Actually I was extremely interested in Animal Crossing just by seeing what Japan had on the 64, so I bought the Game cube version as soon as it was released in the states, and was instantly hooked on it.
I started playing Wild World in '05 and couldn't stop. Then City Folk came out, and I went crazy. I spent $63 bucks on the game (I wanted WiiSpeak) and then like $20 on the guide. :3 So Wild World got me started!