Getting Started

There's a lot to do in Animal Crossing, so let's start from the beginning.

Before You Start…

Before you can catch a bus to your new town, you'll first have to setup a few basic things, including the date and time. But more interestingly, if you have Animal Crossing: Wild Word for the Nintendo DS, you can actually import your character and play as him or her in City Folk! And better yet, the items you added to your catalog in Wild World will also be carried over to City Folk, where they can be purchased from Tom Nook at rock-bottom prices! Once you're done setting things up, it's time to catch the bus to town!

The Wheels on the Bus go Round and Round

Your Animal Crossing life begins on a bus ride to your new home town. A short ways into the ride, a friendly cat named Rover will sit across from you and begin making small talk. Although he may seem nosy, the questions he asks plant the seeds of your future, so answer wisely!

Choosing a Home

Once the bus drops you off, you're free to explore the town. But one of your first tasks should be choosing a place to stay. Check your map to locate the four vacant houses scattered about. While the choice is yours, we strongly suggest choosing the one that's closest to Tom Nook's store--it'll save you a lot of time running back and forth in the long run.

Be friendly to your neighbors, as they'll often give you goodies in return.

After you've checked out some of the homes, a strange raccoon known as Tom Nook will be waiting for you outside. Turns out he's the landlord of this property, as well as the local shop owner, and he wants to know if you're interested in buying it. If you accept, he'll quickly put you to work in order to make your first payment.

Working

Despite you having almost no say in the matter, working for Tom Nook isn't so bad. In fact, it gives you a chance to meet some of the town's residents and come to grips with how life in Animal Crossing works. The tasks are all pretty self-explanatory, and help cover the fundamentals of Animal Crossing. Once you've completed all of Nook's tasks, he'll let you off the hook. You're still going to have to make the payments on your home though!