What Animal Crossing New Leaf means to me.

Well... it's official, today marks 6 years since I got ACNL on my 3DS! Crazy how time flies isn't it? I've put endless hours into it so let's talk about how much I love this game!

I still remember being 10 years old, I went to GAME with my mum to get myself a new game for Autumn. I was still trying to figure out what I exactly wanted but then I saw that they had Animal Crossing New Leaf, here's a fun fact! I actually knew NOTHING about Animal Crossing, it was just a game I had heard of in the past but I was curious about it even though I had NO idea how it played. Nowadays I would never really take a gamble like that but good lord am I glad I did back then. I remember my mum asking me if I was sure that I wanted it since by the box art the game looked very "kiddy" to her, but I told her that this is what I wanted.

lmao

I got home, downloaded the updates, deleted the save that was already on it since it was a used copy, and started playing... I was immediately blown away by it's charm and style. I already loved the characters and how simple it all felt, a very nice breathe of fresh air for me. I distinctly remember the 3PM theme playing after I completed the intro, it was such a happy lil tune.

still the funniest screenshot i have from this game

Figuring things out for the first time was a magical experience, I remember the rest of my day being taken up by me just messing around in the game and talking to the villagers. I loved it so much, even if I didn't fully understand everything at first! My first town was simply called "Cutie" (i dunno why 10 year old me picked that name) but that save file has since been long deleted, which was probably for the best since my character was named after my deadname lmao. I know for a fact tho that Cutie lasted for at least over a year, and god i played on that save file so much. 

starry night :0

There's another thing I feel as if it's important to mention... Chuggaaconroy, he's been one of my comfort YouTubers for YEARS now. By complete coincidence, around the time I myself got the game he started doing his videos on the Welcome Amiibo content and god, one of my fondest memories being a 10 year old was getting home from school and watching his new AC video in the background when it got uploaded whilst playing the game myself. Heck I think I'd even credit him for me getting into the game as much as I did since his series showed me some stuff I could do in the game.

knowing that this was 6 years ago is weird.... i remember it so clearly

This series and Animal Crossing was super comforting to me, but why? Well, I'm about to get very personal here... You see, mid 2017 was around the time I essentially stopped having friends and I was starting to get bullied at school a lot more. I was... very lonely so to speak. I would cry a lot over this and it was... tough for me. Playing Animal Crossing before and after school every day was so goddamn comforting in my loneliness, it helped me cope with A LOT. As corny as it might sound, these fictional villagers in my 3DS were the only friends I really had at the time even if they were just lines of code. My favourite villager has always been Lolly, in my first town she moved in just a few days after I started playing and I fell in love with her design instantly. She was always so nice to me, and I still have her in my current town!!

sleepy lil kitty.

Anyways yeah, i used to not go a day without at least playing Animal Crossing a little bit. Heck in 2018 I ended up getting a second copy of the game so that I could have another town, I loved it so much. I did end up deleting my save files a feww times but as of today I've got two towns at the moment!! Those being...

Starfall (Started June 9th 2019)

Fallen (Started November 29th 2021)

For the rest of this blog I'm gonna be focusing on Starfall since that one is the longest running save file I've had and it turned 4 years old earlier this year!

Starfall... Where do I even start? I've put WAY too many hours into that one, I started that town when I was 12 and goodness is it always a treat to revisit it. I'll sometimes have waves of playing it regularly again whenever I get re-hyperfixated on Animal Crossing.

Obviously since I started the town before I even knew I was trans, my mayor was a girl but instead of using my deadname this time I named them after my online nickname, SkyKid! Thank fuck for that since it would've been very awkward for me LOL. 

In 2022, when I modded my 3DS I used a save editor to change my mayor's gender to be a boy to get rid of the awkward misgendering from the villagers and moved two villagers' houses that were in very annoying spots to the beach... it was surprisingly easy, just don't tell nintendo....

me breaking the laws of physics after doing something as evil as CHANGING MY GENDER IN ANIMAL CROSSING USING HACKS

There are so many stories I can share about this silly lil game, like how Merry always says the funniest shit, how on Amino I used to ask people with modded systems to give me the villagers I wanted, how I got Ruby by complete accident but she ended up becoming one of my favourite villagers, or all the people I met on the island and the conversations I had on there... But I feel as if that's impossible to do all of that justice in just this blog post. It was all a truly unforgettable experience.

he is flabbergasted about there being a penis in the museum

So yeah what else is there to say? I just love Animal Crossing New Leaf a lot, it was possibly one of the most important games in my life, it brought me a sense of relaxing comfort that I had never really had before. I guess I just wanna say, thank you Animal Crossing.

Anyways, onto the sad part of this post. Recently Nintendo announced that they were gonna be shutting down the online services for the 3DS and Wii U systems. I was a bit sad hearing this at first, since well they are decade old consoles and the eShop was killed earlier this year... But then I saw a tweet that genuinely kinda broke me...

Seeing this just sorta hurt... Like a lot. I don't think I can put into words how much that ACNL series Chuggaaconroy did means to me. I still rewatch it from time to time and I remember when I first unlocked the dream suite back in 2017 his town was the very first thing I decided to visit. I just miss being 10 years old so badly sometimes, playing Animal Crossing for the first time is something I'm never gonna get back unfortunately. 

Anyways, that's about the gist of it. TLDR; ACNL and Chuggaaconroy changed my life and comforted the fuck outta me when I was lonely!

Thank you for reading this post, if you wish to visit Starfall in the dream suite before they close the servers next year, the dream address is 7A00-014F-521F !! See you all soon <3

FEBRUARY 2024 UPDATE - Should uh, probably mention I don't condone Chuggaaconroy's actions with what came to light last month, leaving this post completely as it but yeah, please don't bring this YouTuber up to me as it makes me uncomfortable.