Now I'm twenty-four years old and really excited to try again to find my love for Animal Crossing with New Horizons once it comes out in a little while. Can't wait for March, because I'm hoping I can play it together with a few people here on TBT and make some awesome friends. :D
 
i was about 5 or 6 when i got my first ac game, which was wild world; i was just a child then and was so oblivious to the world around me and how stressful life could be - things were a lot easier back then in certain ways and a lot harder in others.

my next ac game was new leaf and i was 10 then and a few weeks away from graduating 5th grade; things were a lot harder back then as this was around the time my mental health began to deteriorate as i began to show signs of depression & anxiety but i formed a lot of good memories while playing new leaf.

and now, i’m 17 and will be 18 once i start playing new horizons; a lot of things have obviously changed in my life since my love for ac started but my love for the series has never changed :)
 
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Well, I was a young adult when Animal Crossing first came out for the GameCube. I had recently moved out of my parents' house into my own apartment. So, I guess the whole theme of AC with your character moving away from home for the first time was actually applicable to me at the time. Although I never really thought about it or made the connection until just now.

Now, as New Horizons is about to come out, I'm a much older adult. For the most part, my life is pretty repetitive (I like it that way), but I've been on a downward slope mentally for the past few years. However, this year I've had some positive changes at work and I've been trying to make some changes in my personal life as well. So, hopefully New Horizons are on the way for me and I can pull myself out of this slump.

It's kind of funny how you can make things align like that if you really try. I've always heard that humans naturally seek out patterns, and I guess it's true.
 
This thread made me reflect a lot. I started playing WW when it came out -- I wasn't even in HS yet. CF I played in HS, and NL when I started uni. Now that NH has come out... it really does feel like so much has changed. None of the people in my life from when I started the earlier games (except my family obs) are still around, but I'm in a much better space with far better people. I'm also just happier and healthier, which is really meaningful to me. AC games always seem to appear when my life is really really hard, and I know the next few months will be challenging, but for once in my life I feel ready to face it. And if that isn't looking towards a New Horizon, I don't know what is!
 
i started playing ww around the time when it came out - my mom had gotten it for me for christmas along with the pink DS that i had for years; i was really little then but wild world was my favourite game for the longest time. life was so much simpler than and i still had my childhood innocence and i wasn’t bothered by much.

cue to when new leaf came out, i was ten and was about a week or two away from finishing 5th grade; this was when my mental health began to plummet and i was really having issues with school and family.

and now, i’m almost 18 years old and while my mental health never fully recovered and i still have issues with school, things are a bit better now than they were when nl came out lol
 
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