Category Archives: Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Memos from Mamemura: Week 4

This week was a relatively low-key week in Mamemura. Even my secretary Shizue was looking a little less chipper then usual:

But that doesn’t mean I didn’t get anything done! I’ve been diligently visiting Mamemura every day, and not only did the shoe shop finally get built, but Nook’s store received an upgrade, as well!

If you look closely, you can see a certain villager in Nook’s store, as well! Can you guess who it is?

Guess who moved in? It’s Doremi, the deer who camped in my village last week! What a quaint little house she has!

Since Christmas is coming up, all of the villagers are telling me what they’re wishing for. Frill here wants something green. Funny, I would’ve pinned her for more of a black or purple sort of gal, especially considering her taste in home decor…

Why, look who it is! Dr. Shrunk appeared one morning saying he wanted to open a club in my town, and that if I could get 6 signatures from other villagers, they’d start construction immediately. Of course I made it a priority to get those signatures, and a few days later, Club 444 was open and ready for business!

How do you like my Santa outfit? I’ve been trying to collect the various pieces as they show up in the shops. So far I have the boots, shirt, hat, and even beard (not wearing it in the above image, obviously). I just need the matching pants!

Oh, Lisa’s husband Kazio finally woke up! He has a really fun way of speaking, I can’t wait to see how they localize it. He can refurbish your furniture for you, but I haven’t tried it yet. 

Poor Doremi’s caught a cold, and I’ve fed her medicine two days in a row with no sign of her getting better. I wonder if villagers are more likely to get sick in the winter?

Well, that concludes this week in Animal Crossing: New Leaf! As always, feel free to ask me any questions you might have about the game in the comments!

Memos from Mamemura: Weeks 2-3

Remember how I said I was going to start a (semi)weekly feature chronicling my adventures in Animal Crossing: New Leaf? Well, I’ve finally got off my lazy butt and compiled all my screenshots thus far into one such post! My Initial Animal Crossing: New Leaf Impressions post will serve as the first week, hence why this is weeks 2-3.

I’ll try my very best to talk about all the special events and fun tidbits that people might not know about in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, so keep in mind that these posts will be chock-full of information and screenshots that “spoil” some of the surprises in the game. That said, I won’t cover every little thing in order to keep some of the magic there for those of you who haven’t gotten the chance to play yet, but I can’t guarantee anything, so please proceed with caution!

Anyone notice my ongoing thing for Swadloon?

But before I begin, you’re probably wondering why I decided to title this “Memos from Mamemura.” I’ve named my Animal Crossing: New Leaf town Mamemura, which literally means “bean town,” but I like how it almost sounds like Amemura, short for America Mura, which is an actual location in Osaka.  Of course since I am actually American, a town who’s name is a pun of Amemura sounded like a grand idea! (Amemura really doesn’t have much of anything to do with America, if you’re wondering) And I’d like to give everyone who pitched title suggestions in my last post a huge thanks for the wonderful inspiration! If it weren’t for your awesome ideas, I wouldn’t have come up with Memos from Mamemura, which I’m quite proud of, if I do say so myself.

Enough talk! What have I been up to in the world of Animal Crossing: New Leaf?

I got a whopping three new villagers over the past two weeks! The first to appear was Frill, who, if I’m not mistaken, is new to New Leaf (someone please correct me if I’m wrong!). Doesn’t she look like she came straight out of a Tim Burton film? And I love the Victorian decor! I wonder if they were channeling lolita goth when they designed her.

Next came Rocky the koala, another (definitely) new villager to New Leaf! I’m really lucky to have gotten such a wide range of characters! I just adore his shades, sideburns, and leather jacket. 
Finally, we have Kuroko, or Alli in the English versions. It’s lots of fun to see old and new faces mingle. 

I got my first visit from Kaburiba, or Joan, the lady who sells turnips. As all Animal Crossing aficionados know, you can make quite a killing reselling turnips to shops, as the price changes from day to day (I believe it even changes multiple times a day in New Leaf). The only downside is that they go bad in a week, so you might find yourself stuck having to sell them back for a less-than-desirable price. I thought Joan was trying to pull me a fast one by setting the turnip price rather high this week, so I decided to play it safe and not buy any.

I finally unlocked the island! If only I took better notes, I’d be able to say exactly which day this occurred on… After completing certain tasks as mayor, Tortimer, the mayor of previous Animal Crossing towns, will appear when you load up your game and invite you to visit his island. From the next day, you’re able to travel to the island whenever you wish, as long as you can afford the 1,000 bell fee. It’s a great place to find rare bugs, fish, and fruit, as well as play special mini-games!

Swimming is new to New Leaf, as well, and can only be done on the island. It’s a lot of fun diving for things! You can see I’ve caught a sea urchin above.

I bet you’re wondering what’s wrong with my eye in the above screens, right? Well, guess who shook one too many trees? I pushed my luck too far and a beehive landed right next to me! I was no match for those bees. I love how the villagers react to seeing your mangled face. They suggest to find medicine but I had no idea how to get any… Luckily all was well the next day.

New digs and swag! I love my Mario hat and sparkly shojo eye glasses.

My first project as mayor was building this bridge! Every time you compete a project (i.e pay off your debt) you’ll have a little celebration with some of the villagers and Shizue, the secretary.

Last Thursday was the Harvest Festival! This turkey, Franklin, shows up in everyone’s towns asking for ingredients to cook a feast. Unfortunately the event was going on when I was traveling, so I didn’t get a chance to complete all the tasks.

I did, however, trade some ingredients with some villagers…

and brought them back to Franklin to make a mushroom salad! He asks you to bring a “secret ingredient,” but I didn’t realize I needed one, and unfortunately there’s no turning back once you have the required items and initiate a conversation with him. Basically, my lack of the secret ingredient meant that it wasn’t the “best it could be,” which leads me to believe I might’ve gotten a better item had I brought the secret ingredient. I’m happy with the harvest dresser I got in return, but it’s a shame I’ll have to wait until next year to do the rest of the event! 
I also built a tent in my town so wandering villagers could come visit. You can play a short guessing game with them, and in this case the conniving deer you see above, Doremi (another newcomer to New Leaf!), managed to swindle my bug net off me for a mere 56 bells because I kept picking the wrong numbers (it’s basically all up to chance, I believe). Luckily she said she enjoyed my town and wants to move in, so I hope to see her soon! 
Gettin’ my nerd on with an arcade machine and cat ears. 
Finally, though I don’t have space to share all of the pictures I have from visiting friend’s towns, I wanted to show a quick glimpse of K.K Slider’s Club 444. You can actually dance around by pressing the directional buttons and everything! (Can you see my little hip shake in the above image? Talk about cute!) 
Well, that about sums up my last two weeks in Mamemura. As always, if you have any questions about the game, feel free to leave them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer. See you next week!

[Update] Ah yes, I forgot to post what my town’s layout looks like! Here you go:

 

Initial Animal Crossing: New Leaf Impressions

 
I’ve certainly written enough about the limited edition Animal Crossing: New Leaf that came in the mail the other day, but what about the game itself? I’m happy to report that I’ve been playing it for the majority of the week, and it does not disappoint! It’s far too early to give my final verdict, and I have yet to unlock a lot of the game’s content (I still can’t go to the island, for example), hence why I’ve called this “early impressions.” Oh, be warned, there are going to be lots of screenshots of my game (Which you can conveniently take whenever you want by pressing L and R! Nifty!), so if you don’t want to see what townspeople are in the game or be otherwise spoiled, I suggest you avert your eyes! 

You certainly don’t start with that cute little house at the top of the page! No, instead you’re stuck in a tent until you can pay off your first loan. You can’t start working as mayor until you get a house, as well, so it’s pretty imperative to pay off that loan straight away. Luckily it doesn’t take very long at all to do so. It’s pretty quaint under the stars, though, don’t you think?

Here’s my first act as mayor – planting a tree! I love how you can see all the townspeople gathered around. Funny that I started out with not one, but two, tigers, though!

 A glimpse inside Shimoyake (Egbert in English)’s house. He’s certainly into all things astronautical!

Sumi (Nan)’s house, on the other hand, has a more classic feel, and she’s got quite the collection of musical instruments. The other day I suggested she buy a chest of drawers from the local recycle shop (just for kicks, since it’s a new feature in this game) and she replaced that fancy turntable with it! It looked so much better before… 
Here’s Johnny (Gulliver)! He appeared on my beach the first night, but I’m not sure if that’s random or not. Admittedly, I like to play through the game and be surprised by things as they happen, so I haven’t really read any guides or anything like that. I couldn’t help but take a screenshot when he asked me to name the place he was thinking of that was home to koalas and kangaroos! Well, he’s talking about Australia, of course! What a funny coincidence. The next day I received a letter from him from Australia and a special Ayers Rock present for my house, which I then promptly gave to Shimoyake because he asked for it. Now I kind of regret giving it away! 
The blue llama is perpetually sleeping until a certain point in the game (sorry, not sure what his name is). When he wakes up, he’ll modify your furniture for you!
New townspeople started moving in on the second day. Arthur here is pretty cute, don’t you think? I love his mustache! Apparently he’s one of the new additions to New Leaf. 
Hey, it’s Rolan (Sahara)! I got her to make over my house for me, which gave me a new floor and wallpaper.
And to finish the tour, here’s a token fishing shot. I absolutely love the puns throughout the game, and if Wild World was any indication, I’m sure the English version will do a great job capturing the atmosphere and humor of the game. 
Well, if you’ve got this far, congratulations! I think it’s very obvious that I’m throughly enjoying my time with Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Though it’s definitely bigger than any previous Animal Crossing game, the first few days are very similar to what I remember from Wild World, but the online features and island, in particular, are really great new additions (that I haven’t been able to spend much time with yet, unfortunately). 
I’d like to take the opportunity to announce a new column I’m planning, as well! I’d like to do a weekly (or so) feature that chronicles my adventures in the world of Animal Crossing: New Leaf. I haven’t nailed down a name yet, but I’m tossing up some things like “My Week in Animal Crossing: New Leaf” or “Greetings from Animal Crossing: New Leaf.” If you have any suggestions for a name, I’d love if you left your ideas in the comments! 
Oh, here’s a bonus image of me visiting Punipen of Dudelde Studio‘s town! Don’t miss his adorable flag design:
If you have any questions about the game, leave them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer.

More Gratuitious Animal Crossing XL/LL Photography (GB Micro Comparison Edition)

Those of you who read my last post on the Animal Crossing: New Leaf 3DS LL were probably thinking that was the end of it, right? Well, think again! Bryan over at The Gay Gamer unintentionally gave me a brilliant idea when he commented on the small size of the LL’s box in one of his recent posts. What kind of idea, you ask? Well, I’d prefer to show, rather than tell:

Game Boy Micro and 3DS LL comparison photos! It dawned on me how funny it is that the LL is so large and the micro is so small, but the LL utilizes much more economical packaging than the Micro. Take a look at the thickness of the two boxes!

 The Micro box looks massive in comparison! The systems themselves, however, are an entirely different matter:

It may be hard to tell in the second photo, but the Micro is still thinner than the LL. Of course the weights are very different, but I think the neatest thing to come out of comparing the two handheld’s packaging is being able to reflect on how hings have evolved over the years! The Micro came with a charger, while the LL didn’t, so that does factor into the size of the box, but the Micro’s box definitely feels like it still has a lot of wasted space compared to the LL’s.

I also can’t believe the Micro came out in 2005! That wasn’t that long ago, really! It launched one year after the DS was released, though, so I can understand why it didn’t do so well. Can you imagine if Nintendo came out and said they were releasing a revamped DS now that the 3DS is out? Well, actually, with all the crazy things Nintendo is doing these days (like not releasing the Animal Crossing: New Leaf  3DS LL outside of Japan, for starters!), I suppose I could imagine such a scenario…

Gratuitous Animal Crossing 3DS LL/XL Photo Shoot

Guess what came in the mail today?

That’s right, the limited edition Animal Crossing: New Leaf 3DS LL! I’m sure those of you following me on Twitter have already heard, and others may have guessed after my hints in previous Animal Crossing: New Leaf posts, but I was dead set on preordering one of these puppies as soon as they were announced. But enough with the pleasantries. On to the pictures!

Just some shots and details of the lovely, colorful box. Please excuse any graininess in these photos… It’s times like these that make me really wish for a fancy camera!

 

The box is actually a lot thinner than I expected, and has an interesting matte finish on the cardboard that makes it quite nice to the touch! I should’ve put something in so you could gauge the size of the box, but I imagine it’s only about an inch and a half thick.

I just love the attention to detail Nintendo always puts into their products. Simple flourishes like characters adorning the side of the box really add to the whole package, don’t you think? It reminds me a lot of Nintendo’s gorgeous Japanese Game Boy Advance boxes. I like the Animal Crossing: New Leaf 3DS LL box so much that I’ll definitely be displaying it on my shelf… Next to my GBA Micro box, of course.
The unit itself! I know I made a big fuss about how I really wanted the Pikachu Yellow 3DS LL back when it was announced for Japan, but I’m actually happy that I didn’t end up getting it, as I think this one has a much more timeless, classy feel. And yes, I’ve heard the comparisons of it to a Luis Vuitton pattern… I definitely can see where some people might think they look similar, but for me the similarity isn’t the heart of its appeal at all (I literally have zero interest in Luis Vuitton, for starters). 
Well, suffice it to say… I just love it! The inside looks just like a regular white Japanese 3DS LL (or the new pink x white model), and admittedly it’ll take some getting used to as my first white console, but I’m really happy with it. I should take this opportunity to give a special thanks to my husband, who let me go ahead with the exorbitantly expensive preorder and open it today as an early birthday present… What a sweetie! I don’t think many birthday presents top an Animal Crossing: New Leaf 3DS LL. 
Since the game itself comes on the SD card, it’s a little jarring to open the system up and have a big empty slot, I must admit! I’ll probably stick a DS game in there just so I don’t have a mild heart attack every time I open it, momentarily forgetting that Animal Crossing: New Leaf isn’t on a cartridge. Right now that’s the only Japanese 3DS game I have, but I have a feeling it’ll keep me busy for a while… That and all the eShop games and demos, of course! I was pleasantly surprised when I booted up the eShop to find a newly-released demo for the upcoming Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Magna Gate and the Infinite Labyrinth. Of course, I’ll definitely have to give Bravely Default: Flying Fairy a shot, as well!
Expect a post on Animal Crossing: New Leaf in the very near future! In the meantime, feel free to ask any questions about the game in the comments, and follow me on Twitter or Tumblr for lots of image dumps courtesy of the game’s new screenshot feature.