Animal Crossing: New Leaf is edging closer and closer towards its Western release date and we think it's fair to say there are a lot of 3DS owners out there chomping at the bit to get hold of it.
As if the hype needed building up any more Nintendo has kindly translated the Animal Crossing: New Leaf Iwata Asks interview, which was conducted back in October last year. Of course, Japan has been playing this since November and we won't even pretend we're not jealous.
Koju Takahashi, Isao Moro and Aya Kyogoku - all from the software development department - were present to discuss the game and Nintendo President Satoru Iwata started off by asking them what it is all about - not the easiest question, but one that was given an answer.
Previous titles had been about moving into a town, buying a house using Tom Nook's money and then paying the little rascal back for near enough the rest of your days.
However, in this iteration, things have changed as Kyogoku explained:
We felt that if we made the next game in the same way, a lot of people would think: "Oh no! Not again!" So this time, we decided to press reset and make a fresh start as we developed the game.
Speaking of resetting, many people have been wondering if Mr Resetti would be making a comeback for Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Kyogoku said the team deliberated a lot on whether or not to include him, as the angry little mole divided many. Moro said the developer came to the decision that the player would be left to decide:
Well, in the end, we made it so the Reset Surveillance Centre was a public work, so we left it to the mayor to decide whether or not to have one.
As Moro said, in Animal Crossing: New Leaf you play as the mayor of the town and are responsible for its maintenance and design. Previous titles were focused on customising the interior of your house but this time Nintendo wanted to allow the player to have full control of the whole town.
The idea of retiring Tortimer and giving you control of everything came at a late stage in development, according to the team. Other ideas were discussed, although many fell by the wayside. Kyogoku gave some insight into the kind of concepts that were brought up:
We came up with all sorts of things, though naturally a lot of them were rejected. For example, we considered the idea of giving the player a new tool that could be used in an activity alongside fishing and bug catching - panning for gold in the river. (laughs)
Kyogoku also explained how the team went about changing the way business hours worked. For example, if you were to get to the game late at night, the shop would be closed. The team put their heads together and came up with the same answer they did when deliberating Mr Resetti's inclusion - let the player decide:
I wondered if we could make it so the game adjusted itself to the players circumstances, meaning that players wouldn't need to adjust the clock. But if all the shops were open twenty-four hours a day, there would be no difference between day and night, defeating the whole point of having time in sync with the real world.
Anyway, we put that problem on hold for a while, and then the idea of the player becoming the mayor was raised and it occurred to us that the player could use his or her authority to adjust business hours.
Of course, Animal Crossing: New Leaf will allow others to roam into your town and Kyogoku revealed players will be able to add each other as 'best friends', which will enable special features. As a best friend you can exchange messages without visiting and also close your gates to everyone else.
Iwata concluded the interview with a direct pitch to the player, plugging the digital copy of the game:
Animal Crossing is a game that I hope people will play throughout the whole year. But we want people to play other games too. So something I would recommend is the digital download version. I think a title like Animal Crossing: New Leaf , which you can play throughout the year, is ideally suited to this format. That makes me sound a little like a salesman, doesn't it? (laughs)
We recently revealed Animal Crossing: New Leaf is listed in the North American 3DS eShop as $34.99, which is $5 less than usual. Could Nintendo be offering a little discount to allow you to have the game on your system at all times?
Animal Crossing: New Leaf will be available in North America on 9th June, while Europeans will get the game five days later on 14th June.
As always it's worth checking out the full interview, you can do so by clicking through the link below.
What are your thoughts on the latest Animal Crossing title? Will you be downloading it or are you going to stick to the retail copy? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source iwataasks.nintendo.com]
Comments (31)
Awesome! Can't Wait For The Game Release!
Error is 34.99 not 35.99
Ahhhh you can chose whether or not to have Mr. Ressetti appear...no more mean mole! The thought of being able to decide business hours for you town is great too. I love all the customization options they're giving us in this one.
No panning for gold? Guess they don't want Animal Crossing '49ers in their game.
I cannot wait and yes, I'll buy the digital version. Having this one and Fire Emblem both on the console ready to be played will be a blessing.
I'm really liking the ability to choose the shop hours, that helps me a lot x3.
And even though Resetti is sorta annoying, I still think he is hilarious. I'm glad they let you decide if you want him or not.
Might get digital for this game, because will be playing for at least a year straight....
The wait for this game is excruciating.
Dowload version for me.
I think Resetti is hilarious. Quite clever. That being said, making you type messages exactly right with capitalization and punctuation included before you move on is a bit much for little children who can't read quickly. That wasn't exactly smart. Make it a text option where you can choose to repeat it or say something else but don't confuse small children anymore then you have to.
Come on you've got to love Resetti though!
I'll be adding the Reset Surveillance Center, if only for the novelty. I hardly ever reset, intentionally or otherwise, so it's not a problem for me.
I wonder if your town will be saved on your SD card or on your 3DS? What I mean is that when you do a system transfer, the save data on your eShop games is deleted. You can redownload them, of course, but what if the AC town you've been carefully cultivating for two years suddenly is destroyed? I'm more likely to wear out or break a system than a cartridge, so I'll be taking the hard-copy route.
"We recently revealed Animal Crossing: New Leaf is listed in the North American 3DS eShop as $34.99, which is $5 less than usual. Could Nintendo be offering a little discount to allow you to have the game on your system at all times?"
No. As was pointed out in the comments of that article by several people, this isn't an eshop discount. The game's going for $35 at various retailers too, including Amazon, Best Buy, and Gamestop. I'm planning on getting it at Best Buy if possible, but if there's another shortage I might just begrudgingly turn to digital.
this looks like a fun game but i'm not sure i will like it so I will go the retail route. If I do like it, I might download later on so I can have it on the go.
Download day 1. Waiting through the month of May is going to be a pain in the garbanzo. I need a time machine.
I'm torn; on one hand I want a physical copy because I'm a collector and I never have to worry about losing everything if something were to happen to my 3DS because Nintendo's still rather archaic about their store accounts.
But on the other hand I know I'll give it more time if I know I can always access it.
I wish I had the money to do both D=
I can't wait im going to get it on day 1
@mumof2kids
if you still have Fire emblem cart your looking at selling i might be interested
@Bragoon All save data is stored on the SD Card, I don't know of any save data that is stored on the 3DS operating system. The retail game's save data is stored on the physical retail game card, which can now be transferred to the SD Card to use with the download version equivalent.
Animal Crossing New Leaf is looking to be brilliant. I can't imagine a better game to play when you want to relax.
so stoked. downloading the digital copy so i can't be tempted to sell it
Download, yo! It's only 1 GB. Much smaller than I had anticipated. And now I consider myself lucky for living in California. I'll be able to start downloading the game around 9 PM the night before release.
I like how Kyogoku specifically used the term phrase "press reset" and Iwata commented on how he sounds like a salesman, its nice that the guys at Nintendo don't take things too seriously.
Its pretty cool how they used the Mayor position to their advantage and decided to allow the player to decide those things for themselves, going the extra mile with the little details makes the game that much better.
Still sticking with the physical copy though, I just like the idea of the game being on it's own cart especially a game like Animal Crossing. I keep a couple games I'm currently playing in a little case in my desk drawer for quick access so my town will never be far away.
I need this game so much!
There's more perks to the download one but I just need to get the box and read the booklet (even if a booklet has just become a page these days)
B-but I would've have liked panning for gold.. D:
Nevertheless, its the download route for me, though the price tag did little to influence that decision. That said, AC:NL is a game you would want have on your system all the time. I really can't wait for June.
... (laughs)
I am going to sell Heros of Ruin, Super Mario 3DLand, and Mario Tennis Open if I have to if it means I get this game!
@Tertis Finally someone from plaza is on this site.
I'm a night owl, so I'm glad to finally set the shop hours to suit my needs. I'm gonna download this one.
Talking about the game as if it hasn't been out in Japan since November and people don't know how to use the internet to look up information.
Also, Mr Resetti's job WAS to piss you off, FOR CHEATING by resetting the game repeatedly to get rare items from random events. You hate him? STOP CHEATING. Didn't stop seasonal items from appearing within a week online because of people changing their clock and every item having no value because of rampant hackers.
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