Saturday, August 15, 2020: My Birthday + Aika Village 2.0

Big long post today, enjoy!

My Birthday

Isabelle was excited to wish me a happy birthday when I started up! (You hear that, Mom? I'm an island superstar! :P) And Sherb was there to greet me for a surprise.

Cookie and Merengue were there to throw me a surprise party! Sherb gave me a present to open later, and I blew out the candles in one go on my cake.

Next, a piñata was set up for me to hit! Once it broke, I got several birthday cupcakes I can give out to some of the villagers who weren't able to make it to the party.

Wouldn't you know it, but I got Nook Miles for my birthday. Like I need any at this point in the game... :P

I had lots of presents and things to open. I got a pirate's bandana from Gullivarrr I saw yesterday, and a HHA trophy for something (I wasn't really reading that closely...). And "Mom" sent me a note about trying broccoli again. Hey, I love broccoli already, "Mom"! :P She gave me a birthday cake hat, which was pretty fun.

I started handing out some of my birthday cupcakes to residents, who gave me presents in return. Diana said I get a whole year to myself. Wow!

Since K.K. Slider was in town, I spoke with him, and he sang K.K. Birthday for me! I think Sherb had it playing in his house for their party at the beginning, and New Leaf was the game that introduced it I believe.

Instead of the credits, there were cute messages that displayed on the screen while he sang the song. I liked seeing Merengue walking in the background. At some points the border between the black-out and the rest of the village was shown, so that was a little odd, but whatever. Seeing Nook Inc. brought me right back to the very start of my time here on the island, and all the trailers and such...

He gave me an aircheck of K.K. Birthday after, which I have playing in the jukebox outside my home. Just taking a second glance at that album art - some of the fonts and things remind me of the cake from Mario Party or the original Animal Crossing on GameCube.

Aika Village 2.0

Back in New Leaf, there was a popular horror/eerie dream village made by a Japanese player called Aika Village, that told a story of a girl named Aika and her family. There were all these creepy dolls, and shoes left on the beach, a Japanese cultural image that has to do with drowning oneself. It seems in the update, the creator of Aika Village on the 3DS uploaded their New Horizons island, and I spent the second half of my play-session today exploring it.

I'm not completely sure of the story behind this island. There was a lot of text on the bulletin board, but unfortunately I couldn't read it because I haven't learnt my Japanese yet. Based on the objects placed around, it seems this village has much more in it with a more involved story, and there doesn't seem to be one set path to go, like there was in the New Leaf version. I'll point out a few things, but I may mostly just share these pictures.

As in the original village, the homes had rooms that were blocked off. The drawing of the girl and her parents even returned here (which I didn't get a picture of, but I did get a picture of who I believe is the girl, Aika). And I liked learning that acorns are in the game that we will get in the fall. Some sort of Acorn Festival like in Wild World? I was playing that last year while waiting for New Horizons. :) And yeah, I did get to try on the King Tut mask. :)

I liked this section where you had to leap on these pillars to get across to these houses. It was like a Zelda puzzle, with a hoard of creepy dolls at the bottom.

We picked up on a Planet of the Apes vibe going through with the use of monkeys and the Statue of Liberty on the eastern beach here. And this picture to the right seems to be showing some evolution of humans to... frogs?

This was an interesting dinosaur creation. There was also another one made with a really long neck. It's a really creative use of the fossils, to create strange new creatures. And that pattern texture on the floor... Even on a HD TV, it still looks very grainy!

The frame rate really started to struggle as I ventured to this... astronaut dig-site area. And, again, like in New Leaf, the standard dream text was particularly creepy here as well.

Oh dear, someone was in a panic... And this ranking system of villages... These different symbols probably mean something if you investigated them further.

I just liked the look of this room. Crabs are somehow in the picture as well... And cats.

I... don't even know what to say about this room. Interesting use of the wedding season banquet stuff, though.

The whole island is structured like a maze, so when I was finished, I decided to just call Rescue Service, rather than try and hike my way back to the plaza. It's honestly very convenient for these dreams, however much I felt it may not be needed on your own island.

Whew! This took me quite a while to write and put together, so I hope you enjoy it! Not sure when my next post will be, but I'm looking forward to the start of fall, my favorite season, and winter, in the Switch version of Animal Crossing! Until then!