## Learning the Ropes of Being the Mayor My what a week it has been. As far as the gaming community is concerned, this was the biggest week of the year; E3 week. Along side all the new game and console news, Naughty Dog’s The Last Of Us launched on Friday (side note: That game is superb, expect a review shortly after I complete the campaign.). For myself personally, I also had college orientation at the University of Central Florida! That was quite the two day event, but somehow, amidst it all, I played quite a bit of Animal Crossing: New Leaf every day. And now it is time to share with you my first week as “Mayor Max” in my town, World 1. Let my reign begin… ### Day One- One Hour in and I Already Rule Sunday was a super busy day for myself. Plans got switched around and I did not receive my copy of Animal Crossing: New Leaf until 9:30 at night (someone got it for my as a birthday gift). A late start, but a solid start. Immediately, I was met by my towns people with a warm welcome. ![[d4746-img_3252.jpg.webp]] Then they thrust the news onto me that I would become the town’s mayor. One simple miscommunication, led to ultimate power! Mwuahahahaha! After the simple process of picking a plot of land for my house, the towns people inaugurated me into mayor status by planting a town tree. After that, there wasn’t much I could do since all the shops were closed. I discovered I had cherry trees in my town and explored for a bit before residing to my temporary tent to rest up for a full day of mayor duties. ![[fa757-img_3310.jpg.webp]] ### Day Two- Balancing College, Bills, and Bells Monday was the start of my two college orientation, but there was no way I would let a little thing like college interfere with my duties as a mayor! Not a chance! When there were breaks I went feverishly to work picking up shells and cherries to pay the down payment on my home. I succeeded! Tomorrow my house would be complete! ![[24c73-img_3313.jpg.webp]] Besides having to pay Tom Nook, my assistant Isabelle, filled me in on all my duties as town mayor. I would have to raise funds for public works projects and put ordinances into effect. Sounds simple enough, but to do all that I needed a developer’s permit. Which is unlocked when your town has 100% satisfaction rating. That is not easy to do. To accomplish this task, mayors have to talk to all towns members, design flags, and create town tunes. Most of that work was done on the next day, Day 3 in World 1. ![[dfe39-img_3312.jpg.webp]] ### Day 3- Funky Neighbors and Nintendo Lore Today’s goal was to boost that town satisfaction rating. I want to start building my kingdom! I went around and chatted it up with all my neighbors. They totally dig me and I totally dig them. Each character has their own charm. Take my penguin neighbor, Peck, for example. A tiny bird with a ton of attitude. He likes to snack and get ripped in his spare time. See? Look at those muscles! ![[0469f-img_3314.jpg.webp]] Another cool guy I found doesn’t live in my town. Instead I found him washed up on the beaches of World 1. His name is Gulliver and he was lost at sea. After helping him jog his memory by answering some trivia questions, he went on his way toward Thailand! He even sent me a rickshaw cart the next day! The other thing I did was explore the shops and get some cool items. One new feature in Animal Crossing: New Leaf is the fortune cookies you can buy at Nookling Junction. Every day you can purchase one of these cookies for two play coins, the currency your 3DS gathers as you walk with it. Inside is a fortune that, when given to Tommy or Timmy (the shop’s owners), will unlock an exclusive Nintendo themed item. These range from hats, shirts, masks, or even furniture! I had a cookie from the day before and today’s fortune. Between the two I received a Red Pikmin Hat and Minda’s Mask from Twilight Princess! Seems like a good start to me! ![[55e2e-bm7eqywcaai9qcn-large.jpg.webp]] At the end of my day, my friend Josh invited me to his town. He commented on my lame apparel and said I should buy a suit from his town. Although I did not buy a suit from him, his comment did get me thinking…I needed to spice up my wardrobe. ![[b21e4-bm7exafcaaesny5-large.jpg.webp]] ### Day 4- Suits and Fruits My fourth day as mayor was pretty action packed. The museum is probably my favorite place in the Animal Crossing games, so I always try to fill it’s halls as soon as possible. I started out my day chasing bugs and catching fishes. I’ve always been a terrible fisherman, both in Animal Crossing and real life, so I started there. I caught a few fish and bugs then went off the the Able Sisters shop to make a few Pro Designs. I love the Phoenix Wright series so I made two suits based off the lawyers in the franchise. One for Phoenix Wright himself and one for Apollo Justice. I haven’t changed out my Apollo suit since. Then moments before I left for the Nintendo Experience at Best Buy, I achieved 100% town approval! The form for my developer’s permit went in and Isabelle said I could start public works projects tomorrow! ![[ccaaa-img_3315.jpg.webp]] What happened later in the day was quite a surprise for me. Once I arrived at the Nintendo Experience, the Nintendo representative went up and down the line asking if anyone had a copy of new Leaf on them. Why? Her town gate was open. I asked her excitedly what fruit she had, knowing that foreign fruit sold for more at shops. Her reply? All of them. That was it for me. I went as fast as I could to “Nicevill” and took 3 of every fruit. Once I got back to World 1, I planted one, sold one, and kept one (as a backup). That is how my orchard got started. ![[99926-img_3316.jpg.webp]] ### Day 5- Work and Vacation, All in One Does being a mayor sound tiring to you? Well it is and our work never sleeps. So I decided, five days in, that I needed a vacation. I quickly found some land and set up a donation site for my first public works project, the campsite. The campsite allows new animals to move into your town at anytime, as long as you have less than ten people living there. Then right after that I visited my friend Xen’s town, Skyfall, and we took a trip to the tropical island. ![[af4ce-bm7e6zkcmaeltjn-large.jpg.webp]] The tropical island is great and I can’t wait to unlock it in my own game. Once we got in the boat, it was pure magic. Kap’n, known to be a bus driver in games past, is now a real captain and took us to the island. On our way there, he sang us a song. It was great. Super funny and catchy, all at once. ![[01ad1-img_3317.jpg.webp]] At the island, Xen signed us up for some mini-games. We played for the island’s currency, Medals. First we played a mobile whack-a-mole type game, followed by a scavenger hunt. We totally destroyed the whack-a-mole game, but couldn’t find the last item on our list in the scavenger hunt. After those two mini-games, we rented equipment and went hunting. The tropical island is littered with rare beetles and fish. I hunted to my heart’s content, until my pockets were full. Unfortunately, our time at the island had to end and I went home with pockets full of treasures. If you can, you should really visit the island yourself and have fun with your friends. It may be my favorite experience in the game so far. ![[fbf65-bm7fdqqciaaa6ko-large.jpg.webp]] ### Day 6- Easy Day (AKA The Last Of Us Came Out) As you may have gathered from the day’s title, I took it easy today. I played simply while waiting for GameStop to open, so I could pick up my copy of The Last Of Us. I went into town to donate my beetles. On my way I saw that a new shop was being built! It became the Garden Shop, which I needed very much so I could buy an axe. ![[1ab7c-img_3318.jpg.webp]] Next I decide to go to infinity and beyond and visit the Happy Home Association. From the Nintendo Experience a few days before, I gathered quite a few StreetPasses and checked those homes out. I was pretty impressed with how much time people had already put into their games. Some had extra rooms already, an expensive addition to homes! ![[88798-img_3321.jpg.webp]] ### Day 7- Bug-Off Bub! ![[3e900-img_3322.jpg.webp]] Today was quite the even in World 1; the Bug-Off came to town! All day towns people had their nets out, hunting for the largest, most glorious bug. Person with the best bug won a prize! It should be no surprise that I won. Mayors always win these type of things. If I didn’t, it would ruin my authoritative persona. Besides being a bug catching champ, the little things in Animal Crossing caught my eye. The dialogue in very game is always filled with puns. They are great. I love them. I also finalized my room, that is, until I get a larger house. Here is Mayor Max’s home after one week of Animal Crossing: New Leaf. ![[e1ab7-img_3325.jpg.webp]] And that’s it! Week One toward my World 1 domination is done! Two more weeks for this type of post. Let me know what you think of Animal Crossing: New Leaf so far! And don’t be shy, message me your friend code and we can hang out. Maybe go to the island? Thanks for reading about my week toward total dictatorship and stuff.