Animal Crossing

I have been an avid Animal Crossing player since I was eight years old. I loved playing the game after school on my favourite gaming console... The Nintendo GameCube. Oh, how I truly loved the simplicity of the original Animal Crossing. But I like to play favorites since the GameCube JUST so happens to be my favourite gaming console. In my honest opinion, the game always felt like coming home. It was always one of those games that you could always pick up right where you left off.

I have spent many hours playing the game with my childhood best friend. We had shared our towns on the GameCube and our Nintendo DS Lite. I can still remember playing Animal Crossing: Wild World with her during one of our God-awful snow days from school way back in the day. I fell in love with changing my hair styles in the salon. I guess I was just a stupid kid.

My grandma had always been a secret avid gamer. I can remember this one winter, where she called my mother up in the middle of the night to ask her questions about Animal Crossing: Wild World. My grandmother was so frustrated that she could not put Christmas lights up along her house and all of her villagers had lights. This is something our family members like to tease her about to this day. The villagers had always felt like family members to me. At such a young age, I had truly fallen in love with this game.

Does anyone else have a love for Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer for the 3DS? It was literally so much fun to play and different than the traditional games. I loved creating different houses and yards for the animals. It made me feel very creative. It;'s a hidden gem that most people don't know about.

When Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp came out, I was so excited about the latest release! A cellphone game for Animal Crossing? I immediately got hooked on the game. I was expecting the birth of my first-born child and I was going stir crazy waiting for him to be born. This came at such a beautiful time in my life. This game has always felt like therapy to me. Between fishing and bug catching on your game, there was always something to do and always something to look forward to as the game ran on real-time. The mobile app was truly no exception to the matter!

When they released the Animal Crossing game for the Nintendo Switch, I was filled with so much joy. It was the beginning of the COVID pandemic and I was off work on maternity leave. I put countless hours into the game. It still truly feels like therapy to me whenever I run through the game. It is one of those mindless games that you can seem to pick up right where you left off from. I loved how creative the game for the Nintendo Switch was. There is so many design options and ways to keep yourself occupied. With some of the other versions of the game I used to turn the clock a day ahead when I was bored of what was going on in my town. With the new version, they keep updating it and making it more interesting to play.

Now my son has taken the torch for me. He loves the game as much as I do. He might be four years old but he is a pretty smart little guy. It's like family bonding for us, playing Animal Crossing together.

I'm excited to see what comes next in the franchise. What are your thoughts on Animal Crossing?

Chloe Rose Violet