The timeline of the first generation of Animal Crossing
games is more extensive than you might think. Starting with the original Japanese N64 game in 2001, this one game has seen seven distinct regional
releases and enhancements over the years. Naturally, despite being the same game at heart, there are a lot of differences between
all of these versions of the game. So, today we dive in the regional versions of this game
and discuss each version's own unique quirks! Also I'd like to thank Surfshark VPN for appropriately
sponsoring this video, but more on them later... For now, let's start our discussion
on the many versions of Animal Crossing. Doubutsu no Mori, the very first release of Animal Crossing, launched on the Nintendo 64
exclusively in Japan on April 14th, 2001. This was notably the last first-party N64 game ever released,
as the GameCube would launch just 5 months later! And, as the very first iteration of this game,
it is unsurprisingly the most lackluster... This original version is missing: the museum, the Able Sisters,
Kapp'n's boat, the entire island, house upgrades... and a significant amount of events and holidays. Series staples like the golden tools and the
dreaded sea bass weren't even present here. And, since the Game Boy Advance could not connect
to the N64, there is obviously no GBA support either. In fact, the main aspect of the entire game,
that is playing in real-time, is tied specifically to a battery inside the cartridge. This battery is responsible for powering
Doubutsu no Mori's real-time clock chip, and there are actually only sixteen N64 games
that use a battery inside a cartridge. Of course, once this battery runs dry,
time will no longer move forward, and your clock will constantly reset to
January 1st, 2001 every time you power off the console. This game is also one of only three first-party
N64 games to utilize the Controller* Pak accessory. This thing plugged into the back of a Nintendo 64 controller,
and essentially serves as a 32KB memory card. In terms of actual gameplay,
there are a few unique items in this game, but the most interesting things about this version largely originate from the game's
development and beta content. Following Nintendo's infamous "gigaleak," several early assets
were shown from Doubutsu no Mori's development. Most famously, these human character models are present, named SOLDIER1, SOLDIER2, and OBA, meaning "aunt." It's possible that these human characters were
leftovers from when the game was more RPG-focused. It's even possible that these characters
were redesigned entirely into animals. See, SOLDIER1 and SOLDIER2 share
similarities with Booker and Copper, where one is tall and slender, and the other is short and heavier. Further, the names SOLDIER1 and SOLDIER2 aren't too far off from Copper and Booker's Japanese names
of "Police Officer A" and "Police Officer B." Also, the OBA character shares a similar internal name to Joan, suggesting that this character
could have been the base design for her Other interesting leftovers include early models for Blathers and
Wisp, who, again, do not actually appear in the final game. There are also design specifications
for an unused dungeon map, resembling the style that Ocarina of Time used in development. Finally, there were several leftover
sprites and textures found in this leak, including an actual sprite for the 'sickle' tool that is still
left over in the item IDs for the international versions. It appears the developers also had a
lot of fun designing clothing textures, as there are a ton of leftovers that
reference real-world media and companies. Several shirt textures reference characters
and designs from Mobile Suit Gundam. There are also designs referencing
the alien from Space Invaders, Sachiel from Neon Genesis Evangelion, the clothing brand Nike, and, of course, Link from The Legend of Zelda. Now, let's shift over to one of the most obscure
and rarely talked about versions of Animal Crossing. But first, I'd like to quickly thank Surfshark VPN
once again for sponsoring this video! Just like how certain content is locked
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not present on the American version. But, with Surfshark, you can simply set your location
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ads, trackers, and malware to keep you safe. If all of this sounds appealing, you can get Surfshark VPN yourself with an extra three months free with code HUNTERR, or by following the link in the description! With that said, this is Dòngwù Sēnlín, and it's technically
the last version of Animal Crossing on our timeline, released five years after the original N64 game. This version was released exclusively
in China on the iQue Player. For the unfamiliar, the iQue Player is a Chinese-exclusive
"console" that plays a handful of localized Nintendo 64 games. I say "console" like that since this is really just
a sort of controller plug 'n play hybrid, with the entirety of a Nintendo 64
lying within the controller itself. Only fourteen games were ever released for this thing, and the last one ever distributed was this port
of the original Doubutsu no Mori in 2006. If this sounds like a late release for a
Nintendo 64 game... it definitely was... In fact, this version of Animal Crossing released an
entire year after Wild World launched on the DS. Like Japan, this game's title
translates literally to "Animal Forest," and despite being the last released version of Animal Crossing,
it is ironically based on the very first N64 version. This means that this version also lacks all of the features
of every other game that came in between these two, and is largely a 1:1 localization of the N64 game. However, there are some interesting
changes and quirks with this game. Naturally, the game is entirely in Chinese, but
the player input uses a unique QWERTY keyboard UI, reflecting the design of the iQue controller. This input is fairly involved, too, as it naturally allows for the
input of Chinese characters, of which there are thousands. There are also several unique and reworked items in this game, most of which change Japanese-related
items into more Chinese-related ones. Interestingly, there are also several oversights with this
version as a result of being a localized translation. For example, some holidays were removed due to
their Japanese cultural references... ...but code relating to these holidays, such as
the calls to clear the weather, still exist in this version. So, a handful of days in this version
will just always be clear weather. Further, the official cover art for this
game is astonishingly incorrect... Blathers, O'Hare, and Maelle feature rather prominently on
this cover, despite never appearing in the game at all. However, I'm willing to cut them
some slack, since, quite amazingly, this iQue port of the game was seemingly
handled entirely by one person... While the game's credits only site iQue Corp.
on top of the original Japanese credits, this somewhat reputable post claims to have
translated and ported the entire game by himself. Translating this post, we can read: I almost single-handedly translated Animal Crossing,
with its millions of words, taking over 2 years. Initially, there were two of us translators,
but the other one left to study abroad. it wasn't until after Animal Crossing was
translated that the company went public and expanded its translation team. The translation style that is still used by the
company today was basically established by me. I can't exactly verify this information, but the other posts
by this user go rather in-depth on similar projects, and the topics shared align with
our existing knowledge of the game. So, in the case that this entire game was ported by
a single person, I suppose I can forgive a few errors... ...and some... uh... rather unpleasant models and texturing. Next, let's make the leap to Nintendo's
next-generation, ultra-powerful GameCube! And wait... the game looks exactly the same...? Welcome to Doubutsu no Mori+, once again exclusive to Japan, and impressively released just eight months
after the original Doubutsu no Mori. This version of the game is essentially what
the developers wanted the original to be, and now we're starting to get closer to the version of
the game that you all are likely familiar with. A lot of series staples started here, including the
introduction of Blathers and the entire museum! It's likely some of you are familiar with
the many additions in this version, since the international versions of Animal Crossing
were actually based on this version of the game. Again, this version was released just eight months
after the original Doubutsu no Mori, so Nintendo probably knew that there would be some
double-dippers from the original Nintendo 64 version. They took this opportunity to charge extra money for a service to transfer your player data from the
N64 game to the newer GameCube version. Anyways, Doubutsu no Mori+ also introduced a fair amount
of GBA support with the island and NES download play. However, it was notably missing in-game e-Reader support, since the original Japanese e-Reader
was not able to connect to the GameCube. But this still didn't stop Nintendo from releasing
e-Reader cards for Doubutsu no Mori+ shortly after the game's release. Of course, since you can't scan these cards in-game,
you had to scan them standalone on the GBA, and doing so resulted in the GBA displaying a password code, which you then had to copy
character-for-character into the GameCube game... A very obnoxious process, to say the least. To find true e-Reader support in-game, we have
to travel overseas to the land of the free... ...and also Canada is here. We've finally arrived to the North American version of
Animal Crossing, released in September 2002. This is, of course, the version I've largely been blabbing
about on this channel for the last few months! You'll likely know that Animal Crossing is one of,
if not the most, ambitious localization project that Nintendo of America has ever taken on... That is the amount of changes and modifications from
Doubutsu no Mori+ to Animal Crossing is quite staggering... We're talking new characters, new items,
full e-Reader scanning support... and eye colors! Nintendo of America also went crazy with the holidays... adding Groundhog's Day, Valentine's Day, April Fool's Day,
Founder's Day, Explorer's Day, Sale Day... ...on top of... Hometown Day, Labor Day, Mayor Day,
Snow Day, Toy Day, and your birthday! And, existing holidays like New Year's also have
entirely new animations and events tied to them. If this wasn't enough, NoA also localized
the entirety of the Animal Island GBA minigame, and even introduced an easier way to enter
secret passwords with the Nook Code system. All this said, I think Animal Crossing's port of
Doubutsu no Mori+ in just nine months is equally as impressive as the
original transition to the GameCube. Anyways, I don't want to spend too much time
talking about the North American release, since my entire channel is essentially dedicated to covering
the various glitches and obscurities of this version anyways... The point here is that Nintendo of America's localization
of Animal Crossing was actually so impressive that Nintendo (of Japan) themselves localized
this version back into Japanese once again. And, this is it. Largely considered the definitive version
of the original Animal Crossing, Doubutsu no Mori e+ is the enhanced, localized re-release
of an enhanced, localized re-release... Released alongside a new e-Reader
device that could connect to the GameCube, Doubutsu no Mori e+ launched on
June 27th, 2003 exclusively in Japan. This means means that there are now three
separate, enhanced versions of the same game, that all released within just a couple of years of each other... Anyways, once you get into e+, it is truly the definitive version. There are so many cool features here that
are unfortunately locked to this version. First and foremost, the title screen theme has been
revamped to be more upbeat with added percussion, and a lot of people seem to prefer the e+ version... The game now also makes use of the
GameCube's improved graphics, and renders text at a much higher
resolution than the original game. e+ also introduces a ton of new items, fish, bugs, and villagers! Villagers have vastly expanded dialogue, and they can now become your best friend through a new friendship mechanic. They can also become sick and require medicine,
or catch fleas which need to be removed with your net. Further personality has been added to Tom Nook, where you can
now bang your shovel against his shop after-hours and he will sleepily open up to let you in... Although, Nook's after-hours isn't all too great, as
he now moves at a ridiculously sluggish pace and charges 20% more for items and buys for 30% less... e+ even added the Reset Surveillance Center
as an actual location you can visit after encountering Resetti a couple times. Throughout the week, a rock in your town
can be broken to reveal a hole leading down to the Resetti brothers' secret hideout. Upon entering, Resetti will be shocked that you found
your way in here and he'll tell you not to touch anything! And, yes, that is a magazine featuring a mole with a bikini... But, perhaps most interesting, there are several additions
exclusive to e+ that require some extra accessories. First, let's talk about this thing. Known as the "GameCube SD Card Adapter," this is... well... an SD card adapter in the shape of a GameCube memory card. To my knowledge, only two
GameCube games support this thing -- -- those being e+ here, and the
Japanese version of Pokémon Channel. With this adapter, the GameCube can now read and write to
a formatted SD card up to a whopping 2GB in size! With this device connected to e+, you're actually able to take
screenshots in-game and save them to the SD card, which is not too dissimilar from future games. But, the real appeal to this thing was the ability
to save your entire town to the SD card and send it to a friend online. They could then download your town on their own SD card, play
around in it themselves, and then send you your town back. To make this work, when you save your town to an SD card,
the game freezes your town in a weird limbo state until you can restore it via an SD card,
or choose to cancel the process altogether. Interestingly, you can still choose to play
your town while it's being lent out via SD, but the startup villager will warn you
that time has frozen entirely... Indeed, if you boot up into your town,
you'll notice things are a bit off... ...as the clock no longer ticks forward and the game
now uses a strange, gray palette for all of its grass. Originally thought to be unused, Cuyler recently discovered
that these color palettes are, somewhat morbidly, referred to as "earth_nuke" in the code. Regardless, these palettes are used exclusively for this
SD card "limbo" state, which I found super interesting. Finally, the e-Reader continues to never disappoint, as a function exclusive to e+
allows for a form of custom villager DLC! Similar to New Horizons and amiibo cards, you can swipe e-Reader cards in-game
to move most villagers into your town! This means we can create data for a villager with a
customized name, model, personality, and clothing... In fact, we can even draw our own textures
for this villager to be rendered in-game! Theoretically, all of this can be saved to valid e-Reader data, which can be scanned in-game to get
your customized villager to move into your town! I think this is one of the coolest things
about any version of the original Animal Crossing... and, once again, Cuyler is responsible
for bringing this discovery to light! Cuyler actually released a standalone
e+ Villager Creator program back in 2019, which you can use to easily create custom villagers to
import in-game, which is just super awesome to see. So, from all the new items and villagers,
to the quality-of-life improvements and new features... I definitely consider e+ to be the
definitive version of Animal Crossing. Despite the European version of Animal Crossing releasing
over a year after the superior e+ version, it is unfortunately still a direct
port of the North American version... Even as a port, the EU version actually loses features... ...as the e-Reader terminal and all the
references to it are removed entirely since the e-Reader was never released in Europe. It's pretty pretty wild how many iterations
this one little game went through, but I'm forever grateful that these games
have given me lots to talk about! As always, I extend a special thanks to Cuyler for
a lot of datamined information in this video and for his knowledge of the Japanese versions! Further thank you to Nookipedia and the spreadsheet teams
for documenting these games so in- depth. And, I'd like to once again thank
Surfshark VPN for sponsoring this video! If you're interested in their services,
I encourage you to check out my link in the description or use code HUNTERR for three months free! Finally, a big shoutout to my Patreon
and YouTube members for always supporting me here! And, yeah, there's also an
Australian version of this game.
