This video of a sped-up Animal Crossing cleanup initiative highlights one of the weirdest design decisions made for the game: weeds. We get the idea of encouraging the player to keep up a daily routine, but by punishing you for not playing, after a certain amount of time you no longer want to play the game again. We have long since exiled ourselves from our town, out of fear of facing a weed-infested wasteland, full of cute, yet angry neighbors who hate us for ruining their shot at getting that glasses case over to Admiral.
Of course, two minutes of pulling weeds would not be entertaining at all to watch if Games Radar hadn't applied the basic principles of British comedy, as exemplified by Benny Hill: 1) speed up footage and 2) overdub "Yakety Sax".
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-25-2007 @ 12:24PM
Backslash said...
I could never keep weedin' everything in ol' Newville. Unfortunately, I think the weeds there have gone sentient. They're probably waiting for me to play again so they can choke me to death.
Reply
11-25-2007 @ 12:49PM
mslecter said...
I can't really remember the last time I played this game. But I did remember doing some weeding and hated it. God, it already is annoying enough to be doing weeding in real life, but to actually be forced to do it in a game when all you really care is to forget the number of times you cut yourself with thorns (by weeding, of course), is just cruel. And besides, thou shalt love thy neighbours as thyself, right? ;-D
Reply
11-25-2007 @ 12:56PM
pimpybra said...
I've never played this game, but it reminds me of the Simpsons episode, where Bart/Lisa won't do yard work, but they go to a science museum and are overly excited about the Virtual Yard Work exhibit.
My question is, does this game require you to weed even if you play daily?
Reply
11-25-2007 @ 5:36PM
Zach S said...
There's minimal weeding every day (like one every few minutes) but if you let it go, oooooh boy, you're in for like an hour of serious weeding! Yup, I'm also afraid to go back to my town now O_O
11-25-2007 @ 1:16PM
Mr Khan said...
That video made me laugh
Animal Crossing can pull all the ranges of emotions, apparently, after seeing that tear-jerking YTMND, and knowing how infuriating some play elements can be
Reply
11-25-2007 @ 1:17PM
raindog said...
Yakety Sax makes ANYTHING funny.
And yeah, Animal Crossing adds weeds to your town every day, possibly every time you load the game.
Reply
11-25-2007 @ 2:41PM
dreamparacite said...
I'm glad someone made the sacrifice to make a video like that. That must have been UBER BORING. Not only that, it was sped up and it still took 2 minutes to watch...did this take hours in real life?!
Reply
11-25-2007 @ 3:31PM
rach said...
a far more fun way to do it is to get a group of your mates over on the old wi-fi and have a competition to see who can pick the most before they're all gone. it's way better picking someone else's weeds than your own, especially if they give you free stuff. or alternatively you could just accidentally leave your year-and-a half-old copy of AC:WW on a train, thereby losing your fully paid off mansion, completed fossil collection, carefully cultivating hybrid flowers, and basically your entire village, forever and having to start all over again :'(
Reply
11-25-2007 @ 5:21PM
jesus_bon_jovi said...
I believe Animal Crossing adds 3 weeds per day. Though i dont know if after a long time it really adds up exactly.
Reply
11-25-2007 @ 10:12PM
Blast Processing Megadrive said...
He got four four-leaf clovers. :D
Reply
11-26-2007 @ 4:07AM
DESTROYER! said...
i got a good laugh or two out of this. brilliant video :) makes me remember how much i hate weeding in game and IRL.
Reply
11-26-2007 @ 7:50AM
Jack said...
I have had more... just set your DS's clock a few years ahead :D.
Reply
11-26-2007 @ 2:00PM
Nukie said...
You get 3 new weeds each day. A proliferation of weeds like this comes from time traveling, usually to make interest on the your money in the bank. You don't have to pick the weeds if you don't want, unless you are going for Perfect Town status. Weeds can be your friends...especially if you don't have any real ones of your own.
Reply
11-26-2007 @ 2:44PM
Gh3tt0 Child said...
looks irritating lol
Reply
11-26-2007 @ 10:43PM
raindog said...
A proliferation of weeds also comes from not playing Animal Crossing for a few months. I stopped playing for 3 months, went back, and almost every free space was a weed.
Reply