April really is a kind of anticipatory month in Animal Crossing. When May hits, we'll be able to find a new assortment of bugs and fish, including the eagerly awaited frog. By mid-summer, I will finally have reached the capability to have caught a complete set of both categories, if not the actual ability. On the fish side, I have yet to find a goldfish... but the missing fauna that really bothers me is the bee. The only way to catch a bee is by shaking one out of a tree and netting it before the bee swarm stings you. I have plenty of stings to show for it, but no bees.
Two new rare items were available in April: the Tree Model and the Pink Tree Model, prizes for Nature Day and the Cherry Blossom Festival, respectively. Between myself and NESJoe, I have two of each, and they will be stored on Dred Island with the rest of my model collection. Thanks to some eCards, I have two more of the Station Models, bringing my total to four (of fifteen.) That's great for my catalog, but not so great for my cramped island model shack. It's a good thing June never peeks in there.
The most interesting April event was April Fool's Day, mainly because every character suddenly had a new bit of dialogue. The townies all tried out various lame gags on me, Nook claimed to be running a 90% off sale, and I even got a little more insight into Pelly's lonely, Pete-free life. Tortimer gave me an NES game, Super Tortimer, which obviously isn't a real game and does nothing. Bastard.
A new batch of rumors suggests an AC sequel is more far off than we had previlously hoped. Japan is slated to receive an upgraded version of the original game - which is basically the American version back-translated into Japanese - but that's all Nintendo is willing to announce. AC would be a natural fit for an online title, but Nintendo still isn't quite keen on getting the GameCube online. Given the depressing state of online gaming, I'm inclined to agree. Playing with/against human gamers always seems like it would be fun, but it always ends up being with/against foul-mouthed cheating pre-teen brats. Or trashy anti-gaming griefers. I don't blame Nintendo for being slow to jump into that conceptual nightmare, given their family-friendly image.
Still, I've always said that I don't want to play online with strangers; I want to play with friends. And online Animal Crossing, Mario Party, Pokemon, Mario Kart, Mario Tennis, Smash Bros., and Legend of Zelda remains a gaming dream that I hope we live to see.
