10+ Years of Animal Crossing
Hello friends,
Just a note to let you know this is a repost of an article I wrote a couple of years ago, but I’ve updated it a bit. Also as it’s the one year anniversary of Animal Crossing New Horizons being released, I felt it was fitting to repost this.
Also just be aware, this is a long read.
I know this may seem like a strange thing for me write about, given that the main content of this little blog is Chronic Illness and Book themed, but it does in a weird way tie into my health. So grab a drink of your choice, sit back, relax and let me explain...
Just over 10 years ago, there was a massive outbreak of Swine Flu in the U.K, so many people were getting very sick. At the time I was working as an Accounts/Admin assistant for a large Flower Company and I basically breathed in recycled air for 4 out of 7 days per week. So when one person got Swine Flu, almost all of the work force got it and having one Chronic illness already with Anaemia on top of that, my poor immune system just wasn't up to handling the fight against that awful sickness.
I ended up on antibiotics and told by my doctor to put myself to bed until I'd finished them. I certainly didn't argue with him as I felt like death. I spent a week off work and basically slept for most of it, eventually began to feel a little bit better by the weekend. I ended up back at the work the following week, although I still wasn't feeling 100% although I'd finished the antibiotics. {While I'm sure I have been living with Mild M.E since I was a teenager, it was my getting Swine Flu that I believe triggered a worsening of what I now know are M.E symptoms and along with a few other reasons, why I am now living with Moderate/Severe M.E. I never allowed myself to fully recover from that flu and I now live with the consequences.}
I pushed myself through the week and then ended up back in bed the following Friday, feeling really ill again - I'd gone back to work too soon but the working climate at that time was basically one that made you feel so incredibly guilty for having any sick days and this lead to people going into work ill, which wasn't good for them or the people around them... No wonder Swine Flu affected so many people!
ID: A four picture collage showing Louise’s Animal Crossing character across the four main games ~ Wild World, Let’s Go To The City, New Leaf and New Horizons
Feeling so ill of course affected me mentally and I was in desperate need of a pick me up. My lovely mum {who had also ended up getting Swine Flu but had recovered well} was going shopping and asked if I wanted anything picking up. I gave her my bank card and asked her to get this game I'd seen for my Nintendo DSi, called Animal Crossing Wild World.
Until this point I was unaware of the Animal Crossing universe, I never had a Nintendo Game Cube or N64, which I later learned were the consoles you could play the original game, Animal Forest, on. When my mum brought me back the game, I grabbed my DS, popped the game card into it and started the game. The theme music was so lovely and relaxing, I just knew I would be playing this game for a long time to come! I started the game, was greeted with one of the characters who asked my name and the name of the town I was heading to. This then gave you the opportunity to name your town, I chose "Lantis" being a big Stargate Atlantis fan, I wanted to live in my own little version of that city!
As the player, you live each day in the little town {the game plays in real time}, make friends, chat & do favours for the animals that live in the town with you. There’s fruit to pick daily, go fishing, catch bugs, dig up fossils and pay off your house loan to a Raccoon named Tom Nook.... I know that sounds so random and may be hard to understand, but it's kinda hard to explain it any other way without showing you.
This game, from 2009 onwards, became one of the ways I dealt with the high stress I had in my life at the time. I would come home from work and just escape into my little town, where life was simple and stress free. It got me through being signed off work due to stress, struggling through my failing health, being made redundant in 2010 and just life in general really. I even took my little town with me when I travelled to Jersey and South Africa - It basically went everywhere with me! By the time a new version of the game came out in 2013/2014, the little town of Lantis was thriving. I had almost completed my Museum, I'd caught all the fish & bugs, dug up all the fossils and had so many fruit trees that picking fruit was a full time job!
In May of 2014, my lovely mum offered to upgrade my DSi to a 3DS and I also got Animal Crossing New Leaf. In this version of the game, you weren't just moving into a new town, you were the Mayor of the town! So little Louise became Mayor of a town called Amity {a peaceful faction from Veronica Roth's Divergent Series} and got to work in making the town a wonderful place for all the animals living there. As well as all the fishing, bug catching, fossil hunting and fruit picking you did in Wild World, being Mayor meant you could now add things to your town {Public Works Projects} these included sculptures, a campsite, a café, street lamps and benches - just to name a few. You can also add shops to the Main Street, like a hairdressers.
ID: Louise’s Animal Crossing character stood with a Camper Van from the game Pocket Camp.
New Leaf came in my life almost a year after I had been diagnosed with M.E and like Wild World, was a way for me to just switch off and distract myself from how ill I was feeling. It's coming up to the 5 year mark of getting the game and aside from the days when I'm simply too ill to lift my head off my pillow, I spend a bit of time each day in my town, escaping from the outside world.
As well as Wild World and New Leaf, I also have the Wii version of the game, Let's Go To The city/City Folk and my town is called Panem {this one is similar to WW} but I don't play this one too often as I struggle with the Wii controls. I also on occasion play two of the spin offs, Happy Home Designer and Pocket Camp {mobile game} which are fun and I enjoy them but, for me, they're not as immersive as New Leaf and Wild World {though I don't really play WW or NL anymore}.
A year ago today, Friday 20th March 2020, Nintendo is released a new version of Animal Crossing for the Nintendo Switch called Animal Crossing New Horizons. I’m sure I speak for most players of this game when I say, it saved 2020 for a lot of people! The game released as the pandemic started and country after country went into some form of lockdown. This Island getaway themed game, in which you take on the role of “Resident Representative”, has been such a wonderful addition to the franchise as it’s taken customisation of our in-game living spaces to a whole new level in that as a player you’re no longer limited to a little town, but you have an entire Island to design and terraform. Personally, it’s kept myself a little bit saner this past year and continues to do so.
This is also the first Animal Crossing game that I’ve played with other people that aren’t family members and for the past year or more I’ve become a part of a wonderful community via Discord where I have met some amazing people, made some great friends and I even started a book club with one of them!
As someone who is mostly housebound, playing a game which is mainly set outdoors in nature is just wonderful. Playing as my character, I can walk/run around enjoying my flowers and trees, do my jobs, chat to my animal friends, pick my fruit, go swimming and hang out with my actual friends ~ all things my health doesn't allow me to do in real life on a daily basis. I basically live vicariously through my little character! Another thing I love about this game is that although I played New Leaf for about 7 years and I'd caught every bug & fish & nearly filled my museum, there was still always something to do. I know I’ll be playing New Horizons for a very long time to come as well!
ID: Louise’s Animal Crossing character in New Horizons. She is wearing an M.E Awareness top and shorts.
This game franchise just means so much to me, it’s has been a big part of my life for so many years and I don't think I'll ever get bored of playing it. There's so much to these games, that I've only given a very basic outline, {I could be here all day talking about it!} I really think the only way to know what these games are about is to play them, especially if you're looking for a game to help you relax after a hard day or to distract you from real life for a little while.
Stay Safe. Play ACNH.
L x
