Prerelease:Animal Crossing: Wild World

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Animal Crossing: Wild World.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

To do: A few things to do here.. The FuturePress (Europe) or Nintendo Power Guide may have some early screenshots, and a debug mode of some sort. 'Japanese video' in the article needs investigating. Document the findings in the 'Nintendo Power 197' scan. Grab the Nintendo Dream Scan found in the article.

The developers of Animal Crossing: Wild World had one goal in mind: to take the experience of the original Animal Crossing to new heights, with a focus on worldwide, online communication and a slew of expanded customization options. Development broke ground on a build of 'Doubutsu no Mori' optimised for the Nintendo DS, while challenging the limitations of the system itself and, overall, delivering a whole new experience which would inspire the future releases of Animal Crossing for years to come.

It was a great game for its time, selling many copies in its initial release.

Development Timeline

2004

• May 14th - An Animal Crossing title for the Nintendo DS was officially revealed at E3 2004.
• Aug. 1st - Animal Crossing DS is listed as a Nintendo DS development title.
• Oct. 7th - Animal Crossing DS is stated for a release "next year".
• Nov. 21st - The Nintendo DS handheld system is released in North America.
• Dec. 2nd - The Nintendo DS handheld system is released in Japan.

2005

• Jan. 10th - Animal Crossing DS is confirmed for a release later in the year.
• Mar. 10th - More footage of Animal Crossing DS was released, and looks close to the final game.
• Mar. 11th - The Nintendo DS handheld system is released in Europe.
• Apr. 11th - Animal Crossing DS is confirmed to be shown at E3 2005, while its Japanese name is confirmed.
• May 19th - More gameplay details were revealed at E3 2005, with a release date of "July 2005".
• Sep. 7th - Animal Crossing DS is named Animal Crossing: Wild World.
• Nov. 23rd - Animal Crossing: Wild World is released in Japan.
• Dec. 5th - Animal Crossing: Wild World is released in North America.

2006

• Mar. 31 - Animal Crossing: Wild World is released in Europe.

Early Development

The next Animal Crossing instalment in mind was planned to have multiplayer support and expanded customization from the beginning.

The characters that were selected for this instalment were the most popular from the previous game, but new ones were also created to balance it out. These included future returning characters like Brewster, Dr Shrunk and Pascal.

When IGN asked Katsuya Eguchi about the lack of NES games, he responded with that "It sort of took players away from the adventure" and preferred to focus on living in the Animal Crossing world.

2004

May

E3 2004

The Animal Crossing title for the Nintendo DS was revealed at E3 2004, as "Animal Crossing DS". Like in the final game, it was said that the touch screen would be used for typing in letters, designing patterns, and handling the inventory. At the time, the game had no release date.

A short gameplay trailer was also released, and was originally based off Doubutsu no Mori for the Nintendo 64. Though, some sound effects are different and there is no music featured in the video.

Screenshots
Screenshots showing some features were also released at this time;

• 
• 
• 
• 

• Many of the menus and gameplay were at its very early state, looking more of a proof-of-concept for a portable Animal Crossing game.
• Interestingly, the CD item from the July 2020 leak can be spotted in this image which would again be redesigned as the music note item in the final.
• The inventory menu had a background of a pathway rather than dots.

October

Things have stayed quiet until the middle of October. Details were revealed on the Japanese Nintendo website, and would follow the traditional Animal Crossing gameplay of living in a village, and making money.

Two new images were also posted;

• 
• 

The game is starting to take form of the final game, albeit with some differences;

• The infamous 'rolling log effect' was implemented during this time. According to Eguchi, this was so players would be able to see the sky on the top screen of the DS during gameplay, and interact with it in a manner of ways- such as shooting down balloon presents, collecting mail, and connecting constellations in the Observatory.
• The clouds on the top screen were different; they can be found as unused graphics in the final game.
• The flower graphics for cosmos were different.
• The avatar on the inventory menu stood in a flat square without a circular border.
• The Inventory screen has a leaf pattern, likely for placeholder purposes.
• The dry land on the ground has circular edges like in the previous entry.
• The communication bars on the bottom-left corner of the top screen was blue instead of black-and-white.

November

Upcoming Title Presentation

A preview of the game was briefly shown on the Japanese upcoming titles presentation.

• The connection bar on the bottom-left corner seemed to be always enabled, in a similar way akin to PictoChat.
• The camera angle for the Save Room was different.
• The beds in the Save Room are swapped in comparison to the final.
• The Telephone had a completely different model, with a dark brown color instead of beige.
• Inventory menus were separated via "tabs", which would go away when tapped on.
• There was no sparkle effect when the player changed clothing or accessories.

2005

March

Game Developer's Conference 2005

Animal Crossing Wild World was shown off at the Game Developer's Conference by Satoru Iwata, demonstrating the multiplayer capabilities within the game.

• 
• 

• Accessories are shown for the first time, along with a new hairstyle.
• The menu buttons now stay in place when tapped on.
• The inventory menu retains the same color from the October build, but is starting to take the form of the final.
• The background in the inventory menu almost resembles that of the final game except the white dots are together.
• The background for red and green letters are blue rather than of their respective colors.

April

Nintendogs Manual (USA)

• The North American manual for Nintendogs advertises Wild World under its original title: Animal Crossing DS, with the "Population: Growing!" bit making a return.
• The screenshots accompanying the advert are from the 2005 Developers Conference, and Nintendo Power 191- as well as the build associated with them dates.

May

Nintendo Power Volume 191

The issue of Nintendo Power came out in 2005, before the game debuted at E3 2005. The same images, save for a few were posted to IGN later on. The game had a slated release date of "July 2005", which would later be false. These images are also present in Nintendo's E3 Press Kit.

Screenshots

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Some differences can be found:

• The speech bubble with NPCs is shown for the first time, except with a different design instead of the cloud-like border.
• The Bell counter was different.
• Able Sisters had no items for sale.
• The communication bars now match that of the final.

E3 2005

Animal Crossing was shown as a playable demo and as a trailer at E3 2005, which had some specific differences there.

Trailer

A short gameplay video was shown around the demo.

• The title screen shown was different, showing Animal Crossing DS: Population Growing! instead.
• Nook's Cranny had a slightly different layout, looking more closer to the previous instalment.
• The Bell counter now matches that with the final.

Playable Demo

Some footage of the gameplay demo was recorded by attendants at E3 2005. The line to the demo was long, due to an interview with Charles Martinet being held around that area.

• The game seemed to have cycled through many seasons rather than just summer, likely as a demonstration.
• The museum was closed off.
• The 'Sparkle Effect' that appears when the player changes clothes was added at this point.
• The dotted background makes an appearance, akin to what appeared in the final game.
• The house the player enters seems to be expanded, judging by the window on the upper floor.

In an E3 2005 IGN interview with Katsuya Eguchi, Bianca was indirectly mentioned, signifying that she wasn't put into the game at that point in time, but was still being considered then. Known as a Unique character that players can create this character's face using the art program. At this point in time, 'Blanca' was unnamed, and referred to in the interview as 'he'.

September

Official Title

After months of silence, Nintendo revealed that the game's final title called Animal Crossing: Wild World.

October

Famitsu Vol ????

• 
• 
• 
• 

Nintendo Power Volume 196 (Oct 2005)

• The original title for Wild World, then named Animal Crossing DS: Population Growing! shows as an advert in this issue of Nintendo Power- oddly after the name change a month earlier.

Nintendo Power Guide

The Nintendo Power Guide, released at the end of 2005 contains some interesting differences that fit between those builds. The FuturePress guide released in Europe, has some of the differences.

Japanese Video

https://www.gamekyo.com/newsen13617_animal-crossing-ds-en-video.html

Famitsu Choice

• The menu button is now reduced to a singular up arrow.

November

Nintendo Power Volume 197 (Nov 2005)

Nintendo Dream

https://www.gamekyo.com/newsfr13077_animal-crossing-ds-en-images.html

• The Kitschy Clock had its original color scheme from Animal Crossing.

Late Builds

• Lighting can be seen in stormy weather.

References

Images

• IGN
• https://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/20050509/ninten.htm
• https://www.gamekyo.com/element3027_game_animal-crossing-wild-world.html