Data Moving Service
The Data Moving Service (データお引越しサービス, Dēta o hikkoshi sābisu) was a service provided by Nintendo in Japan that allowed players to transfer their player data from Doubutsu no Mori to Doubutsu no Mori+ by sending in a Nintendo 64 Controller Pak and a Nintendo GameCube Memory Card 59 containing data from Doubutsu no Mori and Doubutsu no Mori+ respectively. The service costed ¥630 (approximately $5 USD at the time) and began on January 10, 2002, one month after the release of Doubutsu no Mori+.[1]
The service worked as if the player was moving into town, and as such required existing town data for Doubutsu no Mori+ on the memory card in which there was at least one unoccupied house and no existing player with the same name as the one moving. The following data would be transferred to the GameCube title during the Data Moving Service:
- Player name, gender, face, and clothing
- Catalog information (the dreadful painting, novel painting, I love 64 shirt, and N cube shirt are not transferred as they no longer exist in the catalog)
- Items in the player's pockets, with the exception of villager favor items and letters, which are removed, and the two removed shirts, which turn into Patched Shirts. This was the only way to obtain the Dreadful Painting and Novel Painting in Doubutsu no Mori+.
- Bug and fish encyclopedia
- Letters saved at the post office, but only if the GameCube Memory Card did not have any letter data already
In addition to the data transferred over, the save file would be set to a state after completing Tom Nook's part-time job and joining the Happy Room Academy, and the Ice Climber furniture item will be placed in the player's house, which was the only way to obtain it in Doubutsu no Mori+.
The exact date the Data Moving Service was discontinued is unknown; however, its webpage was accessible until at least 2005.[nb 1][2][3]
A similar feature is offered by Doubutsu no Mori e+ that transfers data between Doubutsu no Mori+ and Doubutsu no Mori e+ if data for both games is present on either the same Nintendo GameCube Memory Card or two separate Memory Cards inserted in the same Nintendo GameCube. This will transfer the player's name, appearance, birthday, encyclopedia, catalogue, and on-hand designs, but will not transfer their inventory, house, letters, Able Sisters designs, or anything else.[4] Catalogued items appearing in Doubutsu no Mori+ but not Doubutsu no Mori e+ will not appear in the latter's catalogue upon transferring. This was the only way to catalogue Donkey Kong 3 and Punchout aside from secret codes, for which the latter was never distributed; however, both games are not for sale from the catalogue in any case.
See also
Notes
- ↑ A capture of webpage as of March 12, 2005 on archive.org shows the page still active, with no mention of the service's discontinuation. The next documented capture on February 22, 2006 shows a "page not found" error, suggesting the service was discontinued between March 2005 and February 2006.
References
- ↑ Nintendo. "Animal Forest Data Moving Service!". Archived from the original on February 6, 2003. Retrieved August 30, 2020. (Japanese)
- ↑ Nintendo. "Animal Forest Data Moving Service!". Archived from the original on March 12, 2005. Retrieved August 30, 2020. (Japanese)
- ↑ Nintendo. "Page Not Found". Archived from the original on February 22, 2006. Retrieved August 30, 2020. (Japanese)
- ↑ Nintendo. "About moving". Retrieved August 30, 2020. (Japanese)
