Animal Crossing: City Folk

Animal Crossing: City Folk (街へ行こうよ どうぶつの森, Machi he ikō yo: Dōbutsu no mori, lit. Animal Forest: Let's Go to The City), known as Animal Crossing: Let's Go To The City in PAL regions, is Nintendo's Wii installment in the. Nintendo released the game on November 16, 2008 in North America. In Japan, Europe, and Australia the game was released on November 20, 2008, December 5, 2008, and December 4, 2008, respectively. The title boasts a variety of changes and additions to the Animal Crossing formula, including the ability to travel to the City.

The game's MSRP was originally $49.99, like most Wii games, but was later dropped to $19.99 after becoming part of the first round of Nintendo Select's games. Some editions of City Folk included Nintendo's Wii Speak, but this stopped with the production of the Wii Speak. These editions of City Folk were sold for $69.99, but was later dropped to $34.99-$49.99.

New Features
City Folk took advantage of the WiiConnect24 functionality of the Wii console allowing players to connect to the internet for special features when they are not playing. City Folk also makes use of a new feature with Wii Speak, allowing players to talk to each other when visiting other towns. City Folk also introduced a new way to switch between inventory items using the d-pad along with, for a first time in the series, being able to look up at the sky by pressing "Up" on the d-pad. Additionally, silver items can be found, along with the golden and original versions.

The City & New Attractions
The newest incarnation of the Animal Crossing series features a newly accessible location called the City. The City houses most of the characters that, in previous games, were considered special visitors. These include Gracie the Giraffe, Redd the Fox and Harriet the Poodle, among other characters such as Dr. Shrunk and Lyle. The City is accessible via Kapp'n's bus and is open all hours of the day. Most of the shops close at 9 PM daily, with the exception of Redd's Store and The Resetti Surveillance Center. The City also introduces new characters such as Phineas and Kicks, into the franchise.

Moving
When moving in, the player has two options" to start fresh or to move in as the DS. Moving in as the player from the DS will only keep the player's catalog and appearance. Items in pockets, Bells, and house progress will not move with the character.

Wi-Fi
This version of the Animal Crossing series featured Wi-Fi capabilites, which was earlier implemented in the previous game, Wild World. This feature gave the player access to other towns, enabled them to communicate with friends' towns with letters, and also provided players with special items sent from time to time from Nintendo, many of which reference some of the company's best-selling games. It also allowed players to experience the Mysterious Cat, an event that enabled a visit from Blanca.

On May 20, 2014, Nintendo shut down the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service, ending the Wi-Fi capabilities found in City Folk.

Development and Unveiling
The conception of Animal Crossing: City Folk began during the process of producing and was confirmed that an Animal Crossing title for the Wii, then codenamed Revolution, was in development. Katsuya Eguchi, the producer of both titles, suggested that the two titles may be able to link up to one another at E3 2005. In 2006, Eguchi confirmed that City Folk was still just a concept and very little work had been completed. His time was being consumed by research and development of the Wii console. The Animal Crossing team explored ways to involve the Wii Remote. They planned to allow players to use tools, such as the axe, shovel, and fishing rod. They also explored the use of WiiConnect24 in the hopes that a player could visit a friend's town even when he or she was not playing. The friend could then leave letters or gifts. Additionally, they planned to use Wi-Fi Connection to allow simultaneous play. At this point in time, however, the title was still not playable.

In early 2007, Nintendo of Japan unveiled its video game lineup for the coming year; it included "Doubutsu no Mori". Having finished the Mii Channel for Wii, Animal Crossing: Wild World director Hisashi Nogami joined the Animal Crossing team once more. Later that year, Edge Magazine reported that a trusted source confirmed that City Folk would be a massively multiplayer online game. The publication declined to name the source. Nintendo failed to release the title in 2007. Online publication IGN Wii predicted that the title would arrive in 2008.

At E3 2008, Reggie Fils-Aime unveiled the title in playable form under the name Animal Crossing: City Folk. It was released in November 2008.

Reception
Initial editorial previews of the title from IGN and GameSpy indicate that, as with the title's predecessor,, "Nintendo has made very few changes to the title and that people, who played all the past Animal Crossing games, will not find much in City Folk, although the game was still fun and might appeal to newcomers." IGN gave City Folk a 7.5/10 rating. GameSpot gave a positive preview of the title, noting the charm of the game, but gave the game a 7.5/10 rating.

Trivia

 * City Folk was the first game in the series to be released in another country before its release in Japan.