Animal Forest - All N64 Games

[Dcubed]

4 hours ago, Glen-i said:

I still don't understand why this is based off of Wario Land 3 of all things...

That said, 4 player is neat, but it's very choppy. Not nice to actually play.

About that… according to the TCRF page, the characters were originally going to be more traditional; but seem to have been all changed to Wario Land 3 characters rather late in development… for some bizarre reason.

To be honest though, that’s the most notable thing about this game; because it is a very poor version of Dr Mario otherwise.

Also, fun fact, this game came on the smallest cartridge to ever grace the N64 (a mere 32mbit/4MB, the same size as DKC on SNES).  This was a budget release in every sense of the word.

[Jonnas]

I played Dr. Mario 64 not too long ago. My general sentiment was that this focus on Multiplayer was a mistake, and it ill-suits this series, which is all about relaxing catharsis and taking your own rhythm. The multiplayer mechanics themselves were also far more frustrating than competitive.

That said, there is a mode in this game that works: Flash Mode. Basically, there's three specific viruses that each player needs to get rid of, and whoever does it first, wins. It's a much better idea for Dr. Mario multiplayer, and it's a shame that the game didn't go for that ruleset as the default.

Despite my criticisms, I do love Wario Land 3, and this game happens to be the one other piece of media that acknowledges its existence. I'll always be fond of it for that reason.

[Ashley]

[Glen-i]

14 minutes ago, Ashley said:

 

[Ashley]

"crushing blows"? My my.

[Cube]

Animal Forest

• JP release: 14th April 2001
• EU release: N/A
• NA release: N/A
• Developer: Nintendo
• Publisher: Nintendo
• N64 Magazine Score: 80%

While what was released on the 64DD was a failure, the whole venture did end up resulting in a massive success story for Nintendo: the Animal Crossing franchise. The game was inspired by what the 64DD hardware could do, and was probably why some features (such as the clock) ended up being added to the GameCube. When the 64DD failed, the game was scaled back to release on a regular cartridge (with its own internal clock), and only released in Japan. It was originally intended to be a dungeon crawler with the social aspect being in choosing a part, but the focus became on the social aspect, which probably worked out for the better in the long run.

While there is an English patch for the game, it’s still work in progress and crashes a lot, often getting to a state of having to delete saves and start again. As the game ended up releasing on GameCube, I just messed around a bit in this version.

Animal Forest is a relaxing game where you move into a small village, and get given a house. In order to pay it off, you have to do errands for Tom Nook, the owner of the only shop in the town, even if you only need to work when you want to (although it’s the only way to upgrade your house). Outside of this, you can chat to all the villagers, make friends, collect insects, fish, paintings, and fossils, and enjoy events that happen on certain days. You can even write letters to the other animals in the village, or other players using the same cartridge.

One thing that didn’t make it to the N64 version is the museum, which means the collection aspect in this version isn’t quite as compulsive, as you have no way of recording what you have or haven’t collected before. This (along with the Able Sisters design shop) were added to the GameCube version, and both are such a vital part of the game that they feel like they should have been there from the start. One interesting feature that did make it into the N64 version was the ability to play some NES/Famicom games by collecting coloured consoles in-game, although the library was expanded for the GameCube.

The Animal Crossing series is a wonderful and unique kind of game, although the N64 version isn’t much more than a curiosity, as compromises had to be made, and the original intention was later brought to the GameCube, which I will look at in a lot more detail.

Fun

Quote

Despite Animal Forest’s undoubted quality, unless you can read Japanese pretty well, you won’t be able to visit Shigsy’s world as anything other than a simple tourist. You can look, you can play, but you’ll never be able to understand what’s going on. And that’s a shame, because everything that we’ve seen so far suggests that this is yet another example of just why Mr Miyamoto is held in such high regard.

Geraint Evans, N64 Magazine #56. 

[Note: Takashi Tezuka, Katsuya Eguchi and Hisashi Nogami are the main producers and directors behind Animal Forest]

Remake or remaster?

The game got its full potential on GameCube. Although it would be nice for it to get a re-release, as later games focus a lot more on online and aren’t as nice to return to.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to play Animal Forest.

[Dcubed]

Oh wow! The N64 version of AC didn't even have the Museum? That's like 90% of the entire point of the game!

[BowserBasher]

I didn't know Animal Forrest didn't have the museum. How did they ever cope?

I would love to be able to enjoy this version on AC again. Please Nintendo, make some big changes to what we have now and take it back to this. we've had too many of the same scrolling world with just a few changes.