Okay, so, let’s talk about Animal Crossing. I’ve been hooked on this game since, like, forever. Seriously, I think I first picked it up on the GameCube way back in 2003. Time flies, huh? Anyway, I’ve played pretty much all of them, but today I wanna dig into Wild World and New Leaf. These two are both on the DS, so it’s a pretty fair comparison, right?
I started messing around with Wild World first. It’s got that classic Animal Crossing vibe, you know? You move to a new town, make friends with animal neighbors, decorate your house, the whole deal. But, honestly, coming back to it after playing the newer games felt kinda… limited. I mean, compared to later games, the number of things to do isn’t quite as large.

- The graphics are super blocky, but hey, it’s the DS, what do you expect?
- One thing that kinda bugged me was the controls. I like to think of myself as a gamer but I struggled with some of the controls.
- But, on the other hand, the villagers in Wild World have way more personality. They’re quirky, they’ve got their own little dramas, and they actually talk to you! It felt like I was really getting to know them, you know?
Then I switched over to New Leaf. Man, this game is a whole different beast. First off, you’re the mayor! How cool is that? You get to make actual decisions about the town, like where to put new buildings and stuff. It’s like, way more responsibility, but also way more satisfying. Oh! There is also this update called “Welcome Amiibo” that made the game much better. But for this comparison, I did not play it with the update.
- The graphics are a big step up from Wild World. Everything’s smoother, more colorful, just nicer to look at.
- There’s also way more to do in New Leaf. More furniture, more clothes, more events. I could spend hours just designing my house, not even kidding.
- But, and this is a big but, the special villagers feel kinda… bland. They’re just kinda there, you know? They don’t have those deep conversations like in Wild World. It’s like they’re just going through the motions.
So, which one is better?
Honestly, it’s tough. If I had to choose, I’d probably lean towards New Leaf. It’s just got so much more content, and being the mayor is pretty awesome. But I really miss the depth of the characters in Wild World. It would be perfect if they could combine the best parts of both games, but hey, maybe in the next one, right?
After doing my comparison, I found a post online where someone said that New Horizons is much better than New Leaf. I might give that a try next. We will see.