If you’ve played an Animal Crossing game, we bet you’d probably agree that there’s nothing else out there truly like it. From the way you can interact with the animal villagers to the way the game syncs up to the internal clock in your system to make the wild world that much more immersive, it’s truly a special experience.
But did you know there is such a game that snatched up the animal village simulator style straight out of Nintendo’s hands and mashed it up with the DNA of Harry Potter? We're of course talking about Magician's Quest: Mysterious Times (also known in Europe as Enchanted Folk and the School of Wizardry) for the Nintendo DS.
Not only does Magician's Quest feature a rolling overworld with animal NPCs to befriend, but it also features other key elements of Animal Crossing formula. The ability to send letters, shake trees, and decorate your room are all present here. Heck, you'll even be punished for shutting off your game without saving, just don't expect to see Resetti. But that doesn't mean the game doesn't have its fair share of ideas.
For your viewing pleasure, we've gone ahead and summarized the majority of Magician's Quests features and compared them to the Animal Crossing series in the video above. Be warned though, we didn't have as much fun playing it as we hoped we would.
Have you heard of or played Magician's Quest: Mysterious Times? Are you interested in seeing a modern version hit the Switch? Let us know your thoughts down below?
Comments 13
I had a lot of fun playing this game. Unfortunately it had a bug that caused it to crash when you reached a certain point in the game. I could never get around it, so I gave up playing.
Hah, never heard of it too. Could be fun to try.
@RPGamer Yeah. I remember PB&Jeff.
Loved this game so much. Would love an updated version.
Sometimes I feel like Nintendo Life isn't really that knowledgeable about Nintendo.
KONAMI left the Magician's Quest for 3DS without getting localised since 2012. 😒
KONAMI was too busy to create more Pachinko machines and BEMANI games Arcade with Online to unlock the hidden songs and quick upgrade the series without making another Arcade machines again.
Also, MySims Wii / NDS by EA was an Animal Crossing "Clone" without animals as your friends but humans, just like The Sims.
Another clone again, but this game Japan only and the objection on this game is different (save the world , beat the evil wizards by dancing and singing with other animals). The game is MahoCole: Mahou * Idol Collection 3DS.
Damn, I bought this for 10 bucks used a few years ago. I knew what it was and now I'm really considering selling it on ebay.
I thought Enchanted Folk was pretty well known back when it came out, especially because it was such an obvious Animal Crossing clone. Given that fact, it doesn't make a lot of sense that the reviewer here only played for a couple of hours and gave his thoughts on the game based on that alone, because just like Animal Crossing, not a lot of things happen during those first couple of hours. It's been a long time since I've played it, but I recall thinking there was a lot more to do in it than in Wild World, although Wild World felt more 'polished' and there was more to the dialogue. Wild World didn't let you cast fart spells, though. I'm sure the game still holds up considering even the original Animal Crossing is still very playable today.
Hopefully Konami will make us a new one, they make amazing games.
The biggest disappointment in that game was that the villagers didn't respond to the runelike chat system. But it had other neat features AC was missing at the time - including progressing friendships and (blushie) dating.
@Anti-Matter i know T^T luckily someone on the homebrew community that i am at is trying to english patch the 3ds version of the games <'3 but sadly they are experiencing some regular flu so we gotta wait. i am hoping the person get's better, and although; the game you mentioned with the video down below, i heard about it but i never played it xD..now i want to.
Animal Crossing killah?
I happen to have a copy of this since it was a nightmare to track down in stores and also fairly expensive at the time, so I'm keeping tight hold of it. Just a pity my favorite character keeps moving away when I forget about the game and I have to keep resetting for him.
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