Animal Crossing: Wild World is a follow-up for the Nintendo DS to 2002's Animal Crossing for the Nintendo GameCube. Players visit other towns by exchanging Friend Codes over Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection. The player's goal in the game is to fully pay the mortgage of his character's house. Once the initial mortgage is paid, the loan expands to add various rooms to the original structure.

In December 2008, a copy of the game sent to journalists that was meant to demonstrate how users could migrate information from the DS version to the new Nintendo Wii version, contained a racial epithet when Mario converses with a sheep.Kotaku: Nintendo Gets Racist? (December 3, 2008)

The basic plot of this game is to earn money by selling fish, bugs, etc., or doing other various activities, then use that money to pay of your mortgage to tom nook, the raccoon that owns the town's store and your house. Each time your completely pay off your current debt, you get a larger house, and a larger mortgage to pay for that larger house. Your house isn't the only thing that expands though -the more you buy from Tom Nook, the larger his store gets, and it eventually has it's own salon. Meanwhile, you become friends with your neighbors, who are all animals, and keep you town running smoothly. You can also personalize the inside of your home. The catch is this; Even if your not there, time keeps passing by!

1. Touch screen:
   • Menu navigation
   • Character movement and interaction
2. Dual screens
   • Touch screen displays overworld
   • Top screen displays the sky
3. Internal clock
   • Controls real-time gameplay environment based on player's time of day and season
   • Tracks the game's events and annual holidays, e.g., Yay Day, La-Di-Day, Fishing, Bug, and Flower tourneys, Flea Market, Acorn Festival
   • The only actual holiday acknowledged is an annual New Year's Eve countdown