Adieu, Animal Crossing: New Leaf

It's been a while since I've been so engaged in someone as intimately as you, Animal Crossing: New Leaf. But the time has come to move on to a past lover.

I was first introduced to Animal Crossing for Game Cube - albeit on an emulator. I didn't like it too much. The main character's face looked too geometrical. While browsing Reddit about five years later, I began seeing a lot of screenshots from Animal Crossing pop up on /r/gaming. It released June 9, 2013.

In late September, I was browsing Best Buy with M. Picked it up with no fanfare. My first venture into Acnl was exactly opposite that.

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Lots of wonderful time with other ACNL-ers from the Reddit community.
This is a giveaway I hosted.

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Kitty's House

Main character's entrance room. Having lost my game once,
I decided to keep names simple.

Entrance room. Lucky, my first favorite villager.

Right wing room - the Street Pass room for in-real-life passerbys to order from.
Contains most orderable DLCs, Gulliver items and most campsite items.

Right ring room, continued.

Back room. Cherry Blossom room featuring the minimalist series, blossom-wedding theme.
Tribute to an affectionate pair from my first game (lost during travel).

Cherry Blossom back room. Had really enjoyed collecting all ten bonsai in the set in my first game.
My in-real-life interest is still there, but I realize I'd need a lot more space and equipment than before.

Left wing room, featuring the sleek series and jazzy music room.

Left wing room, my cello corner. I like snacks. All the time.

Upstairs, featuring the astro series and a future-ish something something theme.
This is my banking corner, complete with modified matryoshka and piggy banks.

Upstairs, some of my favorite villagers, from left: Doc, Lolly, Peck, Cranston.

Upstairs, I really liked this series. The set comes the same shade of orange as the floor,
but you can customize just about everything to one degree or another.

Basement, snowmen series and two other favorite villagers. I got Rosie (right)
from a visitor from Reddit.  Purrl (left) came from my alternate town, to my delight.

Ruby (the white bunny) was the other gift from the same Redditor.

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Bunny's House

My other character on the same game. Bunny's entrance room featuring the complete 7-11 set.
Exclusive to Japanese games. There's a thread on Reddit dedicated to utilizing
 a duplicating glitch and sharing otherwise unobtainable items.

Bunny's right wing, Rococo room. Created my own Matisse-style "La Bunny Danse"

Rococo set comes default brownish. Pink was okay I guess, but probably should have
 tried out the other colors too, in full. Looks nice with carnation touch.

Bunny's house, left wing. This was supposed to be a restaurant-theme, in line with the 7-11
commercial zone. Bunny's house is also located next to Retail, near the station, adding to the
commercial zone idea.

Incomplete jazz cafe lounge upstairs, Bunny's house. Other rooms even less completed.

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Last character on my main ACNL game is Puppy. Used mainly to feature seasonal
series pertaining to what a dog would see on walks / experience at home. Entrance room was
Autumn harvest themed.

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Shopping Strip and Museum Exhibitions

For my record, I did unlock the T&T Emporium, three levels of shops,
including an especially snooty fashion giraffe I patronize for the sake of completing the catalog
 (having had almost every item in game in your inventory at one point in time).

Also unlocked Katrina the Fortune Teller, which means completely
opening every shop possible on the strip.

Personal museum exhibit. Supposed to feature one of every flower, including hybrids I bred.
I keep forgetting which I've brought up, so there are a few missing, including the
 final hybrid I cross-bred two weeks ago - the purple pansy.

Complete gyroid collection, Set 1/3.

Complete gyroid collection, Set 2/3.

Complete gyroid collection, Set 3/3.

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In Closing

So what do I take from all this? Believe it or not, Animal Crossing: New Leaf is probably one of the most educational games I've ever played -- applicable to real life.

Went to the Science Academy in San Francisco. Was surprised I recognized a handful of the fish because I'd fished them up numerous times in game. Dab. Olive flounder. Dace. You name it.

Went to a creature-parts fossil-y collector's boutique in New York City. Recognized the tiger and goliath beetles immediately. Could put a name to that vibrant blue emperor's butterfly, and more.

Item names too. Gulliver is a traveling seagull in game that flies to various countries, states and continents. Pick stuff up to. I learned those stacking Russian dolls are called matryoshka. I learned about the Bocca della Verità, the Mouth of Truth, in Rome, Italy. I saw an electronic game machine on a recent trip abroad and recognized it, thanks to ACNL.

New Leaf also got me real interested in coffee. I'm generally not a coffee person, but working at Roost Cafe got me exploring the streets of New York, trying out various types of coffees before establishing, a few months later, that coffee's still not my cup of tea.

Complete 13-piece series: 36 out of 37

Gyroid Collection: 131 out of 131 

ACNL street passers passed: 300+ (adding those from lost game)

Alright, so I'm not a total completionist. I can't bring myself to sit around and
fish / catch bugs endlessly. Twice. And more. But the buck stops here.

Map of my town. One guy moved out recently. I've filled the right side with
public works, which seems to do well deterring newcomers from making me
run across the map to make my rounds.

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Coming up...

The Essential ACNL Flower Hybrid Guide.
As I impart my know-too-much-about-this-game wisdom.