We take a look back at the games worthy enough to be considered the GameCube's best.
Animal Crossing
Released September 15, 2002
Developed by Nintendo
Published by Nintendo
Retrospective by Mike Sklens
Nintendo has been taking the path less traveled for a while now. The Wii is a shining example of their "we do what we want" philosophy. However, they have been testing these waters for some time now, and I'm not talking about the Nintendo DS. Long before the DS was released, Nintendo pioneered their "non-game" genre with Animal Crossing, a game that's about nothing more than making your house look pretty.
In Animal Crossing you have no goals. The game is simple as it gets, and classifying it as a game is almost a stretch. Routine tasks such as checking the mail, shopping, and talking to your neighbors are the norm in this game. There are no secret swords to uncover (well... you could get the Master Sword, but only to show off in your house) or princesses to save; no aliens to battle or races to win. It's hard to explain what exactly makes Animal Crossing fun. I don't have any fun paying my bills in reality, but giving a hunk of change to Tom Nook (the town shop-keep, mortgage-agency, and all around entrepreneur) sure put a smile on my face.
What makes Animal Crossing one of the greatest GameCube games is that it is about something entirely different to every person who plays it. Some people might be obsessed with collecting every piece of a specific set of furniture. Others might only care about getting the largest house possible. Perhaps some people want only to complete the museum's daunting collection. There are countless goals in Animal Crossing, and not a single one of them ever needs to be completed. Hell, if you want, you can make the entire game about posting profane messages about your roommates on the town message board. That's what I did.
There's something oddly social about this single player game. Because four players can live in the same town, you can all play together, even though you're playing by yourself. Months (years, perhaps) after I thought I had burnt out on Animal Crossing, I set it up in the living room of my college apartment. My three roommates and I each created a character, and then proceeded to set our alarm clocks earlier and earlier every day to be the first to play that day, and thus get all the goodies such as the foreign fruit, fossils, and of course the infamous money rock. Animal Crossing is a wonderfully social game, as long as you have jerk-face roommates (who buy the shovel every day so you can't get it) to play with.
Animal Crossing was Nintendo's experimental baby step into new-gen non-gaming. It's also one of the greatest GameCube games. Without it the DS and Wii might not even exist, so don't take it for granted, ya hear?
Thoughts From the NWR Staff
Jon Lindemann: "I remember back in the N64 days when Nintendo spoke about a game
called 'Cabbage'. It was described as a 'communication game'. Little
did we know that the concepts used in Cabbage would evolve into Animal
Crossing, and little did we know that the resultant game would be so
engrossing. Animal Crossing: Wild World for DS took the concept to
the next level by going online, and I can't even imagine what's going
to be done with the WiFi-enabled Wii version that we all know is
coming. If you haven't played Animal Crossing, you're missing a fun
and addictive experience."
Jonathan Metts: "I have never played Animal Crossing because I've heard too many horror stories of friends losing jobs and/or girlfriends due to being addicted to this game. I continue to avoid this series for my own protection."
Steven Rodriguez: "It doesn't look like it, but Animal Crossing is a multiplayer game. It is at its most awesome when playing with friends who live in the same town. You would never know what your neighbors have done to the town while you were away, which made it fun to turn on the game every time."
Daniel Bloodworth: "We played this game for what? Two years or something crazy like that.
Saturday nights with Totakeke was the big draw for coming back at least once
a week even after we'd stopped doing anything else. The GBA connectivity
was great since I could fool around on the island while someone else took a
turn on the GameCube. And this game provided the best justification for
owning an eReader."
A Dissenting Opinion
Karl Casteneda: "I think I'm the only person on the planet who didn't get into this game. Call me simple-minded, but I got bored with the 'make your own objective' gameplay. I will admit that it's brilliantly written, though, and the dog that plays guitar is a riot. I want him to be in his own game."
Cut From the Same Cloth
The Harvest Moon Series
Though not directly inspired by Animal Crossing, especially considering that it's been around as a series for much longer, Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life is a game in very much the same vein. It features a few concrete goals as in Animal Crossing, but much of the fun in the game is derived from the simple tasks involved in tending your farm. Being similar in concept, you have to wonder why Animal Crossing took off, while Harvest Moon remains a niche series. Maybe it's because people kept playing Animal Crossing through the release of Another Wonderful Life and Magical Melody, two other games in the Harvest Moon line that showed up on the GameCube.
