Animal Crossing scores 7/10 in the verdict of The Games Market editorial team.
Once Upon a Time
Animal Crossing: Zen Fun and Gardens!
by Simon Larocca·February 23, 2025
I still remember as if it were yesterday
the rattling of the train that took me to the village, the final destination of my
gaming trip.
It was the year 2001, I was making the most of my Nintendo GameCube with all the joy of someone dealing with a marvelous machine, and the moment I inserted the Animal Crossing disc into the console, I knew it would be an unforgettable journey. My expectations were not disappointed.
Released also for Nintendo 64 and
immediately becoming a cornerstone of the Kyoto-based company like Super Mario and Zelda,
just to cite two eternal franchises, Animal Crossing won over legions of fans
embracing both boys and girls with its colors, the cartoonish graphics and
the extraordinary feeling of simulated life within a world not so
distant, just one step and a breath away from our own.
It is part of that niche category called “life simulator,” a type of game whose gameplay is based on taking care of one or more characters and their needs, placing them in a context that represents the natural environment in which to be born, grow up, and even die, passing through the stages of existence with everything they entail. Hobbies, passions, work, in this case mostly in the fields, and a thousand adventures weaving friendships, acquaintances, and forming bonds with other people.
Exactly like in real life.
Il più famous of the ancestors of
this category, and perhaps also the progenitor, is the Tamagotchi, a legendary electronic egg that was a true
and proper icon for all kids, even outside Japan,
especially in the Nineties, and it allowed gamers who in those
years were battling infernal legions of demons in Doom and saving princesses and
islands in Monkey Island to take a break, so they could feed their
creature and, if necessary, clean up its poop on the edges of the
screen. I'm not joking, try it and you'll see.
Animal Crossing to date has five official games, along with several spin-offs that expand its universe and implement some gameplay features absent from the main chapters: our protagonist, after traveling by train and meeting the first of the anthropomorphic characters who will be part of his new life, will have to build and customize his home by earning bells, the currency of Animal Crossing, do favors for the other residents, and arm himself with a shovel and hat to take care of plants and vegetables.
Agriculture has never been
so fun and peaceful, and indeed the zen concept at the heart of it is one of the
cornerstones of the saga: even in the latest chapter released for Switch, New Horizons, the result of the successful
art direction by the great Koji Takahashi, the ability to turn on the
console, enter the game and “return” to the parallel world in which our
avatar lives and breathes, is a delightful and relaxing pleasure, a
panacea for the soul that will allow us to ease the stress of everyday
life, over which problems hang like swords of Damocles.
How to do
all this?
Watering tomatoes and greeting one of our neighbors,
perhaps a tanuki or a cat with a friendly face, beautifully
characterized by the game designers thanks to a character design job that
allows them to convey friendliness at first glance.
Zen and Relax are therefore the key words at the basis of the Animal Crossing concept.
Nintendo wants the player to stay on the island as long as possible, and it does so with tons of side quests, the so-called “favours” I mentioned earlier, a maniacal attention to the alternation of the seasons and day and night (which will be based on the console’s internal clock), and many secrets to discover by playing as much as possible.
This is because, as in the real world, uncovering mysteries and getting to know
every nook and cranny of the island means exploring, returning often, and allowing the
game world to grow together with us.
Isn't this, after all,
living?
7
Pro
A full-fledged life simulator: the actions in the game will have repercussions in the future as well, even when we are not playing.
Colorful comic-style graphics that capture the spirit of the series in pure Nintendo style
Tons of events and things to do every day, for a virtually infinite lifespan
Contro
The specter of repetitiveness is always around the corner in sim games, and this is no exception
An approach with excessively slow pacing that may not appeal to everyone
My name is Simon Larocca, and I am a gamer, collector, and lover of pop culture in all its forms. I go to the cinema whenever I can, I have been reading since I started wearing glasses, so, basically forever, and I have a passion for storytelling in all its forms, so powerful that it became my profession. But as Doc from Ritorno al Futuro would say, there would be no present if one did not look at the past with respect and admiration, and it is the Simon child of more than thirty years ago, give or take a year, who is to thank for that.
Simon Larocca
My name is Simon Larocca, and I am a gamer, collector, and lover of pop culture in all its forms. I go to the cinema whenever I can, I have been reading since I started wearing glasses, so, basically forever, and I have a passion for storytelling in all its forms, so powerful that it became my profession. But as Doc from Ritorno al Futuro would say, there would be no present if one did not look at the past with respect and admiration, and it is the Simon child of more than thirty years ago, give or take a year, who is to thank for that.
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