Today, I’m going to list 11 things you can do in Animal Crossing: City Folk, but not in New Leaf. For one reason or another, these features were not included in ACNL. If you haven’t played ACCF before, you might find some of these things surprising. But even if you’re familiar with the Wii edition of Animal Crossing, you may enjoy the trip down memory lane.
Without further ado, here is the list…in no particular order. You can watch the video, or just scroll down to just read the list, if you prefer.
1. Store Your Gyroids with Brewster
Brewster has an affinity for gyroids, which are those small statues you may dig up out of the ground after it rains in your town. In New Leaf, Brewster actually gives you some gyroids he made himself. They’re called brewstoids.
While City Folk doesn’t have brewstoids, it does have a unique feature you can access in the Roost. You can give your gyroids (one of each kind, if you wish) to Brewster and he will store them for you. If you want one back, all you have to do is ask. If you collect gyroids, this feature will save you tons of storage space!
Just talk to Brewster across the counter (not from the seat) to access the gyroid storage. If he’s not already storing any gyroids for you, you’ll need to have a gyroid in your pockets before he’ll mention it.
2. Wave To Your Villagers From a Distance
By pointing the Wii remote cursor at an on-screen villager and pressing A, you can wave to that animal. They will respond with a wave or a bow, and you may hear the chime of friendship. Or at least, that’s what I like to call it. 😛
Animal Crossing: Wild World had a similar feature, in which you tap a villager on the touch screen. But New Leaf doesn’t have it, although villagers will sometimes respond to your emotions if they’re close to you on-screen.
3. Use Your Shopping Card to Make Large Purchases
Many items at GracieGrace can cost hundreds of thousands of bells. And it can be a pain having to carry around many bags of money, especially since it uses up your pocket space. But by using a shopping card, which functions like a debit card, you can shop without the hassle. If you don’t have the cash on you, the cost of the items you buy will be deducted from your bank account. New Leaf really could have used this feature.
To get the shopping card, you’ll need to deposit 10,000 bells into your bank account. For the gold card, you’ll need a million bells in your account.
4. Shoot Down a UFO
In City Folk (and Wild World too), Gulliver didn’t just wash up on the beach from the sea. Instead, he piloted his own spaceship that occasionally flies over your town. It will take some planning and preparation to actually shoot him down (unless you get incredibly lucky), but it can be done. It’s a lot of work and it’s a challenging task, but it’s also quite rewarding once you shoot him down. In return, he gives you an exclusive item such as a Metroid.
For more info on shooting down the UFO, watch the following video and read the video description for additional details.
5. Use a USB Keyboard to Write Letters Quickly
Animal Crossing: City Folk has USB keyboard support. So you can use a physical keyboard instead of aiming the Wii remote at an awkward on-screen keyboard to compose letters, post messages to the bulletin board, and use emotions (by using the F5-F8 keys). The keyboard support was primarily for chatting when online play was still supported by Nintendo, but it still has its uses.
To use this feature, just plug in a standard USB keyboard into your Wii or Wii U. While not every keyboard may be supported, most should work.
6. See Serena, the Goddess of the Fountain
By throwing your axe into your town’s fountain, you will summon Serena the goddess. By answering her questions a certain way, she may (or may not) return your axe or give you a silver or gold axe instead. Admittedly, the process was unpredictable and annoying. But still, it’s a goddess that comes out of the fountain! That’s got to count for something, right? You won’t find Serena anywhere in New Leaf.
7. Put Up a Flagpole …On Your House
While New Leaf lets you fly a flag of your choice at town hall, City Folk lets each player put up a flag on their own house. Once your debt to Tom Nook is fully paid off, that is. Just use the phone in your attic to change the design.
8. See Frillard Perform at the Marquee
City Folk and New Leaf both let you see Dr. Shrunk perform “comedy” shows, which are really just excuses to teach you new emotions to use. But while New Leaf’s comedy routines take place in an empty club, City Folk has a theater called the Marquee–where other animals will also be attending the shows. And occasionally, you will get one of six rare emotions that can only be performed by Master Frillard himself.
To see him, just check the emotions at the theater each week. If you see agreement, bashfulness, inspiration, outrage, sleepiness, or thought listed, just attend the show!
9. Earn Points for Shopping & Spend Them on Rewards
By using Nook’s Point-Tracking System (PTS), you can acquire Nook points (by shopping or by checking-in to earn visitor points). Once you save up enough points, you can use them to redeem various Nintendo themed items. For example, a Wario hat, a Varia suit from Metroid, Majora’s Mask from Zelda, or a kart from Mario Kart.
Sure, New Leaf made these items easier to acquire with Play Coins, but it was satisfying to save up points and get a rare item in exchange.
10. Get Balloons and Other Gifts from Phineas
When Phineas appears in the city, you can ask him for one of several handheld items. That includes regular balloons, bunny balloons, pinwheels, and bubble wands. While these items made it to New Leaf, they were given out as StreetPass items. So people who didn’t get many StreetPass hits may not have had a chance to acquire them.
Phineas appears on random days in the city, but he will only be there until 7 p.m. So if you play later at night, you’ll miss him.
11. Visit the Observatory & Make Constellations
While Celeste still works upstairs at the museum in New Leaf, it’s just to run a gift shop and rent out exhibit rooms. In City Folk (and Wild World), Celeste runs an observatory. You can use a telescope to stargaze, or to create or remove constellations.
And for reasons I still don’t understand, there’s an option to tell Celeste that she’s adorable. 😛
Notes
Just to be clear, I’m not saying that City Folk is a better game than New Leaf. This list is really directed at New Leaf players who may look down on City Folk, thinking it doesn’t have much to offer. But as you’ve seen above, ACCF does have some cool features, unique abilities, and a few characters that New Leaf players may not recognize.
Of course, this list doesn’t encompass everything about City Folk that wasn’t included in New Leaf. But I chose some of the most interesting and useful features. Some other things include the recycle bin, red turnips, your house’s attic (and swapping beds), and the ability to revert Nookington’s back into Nookway or Nook ‘n’ Go.
Also, I focused on things that still function despite the end of online play. Otherwise, I could have included things like the auction house, the HRA model room, the ability to send letters to friends without visiting their towns, and Wii Speak microphones that allowed voice chat during online gameplay.
Did I leave out any of your favorite City Folk features? Leave a comment below!
