animal crossing: gateway to friendship

I mentioned a while ago in this previous post about Pokemon that I had gotten invested in Animal Crossing and was looking forward to the new game, New Horizons.  The game was released (and I received my preordered copy) on March 20th, the same day my job officially closed down due to the Coronavirus statewide lockdown.  I have honestly spent much of my time playing this game, and words can hardly describe how comforting this game has been -- how fun, how wonderful a way to pass time, and how oddly motivating I've found it.

I didn't grow up with Animal Crossing... I picked up the 3DS game New Leaf just last year because life was going bad and I needed a distraction, and this series looked cute. The fact that you're free to play at your own pace and set your own goals really appealed to me.  You're always accomplishing something, no matter how small.  The fact that your villagers notice when you don't check into town regularly really touched my dark little heart.

I preordered the new game, and since I haven't been working, I've had a lot of time to play it.  I don't know how to explain it, lads... it just feels good.  I saw a post that said that Animal Crossing is really just about vibing... and I think that's it, lol.

Because I wasn't able to fully explain how I feel about the series, here are some excellent youtube videos that give you more and better info and things to think about.  The first one by Cygnus Destroyer is especially relatable to me because his history with the franchise is very similar with my own.

Find the thing that brings you the kind of peace Animal Crossing brings its fans.  Even if it is temporary, that's better than nothing.

gotta catch em all

So, as you know, I am a nerd lol... and I do love Pokemon.  I finished Pokemon Shield a while ago and eventually completed the Pokedex.  Like many people my age, I grew up with Pokemon and was a kid during the height of Pokemania in the late 90s/early 2000s.  I started watching the anime in the mornings before school when I was in 5th grade, and that Christmas my dad got me Pokemon Red on Game Boy.  I ended up playing Red, Blue, and Yellow... stood in line with my mom to get Silver the day it and Gold launched.  But I fell off before Crystal launched, and I don't really know or remember why.  I did get a Game Boy Advance (two actually -- the original model and then later the SP, the classic Nintendo special edition one), but I never Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald or even FireRed or LeafGreen.  I feel like a lot of people had a similar experience... Pokemon never stopped being popular, of course, but that was truly the point where Pokemania was kind of over.  I guess I just thought I'd grown out of Pokemon.  That was kind of it until 2013.  I was on Tumblr at that point, and everyone was talking about X and Y, and it looked so good!  I didn't have a DS or 3DS at that point, but I decided that I really wanted to.  I really wanted to play Pokemon again.  I even bought a probably fake copy of FireRed to tide me over and I really enjoyed that (until the cartridge deleted my save file lol)... but I needed to get back into it for real.  I didn't know why I needed it, but I just felt like I did.  I got my 3DS for Christmas that year... there was a Black Friday sales bundle on the system and two games available on the walmart website, and my mom and I made it happen.  I had to defend the fact that, poor as we were, I owned that system... people made so many comments and asked so many questions because poor people are apparently not allowed to own anything or have fun ever.  But I put up with it, because I had Pokemon again, and it was fun and it was good.  It made me happy.  Depression made me lose interest in the game a few times, so it took me forever to finish it... but I did eventually, and I even completed my Pokedex.  I was truly proud of that accomplishment!  Since that point, I've know that I had no desire to give up Pokemon again... I've played Y, Omega Ruby, SoulSilver, Sun, and Ultra Moon on my 3DS (as well Animal Crossing -- a franchise I am fairly new to but ended up falling in love with... expect a post about that after the new game comes out next month, lol).  When I started working, my first BIG purchase was a Nintendo Switch with Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu.  I enjoyed that game a lot, but haven't yet finished it.  Pokemon Shield, for all it's detractors and admitted imperfections, really captured me... and I can't wait for the expansion pass later this year.  I'm just so glad I got back into this franchise!  One of the good things in life.