Euro date for Animal Crossing DS

By Patrick Garratt Published 8 September, 2005

Q1 '06, says Nintendo.

Nintendo UK told Eurogamer this morning that the DS version of Animal Crossing, newly renamed Wild World, is aiming for a first quarter 2006 release in Europe.

The date is no clearer than that, however, but import fans should note that the game will release in America on December 5th this year, according to schedules at the UK arm of Nintendo's operation.

The game, in which the player takes on the role of an animal living in a town, features full online play, the basic features of which were demonstrated for the first time at E3 in May.

Players will be able to trade items, chat with each other and so forth, when the game finally releases. Animal Crossing achieved cult status on GameCube with its unique styling and ability to keep people playing till near-death in an effort to fill that stupid bloody museum with dinosaur skeletons. Not that we're bitter, or anything.

Doesn't look like you're going to have to wait so long after all, eh?

Comments (28) Latest comment 7 years ago

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  • Teeth #1 7 years ago

    I wonder if the different versions will be compatible. I may have to get the US version you see, if it's up to 4 months earlier than the EU version. Not sure.

  • trevd72 #2 7 years ago

    i never really "got" AC on the gamecube, i wonder if the move to handheld will make it better. especially in writting those damn letters. i hated having to kiss ass in the game all the time.

  • BurnoutJunkie #3 7 years ago

    Hope someone can answer this for me...

    If I import the NTSC game, will I still be able to play online? I don't want to wait for the PAL version. We'll have the online play up and running by then too, because Mario Kart DS is due out here a couple of days before the States.

  • Wobble #4 7 years ago

    What is it with the idiots in the marketing departments of western games companies that make them think they need to rename so many games.
    It's patronising at best.

  • smelly #5 7 years ago

    Didnt like the cube verison, but it's got to be MUCH better suited to the handheld .. cant wait.

  • joey #6 7 years ago

    Yeah, I imported a PAL version for the Cube from NZ, it drove me nuts, esp getting a blocking everytime I had not played it for a while - bring on the DS version, friends already have wireless parties planned.

  • Nemesis #7 7 years ago

    I'm sure we can all wait a month or so.

    Can't we?

    Can't WAIT for this to come out, let the good times begin. Again.

  • MARKIV #8 7 years ago

    There's no such thing as NTSC and PAL on the DS. And Nintendo's strategy for online play was to allow the worldwide community to play on-line together.

    So import away people! The main reason for the delay as always is to allow Ninty to put in all the other foreign languages we have in europe.

    For this reason I've only ever imported consoles and games for Nintendo systems.

  • smelly #9 7 years ago

    I WANT THE NEW MARIO!!!!!!

  • smelly #10 7 years ago

    "The main reason for the delay as always is to allow Ninty to put in all the other foreign languages we have in europe. "


    Well we sometimes get lucky and get extra features when games come out over here. But yeah, i've been playing imported kirby canvas for ages now (its ace! best game i've played in over 10 years!).

    I just hope they havent put a 2 player mode in for the uk release (or i'll have to buy it again!)

  • MARKIV #11 7 years ago

    rhythm - We're talking online play here. WIFI ( infrastructure mode ), not adhoc DS to DS mode. Just like how my XBOX allows me to play with people in US and all over Europe.

  • Lost_in_Darkness #12 7 years ago

    hey that's my birthday!

  • smelly #13 7 years ago

    I WANT THE NEW MARIO!!!!!!

  • MARKIV #14 7 years ago

    Re: Smelly - "Well we sometimes get lucky and get extra features when games come out over here." And sometimes we don't. Do you remember when Mario 64 was relaunched it Japan with rumble pack support. Did we get it? I'd prefer to play next gen stuff now, not after it's effectively sat on the shelf for 3 to 6 months..

    Roll on Batallion Wars on the Gamecube - less than two weeks til the US release.. When is the PAL release again, December...!? :)

  • smelly #15 7 years ago

    "I'd prefer to play next gen stuff now"

    .. i'm not getting at you in any way.. but i've never understood this mentality. Most gamers seem to consider games more than 3 months old as "old" and not worth bothering with.

    In terms of pc games, i can understand this as the hardware is constantly moving on so older games look worse. But in terms of console games on a fixed platform.. to me its crazy.

    I've just bought 1080 avalaunch and smash bros on the cheap for the cube (missed them first time around), loving them. If i'd dissmissed them as old, i'd have left out.

    That said, after saying all that.. I *HAVE* imported kirby. if anyone is thinking about importing this.. GET IT! Best game in a LONG while trust me!

    I WANT THE NEW MARIO!!!

    (and i will import that! Cant wait!!!)

  • smelly #16 7 years ago

    rythm... dunno.. only a handful of hardcore types bother with importing... and sometimes its cheaper to import too! (i picked up kirby for 20 notes).

  • trevd72 #17 7 years ago

    how is this for simplicity.....these handheld consoles that are region free, why not have one english language release.....the uk, us, canada, australia and NZ.....we can have the games at the same time. I do not see the point of waiting the same amount of time as luxemburgh when the english translation is done for the US and canada. They should do the same with proper consoles, a little more tricky technically with NTSC and PAL. Handhelds though should have the english versions released the same time.
    Edited by trevd72 at 08/09/05 @ 16:14

  • Teeth #18 7 years ago

    It's a difficult one though - you have to organise all the different SKUs and distribute them (EU has different SKUS, so the scandies get a bunch of scandies languages, the uk gets like french italian and english or something, you know the drill); fit three or more languages onto a SKU which might be a problem; and translate the game into the large number of languages present in the EU.

    I can see why it takes longer but sometimes they just take the piss :)

  • trevd72 #19 7 years ago

    do we care about the rest of europe though, just give us the US and/or Canadian release.

  • Teeth #20 7 years ago

    Yes, I completely agree with you.

  • karlidog #21 7 years ago

    "Most gamers seem to consider games more than 3 months old as "old" and not worth bothering with."

    I see where you're coming from, but (as someone who imports practically everything she plays), here's how I see it: I'm looking forward to, say, Animal Crossing DS a lot. There's no other way to play Animal Crossing on a handheld, which is something I'm happy to pay money to do. If I could buy it today, I would. I have to wait 'til December to do so - there won't be an English language version available anywhere in the world until then, and there's nothing I can do about it. But once the US version's released, I don't see a reason to wait anymore - any further twiddling-of-thumbs I did would be self-imposed. It's a different story when it comes to games I'm not sure about, or would rather pick up when they get cheaper, but for the titles I know I really want, and am sure I'll enjoy, making myself wait for an arbitrary UK launch date and pay a higher price seems a bit counter-productive.

  • itsgood2slide #22 7 years ago

    Does anyone know if there will be NES games in the DS version?

  • smelly #23 7 years ago

    "Does anyone know if there will be NES games in the DS version? "

    I remember reading an interview (i think on ign) where they DEFINATELY stated that it was a no. But they didnt rule out old gboy games.

    look on ign for it, it'll be in there.

    I WANT THE NEW MARIO!

    Edited by smelly at 08/09/05 @ 18:05

  • smelly #24 7 years ago

    Dont say i never give you guys nothin'... NO NES GAMES IN ANIMAL CROSSING DS:

    http://ds.ign.com/articles/627/627402p1.html

  • smelly #25 7 years ago

    "Can you "beat" someone at this game, (never bought the GC version)"

    Not that kind of game. I'd imagine it's for trading stuff, between versions, etc.

    who knows?

  • Teeth #26 7 years ago

    If I've got more money than you, I'm beating you. And you're losing.

  • Feanor #27 7 years ago

    "The language excuse is a bag of balls - the US versions ship with Spanish and the Canadian ones with French. The other main languages (Italian and German) can't take THAT long to cover, can they?"

    Great point. Still, I wouldn't want to be the one stuck with translating Animal Crossing from Japanese into German. Not that I speak German.

  • SirScratchalot #28 7 years ago

    Do you speak japanese?