Animal Crossing: Jump Out [3DS] (Animal Crossing 3DS) Pre-Release Discussion #1

     This article is a synthesis, review, and discussion of the highly anticipated fourth installment of the Animal Crossing gaming franchise: "Animal Crossing: Jump Out" (Japanese Working Title), alternatively known as "Animal Crossing 3DS". As the latter name suggests, the game (scheduled to be released in Japan in Fall 2012 and worldwide in early 2013) is designed for the Nintendo 3DS platform and is the follow up game to the Nintendo Wii's widely popular "Animal Crossing: City Folk".

     Well, one paragraph into my first real blog entry and I'm already eating my own words. . . >_<; As someone who promised not to be a generic news site fed by Wikipedia articles and Google searches, I'm ashamed to admit that Wikipedia does a great job of explaining the nature of the Animal Crossing franchise. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Animal Crossing series, I've cited the article briefly in order to keep you from getting lost:
     "Animal Crossing (どうぶつの森, -- - - Dōbutsu no Mori - 'Animal Forest'), is a social simulation video game series developed and published by Nintendo, in which the player lives in a village inhabited by anthropomorphic animals, carrying out various activities. The series is notable for its open-ended gameplay and extensive use of the game systems' internal clock and calendar to simulate real passage of time."

New Features in "Animal Crossing: Jump Out"

     The first thing I noticed when I saw the "Animal Crossing 3DS" promotional video from last year's E3 Gaming Expo was the updated character design. You've been stretched out significantly since your City Folk days, allowing for increased character customization. Now, in addition to changing up your headgear, accessories, and shirts, you can swap out your pants and shoes just as easily, with just as many different options. Promotional images and videos have shown players wearing everything from shorts to long pants to dresses to short skirts. In videos of the newly added shoe store, we can see sandals, sneakers, and boots on display.

Above, a female player can be seen wearing a detailed, layered outfit:

 a red sweater, a white frock, black leggings, and winter boots.

The male sports a humorous Nintendo collegiate tee with . . . interesting . . . pants and shoes.

This player is ready for the beach with his swim trunks and . . . are those bare feet?

Long sleeves make their first appearane in the new version of Animal Crossing.

     "Wow, Tortimer! You've Changed a LOT!" . . . The old turtle seems to get the boot as the player tackles an increased role in town development. As the new mayor of your Animal Village, you now have a more hands-on role in developing your town. New player abilities include town decoration (with new outdoor items such as lamp posts, park benches, and solar panels) and building placement. (You now get to choose the location of various structures around your town, such as the new café featured below - as well as your own house) O_O!!!

Is that a solar panel on the cliff?

A player sits next to her neighbor on a park bench in town.

Note how flowers now have four blooms as opposed to

 the three bulb pattern displayed in older games.

 

 Lamp posts must make exploring the town

at night much more convenient.

I'm sure they're useful for guiding your way home

through the winter snow as well ^_^

Building placement: Tom Nook asks a player if

their current location is where she would like

her house to be built.

The pink café in the background is also believed to be

 a building in which you are able to specify its location.

This interface shows how players are able to purchase
outdoor items for town decoration.

     As the new mayor of your village, you have your own town office (pictured to the left) as well as an accompanying secretary (known as "Shizu" in the Japanese version of the game). I really hope she doesn't stalk you as often as the promotional videos make it seem =_=;;; I feel like that could get pretty annoying pretty fast. Regardless, you can find images of the "helpful and loyal" dog below.

 

     Comments from the June 2012 Japanese Nintendo Direct Developer Interview inform players that in addition to the new secretary, there will be many other new residents and species of animals, along which will come new personalities and highly optimized player-resident interface. Some new faces include Doremi, a friendly new neighbor who I need in my future town, and an unknown sheep ( [?] Llama? I'm not quite sure. . ) who appears to own a new retail store in the Animal Village. Alternatively, maybe she's simply a new villager who just happened to appear in an updated Nook furniture store due to the aforementioned player-animal interface. (Perhaps now you can run into fellow villagers while shopping for your clothes and furniture).

 Above, a pink-haired male player can be seen talking to Doremi.

Isn't she adorable?

Is this a mystery merchant?

     Regardless of the pink creature's identity, the shopping experience in "Animal Crossing: Jump Out" undergoes several definite dramatic changes. For one, Tommy (or is it Timmy?)  seems to have taken over his father's infamous retail business. All stores are now reportedly collected in a "mall" on the far side of the town railway station (see the town concept map below for reference).

Here we can see the town mall in the back (at the top of the screen), which connects to the Street Pass plaza. Between the plaza and the actual town is the railway and railroad station. In the foreground, we can see that the beach seems to surround the town on three sides - - and - - is that an island in the bottom righthand corner??

A player crosses the railway to access the village mall and Street Pass display feature.

 

In the mall, one of Nook's little helpers seems to be the new shopkeeper. 

 

The Able Sisters now offer a variety of pants as well!

Kicks also appears to own his own store. There are a number of different styles of shoes and boots for sale.

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I'll be adding on to this post extensively tomorrow, but - for now - I'm going to bed >_<

In the meantime, don't hesitate to post a comment letting me know what you think about the upcoming Animal Crossing game. Are you excited? Are there any updates that particularly peak your interest? Are there any updates you don't like?

Thanks for reading! I'll see you next time.

-nniimo