SweetieGames

If you’re into Y2K nostalgia or have been a fan of Animal Crossing at any point, you will know that many players love the old NPC dialogue from the original Gamecube Animal Crossing and from Wild World on the DS. When you fast forward to today, one of the main topics I still see people discussing when it comes to New Horizons is the change in villager dialogue. But why is this? Why do people love the old dialogue so much?

Back in 2009, I played Animal Crossing: Wild World on my pink DS Lite. I had a town literally named “town” (yes, in lower case) as I took the question of “where would you like to go?” too literally, a peak autism moment I still think about today. I quickly became addicted, despite the fact there wasn’t anywhere near as much to do in Wild World in comparison to later instalments. I spent all day chatting with my villagers, catching fish and bugs and coming up with a backstory for my player character.

Yes, I too loved the old Animal Crossing dialogue. There was something about it that was interesting to my childhood self, which is why I spent so much time talking to all of my villagers. If you’re not aware, the old Animal Crossing dialogue had a mean air to it. Sometimes, completely out of nowhere, your villagers, who are meant to be your character’s friends, would say some of the meanest, most unhinged things. And it wasn’t just you that they’d say these things to, they’d talk to each other in a similar manner. You didn’t want to upset them by forgetting a house party or they’d start wishing your house was burned to the ground. Even certain NPCs fulfilling service roles would be rude; I have distinct memories of when I encountered clerk Phyllis for the first time, where she muttered about how poor I was and how annoying I was. Great things to read as an impressionable 11 year old.

Resetti, the angry mole who would appear and break the fourth wall when you didn’t quit your previous game session without saving first, was the most memorable and worst offender for Wild World players. He wasn’t talking to the character, he was taking his anger out directly on 9 year olds worldwide. Forget to save enough times, and you’d be typing out that you were a loser and a cheater. Not your character. You personally.

Despite probably being the least popular resident of “town”, there was something cool about some villager’s dialogue. I loved snooty villagers as a kid; they felt like mature cool girls that I wanted to become when I grew up. They read gossip magazines, talked about makeup and had snarky quips. Talking with them made me feel like I was hanging out in a cool teenager’s bedroom, back when I had no concept of what being a teenager was like. I can’t entirely blame people for missing when villagers talked like this. It was pretty entertaining.

You may have noticed that I’ve talked about these dialogue patterns in past tense. That’s because it’s been softened up over time, with New Horizons‘ dialogue bearing almost no resemblance to dialogue we saw in earlier instalments. Everyone is kind to you: waving as you leave their homes and you don’t turn back, complimenting every outfit while giving you an item for it that bears no correlation, and service NPCs have been completely smoothed out to the point where they have nearly no personality at all. I felt annoying in my Wild World town, but on my New Horizons island, I’m adored by everyone. But is that what I want? I don’t miss being treated like an annoying idiot, sure, but I don’t know if I like being my island’s most popular and most necessary resident.

I see a lot of people wondering why this change was made, but I do understand it. Many kids all over the world cried when seeing Resetti pop up and yell at them; I know I was upset as I never reset my game on purpose. One time my DS shut down abruptly because I stood on it by mistake. Multiple times was because my batteries ran out and I was away from my charger. The villager’s mean dialogue was completely unsolicited. Some days, the first thing I would hear from my neighbour was about how they wanted to talk to someone who wasn’t me. Dr Shrunk would arrive in my town and make fun of how gormless I was, when I had no choice over my character’s lack of expression. The dialogue did stick with me, but maybe not for good reasons.

I wouldn’t say that I want the mean dialogue to return, but I do wish there was a wider variety of dialogue options in New Horizons and that they had a bit more personality. There needs to be a middle ground between straight up bullying and completely rounded edges. I get that these games are primarily aimed at a younger audience, but there are plenty of ways to get entertaining dialogue in place, and there are even small glimpses of it in New Horizons conversations. I just wish they went a little bit further!