The magic of Kakariko Village

Back when Ocarina of Time came out in the late 90's I had a friend who used to pretend like he lived in Kakariko Village. He would run around with the construction workers by day, maybe help the lady with her chickens for a while. Then play the Sun Song to switch to night time, have supper with the workers, relax around the beds for a while. Then again change night in to day and get back to work. With the help of a child's imagination he turned Zelda in to Animal Crossing.

It is easy to see where he got the inspiration from. Nintendo did a fantastic job at making Kakariko Village feel like a living place. A lot probably has to do with all the workers aimlessly running around, but also the way all the inhabitants talked about each other, making you feel like you got to know them a little. In that aspect it really was a lot like Animal Crossing.

Nintendo later tried to recreate this feeling when designing Majoras Mask. All the people of Clock Town were giving their individual routines they followed in the days before the moon crashed in to earth. At specific times they would leave their house to visit the milk bar or drop by a friend. Yet Clock Town never felt as alive and active as Kakariko Village. Maybe it was the lack of construction workers constantly running around the place or by partitioning the huge city in to parts they lost something Kakariko Village had be being one single open area.