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Animal Crossing fans are getting treated, as not only did a group of fans tweak and improve the 2001 GameCube classic, but now there also exists a project that aims to improve the 2008 Nintendo Wii entry, Animal Crossing: City Folk. Created by Aurum and their team, Animal Crossing: City Folk Deluxe is a romhack that makes massive changes to the original game, such as implementing all 94 DLC items into the base game, adding other regions' holidays, backporting newer villagers into the game, adding quality of life changes, and even restoring online play through Wiimmfi and WiiLink.

You can check the romhack out by going to the source below. It can be emulated, or even played on original hardware. A trailer has been put together to display some of the major changes to the game.

Source

 

[Nuguns]

This is cute and all but unless the whole grass gets ruined if you walk on it mechanic got removed no thanks

thats right my friend, they have done a heroes work.

I had been appreciating how those who logged and backed up the original games has done heroes work. What future would we be lead into without them. I see a vibrant place now.

 

[raxadian]

They actually did if you check out the video (skip to about 1 minute mark)

View attachment 517805

That's amazing! Is the whole grass deterioration deal that made me stop playing the game, well that and the DS being portable and I travelled a lot back then so I used the DS game instead.

 

[jomaper]

Is there a consensus on which one is the better game? I wan't to get this for my GF but I've never played AC

 

[Jyssa]

Really nice work !

 

[Osha]

Is there a consensus on which one is the better game? I wan't to get this for my GF but I've never played AC

New Leaf is often considered the best game in the franchise, especially if you have access to the DLC, but ultimately you can't really go wrong with any game in the franchise. I have issues with New Horizons but I can't say it's outright a bad game, just a disappointing one.

 

[LightBeam]

Now we're talking ....
Wish it had a French version, I think I could help if there's a need Nevermind it's already in French, that's actually crazy

Hopefully the GC version will have a decompilated version too, but I'm going to try this one. The GC game is just too old for me to really dive into.

Post automatically merged: Jul 22, 2025

Is there a consensus on which one is the better game? I wan't to get this for my GF but I've never played AC

There's no consensus. People usually say New Leaf, but this is the one that has you being the mayor and it's already trying to give the player more control over the town, which isn't personally what made me love Animal Crossing when I was a kid. (and New Horizons, despite being very good, has NPCs that are "too nice", you can choose where they live or if they can leave your town or not ... just too much control that kills the feeling the games originally had)

So City Folk (Let's go to the city in PAL regions) is probably the best recommandation I could give if you want to try. But really, you can't go wrong with any of them (except maybe the first one. It's not bad but it's not as good as all the others, even Wild World on DS)

 

[PityOnU]

So City Folk (Let's go to the city in PAL regions) is probably the best recommandation I could give if you want to try. But really, you can't go wrong with any of them (except maybe the first one. It's not bad but it's not as good as all the others, even Wild World on DS)

As someone who is old enough to remember back then...

Animal Crossing was notable at the time of its release because of its use of the real-time clock on the Gamecube, and how this allowed the game world to continue to evolve even while the player wasn't playing. Outside of a handful of titles (notably Pokemon GSC, with RS almost completely dropping it the next gen), there really weren't any other games at the time that did anything like that, and certainly none that made it a core mechanic. It made the game feel alive in a way that really very few games (at least, to me) have been able to recapture since.

The entire design goal of Animal Crossing was that it was meant to be a game you played for an hour or so every day, just to check in and see what was new, and to unwind a little. A ton of games (specifically free/freemium games on mobile) have this play model these days, so that isn't as much of a hook as it used to be. But everything in the Gamecube original was designed around that - even the dedicated tiles/acres in the town make it easier to navigate to specific locations than later entries in the series. It is super zen and stress-free, and really fantastic at doing what it originally set out to do. With that in mind, I would say that the Gamecube original is actually the best way to experience Animal Crossing and what is was originally all about.

All that being said - for people looking to sink more extended gaming hours into it, or to have just monster length individual sessions, the later games are definitely better. New Leaf is typically cited as "the best" in terms of content and playability.

For my money, though, the OG is definitely the best representation of what the series is meant to be.

 

[Nuguns]

For my money, though, the OG is definitely the best representation of what the series is meant to be.

and then theres population growing Deluxe now. Its wayyy rad. Im still waiting to play that personally

Post automatically merged: Jul 23, 2025

So City Folk (Let's go to the city in PAL regions) is probably the best recommandation I could give if you want to try. But really, you can't go wrong with any of them (except maybe the first one. It's not bad but it's not as good as all the others, even Wild World on DS)

City folk is the most mature AC of the early games. I think it blends AC 1, 2, 3. Good recommendation, I agree, population growing and city folk I couldnt decide. The dialog is probably better in PG , ive not played CF yet

 

[Defective1Up]

I tried the mod a few weeks ago, and it significantly improves gameplay and overall enjoyment. However, I still find City Folk the least engaging in the Animal Crossing series, preferring Wild World over it. My ranking is New Leaf first, Animal Crossing (GameCube) second, and New Horizons third. Wild World disappointed me after seeing GameCube version previews on the DS, delivering a clunky experience with issues like the very noticeable rolling log effect, excessive dirt, and 20 fps performance. Still, it’s a solid game. City Folk feels like an unfinished bridge between Wild World and New Leaf, largely overlooked for being too similar to Wild World when it had potential for more.

In short, this mod greatly enhances City Folk, even adding Classic Controller support. I hope it continues to improve the overall experience because this game always felt half-baked. Thank you rom hacker and modders.

On a side note, Animal Crossing Deluxe on GameCube is absolutely a dream come true.