The long-running Animal Crossing series is one of the most beloved simulation series of all time, with each entry offering something unique to players. Every Animal Crossing player has their own ranking of the games, with all fans having their own personal favorite, and perhaps a title they feel didn't live up to its potential as well. For many long-time Animal Crossing fans, that entry is often considered to be Animal Crossing: City Folk.
Every Animal Crossing game revolves around the same basic concept: players move into a new town populated by adorable anthropomorphic animals and work to make a living while participating in activities like collecting creatures, gardening, decorating, shopping, and befriending the town's inhabitants. However, other details like the exact NPCs present in the game and the town's location have varied with each game. For example, Animal Crossing: City Folk allowed for travel to a nearby city area, while Animal Crossing: New Horizons introduced islands as the main living space instead of just a temporary destination.
These different locations and the specific activities and aesthetics they offer are a large part of how some players have determined their favorite titles, and conversely the entries they consider to be somewhat of a disappointment. While there has never been an explicitly bad mainline Animal Crossing game, there have certainly been entries that could have done more with their setting. In particular, Animal Crossing: City Folk provided a unique new environment but in half-measures, many of which have never been seen since.
Animal Crossing: City Folk's Didn't Have Nearly Enough City Elements
Despite having "city" in its name, Animal Crossing: City Folk barely dipped its toes into any urban elements. Now considered by some players to be somewhat of a classic Animal Crossing game largely due to its age, much of the retroactive praise for the title is simply due to nostalgia - while there were several things that City Folk did well, it barely lived up to its name. One of the largest issues with the game is the fact that players don't actually live in the city itself, with each trip to the city plaza area necessitating a bus ride. Both players and villagers still reside on a much more rural map that's quite similar to the one found in the previous Animal Crossing title released for the GameCube.
While the city area itself was quite a lot of fun, with features some fans think the most recent Animal Crossing: New Horizons needs like rotating animal encounters and businesses like GracieGrace and the Theater frequented by Dr. Shrunk, the fact that it was a separate destination and not the player's home was a large missed opportunity for unique new gameplay. Villagers could have shared an apartment complex with players, giving a much different neighborhood feeling and letting players pay off loans to make their way to the penthouse. If players lived in the city, the bus could have been used to visit different areas instead, adding to the urban theme by emphasizing public transportation and offering a lot more variety.
One of the worst parts of the squandered city opportunities present in Animal Crossing: City Folk is the fact that the good ideas that were presented by the game have never been revisited by the series. The closest to a city that players received in the future were the Main Street area in New Leaf and the urban-inspired Animal Crossing: New Horizons designs fans make for themselves on their islands. Since City Folk, players haven't seen any town settings that stray much at all from that of the original title - it's almost as if the Wii game's locale has been entirely forgotten. While many Animal Crossing players surely prefer inhabiting the more rural towns, it's a shame the only city experience fans have ever gotten was a trip and not a permanent stay.