Animal Crossing New Leaf

As a kid, I had always dreamed of owning a 3DS, mostly because I wanted to play Animal Crossing New Leaf... From what I could see online, the game seemed right up my ally. A cozy, town-building game with lots of potential for decoration and customization, with a colorful cast of cute animal villagers. I saved lots of photos of other folks' in-game creations, and watched dream address tour videos to lull myself to sleep... I never had a proper introduction to the series until the release of Animal Crossing New Horizons, however.

One of the cool things about being an adult is you can save up and indulge in all the things you were never able to have as a kid... for my 18th birthday, I decided to purchase myself a second hand 3DS XL. I mostly intended to own a 3DS so I could play the 3D remasters of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, but considering the amount of time I had dedicated to ACNH (800 hours..), it was only natural that i'd also want to try out its predecessor, ACNL! I was able to buy a used light pink 3DS XL for a good price, and luckily enough, it came with Animal Crossing New Leaf as well!

After logging 800 hours into ACNH, playing ACNL felt like an Animal Crossing hard mode to me... (and I enjoy it!) There are aspects of the game that are simpler than ACNH, ACNL has a larger emphasis on developing your town, as opposed to ACNH's focus on meticulously decorating your island-- creating something like a diorama. I enjoy having less control over your town and residents in ACNL, it makes for a more realistic experience... Its different than ACNH of course, but I enjoy both games and what they have to offer for the series. Both are very cozy. The lower poly graphics in ACNL are very charming as well-- I might even prefer them to ACNH's graphics. And of course, the ACNL soundtrack is amazing... There's never a time of day where I'm not in the mood to listen to ACNL's soundtrack! I'm constantly looping it-- its the perfect background music for cleaning, taking walks, reading, drawing, cooking, etc.... (I'm even listening to it while typing this..) My favorite track is probably 5 PM!

I dont play ACNL as avidly as I did ACNH, but its the perfect game to hop into during shorter intervals of the day where you have nothing to do. I like playing it while sitting on the train or at a cafe. I have pleasent memories of playing ACNL together with my best friend, visiting each others towns and updating each other on our in-game progress... One time he gathered a ton of 3DS's from a handful of his friends so I could streetpass them and have access to their furniture catalogues! (The sight of two people sitting in a cafe with a huge pile of 3DS's is probably really funny)

My town is still in early in its development, and I plan on creating more towns... so this page will be updated with my ACNL adventures and news of my town's progress!

Welcome to Lullaby

The town of Lullaby is still early in its development, so I have little to write about it, unfortunately. I've mostly been making progress on Lullaby's main street... I hope for Lullaby to become a cozy, dreamy town full of pine trees, clovers, and white flowers! I'd like for it to be dense and foresty with warm, decorated homes and scenic rest areas sprinkled throughout...

Town Name: Lullaby

Town Mayor: Lune

Town Fruit: Peaches

Residents: Deli, Pate, Mac, Goldie, Paula, Camofrog, Tiffany, Freya

Lullaby the Sequel

August 10-11, 2022

Ive been thinking a lot about ACNL lately, and decided to dive back in to the game with a new town. I bought a digital copy of ACNL (which involved more hoops than one would imagine because Nintendo no longer accepts card transactions on their 3ds eshop...) and began a new save file! I wanted to get back in to ACNL for the "life sim" aspect of the game, so I hope to take this towns development at a slower pace and enjoy the process... Unfortunately, I'm still very attached to the customization-focused gameplay in ACNH and ended up resetting my game endlessly to try and obtain the perfect map... It was fun at first, I was curious to see all the different kinds of towns I could choose from. But it eventually became a bit draining... I spent way too long visiting town after town, selecting seemingly perfect maps but arriving to find a native fruit or grass pattern that I didnt like... I kind of wish I just stuck to the initial town I chose. T__T

There were a lot of features I was looking for in my town-- a waterfall facing south, not too many ponds, no long, narrow strips of land, convenient building placements... Mostly I wanted a town that would be fun to landscape. I like all the fruits, but for some reason I was particularly coveting oranges... maybe because oranges remind me of kotatsus? I finally came upon a map I liked. It has most of the features I was looking for, and has apples and a triangular grass pattern... There are some parts of the town that I'm less than crazy for, like the narrow strip of land in the upper right and how Re-Tail is right in front of Town Hall... But I think it will have to do.



To my surprise, upon stepping off the train, I was greeted with the sight of... Lolly!!! My favorite villager!!!!! I was overjoyed to find her waiting for me outside the train station ;__; As indecisive as I was with choosing a map, I'll decided to settle down to be neighbors with Lolly...



I placed my house by the bridge over the waterfall. This cliffside area overlooks the ocean, and has enough space to allow for some trees....



I even found a perfect apple!!! I planted it next to my house.



As of August 10, I am the mayor of the town of Lullaby! Also, look how lucky I was to find such adorable neighbors... I adore them all T__T