Every single afternoon after getting home from school consisted of running up to my bedroom, switching on my Nintendo Wii and playing Animal Crossing: Let’s go to the City. This was a time before terraforming, placing furniture outside, mayoral ordinances, Kappin’s island, and the Dream Suite.
My village, Celestia (inspired by Celestic Town in the Pokémon region of Sinnoh), often felt like my hometown more than where I actually lived. The level of creative freedom that Animal Crossing offered was the only thing that could satisfy my endless imagination in my childhood. For me, it is incomprehensible at times to think that my introduction to Rover on the bus was fifteen years ago, not yesterday.
As someone who was a “bit different” and did not have a lot of friends growing up, my villagers felt like some of my best friends. In the days when villagers had dynamic personalities, I was able to build connections with them. I can say with certainty that if the feature of collecting villagers’ photo frames hadn’t been removed on the Wii instalment, I would have been able to collect them all. The residents of Celestia were as follows: Alfonso, Apollo, Camofrog, Chevre, Friga, Mallary, Mott, Tangy, Victoria, and Wolfgang. My biggest achievement in my life is that I can remember all 10 of my villagers.
Without a doubt, my favourite villager was Friga. Anytime she would have had a request for a certain item, I would have made it my personal mission that day to get her it. Her villager house was ornately decorated with stained glass wallpaper and items of the regal furniture set, and I liked it so much I copied the exact layout of her house. One of my favourite features of the game was writing letters to my villagers and creating my own perception of all the villager dynamics, for example, fabricating neighbourhood drama.
A vital part of my love for the Animal Crossing franchise was the Special NPC characters. Except for Resetti! The first time he verbally berated me as a child for not saving my game was enough for me to be too scared to ever make the same mistake again. To me, as a child, the closest I would ever get to a night out was sitting in the Roost café with a coffee, watching KK Slider perform. The museum is something in retrospect that I wished I had tried to complete, but all I could ever think about was selling everything I owned to Tom Nook for some bells.
Let’s go to the City, as a game had some charming features that I wish were brought back to other games. The Sunday flea markets were such an underrated feature, as they gave the perfect opportunity for the player to purchase their villager’s furniture. Personally, I was on top of the world when I copped Mott’s spa bathtub. As the title alludes to, the city was the standout feature of this game. My idea of a nice day out consisted of watching Dr Shrunk at the marquee, receiving my fortune from Katrina, dying my hair blue at Shampoodle, avoiding a Crazy Redd artwork scam, and browsing in Gracie Grace.
Since the release of Animal Crossing: Let’s Go to the City, no game has ever evoked such a deep sense of nostalgia. Although New Leaf and New Horizons have added some incredible features to the franchise, there is a connection with this game that will never be replicated. If I had one wish, it would be to have access to my original lost game file.