Review of Animal Crossing

What does it take to make a great game?   In the past year Nintendo has given us many different answers to that question.  First there was Eternal Darkness.  This game was the first survival horror game to actually have good gameplay.  Its insanity meter was one of the neatest ideas in recent memory and things like seeing your memory card erased wont soon be forgotten by any gamer.  Then with Super Mario Sunshine Nintendo took Mario 64 and added new dimensions to it creating probably the greatest platforming game yet made.  With Metroid Prime Nintendo showed us how beautiful Samuss world truly was while bringing Metroid exploration fully into 3d with an innovative and deep control system that fully utilizes the Gamecube controller.  Just those three games with the coming release of Zelda would be enough to name this one of the greatest years ever for a software developer.

With the game Animal Crossing Nintendo seems to say it takes nothing to make a great game.  Its the Seinfeld of video games.  Major events of the game include Wendell coming to town.  What does Wendell do?  He asks you to give him food so you catch a fish and he eats it and in return gives you a carpet. 

You errands for the other members of your town.  This involves picking up and delivering items for small rewards.  Occasionally you get a big task like flipping the switch of the lighthouse 6 straight days (so far Ive made it through 3 straight.) 

You get NES games which you can play so far Ive got the joust rip off Balloon Fight.  I hear you can also get soccer and excitebike.  To bad they didnt go whole hog and give us a Zelda or Metroid game. 

You play interior decorator.   Trying to make your house as fashionable as possible.  You get rated each day on how your house looks.  To help with this you buy furniture and try to get matching wallpaper and carpet.  You can expand your house but to do so requires you to go into debt. 

You mail letters to other members of the town.  They write you back telling you usually that your letter made no sense to them.  You go fishing and sell your fish.  Or you take them to the museum which you can fill with fossils, paintings, insects, and of course fish.  Speaking of insects you also take a net to catch them in.  This net can also bonk other members of the town on the head which really pisses them off.                  You also play gardener.  You plant trees and cut down trees.  You dig up weeds and fossils as well.   You plant flowers.  All to make your town look perfect. 

The gimmick of Animal Crossing is it happens all the time wither you play or not.  Thats not really all that true it just changes things every time you play to make things look continuos.  You can visit other towns but unfortunately I cant because Im the only person I know with the game. 

Well here is who got in.  We basically had 4 amazingly strong people make it, Rikidozan, El Santo, Lou Thesz, and Giant Baba, we had 3 very strong candidates make it Harley Race, The Destroyer and Dusty Rhodes they are not as strong as the first four but defiantly deserve it.  Then we have Piper and Gordy who were bad choices on this ballot.  Other ballots maybe but they went in over about 15 guys who had much much stronger cases.  Then we have Ultimo who was probably with Undertaker as the weakest candidate on the ballot.  Its a joke that he made it. 

* Rikidozan-  Wrestling observers wrestler of the century.  The man who literally created Japanese Pro Wrestling.  His match with 2. Lou Thesz was seen by 70 80 million people and is by far the most watched match ever (I believe he holds the top three spots.)  Id been embarrassed if he hadnt made it on it.

*El Santo- The top wrestler in Lucha history. Is so beloved that they do morality plays with El Santo.  Under his mask he was an action hero in movies.  A top draw for 40 years.  As the most loved wrestler ever he is a bedrock for a hall fame. 

*Lou Thesz- Called the babe ruth of wrestling for a lot of reasons. One of the most technically sound wrestlers of his era.  And the main champion from 1948-1958.  Another guy who shouldnt have even needed to be voted on.  I am always impressed by how Lou adjust to his opponent. 

 Terry Gordy-  Influential due to the freebirds he was the badass who gave them credibility.   Had a great run in All Japan including being triple crown champion and before his first overdose was looking like a candidate to become the top gaijen in All Japan.  An excellent big man wrestler.  He mainevented in every promotion he worked for basically and was part of two legendary tag teams.  If not for his drug overdoses might have been a true legend but I think he is just so much weaker a candidate then some who were left off. 

*Giant Baba -  Along with Inoki the second most important person in Japanese wrestling behind Rikidozan.  The top man in his promotion from the late 60s till the early 80s always a great draw and loved.  A very good worker for his size and a legendary promotor and booker from 1972-1999 for All Japan.  A giant in this industry no doubt, ranking above Andre in basically every category.  Hes one of those a Hall of Fame must blush if hes not in.

Ultimo Dragon-  Behind Benoit and Liger and with Ohtani the top cruiserweight of his era .  But he shouldnt have went in till Benoit did in my opinion off his wrestling skills.  He does get added points for starting his own promotion and training them but I think the jury is still out on Toryumon so he shouldnt have gotten in for backstage stuff (Choshu would be a stronger candidate based off his booking alone).   I think hes romantized like Shawn is due to his career being cut short.  For instance in the ring he really is a weaker candidate then Benoit in everyway.  I dont Toryumon is such a success that he should get in just for that.

*Harley Race-  The best wrestler in my opinion of the 70s save maybe Jumbo Tsuruta.  The dominate NWA champion between 1976-1983.  Always drew as such and delivered in the ring.  Very close to Flair as far as how good he was in his prime.  Though not as strong a candidate as Flair his work and his champion  time makes him a hall of famer to be proud of.

*The Destroyer-  The top gaijen draw in Japan from 62-the late 70s.  A top draw in the AWA and the best draw in California maybe besides Blassie who I forgot to put on the nomination.  Trained or help train Jumbo Tsuruta, Toshiaki Kawada, and Mitsuhara Misawa.   Was possibly the best worker in the World for a decade period and a total master of psychology.  So a great draw, great worker, and great trainer hes a really good addition

Roddy Piper-  A good regional draw in several regions.  Had a couple of good runs with Hogan on a national level and was always over even till late in his career.  A great Mic worker and a good brawler.  Maybe overrated in many ways.  A stronger addition then say Ultimo or Gordy but this addition looks silly when you compare him with some one like say El Hijo Del Santo, or even dumber next to Gorgeous George or Londos.

Worth the Price of the Tape

Im sorry for the lack of updates lately.  Ive been in class from 10:30- 5:00 almost everyday.  Those are usually the hours I write so I havent had much time to do it.  However now Im done with most of the classes so hopefully Ill get back to my regular schedule.   I appreciate Tim writing an article while I was gone.  Of course I havent had cable much for the last 4 years (I think during 1 year of that time Ive had cable) and what I do is collect wrestling tapes.  I used to be an absolutely voracious reader but I think I killed myself of that my Senior year of High School and it wont be till Im done with College that Ill get that passion I once had for it back.  I just recently rediscovered my love of history which I had totally burned myself out on at the end of High School.  Its funny when I won the State Academic Championship in Social Studies my Junior year I really didnt feel like trying to repeat.  I had nothing left to prove I had done what I wanted to do and beat who I wanted to.  But the school really wanted me to and my team did as well so I struggled on and history became a job more then a passion.  Its took me four years to get back to where its fun again.  So basically I can really see where Tims coming from on that article.   

When Im collecting tapes I always focus on the wrestlers I want to see more of.  The wrestlers I believe are worth the price of the tape basically.  They are basically the guys who when I see them on a matchlist basically next to anyone I want to see that match because I trust these guys to deliver and entertain me.  Here are the guys I have that respect for and why. 

El Hijo Del Santo-  If youve paid attention to my updates you know Im  hunting down as much Santo as I can find.  Ive yet to see Santo not give his best to try to entertain the fans who pay to see him.  With Santos lineage and his mask he probably could have been a top star in Mexico without being an awesome wrestler.  Santo though has never been happy to live off his name and hes always busted his ass.  Thats why hes not just a top star he is the top star in Mexico.  Santo doesnt wow you with his high spots its more how beautiful everything he does looks and his profound understanding of psychology that keep you coming back for more. 

Toshiaki Kawada- Either my favorite or second favorite wrestler ever (the other one is Jumbo Tsuruta).  I would say Kawada is the best storyteller Ive seen yet in the ring.  With a kick to the face or a stare he can tell us more about himself and the match then most wrestlers can in a 20 minute promo.  His intensity is perfectly matched with his almost sickening brutality in the ring.  Kawada knows how to make everything he does count.  Hes also probably the most gifted seller Ive ever seen.  Nobody sells a suplex quite like Kawada or a stiff shot.  Whither it is a scream to show his determination or falling on his ass like a drunk man Kawada knows how to put over a move (though occasionally he pulls the All Japan no sell card.) 

Jumbo Tsuruta- When I think of the man I think of Jumbo.  To me Jumbo personifies more then Flair, more the HHH, more then Inoki, more then Misawa how the top man in a company should carry themselves and how they should wrestle. Jumbo knew exactly how to show where his opponent was relative to himself and how to win while putting someone else over.  An example of the aura Jumbo had was in a match in the early 90s.  Jumbo and his partner (Taue I think) were just dicking the hell out of their opponents and the crowd was starting to really get into booing Jumbo.  So Jumbo just turns gives the crowd a dirty look as if to say who the hell are you to boo ME!  And the crowd gives him a cheer as if to apologize for booing him.  Surreal. 

Harley Race- Im really starting to get into Race more and more.  The only place that really pimps him is TOA but after hearing them rave I got a hold of some Race and lord was I impressed.  Race probably due to the time period he wrestled in gets less credit then he deserves.  Most people would probably rank him well behind Flair on the list of great old school workers and while they are both great Race is as good if not better.  Race had the top moveset for his time and it shows as when he has to control a match he almost never runs out of offense.  Plus he did an amazing knee drop that looked totally deadly.  You need and I need to see more Harley.  (is about to order Harley vs Jumbo cant wait to see that!) 

Jushin Liger-  How ever you want to spell his name your writing the name of the best light-heavyweight ever.  Jushin is just cool.  He taunts, he poses, he incites the crowd for him or against him and he puts on amazing matches.  Liger is so good that people often make the mistake of thinking his opponents are better then him.  Mainly Ohtani and Benoit (both great) get this praise but neither of them were as good as Liger or are as good as Liger most likely.  Id have to see how Benoit is doing to make sure Jushin is still better.  Jushin also is showing amazing longevity as hes been one of the top wrestlers in the world for about 13 straight years.

Well its nice to see someone look out for their family.  Retired last week.  DDP had a major spinal problem which could have gotten worse at anytime had he continued.  Deciding that wrestling isnt worth being in a wheel chair over.  Good for Dallas. 

There are some bad things that can be sad about DDP.  The man was certainly one of the most overbearing self promoters in the industry.  Constantly saying any good thing he could about himself. DDP was Bishoffs neighbor.  And that did without question increase his push beyond what it would have been any other way.  DDP had at most upper midcard ability and was always pushed as hard as he could get pushed in WCW.   Lord was he ever overbearing about his positivity and peoples champ BS. 

Still I think there is more good you can say about DDP then bad.  He didnt have one of the more roided up bodies.  He never had many of the character issues that many of them did.  He always worked hard, and seemed to genuinely care about connecting with the fans.  Such as with his webpage where he would talk to his fans and other things.  Unlink some of the other wrestlers Ive written about DDP is a wrestling success story. 

In fact his success story is very interesting.  I dont know of any wrestler who started as late as he did in his career and had the same type of success.  He started as a wrestler in his mid to late 30s and finished at the age of 46.  A unique career for sure.  DDP I think had a pretty good mind for it but being older he wasnt very flexible.  DDP liked to have everything plotted out for him beforehand and hated adlibbing.  This usually led to solid matches but rarely great ones.  It also allowed him to carry someone like Bill Goldberg to the best match of his career but kept him from really ever breaking 4 stars. 

DDP while always getting pushed never had a problem working with a younger talent.  He was the only maineventer to ever cleanly put over Chris Benoit save Sid Vicious.  Yep WCW main eventers put Benoit over clean and WWE never have.  DDP took some bullshit as well.  In the WWF he was the number 2 guy they had for the invasion.  Vinces vendettas and Undertakers ego made DDP a joke in the WWF.  It would have been easy for DDP to walk out, quit, or just stop trying.  DDP didnt quit and he continued to work as hard as he could to succeed.  He put over people.  It didnt mean anything  because he didnt mean anything but he still did it and acted happy to do it.  He had a lame gimmack meant to make fun of him and he tried his best to deliver even when he got over and they changed it to try to stop him from getting over. 

They come better and they come worse then DDP as with almost everyone.  Still after initially hating him he gained my respect.  He wont be sorely missed but I wish him all the best in his retirement.  Here is hoping that he will do something helpful for the company in the future.