I know this is not considered a holiday, and I am not sure if people consider it an event, but with my birthday coming up in almost three weeks (June 9th), I want to rave about birthdays, because I love celebrating them so much along with Valentine's Day. I know this is in the GC thread, but I am gonna treat it like it is in the general one, since it appears in all five mainline games.
* How I feel about how they are executed
* My predictions for who will give me a NES game, cake, or party depending on the game. The villagers I mention may move out during this 24-day time frame, but I will make a final predictions list on June 8th, the day before my birthday.
AC:GC - I have only experienced my birthday once in this version, since I was unable to play game cube games from October 2012 to August 2013. It was in 2012 (June 9th, of course). While I did get the NES game, cake, and some presents in the mail, I am still a bit disappointed about how birthdays are executed in this game. Why? Unlike its successors, friendships are not considered in this game. Back in 2012, Static was my favorite villager, which I had him in all three (as this was before NL and NH came out) Animal Crossing games. Of course, it was only natural that I made sure to befriend Static the most, since he was my favorite at the time. Unfortunately, he was not the one to give me an NES game, it was instead Poncho. Static didn't even send me a letter, yet, most of my villagers I barely paid attention to acknowledged my birthday. Now, I have heard that playing with villagers are asleep can affect who gives you a NES game/cake/party or even if you get it at all, but I am 99.999% sure it was after 10AM (when the cranky villagers wake up). I am glad this was then acknowledged in the succeeding games. Also, this is a much more mild bother, but I am not a big fan of your mom sending you a cake instead of the villagers. Again, much more mild of a bother, but I am still glad this was changed.
Due to the sheer randomness of how birthdays are handled in this version, I really cannot predict who will send me letters and who will deliver the NES game. I usually base my prediction on two things: The main thing being which villagers acknowledged other people's birthdays, and the side-factor being who I have the highest friendship with. But there is zero consistency and friendship consideration in terms of birthdays in this version. If I just HAD to guess who will give the NES game, I'd say
Hector. He was one of my starters, and Poncho (who delivered the NES game in 2012) was a Jock too. This is LITERALLY the only stuff I have to go off of in this version.
AC:WW - This game handles birthdays MUCH better. From my experience, this game actually considers friendships in terms of who gives you a birthday cake. I remember celebrating my birthday twice (excluding TTing times) in this game. In 2012, Static gave me a cake. In 2013, Kabuki gave me a cake, both of who were my favorite villagers at those corresponding times. That said, I still look at other possibilities. As stated, I like to take other factors into consideration. Unfortunately, I do not currently have anyone in WildWorld who gave another player a cake in that game (that I know of or recall). Chief WAS an example of this, but he moved. If I can use other versions as examples, I do currently have
Dora. I remember my dad saying she threw a party for him in New Leaf.
And you can get presents in the mail in this version, which is awesome. I hope I get presents in the mail from everyone. Whoever delivers my birthday cake (Dora maybe....?) is exempt. <3333
Your mom also sends a letter. I wish bells were attached. Call me greedy, but I have lovely and regal furniture to buy, and a mortgage to pay off! >_<
AC:CF - Ah, yes. Another game with a goofy-*** execution of birthdays. Why do I say this? Almost HALF of players don't get cake in this version. I've seen it all over the web. Some just don't.
EVEN IF THEY DO TALK TO THE VILLAGERS!!! The good news is that I have only experienced these fails, if I TT'd, and with alts. In 2012, Static delivered me a cake. In 2013, Ankha
(Kabuki was actually my #1 favorite villager, but I didn't have him at the time, though Ankha was #2 at the time). In 2015, Astrid delivered me a cake.
Bob seems to be a pretty popular villager in terms of who delivers a birthday cake. I've seen not one, but TWO examples, one on YT, and the other on another forum. Therefore, it will probably be him. Villagers can also send letters (except from the one who delivered the cake), which is cute and I hope I receive some. I do wish gifts were attached, though. <3333
I do wish this game wasn't so iffy in terms of whether or not you get a birthday cake. I tried making alt characters in this version in my current town, only to not get cakes even though IT WAS their birthdays. Makes me wonder if I will even get a cake this year in this version. ._. With that being said, I still much prefer how birthdays are handled in this game, compared to the mess that is in the GameCube version.
ALSO? 5,000 BELLS FROM MOM? YES PLEASE! <333
AC:NL - I actually recently restarted my town
(though I kept my other ones in the other versions from earlier this year). I got
Grizzly as one of my starters, and I scanned
Apollo in. It will probably be one of them, since @/LadyDestanti has stated that Grizzly has hosted her birthday party, and ZackScottGames had Apollo as the host for his during his LP on YT. I probably should not predict cranky villagers as the host, but I have seen examples of it time and time again for New Leaf. Birthdays are heartwarming in WW and CF, don't get me wrong, but I love how they are more in-depth in this version. <333
I played on my 17th birthday in 2015, and Astrid was the host, my favorite villager at the time. :333
In 2020, I barely started, but Drake was the host IIRC.
AC: NH - I do not have much experience with birthdays in this game. I DID play on my birthday in 2020, but I do not remember the host and guests. I also haven't watched a lot of videos of birthdays, so I really do not have much to go off of. Cheery? Teddy? I do not know.
I love how you can give cupcakes in exchange for birthday-themed furniture. That is cute and brilliant <333
But yeah, I think this post is long enough, I will do my final prediction list the day before my birthday, like I said, and I plan to do a review on my birthday on the day of it <3333
The other holiday and events are great and all, but as someone who values the friendship/villager aspect of these games the most, I would honestly take birthdays and Valentine's Day over even the major holidays/events any day.
