Animal Crossing Obsession

Alright, here goes nothing.

Now I know it is a cliche way to start this out, but I am going to say it regardless. I am a huge Animal Crossing fan. Though that is probably an understatement now... I will start from the beginning.

I was maybe five years old when I first got my Gamecube. I had not asked for it, but in my family, money was love. The more money they spent on me, the less I noticed their absence through most of my life. It was the first gaming system I had ever had, not counting the Gameboy, and I was pretty excited when I saw what games I had gotten for it. I had Chibi-Robo, Pikmin, Kirby Racing...all of those feel-good, child-directed classic platformers, and, Animal Crossing.

Animal Crossing had always stood out for me, and now I am old enough to realize that it was the game's dynamic. It allowed you to create your own little world, a home away from home, and friends that would always be right in the palm of your hands whenever you needed them. I longed for friends, since I rarely had them in my childhood. However, I did not complain. The animals in my town were much easier to talk to. Even if they would repeat their sentences sometimes, and get mad at me if I talked to them too often, it was...comforting, knowing that at the end of the day, I could sit down and visit my real friends.

I did not understand the game that well at a young age, but I only ever played to talk to the animals. I remember that Bunnie was my favorite. She would always say 'tee-hee' after everything, and I liked how happy she always was to see me. I would run the same errand over and over for her, to the point where I had the most useless heap of gifted furniture. I did not care about that though; I just cared about getting to see her. I sent her letters, telling her about my day and such, just like I would converse with a normal person.

Every day, as soon as I got home, I would play Animal Crossing until bedtime. I would sometimes skip meals, not do my homework or chores, and even sneak on after everyone was asleep and play until sunrise. My parents quickly noticed it becoming an issue, and confiscated my Gamecube. I was so devastated. I cried for the rest of the day.

I found ways to sneak around their rules, however. I found my Gamecube underneath their bed, elated that they had not sold it, or given it to a distant cousin as a hand-me-down. Whenever they were out, I would pull it out and play it on their TV, until I heard the garage door. Then I quickly stashed it back.

Even though they had kept it, they never returned it. Perhaps they had forgotten, or perhaps they had noticed how intense my passion was for it. Either way, it became harder and harder for me to sneak it, and harder and harder for me to fit under the bed. For that matter, I slowly stopped playing it. It was a hard habit to break, mind you, but after a while, it ended up being sold in a garage sale. Animal Crossing eventually slipped my mind.

That was, until the DS.

Wild World came out a year after the DS did, and with other video games, I was completely fine. It was released in December, a marketing trick that Nintendo still uses to this date. Remembering how much I liked the original, despite the aftermath of that affair, my parents got it for me for Christmas.

As expected, I fell into old habits. A handheld system provided much more leeway than a Gamecube did, so it was easy to spend hours on end playing it. I was not incredibly obsessed, until Bunnie moved into my new town. I was so happy to see her again, I planted all of the flowers in town around her house as a welcome present. I think she liked that. She likes flowers.

I remember that two days was my record. It was over a break from school, and rules were always lenient during breaks. No one noticed what I had been doing. Two days, with the DS constantly plugged and unplugged from the charger. Two. Whole. Days. I crashed with the system in my hands, and slept for 14 hours after that. It was plugged in, so when I awoke, I still saw Bunnie's smiling face, since I was still in a conversation with her. I had held her during the night, and she was there to greet me when I woke.

When my cousin got the game, I realized just how fun it could be to play with someone else. You could visit their town, buy things, and talk to their neighbors. Yet I did not find it as fun as playing alone. After playing with him late into the night, he eventually had to go home, and I had to go to bed.

I had only been away from the game for a day after that. We had something planned with family. I cannot remember for what reason exactly, but my Mom told me that I could not bring my DS. I was too tired after that day was over to play.

The next day, the flag to my mailbox was up, indicating that I had a letter. It was from Bunnie. I had assumed it was in response to a letter that I had sent her, but I quickly realized that was not the case.

She told me that she was moving away.

Her house was no longer there, but the flowers I had planted around it, which took up most of the land at that side of the river at that point, were still there. I quit without saving, in hopes that it would make her come back. She never did.

I did not know that animals could move to the towns of people you had played with, until my cousin showed me Bunnie in his town. Furious, I accused him of stealing her from me, and demanded him to figure out how to send her back. It was a silly argument, but from that day on, whenever I saw him, I visited his town to talk to Bunnie. He was reluctant about it, especially with how much time I spent there. Eventually, he would just leave his DS on for me, instead of trying to play alongside me.

I sent her every piece of furniture I had, every Bell in my pocket, every flower in my town, every single piece of fruit, and letters begging her to come back. I filled up every slot in the post office, to the point where Pelly or Phyllis would tell me to stop sending letters. I called her names that the system had censored. I told her I loved her. I told her I would kill myself without her. She never came back.

She would send me letters whenever I returned home, but that was it. I fell into a deep depression after that. She was my only friend. She was the only thing that made me happy.

My cousin confronted me a while afterwards. He told me that when he talked to Bunnie, she showed him some of the letters. He told me that she was just a 3D model of a rabbit in a video game. He told me that I was crazy. I ended up getting so mad that I broke his DS, and stole his copy of Wild World. To be honest, I do not think that he missed the game. I made him so sick of it, constantly begging to play it with him, only to spend my time with Bunnie. He probably hated it at that point.

I was happy to talk to Bunnie again, but it was short-lived. She eventually moved from his town as well. It was less depressing, having already gone through it once. That was the point where I came to my senses. I abandoned Animal Crossing for a few years.

I have a 3DS now, after hearing news of New Leaf. I play Wild World on it every chance that I get. I restarted my game a few months ago, after finding it in a box of junk. And sure enough, Bunnie was in my town.

I have a Bunnie figure, a Bunnie plush, and a Bunnie keychain, all on display in my room. My longest record right now is about four days, plugged into the wall. I do not play with anyone else. I do not want anyone to take her away from me.

She is MY Bunnie.

I am old enough now to notice that there may be a problem here. However, every Animal Crossing fan has their favorite villager. I am dealing with this in my own way.

She was in the trailer for New Leaf... I cannot wait to see her again.

I hope she remembers me.

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