E3: 2002 Animal Crossing impressions

During this morning's press conference, Nintendo representatives showcased the company's lineup of games for 2002, one of which was Animal Crossing. Directly implementing Nintendo's focus on connectivity between players, and between the GameCube and Game Boy Advance, Animal Crossing is a game that lets players control every facet of their animal avatar's life as they sleep, work, and play in a small hometown village inhabited by other woodland creatures.

Visually, Animal Crossing is reminiscent of the Harvest Moon series of games in that it features a cartoon rendition of a farming community, with rustic homes, NPC neighbors, and duties on the homestead. You will work the fields to grow a variety of fruits and plants, which can be sold in exchange for bells, the game's currency. Bells can in turn be exchanged for new clothing and goods for your character to accumulate. Almost like a fantasy version of The Sims, Animal Crossing lets you establish a personalized home in your community, as well as decorate your living areas with furniture and even such luxuries as stereo equipment. Up to four human players can live in the same village, so you can take your own Animal Crossing information to a friend's home and have other players drop by to check out your village.

Animal Crossing stresses additional play aspects, which are directly influenced by Nintendo's connectivity features. You can travel to an island off the coast of your hometown and, on this island, bring the Game Boy Advance's features into play. The Game Boy Advance can be linked to the GameCube as a controller with the upcoming link cable, which will let you save information to your GameCube memory cards, including custom-designed outfits for the Animal Crossing characters. You will also be able to download classic Nintendo games to your Game Boy Advance with the original Donkey Kong, shown with Animal Crossing. You will also be able to use the E-Card reader with Animal Crossing to upload new information to your games, including new soundtracks and village themes, character model outfits, and furniture.

One of the more interesting aspects of Animal Crossing is the way that everything plays out in the fantasy world in real time. Based on the internal GameCube clock, the game will represent the passage of night and day, as well as each of the four seasons and holidays.

Animal Crossing has already been released in Japan, with a large community of players picking up the game, ranging from children to adults. Stay tuned --we'll have hands-on impressions of Animal Crossing from the E3 show floor.