Animal Crossing Music: An Introduction
The fact that Animal Crossing largely takes place in one static location, and that the game is mostly what the players make of it, makes its musical features very different from those of the Pokemon series. This has changed with newer editions of the game, such as Animal Crossing: City Folk (2008, Nintendo Wii) and Animal Crossing New Leaf (2012, NIntendo 3DS) that create new ways for players to interact by coming to bigger cities with more shops. In the earlier games that are the focus of this study, Animal Crossing (2001, Nintendo GameCube) and Animal Crossing: Wild World (2006, Nintendo DS), players could travel to friends' similar towns, and the first game had the option to visit a tropical island. But otherwise, players largely stayed in the same place. It was what those specific places offered, especially across time, that allowed different ways to use music--as well as player interaction.
Basic functions of music in Animal Crossing and Animal Crossing: Wild World:
Temporal
In Animal Crossing and Animal Crossing: Wild World (hereafter AC and AC:WW, the full Animal Crossing title will refer to the franchise as a whole), the music in the town changes for each hour. For example, one theme would play from 3:00-3:59 pm, and then would be replaced by another theme that would repeat for 59 minutes at 4:00 pm. (The towns have clock towers that chime each new hour, providing a natural break between themes.) These themes could change depending on the weather of the town, with "rain" and "snow" variations. (Weather is generally random, with some exceptions: snow is obviously only found in the winter, while rain is more common in the spring but can be encountered throughout the year.)
Event
As with other video games, Animal Crossing has simple, looping themes for when the characters achieve certain things: such as catching a fish or bug, or finding a valuable item. More significantly, there are specific themes for specific holidays and other events. For example, the Christmas Eve event on December 24 in AC featured a cheery Christmas theme, complete with jingle bells, that would play throughout the day regardless of the time. Attending events at specific places in the town also came with its own music.
In AC, weather events like rain and snow had their own music that played throughout the day as well. The aforementioned "rain" and "snow" versions of themes came with AC:WW.
Location
Specific places within the town have their own themes. Some of these significant locations include the Post Office, Police Station, Museum (where the player can donate fossils, fish, bugs and paintings), Nook's Cranny (an evolving store where the player can buy furniture, clothes and supplies), and the Able Sisters boutique (where the player can design clothing patterns).
Nook's Cranny evolves as the player spends more money there, changing from a shack to a 7-11-style convenience store (called Nook-n-Go), to a grocery store (Nookway) to a department store (Nookington's). The wares don't change, but only increase in number. However, the music changes to fit what players expect from each of these environments. The name comes from the tanuki (Japanese raccoon dog) character who runs the store, Tom Nook.
Customizable
One of the most interesting musical features of the games comes with the ability to "collect" different musical pieces to play in one's house, making music a part of the "interior decorating." For example, the author as a teenager would usually decorate her home in a mod '60s theme, and would accompany that with music that resembled popular 1960s genres like "K.K. Soul" or "Surfin' K.K." A home decorated in a "western" theme might include "K.K. Western," or with more traditional old-fashioned furniture, classical music like "K.K. Aria" or "K.K. Etude." The "K.K." in the title refers to K.K. Slider, a dog who can be found on Saturday nights playing his music on his guitar. He gives the player the option of requesting a specific song or of letting him surprise them, and then gives them an "aircheck" of the music to play on their home stereos.
Another, even more clearly customizable aspect of the music of Animal Crossing is the "town tune." This is a short tune that plays whenever the player encounters a new character, and the player has the option of changing the notes (indicated with letter names) to whatever they want. (The author currently has hers set to the Game of Thrones theme on AC:WW.) How this is presented with each character varies based on that character. It might be played on different instrumental timbres, with cute characters getting higher instruments, for instance. Nice characters would have their music played as-is, or in a major key. More curmudgeonly characters might have their town tune in a minor key or tonally-ambiguous.
The player also has the option of filling their home with musical instruments. They act as furniture, but if the character touches them, they will play the town tune.
