Doubutsu no Mori

Dōbutsu no Mori (どうぶつの森, lit. Animal Forest), often referred to as Animal Forest in English, is the first installment in the and was released exclusively in Japan for the Nintendo 64. Despite being released late in the console's life cycle, the game still managed to sell 213,800 units, making it the 28th best-selling title on the system. Dōbutsu no Mori is compatible with the Expansion Pak and features a sharper image when used, its resolution improving from 320x240 to 640x480 pixels per inch. Because the Nintendo 64 was at the end of its life, was released just eight months later as a sequel for Nintendo GameCube.

Development
The game originally began as an interactive multiplayer RPG that focused on cooperation among players to reach common goals. The game was to be developed for the Nintendo 64DD and would take advantage of the system's expanded memory and internal clock. As the market for the 64DD began to wane, the project was ported over to the Nintendo 64. Due to the memory limitations now faced, many aspects of the original game had to be completely redesigned. The original title featured an antihero who had to enlist the help of animals to make his way through the game. These animals' sleep and wake cycles would be affected by the built-in clock. The designers ended up removing many of the goal-oriented elements from the game including dungeons, bosses and monsters, leaving only the core aspects of communication and the idea of an environment that operated in real time. Working within the limitations of the N64, the team relied on an open-ended and addictive gameplay experience that would keep the player coming back, as opposed to a goal-oriented approach. To accomplish this, the team included a variety of large and small tasks for the player to accomplish, in order to provide a sense of satisfaction for all play styles.

Gamecube port similarities

 * Animal Forest has been re released on the Nintendo GameCube with a translation of Animal Forest e+.
 * Resetti still does the resetting punishment.
 * The real-time clock made a new feature for games.
 * K.K. Slider is still in the game.
 * Famicom (NES) games are in it.
 * Copper, Booker, Tom Nook, and others are in it.
 * Questions are asked to determine the player's look.
 * Tools are also the same.
 * The player still owes debt to Tom Nook.
 * Nook's Shop upgrades are in it.

Gamecube port differences

 * The Able Sisters and their shop is not in Animal Forest, thus designs are not available.
 * Some of the wallpapers and carpets from Animal Forest are redesigned or removed in.
 * Some of the clothing from Animal Forest, for example, the N Logo shirt (G Logo in Animal Crossing), are redesigned or removed in Animal Crossing.
 * Two sets of stationary from Animal Forest are redesigned, the New Year's Card and the Fortune Paper.
 * The holidays found in Animal Forest are either changed or removed in.
 * Tom Nook wears very slightly different uniforms.
 * The Wishing Well from is a Bell Shrine in Animal Forest. On New Year's Day, instead of tossing a coin in the fountain, the player shakes the pole in the middle and the bells ring.
 * The input keyboard from is a dial that contains the letters, numbers, and symbols that appear on the screen in Animal Forest.
 * In, Gulliver would give the player a rare furniture piece for saving him. In Animal Forest, he gives the player a random furniture piece.
 * In, three items could be stored in container furniture such as dressers, wardrobes, etc. In Animal Forest, only one item can be stored in those kinds of furniture.
 * In, any house the player starts out with has a cardboard box with a college rule journal. In Animal Forest, this feature is not included.
 * In, the catalog has a section called "Handhelds" where umbrellas, pinwheels, fans, balloons and tools could be ordered. In Animal Forest, this section is called "Umbrellas" and only umbrellas can be ordered from that section. This means pinwheels, fans, balloons, and tools cannot be ordered from the catalog.
 * In, the player can store multiple air checks in Stereos, Radios, etc. In Animal Forest, only one air check could be stored in them.
 * Buildings such as Tom Nook's shop, the Post Office, and the Dump have slightly redesigned logos in.
 * There is no Museum, thus there is no Blathers. The Faraway Museum still exists, and fossils can be sent there for identification.
 * Taking a trip on Animal Forest requires the player have 1 Controller Pak to save travel data on, and two Controller Paks are needed to travel directly. In, an extra Memory Card is used to save travel data, and the player can travel directly to the other town if 2 Memory Cards with town data are in use at the same time.
 * The American has e-Reader support, as well as the Japanese GameCube e+ version of Animal Forest along with e-Reader+ support. The European version of  and Animal Forest have no e-Reader support. Instead of an e-reader machine in the Post Office, there is a bench instead.
 * Tortimer is absent in Animal Forest, making any gifts from him unobtainable.
 * During the Cherry Blossom Festival, all the villagers sit on mats as the Japanese do.
 * Katrina wears a white headband instead of the normal veil that she wears.
 * Instead of buying stationary as a pack of four, only one piece of paper can be bought at a time.