Doubutsu no Mori+

From Nookipedia, the Animal Crossing wiki
Game cover
Game cover
Developer(s) Nintendo EAD
Publisher(s) Nintendo
Director(s) Katsuya Eguchi
Hisashi Nogami
Platform(s) Nintendo GameCube
Release date(s) Japan December 14, 2001[1]
Genre(s) Simulation
Language(s) Japan Japanese
Modes Single-player
Media GameCube Game Disc
File size 57 blocks (town save data)
3 blocks (travel data)
1 block (NES save data)
Input
methods
Nintendo GameCube Controller
Game Boy Advance (Animal Island only)
e-Reader

Doubutsu no Mori+[nb 1] is an updated port and expansion of Doubutsu no Mori for the Nintendo GameCube. It released only in Japan on December 14, 2001, just eight months after the original title. This version contains extra features that had to be left out of the Nintendo 64 version, and also utilizes the GameCube's built-in clock to keep track of the date and time while dropping the Nintendo 64's original system that utilized an internal clock built into the game cartridge. Doubutsu no Mori+ cost 7,140 yen and sold 92,568 copies during its first week of sale in Japan.[citation needed]

Compared to Doubutsu no Mori, Doubutsu no Mori+ adds a significant amount of new content, including a museum for donating collectibles (of which there are also more of), a tailor where players can create custom designs, many new special events hosted by the town's mayor, and, with a Game Boy Advance connection, a tropical island where players can help a local islander furnish their house linked to a special minigame on the GBA. A series of cards for the e-Reader also released specifically for the game, featuring secret codes used to obtain items.[nb 2]

Due to featuring many Japanese cultural references, Doubutsu no Mori+ was extensively localized by Nintendo of America's Treehouse division, becoming Animal Crossing. Doubutsu no Mori+ and Animal Crossing are generally considered the same game by official Nintendo sources, but they have notable differences; many aspects of the game were altered or removed to make it more accessible to international audiences. Animal Crossing also added a significant amount of new content, such as new dialogue, items, and holidays. Nintendo's main Japanese branch was so impressed with the localization of Animal Crossing that they used it as the basis for Doubutsu no Mori e+, which released in Japan on June 27th, 2003.

Gameplay[edit]

Main article: Animal Crossing#Gameplay

Differences from Doubutsu no Mori[edit]

New villagers[edit]

Islanders[edit]

New special characters[edit]


Altered character designs[edit]

  • 30 existing villagers had their designs changed between Doubutsu no Mori and Doubutsu no Mori+. These changes were retained in all later games.
Name Doubutsu no Mori Doubutsu no Mori+
Amelia Amelia DnM Model.png Amelia PG Model.png
Bangle Bangle DnM Model.png Bangle PG Model.png
Bluebear Bluebear DnM Model.png Bluebear PG Model.png
Boris Boris DnM Model.png Boris PG Model.png
Carmen Carmen DnM Model.png Carmen PG Model.png
Chevre Chevre DnM Model.png Chevre PG Model.png
Cleo Cleo DnM Model.png Cleo PG Model.png
Cupcake Cupcake DnM Model.png Cupcake PG Model.png
Fang Fang DnM Model.png Fang PG Model.png
Friga Friga DnM Model.png Friga PG Model.png
Gwen Gwen DnM Model.png Gwen PG Model.png
Huggy Huggy DnM Model.png Huggy PG Model.png
Iggy Iggy DnM Model.png Iggy PG Model.png
Kody Kody DnM Model.png Kody PG Model.png
Lucy Lucy DnM Model.png Lucy PG Model.png
Maple Maple DnM Model.png Maple PG Model.png
Murphy Murphy DnM Model.png Murphy PG Model.png
Nibbles Nibbles DnM Model.png Nibbles PG Model.png
Pinky Pinky DnM Model.png Pinky PG Model.png
Portia Portia DnM Model.png Portia PG Model.png
Puck Puck DnM Model.png Puck PG Model.png
Scoot Scoot DnM Model.png Scoot PG Model.png
Spike Spike DnM Model.png Spike PG Model.png
Static Static DnM Model.png Static PG Model.png
Stella Stella DnM Model.png Stella PG Model.png
Tiara Tiara DnM Model.png Tiara PG Model.png
Ursala Ursala DnM Model.png Ursala PG Model.png
Valise Valise DnM Model.png Valise PG Model.png
Vladimir Vladimir DnM Model.png Vladimir PG Model.png
Yuka Yuka DnM Model.png Yuka PG Model.png

Villagers with changed default clothing[edit]

Two villagers had their default clothing changed between Doubutsu no Mori and Doubutsu no Mori+.

Name Doubutsu no Mori Doubutsu no Mori+
Cube Cube DnM Model.png
N cube shirt
Cube PG Model.png
G logo shirt
Paolo Paolo DnM Model.png
I love 64 shirt
Paolo DnM+ Model.png
I love GC shirt

Locations[edit]

Events[edit]

Tortimer appears at the town shrine for the new events based on Japanese holidays to give out special items. These include:

Some holidays that were already present in Doubutsu no Mori also had gifts from Tortimer added:

Other events/visitors[edit]

  • Travelling to another town is done with GameCube memory cards, and the train ride between is seen, where either Rover or the newly added Blanca will appear.
  • Gulliver gives the player unique world-themed furniture instead of a random furniture item.
  • The player is now able to participate in the morning aerobics.
  • Redd sells fans, pinwheels or balloons at the Fireworks Festival instead of Totakeke's songs.

Items[edit]

Nat NH Character Icon.png
This article or section requires further research.
You can help by investigating this topic and editing this article to include more information. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page.
Nat NH Character Icon.png
This article or section requires further research.
You can help by investigating this topic and editing this article to include more information. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page.
  • Two shirts are unique to Doubutsu no Mori, having been redesigned in later releases:
  • Two paintings are exclusive to the N64 game: the Dreadful Painting and the Novel Painting, which are not obtainable in the normal course of play in later versions, likely due to the source artworks still being under copyright at the time.[nb 3] These items also exist in the code of the Japanese release of Animal Crossing and can be brought over from an N64 save file via Nintendo's now-discontinued Data Moving Service, but cannot be added to the catalog in the GameCube game. (In the international release of Animal Crossing and in Doubutsu no Mori e+, the items are removed entirely, with their index numbers instead pointing to duplicates of the DUMMY placeholder furniture.)
  • Ten more NES games are added, and now have their game title as names instead of just being called "Famicom".
  • Golden tools are added, and the standard Axe is now breakable.
  • The "Items" section of the catalog now includes tools and other handheld items in addition to umbrellas.
  • Some non-furniture items, such as tools, appear as sprites inside Tom Nook's store and the player's house. In all later games, they appear as 3D models when placed in interiors.
  • Secret codes are added; they must be mailed to villagers to redeem them.

Bugs and fish[edit]

Game Boy Advance connectivity[edit]

By connecting to a Game Boy Advance via a GameCube – Game Boy Advance link cable players can access the island, play NES games, and scan Animal Crossing-e cards with the e-Reader card to access special items, patterns, and mini-games. Certain NES games can be transferred to the Game Boy Advance to play on the go, and the island can be downloaded to a Game Boy Advance to play after returning to the player's town.

Other changes[edit]

  • A white Nintendo logo is displayed upon starting the game instead of the Nintendo 64 cube logo.
  • Three items can be kept in a storage unit as opposed to only one.
  • All airchecks can be stored in a stereo instead of just one at a time.
  • Stationery is sold in packs of four for  160 Bells instead of individually for  60 Bells.
  • The player can only hold a maximum of 50,000 Bells rather than 99,999.
  • Multiple items can be selected when selling at Tom Nook's store.
  • Most items dropped on the ground outside appear now have more specific sprites, such as the individual tools, instead of the few common ones from Doubutsu no Mori.
  • The game now utilizes the GameCube controller's rumble feature.

Development[edit]

See also: List of Animal Crossing staff

In a pre-E3 interview published in the July 2000 issue of Nintendo Power magazine, Shigeru Miyamoto mentions that he is working on launch titles for the Nintendo GameCube, stating: "One title is really a new genre of game—what we are calling a "communication" game, which we hope to finish this summer." That game, Doubutsu no Mori+, would be released a year and a half later in December 2001, two months after the launch of the GameCube in Japan, and eight months after Doubutsu no Mori. When questioned about upcoming Nintendo 64 games in a separate E3 2000 interview with IGN, Miyamoto states that he hopes to have "...a couple of new games for Nintendo 64 by the end of the year. These are not standard action-type games. We are calling them 'communication games'."[2] This would suggest that Doubutsu no Mori and Doubutsu no Mori+ may have been developed concurrently.

Despite being released near the end of the Nintendo 64's lifespan, Doubutsu no Mori sold through its entire print run. The success of the game, paired with the inability to produce enough cartridges to meet demand, encouraged the development team to port the game to the Nintendo GameCube with minor enhancements under the Japanese title Doubutsu no Mori+.[3] Taking advantage of the greater memory capacities of the GameCube, the team included new features that could not be added to the original game, such as Animal Island. The North American localization, Animal Crossing, was released eight months later.

Prerelease and unused content[edit]

Main article: List of prerelease and unused content in Animal Crossing

Related media[edit]

Doubutsu no Mori+ received three tie-in manga: Doubutsu no Mori+ 4koma Gag Battle, Doubutsu no Mori+ 4coma Manga Kingdom, and Doubutsu no Mori+: Purin-Mura Nikki.

Gallery[edit]

Names in other languages[edit]

Japanese どうぶつの森
Doubutsu no Mori Purasu
Animal Forest+

Notes[edit]

  1. Japanese: どうぶつの森 Hepburn: Doubutsu no Mori PurasuAnimal Forest+
  2. The connection between the e-Reader and the GameCube was not introduced until Animal Crossing due to the technical capabilities of Japan's first e-Reader.
  3. The Scream and Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue, the respective basis for the Dreadful and Novel Paintings, would eventually enter the public domain in 2015 alongside the rest of Edvard Munch and Piet Mondrian's portfolios.

References[edit]

  1. Nintendo. "Animal Forest+". (Japanese)
  2. IGN (June 5, 2000). "Interview: Miyamoto and Aonuma". ign64.ign.com. Archived from the original on August 21, 2001. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  3. Wired Staff (April 7, 2006). "Interview: The Wild World of Katsuya Eguchi". Wired. Retrieved November 8, 2020.