Animal Crossing: Wild World/Gameplay

Getting started
Knowing where to start is a hard thing in this sort of game. In this section of the guide you will find information on the best ways to earn money. Once you have built up some savings you might be interested in trying to earn money through Joan and her turnips.

Making some money.

There are a number of things you can do to start earning money. Here is some information on the easiest ways to do this for someone just starting out in the game. This is also helpful for long time players.

Shells
Check your beach. Everyday there are lots of shells washed ashore. Some sell for a slightly higher price than others. However, if you clear your beach often you’ll get the better shells wash up like Scallops and Pearl Oysters. These shells are worth a bit more.

Here is a list of all shells available from the beach:
 * Porceletta: 30 Bells
 * Sand Dollar: 60 Bells
 * Dall's Top: 90 Bells
 * Venus Comb: 150 Bells
 * Coral: 250 Bells
 * Conch: 350 Bells
 * White Scallop: 450 Bells
 * Pearl Oyster: 1200 Bells

Trees
Trees are an important part of your town’s success. There are 4 different types of trees.

Pine trees (these look like x-mas trees), normal trees, fruit trees and coconut palm trees. Pine trees and normal trees can be grown using the saplings available at Tom Nooks shop. Fruit trees are grown from a piece of fruit and coconut trees are grown from coconuts.

Planting trees can be a little tricky. If you plant one too close to a building or another tree it might not grow. To be safe you should leave two empty spaces between trees and other obstacles. Also, you will notice little signs around your town. These are places where new animals could move in. Planting a tree here is inadvisable because if an animal builds a house here your tree will be removed.

You will notice that some trees in you town bear fruit and some do not. The fruit you start off with is widely known as your "native fruit". Tom Nook will buy this for 100 bells per piece. However if you have some "foreign fruit" growing in your town Tom Nook will buy it for 500 bells per piece.

There are 2 ways to get foreign fruit. One of these requires Wi-Fi (or DS to DS connection) and the other does not.

Method one Using Wi-Fi or DS to DS

Visit a friend’s town that has a different native fruit from you and ask to take some of their fruit to grow in your town. It’s a good idea to bring some of your native fruit with you to make a trade. Once you return to your town, use the shovel to dig a hole and place a piece of the new fruit inside. You have to be careful where you plant a tree. If it is next to a building or another tree it might not grow.

Method two Not using Wi-Fi or DS to DS

If you write a letter to different neighbours and include a piece of your native fruit as a present the neighbour will eventually reply back with a new piece of fruit. You may get a new piece of fruit back the next day however you may need to do this everyday for a week before you get fruit back.

Once you receive a new piece of fruit you can plant it. In 5 days or so the tree will bear 3 more pieces of that fruit. At this point you should shake the tree and then plant 3 more trees. Doing this will build up the number of fruit trees you have and will ultimately help you get more and more money.

Coconut Palm Trees

Coconuts get washed up on the beach also. Be sure to check your beach every so often. Coconut Palm trees need to be planted on or near the beach or they will not grow. The best place to plant them is on the line where the beach ends and the soil begins. The chance of a palm not growing here is very small. Coconut Palm trees will only produce 2 new coconuts. Tom Nook will also buy these for 500 bells. It is advised that the player has at least one permanent Palm Tree, because there are certain bugs that can only be caught on coconut trees.

Pine trees and Normal trees

These trees are also helpful in making money. If you shake these trees different things can fall out. The most common thing you will receive is a bag of 100 bells. However 2 trees each day will contain a piece of furniture. Make sure you shake all of these trees.

Warning: Bees can also fall out of these trees. There are potentially 3 beehives per day. If a hive falls out you should try to run into the nearest building. The bees cannot follow you in and will be gone when you exit. You can also try to catch them. This requires a net and can be very tricky. An easy way to capture bees is this: when the bees chase you, go straight down (not up, left right, or any other direction, but down). When the bees chase you, veer to the left or right. This will cause the bees to go in circles. With the delay, quickly get out your net and catch the bees. Tom Nook buys bees for 4,500 bells so it can be worth it. If you want to shake trees without the fear of a bee sting you can open your gate. Bees are not present if your gate is open!

Bell Rocks
You will notice a few rocks placed around your town. Each day one of these rocks will be hiding up to 8,500 bells inside. In order to get the money out you will have to hit it with a shovel or an axe. Using an axe is slightly better because you can strike faster with it however, unless you have the Golden Axe that never breaks using normal axes are a little pointless.

When you find the Bell Rock keep hitting it. If you stop to pick up the bells that have already come out the rock won’t produce any more because it only produces bells for 5 SECONDS. The best thing to do is stand with you back to a tree, house or wall. Doing this will stop you from falling back after hitting the rock and will help you hit the rock faster. If the rock isn’t near something for you to lean against a simple solution is to dig some holes behind you. The holes will stop you falling back too.

Recycle bin and the Lost & Found
The recycle bin is located in the town hall. If you check it often you will find items of furniture, clothing and paper. You can either place these items in your house or you can sell them to Tom Nook.

Talking to Booker accesses the Lost & Found. He is one of the guard dogs looking after the town gate. When you speak to him there is an option "Something lost?" When you select this he will tell you how many items are in the lost and found and a screen will open showing you the different items. Booker will normally have a few pitfall seeds; unfortunately these aren’t worth any money. You can take as many things as you like.

Fishing
Fishing is one of the easiest ways of making money in AC:WW. Please see the Fishing guide for more information.

Running errands
Sometimes when you talk to your neighbours they will ask you to deliver a present or a letter to another neighbour. If you do this within the allotted time the animal will reward you with items or money. This is also a good way to build up friendships with your neighbours.

Making Friends
The animals that live in your town can become your friends. Ultimately you will receive their picture as a sign of this friendship. Animal Pictures are worth a lot of points with the HRA. Collecting pictures can become a fun hobby within the game.

Getting animals to give you their pictures can take one or two days or it can take months. You need to build a relationship with the animal. Bringing that animal any items they request is a good way to do this. A good way to tell if an animal likes you is if they show you letters they have been sent or if they wish to visit your house. Try to talk to them everyday and if you can send them letters (with presents attached) as often as possible.

If the animal is sick be sure to bring him/her medicine everyday until they are well again. When they are no longer sick speak to them inside their house and they will give you a gift for looking after them.

You can only receive animal pictures when you are outside. Animals will not give them to you inside their houses. While you are outside the animal will get a "!" or other expression above their head and will run towards you. The animals will do this often, however this does not always mean that you will get their picture.

When you display the picture in your house you can read a note on the back left by the animal. This is usually a witty catchphrase related to the species or character of the animal. There are a lot of animals in Animal Crossing: Wild World. Once you receive a picture from an animal you should allow them to move out of your town in order to get new animals to move in.

You can receive more than one picture per animal for each character you have in the game. Just don't accidentally sell them, because the 2nd picture is harder to get than the 1st one.