Animal Crossing Wii (LONG read)

[DistantWords]

Please do not post comments simply to inform me you are too lazy or busy to bother reading.  If you are not going to read, then click away from this thread.  Yes, just click away...

We all (more or less) know that Nintendo is currently working on Animal Crossing Wii (if you didn't know, now you do, and I'm sure you figured as much anyway).  I myself am a pretty big fan of AC, owning both the GCN and DS versions.

So far very little has been released about the future release in the series, and I'm pretty sure that I read that it's actually been put on hold for just a bit.  Right now I'd like to just take a few moments and discuss some of the features/improvements I myself would like to see.

I'm sure this will do absolutely no good, and anything I write that actually happens will be total coincidence (or dumb luck).  But, I'd still like to take the time nonetheless.

Motion Controls

I'm sure that when a lot of fans of the series think about the future Wii release, one of the first places their minds go is with the motion controls.  And though I am excited to see how motion controls are going to enhance the AC experience, I'm not going to touch on that aspect.

In all honesty, I don't really have that much faith in Nintendo these days.  In many cases I think that they would rather tell people what they want, rather than listen to what they want.  And over all I personally think that they have lost touch with the average gamer (this is just MY opinion here, so just take it for what it's worth).

However, if there's one thing I am confident that they will do right, it's implementing great motion controls.

Getting Started

Since the Wii currently cannot play save files directly off of an SD card, and it's only saving option is directly off of the internal memory, I think that AC Wii should allow you to create multiple towns.

If you are asking why right now, chances are you probably live in a household where you are in one way or another, the soul player of AC, or you are the dominant player.  For me however, this is not the case.

When I first bought AC for the GCN, it only took about 30 minutes of watching me play before my wife decided she wanted to play as well.  No big deal, we can have up to 4 players per town, so all is good, right?

Wrong!

Within about 2 days it became very obvious that we had totally different ideas of how the town should be arranged.  And after a full week of getting mad at each other for cutting down the other's orchard or changing the town tune (among other things), we bought a second memory card and each had our own town.

It didn't even take a day of playing AC:WW that we realized we were going to need a second copy of the game due to the DS's lack of memory cards.

Now, I highly doubt that we are the only ones out there to experience a similar problem when it comes to playing AC in a multi gamer household.  And because of the Wii's lack of actual memory cards, and the fact that data isn't stored directly onto the disc, muti-town creation is the only answer.

I know that I do NOT want to have to shuffle save files between multiple SD cards and the Wii every time I want to play.

So each time you start up the game, you should be presented with three options (unless no save data is present); Continue, New Resident and New Town.  Well, I guess four options then if you include "Other Options" which would include "Delete Character" and "Demolish Town" or something like that.

Town creation would of course be limited to how much space is left on the person's memory, and each town would be it's own save file.  So it would show up like this:

Animal Crossing:Wii – Town Name

No two towns with the exact same name, just like you can't have two characters in one town with the exact same name.

Gameplay/Game Screen

For the most part, I think that the Wii version should be more like the GCN version, at least when it comes to the look and feel of the game.  The DS version's "move the screen, not your character" approach was probably the only option due to the DS's limited resources, but for me, it did not work nearly as well as the GCN's version.

I would also figure it'd be a no brainer that the Wii's town will be at LEAST as big as the GCN's, if not bigger.

Fishing

Fishing needs a HUGE upgrade IMO, and I'm not talking about motion controls.

First and foremost, there needs to be SOME way to actually "aim" where your bobber is going to go.  There is nothing more frustrating when it comes to fishing than trying to get that thing where you want it.  You barely tap on the control pad and your position becomes WAY off.

Second, more fishing options!  I don't see that they could get rid of the traditional "aim for the shadow" approach.  But what they could do is add something in addition to the shadows.  And here it is!

In addition to trying to get those little shadows to bite using the regular fishing pole, you can add some kind of bait to your pole and toss it anywhere out in the water.  As long as there is some bait added to your pole, a fish may bite even if no shadows are present.

Then it would just be a matter of learning when to pull up the reel.

So what's the bait?  Simple, you would be able to purchase a variety of bait from Tom Nook, but you could also use the insects you catch!  Different kinds of bait and different insects will attract different fish!

And yes, those fish will be seasonal.

That alone would add a ton of extra challenge and gameplay, IMO.

Letters

What I want to see most with AC in terms of letters is the use of an actual, physical keyboard.  The letters are a major pain anyway, but with an actual keyboard, it would be SO much easier!  Until Metroid Prime 3 killed my USB Keyboard support, I wrote people on my friends list WAY more in those few weeks than all the other time since launch put together.

I would also like to be able to create "template" letters the be used over and over again.  You write it once, then anytime you write a letter you click on the "Template" icon and it fills everything in for you.

Holidays!

I think that they should bring back the Holidays from the GCN version!  In fact, they could easily make the holidays be region specific.  And to go further, you could always ask the player upon character creation whether or not they wish to participate in Holidays.

And Holidays are different from Events.  So all versions could have the same Events, just make actual Holidays region specific and optional.

From the GCN

Here's what I think should make a return from the GCN version.

The dump!  I liked the dump WAY more than the recycle bin.  The dump had 2 new items each and every day!  The recycle bin, more like 2 each and every week, unless you send out presents to your neighbors...

From the DS

Blathers must continue his fossil identification.  They better not make us send in our fossils again!

Selecting multiple letters to mail at once.

I really hope they either keep, or further improve upon the storage system (dressers, refrigerators, etc) from the DS.  I like how all storage units are all tied into one system, so no matter what you are opening, you have access to all of your stored items.

In Closing

I'm sure that there are many other things I could write about, and I'm sure I left out a lot things.  But, this is already long enough and I'm sure most have already stopped reading.  So, I will just say that I am really looking forward to this game, and if even HALF of this comes true, I will be a really happy camper!

[DistantWords]

I can't beleive that I left out the most important aspect to AC:Wii!!!

Wi Fi/Going Out

Wi Fi for AC:Wii is a must.  The single biggest improvement to the DS version was the ability to visit other towns and directly interact with the residents of those towns via the Internet.

However, there should be some kind of improvement to that improvement.

First, when choosing to "Go Out", there should be an option to visit another town on your Wii should they include muti-town creation, and if multiple town files are detected.

If however you choose to visit a "Distant Town" via the Internet, there should be two options; Visit A Friend and Travel The World.

Visit A Friend would of course be to visit a town from your Friends List.  This could either be those on your Wii Friends list who own the game (the better option), or a list of friends from a game specific Friend Code (least favorite option).

When you set up your list of friends, you should be able to give each one limits on what they can and cannot do in your town.  You should also be able to choose options for what people can do in your town when you are not playing via WiiConnect24 (should they include that ability).

Things like, "Can Use an Ax" or "Can Use a Shovel".

Over all, however, the Visit A Friend option should be rather similar to the DS version.  More or less..

Travel The World should be a randomly picked town that you can travel to.  Kind of like the "Mingle" option for your Miis, both players will have to have opted for random visitors, and the town you travel to randomly MUST be currently occupied by one of the town's characters.

Meaning, no random towns via WiiConnect24.

When you are visiting a random town, you will not be able to use your shovel or ax (no matter what), and the town's flowers will be indestructible.  You also cannot write on the message board (or maybe there should be a setting so that you can only write on the board if the owner says you can).

You can however interact, limitedly, with the owner of the town.  You can trade items, fish, catch bugs, shake the trees and shop.

There should also be an option so that if you are misbehaving, the owner can kick you out of his/her town.

If you spend enough time in a town, and the owner has not kicked you out, there should also be a way for BOTH players to add each other to their friends list.  I'm not exactly sure how that would work in a way that Nintendo would be ok with, but I'm sure that there could be SOME way all could agree upon.