E308: Making Iwata cry in Animal Crossing: City Folk
by JC Fletcher 
{ Jul 17th 2008 at 11:00AM }
A theater in town offers stand-up performances from Wild World's Dr. Shrunk, which (through his reactions more than his actual terrible jokes) teach your new avatar an emotion. You can then trigger these emotional responses with an icon on the onscreen keyboard or an icon located at the top of the gameplay screen. I got "sorrow," which causes the character to cry briefly. Heartbreaking!
The Nintendo rep then led me into the new beauty shop, where you can give yourself a makeover in the form of a Mii mask. I chose the Iwata mask for my avatar Sarah, which replaced her Crossing-style head with Iwata's. This odd sequence of events left me in a position to make a cartoon version of Nintendo's president, clad in a dress, weep. You can see a picture of said crying jag after the break.
While the new city is lovely, some of the basics of City Folk could use a bit of extra awesoming. You can choose between a GameCube-style control scheme or a DS-style point-and click in which the character follows the pointer whenever you hold A. It's really hard to interact with objects in this mode -- you have to get near something and then click on yourself. It just feels less precise to use the same controls for movement and interaction than it is to walk and then press a button that isn't related to walking. The good news control-wise is that you can use the d-pad to cycle through your tools. Just like that, hours of menu time are shaved off!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dylan F @ Jul 17th 2008 11:26AM
Looks fun. I'll be sure to pick up a copy
Jayenkai @ Jul 17th 2008 11:46AM
Yeah, I typically used the d-pad on the DS version, only when messing about in menus did I bother to make the switch..
Far too often, I'd tap something in my room, only to have it vanish into my pocket!
Ng0zT @ Jul 20th 2008 4:24PM
But what about cutting down trees? And digging, fishing, using a slingshot, and nets? how do u controll that stuff? do u have to make the motions??? cuz i really want to see that!
David Hinkle @ Jul 17th 2008 12:33PM
No motions for that stuff. The shovel, you click on yourself and you dig whichever way you're facing. Same thing with chopping down trees. Basically, you just click yourself all the time to do actions.
Mr Khan @ Jul 17th 2008 1:11PM
Yeah, it seems like its more pointer-focused than waggle focused, while Animal Crossing is clearly suited for both
Ng0zT @ Jul 20th 2008 4:23PM
that really sucks...i feel stupid to ask this but when is it being released? *cringes in fear*
David Hinkle @ Jul 17th 2008 5:47PM
No worries!
David Hinkle @ Jul 17th 2008 5:48PM
No worries! November 16th is the release date. :)
http://nintendo.joystiq.com/2008/07/15/e308-animal-crossing-city-folk-confirmed/
Shadow31 @ Jul 17th 2008 12:50PM
Though it's so much like the original, it still warrants a purchase for me. After all, why mess with a good thing? D-Pad tool switching is a huge improvement, Mii faces aren't a horrible addition, moving shops and stuff to the city help centralize activities, and (this was touched on at DS Fanboy but should be here) you can transfer characters and data from Wild World. I assume there will be many more furniture sets, I hope Nintendo chooses to send new content via WiiConnect24 (not counting on it, but it'd be nice), and Wii Speak does make online play a bit more useful. If they'd announce you can interact with players not on your friend list, it'd be near flawless. Oh, and bring back the NES systems from the GCN one, maybe with some other platforms as well...
TheOverlord#2 can has Animals Crossing? @ Jul 17th 2008 2:00PM
This game seems like so much fun! Can't wait ro finally pick it up. Hopefully i'll be able to make it a day one purchase.
Chinkie @ Aug 29th 2008 3:42PM
How many characters can you make?lol im noob so I wouldnt know,an answer would be nice and as soon as possible because if you could only make one character...that isnt worth 50 bucks
-.-"
SyN DracuL @ Sep 7th 2008 10:58AM
Wild World and the GC version had up to four different characters you could have. In WW, they were all in the same house tho, and in GC, they all live in the center in different houses.
Emily @ Sep 14th 2008 7:37PM
Here's what I know about the game:
YOU CAN TALK TO YOUR FRIENDS!
True that! Every copy comes with WiiSpeak. It's this microphone thing that sits above your TV and your friends can hear EVERYTHING in the room!
YOU TRAVEL BY BUS!
So in City Folk, you have two parts to your town, the town part (which includes everything in Wild World and Game Cube versions) and if you take a bus, you can get to the City part! So the town parts just houses, town hall, Nook shop, Able Sisters, Museum, Main Gate, Shampoodle, the Roost, etc...
...IN THE CITY PART,
There'll be a lotta shops in the city part such as:
*GracieGrace. Gracie and Labelle, Sable and Mabel's little sister, run a high class fashion boutique.
*Shoe store. Word is, there's a skunk that can color your shoes to look like your outfit.
*The Theatre. I've heard Dr. Shrunk does comedy acts in there. + On Saturday nights, you can catch K.K. Slider in the bigger, and better stage area.
*HRA store. Lyle runs the Happy Room Academy store.
*Crazy Redd. Find Crazy Redd in his dark alley, in the back of the city. But like in Wild World (DS VERSION) you'll need a password.
YOU CAN TRANSFER YOUR WILD WORLD CHARACTER TO YOUR CITY FOLK TOWN!
Yep. If you have WiFi, you can do that. Sorry but I haven't found much info on that topic yet. *frowns*
YOU CAN PICK YOUR HOUSE!
Y'know how in Game Cube Animal Crossing, you can have 4 people, and all the houses are right by each other, well, in City Folk, the houses are spread out so you could live by the beach, the main gate, Tom Nook's shop, etc.
YOU CAN GO TO YOUR FRIENDS TOWNS EVEN WHEN THEY'RE NOT PLAYING!
Yeah. So even if your friends not home, or on vacation, or something, you can still enter they're town! Even if they don't want you there!
WHEN YOUR IN A FRIENDS TOWN, THE ANIMALS CAN GO OUTSIDE!
Your animal pals are no longer stuck indoors. They can go wherever. They can even catch a bus to go to the city. Not sure if they can go in stores.
Well, I've gave a lotta info. If ya need anything else, just lemme know!