Friday, November 05, 2010

10 video games that made my life gayer (#9): Animal Crossing

Would you believe it if I told you that I held off on buying a GameCube until early 2004--more than two years after its North American debut? Well, it's true.

What prompted me to (finally) pick up Nintendo's boxy little system? By the time I bought one, they were just $99, for starters. And then there was the release of Animal Crossing.

OK, so that game was released (in the States) in late 2002--more than a year before I acquired a GameCube. I'd had my eye on it from day one, though, and as such it was the game I bought alongside my (now beloved silver) system.

Was it worth the wait? In a word: Yes. I've rarely put as much time into a game as I put into Animal Crossing. Something about its "life simulation" concept really resounded with me, I guess.



I know some people consider the game to be boring or tedious, as most of the time you're running errands, planting trees, picking fruit and watering flowers. Well, call me crazy, but I seem to enjoy those rather mundane chores when they're wrapped up in such cute packaging.

My only beef with the game? No matter how many love letters I sent to my female neighbors (my character was female, too), none of them reciprocated. Oh, well; you can't have anything, right?

See also: all of the previous '10 video games that made my life gayer' posts

4 comments:

Viewtiful_Justin said...

Yup. It ate my soul for a YEAR! I've NEVER played a game that long...although I just bought DQ8 for the PS2, so...maybe that will eat my life, too.

Oh...and Kody, the blue bear with the surfer attitude, was my favorite. Still is. I'd marry him if I had the option.

Bryan Ochalla said...

You own AC: City Folk, too, right? Did you play that less than the N64 original? I think I may have played them for about the same amount of time.

Viewtiful_Justin said...

I played City folk for a ridiculous amount of hours, but not for a year. I lent it to my sister, who loved the original, but she never played it. And now? I'm scared to start it up again because A) my town will be WAY disheveled, and B) I'm worried it will eat my life again.

Bryan Ochalla said...

You know what? You and I share the same reasons for not booting up City Folk again. I just can't imagine running around and cleaning everything up (and seeing some of my prized flowers gone!), and I'm also worried it'll eat up my like again. At some point I *will* start playing it again, though--mark my words! :)