OST of the Day #43: Animal Crossing New Leaf - Toy Day 🎄

taco.cat (67)in #game • 4 years ago (edited)

Hey Steemit!

OSTs make up the majority of the music I listen to, and they're so underrated I just had to share them! Feel free to listen while reading. 😊

Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas yesterday! I actually did get to attend a real Christmas party at my friend's house so that was fun (not like the lame family dinners I used to go to every year).

Anyway, if you haven't caught my last 3 posts, I'm doing winter-themed songs for the whole of December! This will probably be the last winter song, and I guess last OST post for 2019, since we're only 5 days away from the New Year!

This last song will be a cheery one from the chill and wholesome game, Animal Crossing New Leaf!

Image result for animal crossing new leaf wallpaper"

Source: steamcommunity.com

If you've never heard of Animal Crossing, it is a social simulation video game series (kinda like The Sims) developed and published by Nintendo and created by Katsuya Eguchi. In Animal Crossing, the player character is a human who lives in a village inhabited by various anthropomorphic animals, carrying out various activities including fishing, bug catching, fossil hunting, etc. The series is notable for its open-ended gameplay and extensive use of the video game consoles' internal clock and calendar to simulate real passage of time.

Source: pinterest.ch

Four main Animal Crossing games have been released worldwide. It first debuted in 2001 in Japan, with a release on the Nintendo 64. It was later enhanced and re-released on the GameCube in 2002. Subsequent editions include Animal Crossing: Wild World in 2005 on DS, Animal Crossing: City Folk in 2008 on Wii, and Animal Crossing: New Leaf in 2012 on 3DS. A fifth game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, is scheduled to be released on March 20, 2020 for the Nintendo Switch.

Three spin-off games have also been released: Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer for Nintendo 3DS, Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival for Wii U, and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp for mobile and PC devices.
Basically, Animal Crossing is quite an old series with a massive following in North America and Japan.

Image result for animal crossing new horizons"

Source: animal-crossing.com

I've only played 1 main Animal Crossing game, which was New Leaf on 3DS. That was my introduction to the series, and I loved it! I don't play it anymore, but now I've been playing Pocket Camp on my phone. I'd say the appeal of Animal Crossing is just that it's very relaxing; it's one of those games you can play while you turn your brain off for awhile. The music really helps too, it's so calming that some of the tracks will put you to sleep.

Because Animal Crossing syncs up with real time, there are also special events in-game that line up with real holidays, like Halloween, Christmas and New Years'! There are always special things to see and do in-game on these days, and it's so interesting seeing your town come to life in celebration too.

Source: admdub.ru

Alright, that's enough explanation. Here's the song I chose for today in celebration of Christmas!

This is a special song that only plays on Christmas Eve, aka Toy Day!

Toy Day is a special Christmas event that has been in all the main Animal Crossing games, except Wild World. In New Leaf (the game I played), there's something special you have to do on 24th Dec - become Santa!

Image result for animal crossing jingle toy day"

Source: twitter.com

Before Toy Day, you have to get ready by finding out what your villagers want for Toy Day. Then you have to get a complete Santa Claus outfit that includes Santa Hat, Pants, Jacket, Boots and Beard. Jingle the reindeer will appear in town starting from 6PM on Dec 24, and if you talk to him wearing the Santa outfit, he'll give you a gift bag with everyone's gifts. Your job as Santa will be to go up to everyone in town and give them the right presents! If you're successful, you'll get a special prize from Jingle!

Image result for animal crossing toy day wallpaper"

Source: animalcrossingworld.com

I remember playing the Toy Day event on my 3DS back in the day, and it was so fun! Just seeing all my villagers so happy made me so happy! 😊

The song itself is really calm and cheery; it's not too upbeat, and the slightly muted electric piano really helps to convey that chill vibe. I don't know why, but it reminds me of walking on soft snow. There are accordion sounds as the harmony and light "drum" beats in the background. Also jingles of sleigh bells because of course. The intro sequence is followed by a second melody by a clarinet soon after. Then an acoustic guitar comes in as the harmony, and a harpsichord after that, before the song repeats again.
It's a very lighthearted song, definitely fitting of Toy Day.

Source: pinterest.com

I love almost all of the Animal Crossing soundtrack. It's just one of those games you can put on in the background while reading, studying, or working. I especially enjoy listening to these kind of compilations while doing my art because it's just enough to block out the white noise/fill the silence without being too distracting.

If you like these kind of simulation games but haven't tried Animal Crossing, I definitely recommend the mobile version, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp. You manage a campsite and cabin; you can decorate them both and invite animals to come and stay! The app is free and there's no ads at all and though I don't play a lot of mobile games, it's definitely one of my favourites.