Katsuya Eguchi (Animal Crossing) interview

Edge-Online
That Nintendo blog posted it up the other day. Couldn't find it here in any of the threads.

With this kind of pathos embedded in the series, it’s a surprise to discover that Eguchi is remarkably humble about the games’ meaning to players. He has never heard of the Korean comic that circulated late last year detailing a son realising his mother’s love by visiting her Animal Crossing town after her passing, but when we talk about it, he is obviously moved. “To think that I was able to help create something, or that something that I worked on, played such an important role in someone’s life and helped them understand something important to them…” He pauses. “It makes me really happy.”
 
I've always been fond of Animal Crossing since I played it on the 'cube, even before that when I saw shots of 'Animal Forest' on the N64 back in the day. I just hope this latest version has enough variety to keep me hooked becuase setting up camp for a third time is a little less exciting.

I also like the idea behind the Wii mic. I'm not keen on online gaming because it is simply too fast paced, competitive and mostly based around shooting, killing or racing. I like Animal Crossing because its social and relaxed, you are not trying to better the other players or attain higher ranks, instead you are co-operating and sharing.
 
The funny thing is that the AC character receives letters from his / her "Mom" in the game, so I wonder how many of said presents were from the player's mother and how many were from the in-game "Mom." Such a cute story, though.

And, of course, Eguchi is wonderful as always.
 
farnham said:
EVERYTIME ;_;

animalcrossingsadtransol2.jpg
 
Masked Man said:
The funny thing is that the AC character receives letters from his / her "Mom" in the game, so I wonder how many of said presents were from the player's mother and how many were from the in-game "Mom." Such a cute story, though.

IIRC it happens a lot less frequently in the GameCube game than the DS one. Like, only on your birthday and Christmas.
 
Okay apparently it is from the IGN boards

http://loliel.egloos.com/2023210


About two years ago, I bought the game Animal Crossing. It was fun for awhile, me and my brother played it for about a month, then got tired of it.

I'm always trying to convert my parents to videogames, however, and thought that Animal Crossing would be simple enough for them to get into. I let my mom set up a house, and she soon got into the game in a big way. (As a kid, she had polio, and now she had multiple sclerosis. She was largely homebound, except for the once our twice when she'd either leave to go shopping or to church.) Spending all day at home in a wheel chair bored her, so the relief Animal Crossing provided her was kind of amazing. She'd spend so much time playing it, that it became something of an obsession. She played it so much that she was constantly getting kidded by the family. She payed off her house in the game, she collected all the fossils, etc. Whenever I saw her playing, I thought that the game must have long since stopped being interesting to her, yet she kept playing- even after me and my brother had long since stopped.

Her condition got progressively worse, and she eventually stopped playing. About a year ago, she passed away.

I had forgotten about Animal Crossing, I hadn't played it in over a year and a half. Today, however, I decided to visit the village again and see what was up. Weeds had grown everywhere, the villagers wondered where my mom and I had gone.

Then I came to my mailbox, it was full of letters with presents- all from my mom. Every letter was pretty much the same. "Thinking of you. Thought you'd like this present. Love, Mom" Even though I'd stopped playing, she continued to send me presents. I look back now at how I made fun of her for playing even after she'd done everything, and I realize now that she was probably spending her time getting presents for me.

Anyway, I know it's probably cheesy, but I was just amazed at how much this affected me and I thought I'd share. Show your parents as much love as you can, while you still can guys.


IGN forum
 
Andrex said:
IIRC it happens a lot less frequently in the GameCube game than the DS one. Like, only on your birthday and Christmas.

Ah, thanks. It's been a while since I've played the GCN version, so I guess I'm used to getting them more frequently on DS. :D
 
This entire thread, from the values of friendship, family, and community mentioned in the interview, to the comic from the IGN boards, and even that awesome somethingawful story, is the reason why I will continue to buy Animal Crossing, even if I stopped playing the one before it after a couple of months.

The game just has so much of what I want from a virtual world.
 
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