is a 2005 social simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. It was released in Japan in November 2005, in North America and Australia in December 2005, and in Europe in March 2006. It is the second installment in the Animal Crossing series, and the sequel to Animal Crossing on the GameCube.

Wild World focuses on living in a remote village populated with anthropomorphic animals, where the player character is encouraged to perform a number of tasks, such as collecting and planting. Like all Animal Crossing titles, the game is synced to the console's clock and calendar, allowing the game to be played in real-time, which affects the occurrence of in-game events based on the current time of day or season. Wild World utilized Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, which allowed players to travel and visit the villages of other players via online play, until the service was shut down in May 2014. It was additionally re-released on the Wii U Virtual Console in October 2016.

Gameplay

thumb|left|The player goes fishing during the daytime.

Like all the games in the Animal Crossing series, Wild World is an open-ended game in which the player assumes the role of a human who has moved into a village populated with anthropomorphic animals. During their time spent in the village, the player is able to perform a number of various activities, such as collecting items, fish and insects, or socializing with the village's residents.

Online connectivity

Wild World was the first game in the Animal Crossing series to feature online play and was the second game on the DS to utilize the now defunct Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, with which players could visit other villages. Because players were required to exchange and register Friend Codes prior to visiting, connection to random villages was not possible. Up to four DS systems can explore the same village simultaneously.

As of May 20, 2014, online functionality offered through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection is no longer accessible. The discontinued services include online play, matchmaking and leaderboards in which Animal Crossing: Wild World, as well as many other online DS and Wii games, are affected.

Development

The game was announced at E3 2004 under the tentative title Animal Crossing DS, where it was revealed to utilize the Nintendo DS touch screen and implement multiplayer capabilities. When development on Animal Crossing: Wild World began, it was decided that nothing was going to be region-specific in order to make the game easier to localize. Therefore, certain events that were originally observed in Animal Crossing, such as those based on Halloween, Christmas, and the Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival, are not observed in Wild World. This rule was applied to the variety of fish and insects the player is able to collect.

In 2008, journalists who were sent copies of Animal Crossing: City Folk for review were also sent copies of Wild World that contained existing save data to demonstrate the game's ability to transfer a player's inventory from Wild World to City Folk. On December 3, it was reported that one of the animal characters in the modified copies of Wild World had its customizable catchphrase set to "Ñiggá". The edited slur had not been caught by the game's profanity detection system, which prevents players from setting character dialogue to anything deemed distasteful. Nintendo issued an official apology and recalled the modified copies, stating that the incident was caused by a wireless function that automatically transfers catchphrases between games.

Reception

Animal Crossing: Wild World received positive reviews, gaining an aggregate score of 86 out of 100 on Metacritic. In 2009, Official Nintendo Magazine called the game "Brilliant!", placing it 23rd on a list of greatest Nintendo games.

Sales

On December 1, 2005, Media Create stated that Animal Crossing: Wild World sold 325,460 copies in Japan in its first week of availability, beating the previous mark set by Jump Super Stars and becoming the best-selling title for the Nintendo DS until the release of Brain Age 2. It was the 29th best-selling game in Japan as of 2008, selling 4.7 million copies by July that year. It received a "Double Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

As of March 31, 2016, Wild World has sold 11.75 million copies worldwide. and several remixes of music tracks.

Notes

References

  • Animal Crossing: Wild World at Nintendo.com (archives of the original at the Internet Archive)

nn:Animal Crossing#Animal Crossing: Wild World