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Text丨Hua Li Review丨Cai Bao

Layout丨Lu Jiu

A few days ago, Nintendo officially announced that the pocket version of "Animal Crossing" will be officially shut down in November this year.

As new and old players howled and reminisced about their memories of the game, more people asked the same question:

No, it turns out that Animal Crossing has a mobile game version?

When it comes to the IP of Animal Crossing, I believe the first thing that comes to everyone’s mind is the three years when the world was at home during the pandemic. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is famous as a "cyber haven" for players all over the world.

A cute and mellow art style with no combat elements. You can pay off your "mortgage" with zero interest just by picking up branches, catching insects and fishing, and easily own your own three-bedroom, three-living-room villa and the entire island.

(The picture comes from Xiaohongshu user "姜味三丝", using various furniture can easily create different styles of landscaping)

This game not only makes up for the people who were unable to go out easily due to masks, but also(Small Island)and social(Small Animal Islanders)The needs of the game are met, giving even those who have never played games the experience of living in another world. The friendly neighborhood that is detached from reality and like a utopia, and the furniture system that can be made by anyone who is willing to work hard, also meet the ultimate dream of all tired office workers.

(Similarly, games like Stardew Valley and Ranch Moon can also give people this feeling. After all, people’s ultimate wish is to live a relaxed, self-sufficient and worry-free life.)

In fact, before "Animal Crossing" became a global hit in 2020,(Animal Crossing: New Horizons)"This IP has a history of nearly 20 years.

In 2001, Nintendo released the first game in the series, “Animal Crossing”, on the N64 console with three controllers.

(At that time, the familiar animal neighbors had very few faces, even Zhang Lina’s head was angular, but still cute)

But as a console from the last century, it was still rather delicate for the N64 to be equipped with a new IP, so just eight months later, Nintendo launched a remake of "Animal Crossing", "Animal Crossing +", on its next-generation console NGC.

Compared to the original game, Animal Crossing+ has added many new animals, and for the first time added the "Museum" collection gameplay and clothing wallpaper customization gameplay, which is still the favorite of players until now.(Nintendo at the time had no idea that this DIY gameplay would bring trouble and controversy to us on the other side of the ocean more than a decade later)Moreover, if the player writes a letter containing specific keywords to the NPC animals, the animals will reply with a letter containing the corresponding content.

(The NS version of Animal Crossing has a lot of beautiful and distinctive clothes and floors that are drawn by players themselves. Through the Internet function, you can get these clothes and custom content drawn by others, but with the custom drawing function, it is inevitable that someone will cause trouble... This also makes Animal Crossing a you know who in the seafood market.)

At this point, the characteristics of the "Animal Crossing" series have been basically determined. What Nintendo wants to create for players is a paradise where children and animals can live in harmony.

"Animal Crossing+", a dreamy game with a high degree of freedom and the ability to completely relax people, has sold nearly 3 million copies worldwide, which was a very good result in that year.

Since then, the "Animal Crossing" series has launched sequels on different generations of consoles and handheld game consoles, and has enjoyed a good reputation in Japan and other countries and regions where console games are popular, and even launched derivative works such as animated versions and movie versions.

Unlike the mainstream battle series that pursues a sense of excitement and the visual novel series that seeks dream encounters and exciting plots, many people find such games boring, but there are also quite a lot of people who just like the tranquility and healing and become loyal players of "Animal Crossing".

(Having said that, the famous cute NPC Xishi Hui from Animal Crossing entered "Super Smash Bros." and became a popular character due to its strong contrast, and even gave rise to the famous "Doom Friends" meme)

The mobile version of "Animal Crossing" that was suspended this time is called "Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp", which was launched in 2017. Since there is no national server, everyone can only download and play it through channels that everyone knows, and its popularity is naturally not as high as the popular NS version.

Unlike the NS version we are familiar with, the pocket version of Animal Crossing does not have a three-story luxury villa. The only things that players can freely design are small RVs and outdoor scenes.

(But the furniture in the game can be found both indoors and outdoors, so it is not impossible to create an indoor atmosphere outdoors. In fact, in the "Island Building" of the NS version of Animal Crossing, players often place indoor scenes with different atmospheres outdoors to enrich the island landscape. From this perspective, the outdoors are not restrictive at all for players)

As a mobile game, there will naturally be "paying money". Even for such a cute idle game, there are all the elements of a second game that will make you feel dizzy, such as paid props, card drawing, and live activities.

(You can actually make some furniture yourself, but a lot of nice or rare furniture and clothes can only be obtained through Gachapon)

But becoming a mobile game is not without its benefits.

Since the online skills of mobile games are more convenient and faster, in the pocket version of Animal Crossing, the difficulty of visiting friends' homes has dropped sharply, and there is no need to worry about the selection of online methods, network fluctuations, and "crashes".(The animation of the NS version when going to the island online is taking a plane)", delays and other issues, as long as you have added friends, you can play in your friend's camp without any obstacles.

The higher frequency of updates than the console version also makes the furniture and fashion of the pocket version more abundant, and the activities are also more diverse. Although the functions are not as complete as the console version, players can wear more personalized and colorful fashions and build buildings unique to the pocket version.

Pocket Camping, which has its own advantages and disadvantages compared to the console version, is not very popular in China, but it still attracts players who yearn for "Animal Crossing" but are unwilling to buy a NS console that is about to be replaced just for this.

But just like the popular handheld game consoles such as 3DS and WiiU that once terminated their online services one after another, Pocket Camper, which has been in operation for 7 years and has been losing popularity, has not escaped the fate of being "optimized" by Nintendo, even though it has a certain reputation among players.

After all, the update of "Animal Crossing: New Horizons", which carries the memory of the mask craze in our memory, also stopped two years ago.

The good news is that Nintendo will launch a buyout version that can inherit save files after the mobile game version is discontinued. Players can still stay in this small campsite they built and continue their leisurely camping life with cute little animals.

However, the purchased version, which has been completely turned into a stand-alone game, not only will there be no subsequent updates, but all functions that require an internet connection have also been cut off. Players will no longer be able to trade with strangers in the Moritomo community at the market, nor will they be able to take photos and interact with friends at their campsites.

In fact, it is not difficult to guess that Nintendo, which decided to discontinue the NS version and mobile version of Animal Crossing, wants to concentrate its production capacity on the development of games that follow the unreleased NS2.

(The equally popular Nintendo IP "Splatoon" is actually developed by the same team as Animal Crossing, and "Splatoon" will soon be celebrating its final festival, so I believe it will stop updating and developing the next generation.)

By then, will you still enjoy the aurora and meteor showers with your friends on the uninhabited island that you carefully built on the new console?