Animal Crossing Plaza
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 Key artwork | ||||||
| Developer(s) | Nintendo | |||||
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| Publisher(s) | Nintendo | |||||
| Platform(s) | Wii U (eShop) | |||||
| Release date(s) |  August 7, 2013 August 7, 2013 August 8, 2013
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| Genre(s) | Social application | |||||
| Language(s) | English, French, Spanish Japanese English, French, Italian, German, Spanish
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| Input methods |
Wii U GamePad | |||||
Animal Crossing Plaza is a discontinued social application for the Wii U that was available for free from the Nintendo eShop as a companion application to Animal Crossing: New Leaf. It was released on August 7, 2013 in North America and Europe, and on August 8, 2013 in Japan. The app takes place in an area based on the WaraWara Plaza from the Wii U Home Menu and themed after the event plaza from Animal Crossing: New Leaf. From the plaza, players could post to the Animal Crossing Series Community on Miiverse.
An update for Animal Crossing Plaza was released on November 14, 2013,[1] which added polls, the ability to mark villagers as residents, Miiverse stamps, improvements to the album, and additional dialog.
Animal Crossing Plaza was removed from the Nintendo eShop on December 22, 2014,[2] although it can still be accessed for those who previously downloaded it, and Miiverse posts could still be made from and viewed in the app until Miiverse was discontinued on November 7, 2017.
Announcement and release[edit]
Animal Crossing Plaza was announced in a Nintendo Direct on August 7, 2013 and released immediately after the presentation. The app was introduced in a segment mimicking the startup sequence of Animal Crossing: New Leaf, with Isabelle telling the viewer about the app and respective Miiverse communities before then-president of Nintendo Satoru Iwata explained it further.[3]
Two days after Animal Crossing Plaza's release, on August 9, 2013, the shaved-ice lamp furniture item in Animal Crossing: New Leaf was distributed via SpotPass in North America to promote the app. Unlike other distributed items, which were accessed from the post office and given to the player by Pelly or Phyllis, the shaved-ice lamp was sent in the following letter from Isabelle:
on the Wii U is now open! ♪
I hope you decide to make
Animal Crossing Plaza your
summer hangout! I know
I'll be there every day! :)
From your assistant, Isabelle
The update for Animal Crossing Plaza was announced in a Nintendo Direct on November 13, 2013 and released the next day.[4]
Features[edit]
Animal Crossing Plaza takes place in a large plaza with a Town Tree in the center. When the game is loaded, the player's Mii and Isabelle appear near the Town Tree before the camera zooms out and a random selection of several dozen villagers and special characters rush into the plaza. After the characters rush in, they walk around the plaza and occasionally talk. The player can pan the camera around the plaza by moving 
or dragging on the GamePad touch screen, and set it to one of four zoom levels with 
, 
and 
, or buttons in the bottom-left corner of the GamePad screen.
Miiverse[edit]
There were two Miiverse communities for Animal Crossing Plaza: The Animal Crossing Series Community, where players could post and view others' posts, and the Animal Crossing News Community, where Nintendo would post updates and announcements. The Animal Crossing Series Community could be accessed by tapping on Lloid to the left of the Town Tree, and the Animal Crossing News Community could be accessed by tapping on the bulletin board to the right of the Town Tree.
Players could post text, drawings, or Animal Crossing: New Leaf screenshots from their album to the Animal Crossing Series Community from their profile. Additionally, posts could be made from a character's profile, and the resulting post would be tagged with that character's name. Beginning in the November 2013 update, stamps could be added to drawings. The ability to post to the Animal Crossing Series Community directly from Miiverse was disabled on January 1, 2015;[2] however, posts could still be made from Animal Crossing Plaza until the discontinuation of Miiverse on November 7, 2017.[5]
There were three Animal Crossing News Communities: one for Japan, the Americas, and Europe/Oceania.[6] A total of 10 posts with news about Animal Crossing Plaza and the Animal Crossing series were made in all regions by Animal Crossing Plaza and Animal Crossing: New Leaf director Aya Kyogoku (@NintendoKyogoku) from August 7, 2013 to January 21, 2015. Japan received an exclusive post from Kyogoku about Photos with Animal Crossing,[7] and the Americas received an exclusive post from a Nintendo of America staff member named Tom (@NintendoTom) about the distribution of the pumpkin pie furniture item in New Leaf at North American Nintendo Zones.[8]
Characters[edit]
All 333 of Animal Crossing: New Leaf's villagers, as well as 52 of its special characters—not including Lloid, who only appears to direct the player to the Animal Crossing Series Community on Miiverse and has no dialog—are included in the app.
Isabelle and K.K. Slider are unique in that they do not rush in with the rest of the characters. Instead, Isabelle always appears alongside the player's Mii and walks around the Town Tree, and K.K. Slider can appear at random sitting on the ledge of the Town Tree's base playing his guitar. Additionally, beginning in the November 2013 update, Zipper can appear at random to the left of the Town Tree and hops in place, and Pavé can appear at random to the right of the Town Tree and dances in place. Prior to the update, Zipper and Pavé appeared like the rest of the characters.
One to two characters at a time briefly display a dialog above their head when viewing the plaza. Each villager personality and each individual special character has several strings of dialog that are chosen from at random, with some being based on the time of day or year. Additional dialog was added in the November 2013 update. In addition to the built-in dialog, characters could display Miiverse posts about them above their heads.
A character can be tapped on from the GamePad. This switches the GamePad view to a profile of that character, who cycles between different dialogs and Miiverse posts and shows various emotions. When in this view, the character's birthday and ranking in the latest poll are shown. The player can mark them as their favorite character and could make a Miiverse post about them to the Animal Crossing Series Community or view recent posts about them. Moving 
rotates the character; this cannot be done for Zipper T. Bunny beginning in the November 2013 update, as he will fight against the movement so that his backside cannot be seen.
The character marked as the player's favorite always appears in the plaza. Additionally, beginning in the November 2013 update, the player can also mark up to ten villagers as residents who will also always appear in the plaza.
Player profile[edit]
The player can tap on their Mii to view their profile, including the following information about them, which was also shared with others on Miiverse:
- Profile name, as set in the Wii U system settings.
- Birthday, as set in the Wii U system settings (can be hidden from public view).
- Location, as set in the Wii U system settings (can be hidden from public view).
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf town name (must be entered manually; default is "Anytown").
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf player name (must be entered manually; default is "Someone").
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf Dream Address (must be entered manually).
- Favorite character, set within that character's profile.
The player could also post to Miiverse and view their Miiverse profile from here.
Album[edit]
From their profile, the player can access photo albums to which screenshots from Animal Crossing: New Leaf can be uploaded from an SD card. There are 12 albums, each of which can be named, and each album can hold up to 240 screenshots. Any uploaded screenshots could be posted to Miiverse.
Uploaded screenshots can be deleted or moved to another album. Beginning in the November 2013 update, multiple screenshots can be deleted or moved at once, and screenshots from other users can be saved.
Polls[edit]
Beginning in the November 2013 update, there were monthly questions that asked players to vote on a character. Polls were held until the end of 2014. Players could vote for a character from their profile, as well as view that character's result in the most recent poll.
The rankings for all 385 characters for each poll could be viewed from the bulletin board while connected to the internet. Isabelle received the most votes in every poll by a wide margin.
Below is a list of the polls and the top five most-voted characters:
| Month | Question | Top five characters |
|---|---|---|
| November 2013 | Who would make the best secretary? | |
| December 2013 | Who is the neighbor of the year? |
|
| January 2014 | Who would you least want as an enemy? |
|
| February 2014 | Who would make the best boss? |
|
| March 2014 | Who is the most avid Bell saver? |
|
| April 2014 | Who would you want as a roommate? |
|
| May 2014 | Who would you go into business with? |
|
| June 2014 | Who would make the best mayor? |
|
| July 2014 | Who seems most likely to win a marathon? |
|
| August 2014 | Who would make the best teacher? |
|
| September 2014 | Who makes the strongest impression? |
|
| October 2014 | Who would you trust your secrets to? |
|
| November 2014 | Who is the best hider in hide-and-seek? |
|
| December 2014 | Who is the neighbor of the year? |
|
Kid Cat (507 votes)
Apollo (478 votes)
Real-time clock[edit]
Like the main series Animal Crossing games, Animal Crossing Plaza utilizes the system's clock. The current date, weekday, and time are displayed in the top-left corner of the screen. The clock mainly affects the dialog of the characters, with certain characters mentioning current or upcoming events, the current time of day, or the current day of the week. Additionally, a bell plays at each hour, similar to the town tune in the main series games. Unlike in the main series games, there is no day/night cycle or seasons and the environment remains constant throughout the day and year.
Music[edit]
There is a single music track in Animal Crossing Plaza that plays at all times. It interpolates parts of the title theme of Animal Crossing: New Leaf. If the camera is zoomed in toward K.K. Slider, an extra guitar is mixed into the track. Beginning in the November 2013 update, if the camera is zoomed in toward Zipper T. Bunny or Pavé, extra instruments from the Bunny Day and Festivale themes, respectively, are mixed into the track.
Gallery[edit]
Japanese logo
Home Menu icon
Boot screen
Names in other languages[edit]
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どうぶつの森 こもれび広場 Doubutsu no Mori Komorebi Hiroba |
Animal Forest: Komorebi Square |
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Площадь Animal Crossing[9][nb 1] Ploshchad' Animal Crossing |
Animal Crossing Plaza |
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Animal Crossing-Lobby | Animal Crossing Lobby |
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Plaza Animal Crossing | Animal Crossing Plaza |
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Place Animal Crossing | Animal Crossing Plaza |
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Piazza Animal Crossing | Animal Crossing Plaza |
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Praça Animal Crossing[10][nb 2] |
Animal Crossing Plaza |
Notes[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Conor McMahon (November 13, 2013). "Animal Crossing Plaza To Be Updated Tomorrow". Nintendo Life. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Liam Doolan (December 8, 2014). "Animal Crossing Plaza Service Stops At the End of This Month". Nintendo Life. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
- ↑ Nintendo of America (August 7, 2013). "Nintendo Direct 8.07.2013". nintendo.com. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
- ↑ Nintendo of America (November 13, 2013). "Nintendo Direct 11.13.2013". nintendo.com. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
- ↑ NintendoKyogoku (January 22, 2015). "Kyogoku's post". Miiverse. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
- ↑ Nintendo. "Animal Crossing Series". Miiverse. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
- ↑ NintendoKyogoku (November 20, 2013). "Kyogoku's post". Miiverse. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
- ↑ NintendoTom (August 12, 2013). "Tom's post". Miiverse. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
- ↑ Nintendo of Europe. "Площадь Animal Crossing". nintendo.ru. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
- ↑ Nintendo of Europe. "Praça Animal Crossing". nintendo.pt. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
External links[edit]
- Official North American website (archived)
- Official Japanese website
- Animal Crossing Series Community on Miiverse (archived)
- Animal Crossing News Community (Americas) on Miiverse (archived)
- Animal Crossing News Community (Europe and Oceania) on Miiverse (archived)
- Animal Crossing News Community (Japan) Community on Miiverse (archived)
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