Animal Crossing 3DS - Information Thread

quote The Official Nintendo Magazine

[SOURCE] A new Animal Crossing is among the titles that Nintendo are working on for the 3DS.

Details are scarce at the moment but we can confirm that you'll be playing as the mayor of your town. With the help of the townsfolk and 'one eager secretary' it'll be your job to make the town a better place to live.

We'll have more news when we get it but for now, feast your eyes on these screens! Looks great, no?

quote Tom Mc Shea, GameSpot

[SOURCE] Who would have guessed that collecting furniture and cutting down peach trees could be fun? But Nintendo did create a franchise that's built upon the very real tenets that accruing lots of stuff is reward enough for a job well done, and of course a new version has to grace its latest system. The 3DS version of Animal Crossing looks a lot better than the previous three renditions, though, and not just because of the extra dimension. We came away itching to dig holes in the ground one more time after seeing the first footage of the latest Animal Crossing.

There isn't much gameplay in the short, noninteractive trailer, but one thing is certain: This is the best-looking Animal Crossing yet, surpassing even the Wii version. The camera is zoomed in a lot closer to the main character, and the extra detail on your protagonist and the environment is immediately apparent. The trees look particularly impressive. The bark and leaves look much more vibrant, and the 3D effect when running through a forest is a treat. The inside of a home is just as stunning. You can now rotate the camera to get a look at everything you've collected. The items in the demo home included a model train set and a drinking water bird, and it was fun just to stare at them because they were so detailed.

There's no word on a release date or extra activities for this latest Animal Crossing, but the visuals are certainly impressive. Keep your eyes on GameSpot for more information on this collect-a-thon as soon as we find out more.

quote Patrick Klepeck, G4TV

[SOURCE] The non-interactive (but real-time) Animal Crossing Demo didn’t answer much else besides proving that 3D works within the Animal Crossing universe. It did more than prove it, too. Animal Crossing’s art was gorgeous on the widescreen 3DS display. As was the case with many other 3DS demos, the 3D wasn’t noticeable – and that’s not a negative. The 3D added real, tangible depth to the on-screen image, the greatest asset of 3D. It fit perfectly. I was forced to quickly jump over to another 3DS demo before Animal Crossing concluded, preventing me from culling anything important from what may be changing in terms of gameplay.

quote Craig Harris, IGN

[SOURCE] But at least you get to see how well the stereoscopic LCD can display the familiar Animal Crossing world. The "rolling log" effect of the game's world is in effect in this version as you watch one of the Animal Crossing humans wander the terrain and bump into the occasional animal -- one of which was a bear that I've never seen before in any of the prior Animal Crossing games, leading me to believe there will actually be new creatures to encounter. The human wandered into a house filled with all sorts of furniture, and the game automatically shifted the camera closer to the character and rotated it around so that the viewer can see all the items in this abode. Again, the stereoscopic effect worked well here. Subtle, but helpful. What's most noticeable is the insane increase in texture detail. The game might be running at 30 frames per second when compared to the Wii's 60 FPS, but the detail of the grass and the furniture is far, far superior to what's going on in the Wii version. Even when the camera swooped in for a close look inside one of the animal's houses, you could pick out the detail on the checkerboard and sofa. There was nothing in this demo to indicate if the actual Animal Crossing design will be anything more than what it's been on the Nintendo DS and Wii -- after playing through both of those games at length I'm ready for a fresh life in an animal infested village.