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Animal Crossing: Wild World

EMAIL PRINT ds

9.0 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 57 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 139 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Nintendo

Genre(s): Role-Playing Game, Adventure

Players: 4

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Release Date: December 5, 2005

Summary

In this sequel to the wildly popular Nintendo GameCube game, players and up to three friends can hang out in the same village and interact in real time - either through wireless LAN or over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Now players can visit a friend's village from thousands of miles away. The touch screen makes item management and world navigation a breeze. Typing letters and designing patterns are now just stylus strokes away. Days and seasons pass in real time, so whether players want to decorate their homes, catch bugs or fish, collect brand-new items like hats and sunglasses or just chat with the wild and wacky characters in their villages, there's always something to do. [Nintendo]

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GAMES: Animal Crossing

Cheat Codes & Hints: GameSpot Guide GameSpot Hints & Cheats

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Thunderbolt

The online multiplayer provides for limitless possibilities for handheld gaming, allowing its participants to access a miniature world where individual style and interactivity reign supreme.

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100

GameShark

Animal Crossing tends to take over your imagination and you start wondering what is happening in your town at all hours of the day and night, because life never stops in Animal Crossing. Be warned, it can become an obsession.

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100

AceGamez

An absolutely essential purchase for every DS owner, and I defy anyone to play it for a week and not to become completely and utterly addicted to it.

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NintendoWorldReport

What really makes the difference, though, is that Animal Crossing: Wild World is one of the first games to take advantage of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, allowing players worldwide to travel to other players' towns.

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Nintendo Power

Truly exceptional. [Jan 2006, p.109]

netjak

An amazing gaming experience. It has something for everyone: fishing, bug hunting, philanthropy (i.e. donating fossils to the museum), epistolatory madness, costume design, music composition, empire building and much more.

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Games Radar UK (Pre-2006)

It's like a digital version of Royston Vasey: the same things happening week by week, a set of unnerving neighbours - but you really will never leave. [GamesMaster]

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WHAM! Gaming

Speaking of navigation, another reason this game is so wonderful is that every last thing you do can be done using your stylus. Typing, walking, drawing, organizing – it’s just a tap or stroke away.

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NGC Magazine UK

The ultimate Animal Crossing: despite its familiarity, this retains the ability to charm your socks off. [Apr 2006, p.34]

Just RPG

With no big battles, mesmerizing graphics, or frustrating challenges, Animal Crossing plummets the player into a new, relaxed world, where your only concerns are to meet the animals, find all species of fish and bugs, excavate ancient fossils, and of course, pay your seemingly endless mortgage to Tom Nook.

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Da Gameboyz

It is also a game that is meant to be played for smaller amounts of time, but over a greater period, since there is so much dependent on calendar dates and times of day.

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Gamer 2.0

Sure, anyone can design their own “Pen Fifteen” flag and t-shirt in real life. But only in Animal Crossing: Wild World can a designer rest assured that the fat blue pig next door is actually wearing that shirt.

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Nintendojo

The best part about it is that there's something new going on every day, whether it's a new neighbor moving in, a nasty snowstorm on the horizon, or a holiday party at City Hall.

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GameSpy

It's endlessly addictive, and thanks to its design, it'll be a long time before you run out of things to do in it. Thanks to the brilliant translation, it's also one of the funniest games that I've playing in some time.

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1UP

It's strangely engrossing, almost therapeutic in its mundanity.

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Yahoo! Games

Animal Crossing on DS is as addictive as ever. What it lacks -- multiple homeowners, NES games, boating to the island -- it makes up for with wireless multiplayer, touch screen control, and the little additions.

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DailyGame

Inexplicably fun, pure and simple.

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Play.tm

Animal Crossing isn't for everyone, but the Nintendo DS realisation of the game is absolutely brilliant, but not - I might add - without its flaws, most of which are thankfully forgivable.

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DarkStation

Nintendo ports over the hugely addictive GameCube sim, and adds more features and online play to the DS. A definite addition to your DS gaming library.

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Pelit (Finland)

About living the life of a cute animal in real-time. The imaginative gameplay is as delightfully Nintendo-like as ever. Sit back and relax either on your own or with friends. [Mar 2006]

Computer and Video Games

Sure, it's not all perfect - there's still only a finite number of things to do in a day and the upper screen doesn't serve much purpose beyond a dedicated place to put sky - but you'll be so powerless to abandon Wild World's idyllic charms, you really won't care.

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VideoGamer

Animal Crossing is less of a game than a way of life; and life is something you have to experience for yourself, rather than have it described to you vicariously.

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N-Europe

A loveable game that delights long after others have faded from memory.

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NTSC-uk

Whether you are a fan of the previous titles or not, the wonderfully incorporated real-time system combined with the villager’s emotional-pull creates a world that has the potential to alter your sleep patterns and actually intertwine and weave its presence into your daily lives.

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Jolt Online Gaming UK

A 'merely' very good game that’s addictive, original, relaxing and exceptionally well-designed, and will literally keep you coming back for months.

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Siliconera

Wild World is a game you’re going to be addicted to for years, there’s always something to do if you play in short breaks and wi-fi connectivity increases Wild World’s replay value. [JPN Import]

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IGN

The game's ability to give the players a sense of accomplishment with all that you can do and experience is enormously rewarding and, at least to me, incredibly addictive.

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Game Informer

The stylus makes selling items (now in bulk!), designing clothes, and writing letters a snap. [Dec 2005, p.186]

N-Insanity

A game that will last forever. Regardless of whether you have human friends or are just playing the game alone, it will likely last you a long, long time.

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GameBrink

Possibly one of the greatest titles ever released on the Nintendo DS system.

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Cheat Code Central

Just don't expect a lot of action and to truly savor the experience, limit your playing to an hour or two a day. Think of this game as a huge, living canvas for you to express yourself with.

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Deeko

Animal Crossing: Wild World can be summed up in two words: Time sucker.

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PALGN

The only real downside to this enjoyable game is that it failed to optimise on what it had available to it.

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eToychest

Animal Crossing is simple and that is its strength. It is also engrossing, addictive, and really, really fun.

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GameBiz

It just seemed to me that for every good addition to the DS game, they left out a good thing or failed to fix a problem that was evident in the first.

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Gaming Target

It's animals: A whole town filled of animals you'll be exchanging words with to get things and to get things done. New items to collect, new bugs, fishes, and more to score, new characters to meet, new things to do, and at last online takes Animal Crossing a step ahead the previous iteration failed to accomplish.

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GameZone

An engaging and compelling life simulator with a quirkiness about itself that young and old will love to play.

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My Gamer

This game is great because you can’t ignore the fact that you will never have so much fun doing chores, running errand for neighbors, and paying bills.

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GameSpot

Wild World doesn't toy with the original Animal Crossing formula, but simply being able to take your town with you on the go makes it an easy recommendation.

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Armchair Empire

For those that want a more relaxed game experience devoid of that “Go! Go! Go!” mentality, you’ll feel quite at home in Animal Crossing: Wild World.

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Gaming Age

Animal Crossing: Wild World doesn’t do anything extraordinary, but it’s highly addicting nonetheless.

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Digital Entertainment News

The original Animal Crossing was touted as a game about social interactivity, but Animal Crossing: Wild World is even moreso.

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Total Video Games

A game quite unlike any other, a game that is wonderfully Nintendo at heart; Animal Crossing: Wild World will either leave a lasting impression, becoming part of your daily routine or have you questioning what the fuss is all about right from the start.

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G4 TV

While none of these issues hold the game back from a playability standpoint, Wild World is closer to an enhanced port than an extravagant sequel.

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Computer Games Magazine

Wild World is more of an expansion than a sequel. The DS version adds online play and a camera that follows you instead of one that shifts from screen to screen. [Mar 2006, p.89]

Games Radar (in-house)

Most Crossing fans won't mind the clunky interface or the lack of other upgrades because there's so much inherent charm seeping through the DS' speakers.

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Eurogamer

I'm playing this version through with, if you can't tell, my girlfriend, and the aspect of simply playing the game with others, either on the same cart, of across Wi-Fi, is a whole new experience, one absolutely fraught with joy, laughter and loveliness.

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3DAvenue

It is a game that doesn’t take much time to play making it perfect for traveling and short trips.

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Sydney Morning Herald

Unusual and delightful. You know you are hooked when you cannot wait to see what your furry friends are up to, or spend hours crafting letters or building the museum collection.

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Edge Magazine

Despite the familiarity, the longer you spend in your scaled-down village, the more you’re soothed into a gentle, constructive daydream which is every bit as charming as in all its other incarnations. [Jan 2005, p.89]

Modojo

It never feels limited, or that you've "done everything"; the game is designed in a such a dynamic and charming manner that while playing you're not only investing your efforts, but also being rewarded for coming back.

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GamerFeed

What Animal Crossing: Wild World does is an amazing job of pulling you into the experience. A majority of the game is crafted with so much authentic human precision, detail and personality that the end result is something that makes you feel inadequate if you don't return the same effort when actually playing.

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Electronic Gaming Monthly

I guarantee nine out of 10 fans of the original "AC" will be disappointed with this one. Oh, we'll still spend hours with it, sucked into its insanity, but this certainly isn't the sequel we were hoping for. [Jan 2005, p.132]

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Game Revolution

After three years, a major hardware shift and a hungry audience, Animal Crossing: Wild World doesn't add anything new to the great original formula.

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Stuff

There are no ogres to impale, no weapons (unless a fishing pole counts as a weapon), no panty-flashing fights between Amazons. Like your stoner brother, the game is a little too laid back for its own good, doesn't have any goals, and it farts like muffler-less Buick whenever it eats peanuts.

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GamePro

For the gamer that likes to live double or triple lives, or for an original Animal Crossing fan, this is a game to pick up. However, for the gamer that demands fast-paced action, storyline, and an imperative need for an ending, this may not be the best game to play.

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Times Online

It may sound mundane, but there are enough winning touches to make the game very playable in short bursts.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 139 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Nicci L gave it a10:
I love this game. Both my children play too, we love the fun of just fishing & harvesting fruit, collecting fossils and growing flowers. A great game that is not understood until you've played a while and then you get totally hooked.

Mel M gave it a6:
Quickly became boring when I realized there really wasn't that much to do. After awhile I messed with the clock on my DS to manipulate the seasons which became less colorful as fall and winter came around. Even playing with a friend didn't capture my interest. Ugh. But a heck of a lot better than the game 'Deal or No Deal'. What was I thinking??

Elliott W gave it a10:
Stunning. My favourite DS game, You'll be playing it for years, up to 6 months at a time. Every day is a unique expierence. For a full review, go to the metacritic page for the wii version, and look for my review, as the two games are pretty much the same. P.S: The wii version is critically UNDER-RATED. It may be a simaler game to the DS version, but that's what makes it great.

Antonio L. gave it a5:
one word..overrated. everyone seems to like to the simple things this game portrays-like fishing, collecting turnips, bug catching, and socializing with your neighbors. the world in animal crossing ww is very limited, it's like taking care of a tamagochi except it doesnt die. lastly there are soo many items in the game, and most are for just decorations to be rated. but it's fun if you dont think outside the game. lastly i think the creators made this game so people who bought the game with their hard earned cash will want to try to beat an endless usatisfied game and those who haven't used a cheat code will play endlessly into this repetitive game. This game did make me realize how much they pull in the gamers, you will see a different view of the game if you use cheat codes. ps the resetti will make you hate the creators of the game, feels like they just insulted my freedom to use the game.

Julia T. gave it a10:
This game is very fun, I liked, I play sometimes and is exciting!

Ruby K. gave it a10:
i play this game everyday!! yeah should sometimes it gets boring but it the best games invented!!!

Bob M. gave it a10:
This is just plain Great!

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Animal Crossing: Wild World

Game Info

Summary

Also On Metacritic

What The Critics Said

What Our Users Said

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