Year Released: 2002 (Gamecube).

Number of Players: Only one person can play at a time, but up to 4 people can have characters living in the same town.

Mario Cameo Appearance: Plenty of Mario references in this game, from clothing (Big Bro's and Little Bro's Shirts) to furniture to things that some of the characters say. There are even NES games you can play, including some Mario ones.

OK, I'll admit that living in a virtual town full of talking animals, doing errands, and furnishing a house doesn't exactly sound like the greatest game premise, but I assure you that it works. I don't know how Nintendo does it, but they can make games like this actually fun.

Graphics: Since this game was originally released for N64 in Japan, the graphics are pretty much N64 quality. Overall, not too impressive for Gamecube, but not terrible, either. The looks on animals' faces can be downright hilarious. Or maybe I'm just crazy. Anyways, moving right along...

Play Control: Very simple. Most of the game involves walking around and such. Keeping track of your items, buying things, etc. use simple menu systems.

Sound: The village music is decent and changes every hour. You can even edit the tune that plays when you talk to an animal, the hour changes, etc. K.K. Slider's songs rule! Someone give this dog a Grammy for "K.K. Technopop".

Challenge: Since Animal Crossing doesn't really have a defined goal, I don't know what to put here. The animals give you jobs if you ask them, but it's usually just a simple matter of delivering to another animal or getting someone's [insert item here] from someone else. On another note, completing a furniture set can be almost frustratingly difficult, but you'll need to if you want to get the coveted House and Manor Models from the Happy Room Academy. Did I mention that you can also travel to another person's town if they give you their memory card? Or that you can connect to the GBA to visit a secret island? Very, very cool.

The Bottom Line: I really don't know how Nintendo made a "life simulator" fun, but they pulled it off. This game is so jam-packed with features that I didn't even describe them all above. Definitely try this out if you own a GCN.

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