Animal Crossing: Wild World is still the best in the series, 20 years later

True to its name, Wild World didn't offer players much control, but that made it twice as much fun

I didn't get my hands on 2005's Animal Crossing: Wild World until 2014. To say I was late to the party is an understatement, and by the time I picked up Wild World on a borrowed Nintendo DS, most fans of Nintendo's cozy town management franchise had moved on to 2012's New Leaf, which offered far more customization options. I eventually moved on to New Leaf too (and later, New Horizons), but to this day, no Animal Crossing game hits quite like Wild World did. Sure, part of it is nostalgia, but a much of my fondness for the game comes down to its simplicity.

As Animal Crossing games have become more complex, the pressure to create the perfect character with the perfect clothing and the perfect town has also increased. Of course, you're free to do whatever you want. You don't have to engage with New Horizons' landscaping mechanic, for example. But when you look at other players' expertly coiffed towns, it's hard not to feel a hint of insecurity. Your island could look this cool, if you had the patience and discipline to spend dozens of hours building waterways and cliffs. Your character could look this adorable if you make sure to check the clothing store every single day (or hop on Nookazon) to ensure you have a high chance of stumbling across the clothing items you need.

But Wild World lacked many of the customization features players can use to tame nature in later Animal Crossing games. It does not allow you to customize every inch of your town. You cannot simply tell a villager not to move out like you can in New Horizons. You can try sending a letter with a gift attached, which might convince them to stay, but ultimately, you cannot control your villagers.

You can create custom designs and use them on walls, floors, and clothing, but shirts and hats are about as far as the game goes in terms of fashion, with none of the multicolored shoes, socks, wigs, and other accessories found in later titles. You can plant flowers to your heart's content, though there are far fewer types compared to later games, and they're much harder to breed. When a new villager moves in, they may very well choose to place their house right on top of your carefully curated garden. Even the game's grass does what it wants; after a few weeks of playing, the grass in the areas you walk on most frequently will begin to disappear, forming a dirt path. If you're anything like me, and spend most of your time running across your town at top-speed, you'll soon find the place is made up almost entirely of dirt.

Even from a bureaucratic perspective, Wild World gives players less control. You're not the mayor, like you are in New Leaf, nor are you the Resident Representative, as in New Horizons. You're just some random human who has moved into a town full of animals who absolutely will not hesitate to tell you your personality sucks, your outfit sucks, and that you suck at taking care of the town. I assume so many of Wild World's town-upkeep responsibilities fall to the player simply because, unlike the other residents, they have opposable thumbs. Wild World has, hands-down, some of the craziest villager dialogue in the entire series, and the game's better off for it, if you ask me.

When it comes to "cozy games," Wild World is a control freak's nightmare, and because it was my first Animal Crossing game, it heavily impacted the way I approached the rest of the series. I'm a huge perfectionist, and New Horizon's endless customization options can be a little overwhelming. But I find I have the most fun with the game when I approach it like Wild World and let nature take its course instead of micromanaging every inch of my island.

I'll admit I do yearn for the unstructured, imperfect experience that was Wild World gameplay, but I'm also grateful for the fact that I can now prevent villagers from placing their houses on top of my favorite flowers, redirect streams and ponds that are getting in my way, and decorate my villagers' houses.

Still, I do wish New Horizon's villagers would read me for filth the way they used to in Wild World. There's nothing like a barrage of comical insults from various anthropomorphized animals to start your day off right.

With New Horizons' 3.0 update just around the corner, I'm looking forward to getting back into the game. Sure, I'll be designing new custom clothes, struggling to decide where to place villagers' houses, and spending an inordinate amount of time getting my flower placement just right, but I won't be aiming for perfection. Perfection was impossible in Wild World, which is part of what made it so much fun to play.