Animal Crossing was not always the insanely popular mega-hit that broke records with the release of New Horizons last year. In its most humble days, it existed as a last-second swan song for the Nintendo 64 called Dobutsu no Mori, exclusive from Japan. It would see a second release very quickly, putting a “+” at the end of the name, carrying it for the Nintendo GameCube and adding a handful of new features. Fortunately, Nintendo of America gave the game a chance in the west, bringing it in, giving it one of the most charming translations of all time, and naming it Animal Crossing. The rest is history.
In fact, this story is quite rich. Dobutsu’s location on NOA’s Mori + was not just a simple translation; events, graphics and jokes, all had to be adapted for a western audience. American players probably wouldn’t understand references and holidays from the oriental culture, so extensive work had to be done, creating new characters for holidays like the Harvest Festival, making pop culture jokes relevant to the time and editing all kinds of little little ones details, all on top of translating a game that has a mind-boggling amount of text to start with. When it came time for Animal Crossing to debut in the west, the original Nintendo developers in Japan saw how much work had been done and decided they needed to be re-located with all the new content, while adding even MORE new stuff on top! That’s how Japan ended up with three versions of Animal Crossing, all in a short time.
Unfortunately, that supercharged version of Animal Crossing – Dobutsu no Mori e + – never returned to Western players. At the time, it was no big deal; after all, Animal Crossing was still a new IP, and few knew about the game’s tango back and forth. Even after the internet got to know the fun story behind it all, years passed and new Animal Crossing games were launched. Still, for dedicated fans out there, a definitive version of the original Animal Crossing existed, filled with all sorts of new content, to never be experienced – unless you knew Japanese.
Now, what happens when you have a Japanese-only version, on an old platform that has a lot of documentation when it comes to hacking and dealing with the internal workings of your files? Well, of course it will be officially released on the Nintendo Switch! Just kidding, after all it’s Nintendo! The real answer is that you receive a dedicated fan translation, courtesy of one of these superfans. Cuyler is a programmer who has spent years working on modding, editing and translating all the good things from Dobutsu no Mori and + into English.
With all this context, you can now appreciate the meaning behind a project of this caliber.
And there is a lot to appreciate. More fish, more insects, more residents, new features, new events, new locations. In fact, exclusive Dobutsu no Mori e + content, if released these days, would guarantee a definitive definitive edition with the title, or at least a decent priced DLC release. Now that there is a translation patch for English fans, all of these things can finally be taken advantage of.
This is still the original Animal Crossing, so the start of the game is identical to what you played before. After adjusting to life in your little animal forest, well, that’s when you start to find all the cool stuff. The closure of Tom Nook’s store can really affect the way you play the game at night. With minimal stock and even less storage available to you, you may not want to worry about playing at night after filling your pockets to the brim with fish, fruits and fossils. But if you take your shovel and knock against the door of Nook’s shop several times, he will reluctantly open it up and let you buy and sell … at a reduced rate, too, that stingy! While lower selling prices may deter you, being able to clear your inventory at night is an invaluable asset. Other quality of life options have also been added, such as the island being usable even if you don’t have a GBA to connect to, being able to pick flowers and, most cool of all, the addition of buildable urban projects – existing as a concept years before New Leaf implemented it again!
Unfortunately, not everything is translated yet. There is still a lot of work to be done in terms of random character conversations, as they will alternate between a perfect translation and large chunks of Japanese text at random. However, much of the exclusive content from e + is covered, which is great if you’re just looking to have fun with features missing from regular versions.
Compared to the newest games in the series, it may not seem like much; after all, why not play the youngest who has all these sophisticated things to start with? For me, a great reason is nostalgia. Growing up with the original Animal Crossing has cemented its place in my heart, and being able to get a fresh look at something so used after years of playing is a welcome experience. Not only that, but there is a harsh charm to the game. Villagers have a lot to say and a lot of it is not so good! The cheeky will belittle their fashion choices, some may laugh at their misfortune of being stung by a bee – it’s fun to see these little animal characters have some real character, even at their expense. Having a villager angry with you or taking your sweaty Bells out of you in an RNG game that went wrong adds to the world – your specific world and all the experiences that build it. You won’t like some of the animals you meet (that’s right, I’m talking about you, Blaire, you idiot squirrel), others will give you a rare piece of furniture and that will be enough to win your friendship, and some will make you wanting to send letters full of furniture and clothes for them, so you can see them walking around with that little musical note played over their heads. And this is one facet that the newer games no longer focus on: the relationships you form in your head with these cute characters.
If you are tired of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, I recommend you go back to where it all started and enjoy the original Animal Crossing in its best form.
I hope you enjoyed this edition of GBAtemp Recommendation. If you would like to see more, leave your comments in the topic below or check out our previous articles.