I’m kinda surprised at how successful Animal Crossing has become over the years. It seems like a relatively boring series… why are people drawn to it? Don’t fret, because I tell you why. In this video.

Transcript:

Animal Crossing is a series that really impressed on me at an early age. I remember just walking around my town, soaking in the atmosphere. Why was that? Why has this game been stuck in my mind for two decades? Join me as I visit some of my favorite locations and explore the game’s overall vibe.

Welcome to Video Game World Tours. And this… is Animal Crossing.

The player’s house when you first get into town is almost laughable. All you’re given is a journal, a box, and a radio. The wallpaper and carpet are almost industrial. And on top of all that, it’s extremely tiny. This is the furthest thing from a welcoming home.

But on the other hand, it’s yours. There’s all kinds of houses throughout the village that you can enter, but those are other people’s spaces. Kiki’s house was designed by her. This place is an extension of Kiki as a character.

And this little space is a seed. A seed that will eventually grow and bloom into something that is wholly you.

Buuut, as it is right now, it’s just this. Humble beginnings for your new life in… Bingus?

(Interlude)

Stepping outside, we breathe the fresh air of Bingus.

The setting really sells this game. It takes place in a forest with villagers’ houses dotted throughout. You’re surrounded by nature.

I’ve spent a lot of time tying to put into words WHY playing this game is so comfy. I play and this feeling of warmth envelops me. And I’m sure a lot of you out there feel the same.

But why is that?

Here’s my theory.

On the face of it, the environment doesn’t seem too interesting. There’s not a huge variety in the landscape, the weirdest thing you’ll come across is a tiny cliff or little pond. So the game doesn’t wow you with spectacle. It’s subdued.

I think that’s why it resonates with people. Animal Crossing is understated. Quaint.

You take once glance at the game and you get the vibe it’s going for. There’s no desert or city area you can visit. You’ll be spending the rest of your digital life in this forest-y village.

There’s something comforting about that. Your town is generated when you start up a new game, and once you arrive, it’s pretty much set in stone. You’ll become familiar with every rock and every tree over the course of weeks and months. Early on, you’ll need to double check the map to remember where certain villagers live, but pretty quickly, you remember them. You build a MENTAL map of the village.

That fosters familiarity. Familiarity begets comfort.

The artistic design plays into that comfort. Let’s look at the grass here.

Back in the day, and even still today to an extent, grass is a problem. It’s very taxing for a system to render individual blades of grass, so developers have to come up with some way to convey that an area is lush and verdant.

In this and future Animal Crossing games, they go with this bizarre mish-mash of triangles. Even as a kid, this always read to me as grass, but taking a step back from it, it seems like a weird choice. I don’t really associate triangles with grass, so I don’t know how they came up with this pattern, but it’s memorable.

In my mind, when I translate this abstract texture to grass, I imagine a perfectly level yard, freshly mowed. Seeing that is satisfying in real life, so it makes sense that’s satisfying in-game as well.

This isn’t some overgrown forest where nature has completely taken over. It’s like nature allows you and these villagers to live in comfort, free from snakes and poisonous plants. Nature in Animal Crossing is idealized.

(Interlude)

I have to talk about the real-time clock for a moment.

It’s such a simple thing, but a simulation game matching the time of the real world does a LOT for immersion. Especially in a game like this, where so many of its mechanics are pulled directly from real life. Shops close at night, villagers go to sleep, certain bugs come out. It’s a lot easier to place yourself into the world.

Just as I enjoy a nighttime walk in real life, I like a late night stroll through my Animal Crossing village. The day’s over and I get to rest my mind.

(Interlude)

The developers and localization team did such a great job at giving each villager a unique personality. Some, like Teddy, are extremely welcoming. Others, like Buzz, are a little more hostile. There’s such a wide-variety of characters that you never know what to expect when meeting one for the first time.

Let alone what to expect when entering their house.

Villager houses in Animal Crossing are all over the place. Some times, you’ll have a relatively normal house, like Kiki’s here. The wallpaper, furniture, the stereo in the back, it looks like something straight out of the 70’s. It’s pretty chill.

Bob, on the other hand… his house is an assault on the eyes. His place contains all of the furniture from the “kiddie” set. His personality type is “lazy” and he’s not particularly childish, so I’m not sure where that inspiration came from. The game not really elaborating on that lets you build up some fun headcanon. Bob’s kinda silly sometimes, so you could very easily imagine him as a kid at heart.

And look at Buzz’s house, it’s equally as bizarre. He’s definitely a fan of the outdoors and music, but also chess? He’s a chess diehard to the point where he wanted to have multiple oversized chess pieces in his room?

How a character’s house is designed can tell you a lot about them. And having the occasional odd furniture piece lets you build deeper headcanons for these wacky characters.

(Interlude)

Let’s turn our gaze back to the village itself.

The town is beautiful, but I occasionally find myself wondering what’s beyond this little slice of the world.

The only way in and out of the town is by train in the north and by boat in the south. Unclimbable walls mark the boundaries of the map on the east and west side. I haven’t had much of a chance to talk about it in previous videos, but I’m fascinated with out-of-bounds areas in games. And when I see a wall I can’t normally climb, I wanna go past it.

Of course, looking past that wall in-game reveals nothing of importance, but the effect it has on me still remains.

It’s such an imposing natural barrier. The way towns are generated, all the terrain inside it is traversable. There’s always a slope leading to the next level.

But no slope will take you up this cliff. The game will never let you leave the village that way.

(Interlude)

On the topic of the town’s boundaries, let’s talk about the train station. I love this little structure with brick steps and the clock overhead. I didn’t leave my own town much as a kid, so I rarely went up here. Oh, I should mention, the train station is used for travelling to other people’s villages. If you put another memory card in the Gamecube that has Animal Crossing save data, you can travel to that village.

Like the cliffs we just looked at, this got me thinking about the larger Animal Crossing world.

What does this train network look like?

Is it just a track that goes straight ahead to the next village? How far away are villages from each other? If I were to hypothetically get on this cliff and walk for a while, would I eventually find another village?

I think of questions like this because the outside world is brought up so much. You arrive in town via train, but where were you coming from? Did the player character live in some metropolitan area? What would that even look like in an Animal Crossing game? The player’s mom sends letters every now and then, so you have a constant reminder of the life you lived before you travelled here.

(Interlude)

And the beach… how can I do a tour of a game that has one and not talk about it?

I don’t know what it is about beaches in games, I always find myself drawn to them. I don’t care for beaches much in real life, but they’re always a treat in video games.

Admittedly, there’s not much of a beach here. All you have is a tiny strip of sand and then the ocean. But it’s still an interesting place to hang around.

Your town is practically enclosed on all sides except for the beach. If you were able to turn the camera around from this top down perspective, who knows how far it’d stretch out.

Well, I actually can turn the camera around. It’s not too impressive, but you’re not supposed to see it from this angle.

Your mind is left to imagine the ocean stretching far out beyond the horizon. The camera is pointing straight down at your character, but they’re gazing out on a calm blue sea. I’m sure they love the view.

(Interlude)

Before we get to our last major stop, let’s visit a view more places in the village, rapid fire.

The Police Building is… I’m not sure how to describe it…

Unremarkable?

The plain tile and wallpaper mixed with the rows of tables make me sleepy. This is a terribly boring room and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I remember running through these rows as a kid trying to get away from Booker. Good times.

I didn’t talk about it TOO much in this video, but I like the village terrain generation. It sometimes creates weird little spots you’ll very rarely visit. Like this raised area on my village. On my map, you can see there’s literally nothing on this strip of land. So in my normal running about for errands, it’s very unlikely I’ll step foot up here.

I like having areas like that. Maybe a villager will move here someday, but for now, it doesn’t have a whole lot of purpose. Not everything should in a game like this.

And then there’s the Museum. Not a full one, but a completely empty one. I don’t know what it is specifically about an EMPTY one that tickles my fancy, but it does. I REALLY like the aquarium. This dimly lit, blue-tinted room calms me.

(Interlude)

For our final stop of the episode, we’re leaving the village we became so familiar with. And heading to… the island.

Plimpus Island is a tiny little chunk of land you can visit if you go to the docks and talk to Kapp’n. Not just anyone can visit the island, oh no. Only people with… Game Boy Advance Link Cables… can visit the island.

I remember hating that when I was playing this back in the day. I didn’t have a link cable, but why should I not be allowed to visit this island? You’re not even required to have a particular game inserted. As soon as you arrive, Kapp’n tells you you can turn off the Game Boy.

I always resented this island as a kid, I never got to visit it. But now, thanks to emula- I mean, eBay, I can finally visit this island so many years later.

I can tell I would have loved this place. Being surrounded by the ocean, the palm trees, the music. This is a GREAT tropical spot.

(Interlude)

If you wanna see a tour with some mystery in it, check out this one I did of Super Mario 64. I find myself talking about spooky and mysterious things in a lot of these tours, but Animal Crossing is mostly a chill game, so check out that video if you want some of that.

Thanks, and I hope you book another trip… with Video Game World Tours.