Animal Crossing: Coloured Folk

17 November 2008 @ 9:47 AM

Animal Crossing: City Folk (also known as Animal Crossing: Let’s Go to the City in Europe and Australia) has only just come out in the US and will be available in Japan, Europe and Australia in coming days. So far, the reviews I’ve read about the game have suggested that Nintendo hasn’t really done anything new and have only remixed certain aspects of the DS version of the game, Animal Crossing: Wild World.

While I am disappointed that City Folk/Let’s Go to the City isn’t anything special over its last installment, the issue I want to talk about is a little different. You see, while Animal Crossing features a wide variety of Animals who end up living in your town, there seems to be a lack of ethnicity for the humans in Animal Crossing…

So why, after all this time, does Animal Crossing not have the option to choose your skin tone at the start of the game? It’s a question I’ve rhetorically asked a few friends until they finally convinced me to shoot an email in Nintendo’s direction… and since it wouldn’t hurt, I actually did:

I have a question regarding Animal Crossing City Folk for Wii.

Will the Wii version of Animal Crossing feature an option for the player to be able to select a skin tone for their character? The only time I was able to have a dark skin tone in Animal Crossing Wild World was when I stood outside in the game and got a tan which was only temporary. I feel that the lack of a permanent skin tone feature is extremely disappointing for a game like Animal Crossing.

I am aware of the Mii integration feature for City Folk. However, being able to put on what is essentially a mask of a selected Mii face is not the kind of solution I would find acceptable for this issue.

Thank you for your time, I hope you can pass on my feelings on this issue to the developers.

I do realise that that entire email was pointless since you already know what Nintendo is going to say and also because they’re not actually going to contact anyone important about this to let them know that someone has pointed out this issue… but it was just something I had to do.

After a few days of waiting, I finally got a reply:

Hello,

I appreciate your taking the time to share your comments with us regarding the skin tone choices for the Animal Crossing games. At this time, specific details on how Miis are used in Animal Crossing City Folk have not been released so keep an eye on our website as we get closer to next month’s launch. Rest assured that your email will be forwarded on to the appropriate department for further review.

So here we are now at the launch of the game. As I’ve said in my email to Nintendo, I do not accept Mii integration as a solution because I don’t want skin tones to be applied through what is essentially a mask. I want my character to start off with my own skin tone… just as it should be.

Can anyone see any “coloured folk” running around in their copies of City Folk/Let’s Go to the City who aren’t wearing a Mii Mask? From the latest videos and screenshots, I see nothing but the same skin tone… I feel very disappointed.

(A small note: Yes, I am aware of the really bad Photoshop job in the picture… that was the point.)

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Comments: 22

Moelman says:

The brown people must be represented!

maverick187 says:

I've never played an Animal Crossing game, so I don't know what they're all about, but in general skin tone should always be an option with the full spectrum represented, so it is disappointing when games choose not to make it so.

The Wolf says:

What I think is that its due to the ethnic influences of the developers. For example, the developers of The Sims series at EA (the Americans) has a community made of people of different ethnic groups around them, so it is reflected in their games. Animal Crossing and other games, like Harvest Moon, are developed by the Japanese, who don't really have that large an ethnic population.

Well, that's what I think at least.

Lynk Former says:

Ah, but it's interesting to note that Pokemon Battle Revolution has the option of changing the skin tone of your customisable character. Also, the Mii's themselves have different skin tones... this is Nintendo we're talking about. Animal Crossing is a Nintendo franchise and they've already proven very much that they're aware of other ethnicities. Plus, even if the Japanese "forgot"... there is such thing as localisation in which other regions add things onto the game such as other language tracks and even sometimes change character models to suit the region. For example, Ratchet and Clank Tools of Destruction, the character models in that were changed in Japan to seem more "anime-ish" than the original versions.

Being able to choose my skin colour in Pokemon Battle Revolution but not in Animal Crossing City Folk confuses me quite a bit.

Moelman says:

Yeah that is weird how Nintendo includes the option in one game (when it had previously not been an option in past Pokemon console games I believe) but not in Animal Crossing. And I know none of you are saying this, but on other sites people have been saying Lynk has been complaining about racism, it's more complaining about them being lazy as the game is no different from it's DS counterpart apparently.

The Wolf says:

Well, I haven't played Pokemon Battle Revolution yet (heard it gets repetitive), but I think the reason for the differences is in the art director. The art director for the Pokemon series (like diamond and such) is Ken Sugimoto, and he had an all Japanese team. Whereas the art director for Pokemon Battle Revolution had an art director by the name of Jamie Turner. Now, either I've gone bonkers or that's not a Japanese name. So yeah, I think they'll get that influence at the very least.

But yeah, haven't played it yet.

Lynk Former says:

Actually, from what I hear, the Japanese version of PBR doesn't have the different skin toned characters, only the versions which were released outside of Japan do.

Moelman says:

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Wolf

Now, either I've gone bonkers or that's not a Japanese name.

I think you've gone bonkers.

The Wolf says:

Then yes, I've gone bonkers.

And let us never again speak of the bonkering of the the wolf. *runs away*

Milkymagic says:

I don't see why it would be a problem to put an option in to change the skin tone. I think it would make things more enjoyable for everyone if you could customize your character the way you wanted.

Lynk Former says:

You guys should see the comments from the GoNintendo post that links to my article... >link no longer available<

Milkymagic says:

When I read some of those posts, I can see it's a bunch of Nintendo fans all bent out of shape over the issue. I see nothing wrong with more options to customize with, as I believe more is better. If someone likes Animal Crossing enough to not care about the issue, that's fine, but some of those folks sure like to make it an issue beyond what you were talking about, which is more customization, because they're insecure about their game being debated upon.

At least that's my perspective on the whole thing.

Chimasterwang says:

Bigbrother ftw

Lol, those people assuming you were upset or angry about it XD

maverick187 says:

Hah, that's good stuff for a laugh. I lol'd when the guy said "there's too much immaturity" it's the frickin internet, what do you expect?

Lynk Former says:

Either way it was interesting...

Lynk Former says:

Some family have come over from where ever they usually are... and they've got this little kid, I don't care enough to know how he relates to me... either way...

He's bored so I decided to let him play some Wii games (which he all sucked at, I finally got him to play Sonic and the Secret Rings cause in the tutorial levels you can't die no matter how hard you try... anyway...

We were playing Wii Play... or about to, and I was choosing the Mii's... I chose two Mii's that had dark skin and then he goes "Wait! Why am I black?" to which I stopped, stared at him for a second and said "Because you have dark skin." ...he then says "but I want to be white because everyone else is!" ...I LOLed hard while trying to hold back my disgust and urge to shoot the next white skinned person I saw and went out laughing and told all the family members in the living room about what he just said...

*sighs*

I hate you all.

Black Howling says:

damn i'd have shot him ^-^

Moelman says: