Mountains of Medals

One of the features of Animal Crossing New Leaf is that you get badges for accomplishing certain tasks.

I don't have any gold medals yet.   > .  >

This guy named Phineas (dressed a bit like a Boy Scout) comes around and doles them out as you earn them.

I wonder if he'd accept bribes?

They're sort of like achievement trophies that you find on other systems, etc.
For me, they're my main checklist for completion of the game.

There are 72 in all!

I just love Shrunk's reaction to TWO pears.

Here they are with the requirements for each:

Skilled Bug Catcher - Catch 500+ insects
Expert Bug Catcher - Catch 2,000+ insects
Master Bug Catcher - Catch 5000+ insects
Skilled Angler - Catch 500+ fish
Expert Angler - Catch 2,000+ fish
Master Angler - Catch 5,000+ fish
Skilled Diver - Catch 100+ dive items
Pro Diver - Catch 200+ dive items
Dive Master - Catch 1,000 dive items
Insect Maniac - Catch 50% of all types of insects
Insect Encyclopedia - Catch 80% of all types of insects
Prof. of Entomology - Catch all types of insects
Fish Maniac - Catch 50% of all types of fish
Fish Encyclopedia - Catch 80% of all types of fish
Prof. of Ichthyology - Catch all types of fish
Seafood Maniac - Catch 50% of all types of dive items
Seafood Encyclopedia - Catch 80% of all types of dive items
Prof. of Seafood - Catch all types of dive items
Balloon Hunter - Pop 30+ Balloons
Balloon Buster - Pop 100+ Balloons
Balloon Master - Pop 200+ Balloons
Bronze Medalist - Earn 300 medals from Island Tours
Silver Medalist - Earn 1,500 medals from Island Tours
Gold Medalist - Earn 5,000 medals from Island Tours
Backyard Gardener - Plant 100 items
Village Gardener - Plant 250 items
Gardening Specialist - Plant 500 items
Weed Hunter - Pull 500 Weeds
Weed Buster - Pull 2,000 Weeds
Weed Menace - Pull 5,000 Weeds
Avid Bell Saver - Put 1,000,000 Bells in Savings
Wealthy Bell Saver - Put 10,000,000 Bells in Savings
Tycoon Bell Saver - Put 100,000,000 Bells in Savings
Amateur Turnip Trader - Make 500,000 Bells on the Stalk Market
Pro Turnip Trader - Make 3,000,000 Bells on the Stalk Market
Master Turnip Trader - Make 10,000,000 Bells on the Stalk Market
Good Shopper Spend - 500,000 Bells in shops
Expert Shopper - Spend 2,000,000 Bells in shops
Master Shopper - Spend 5,000,000 Bells in shops
Refurbishing Beginner - Have Cyrus remake 30 things
Refurbishing Expert - Have Cyrus remake 100 things
Refurbishing Master - Have Cyrus remake 200 things
Catalog Maniac Bronze - Complete 20% of the catalog
Catalog Maniac Silver - Complete 50% of the catalog
Catalog Maniac Gold - Complete 80% of the catalog
Happy Homer Bronze - Earn 50,000 points with HHA
Happy Homer Silver - Earn 100,000 points with HHA
Happy Homer Gold - Earn 150,000 points with HHA
K.K. Slider Fan - See K.K. Slider live 20 times
K.K. Slider Fangirl - See K.K. Slider live 50 times
K.K. Slider Diehard - See K.K. Slider live 100 times
Good Samaritan - Fulfill 50 Villager Requests
Great Samaritan - Fulfill 100 Villager Requests
Town Concierge - Fulfill 200 Villager Requests
Letter Writer - Send 50 letters (*of 10+ characters)
Letter Author - Send 100 letters
Postmaster - Send 200 letters
StreetPass Beginner - StreetPass 100 times
StreetPass Expert - StreetPass 300 times
StreetPass Master - StreetPass 1000 times
Neighborhood Traveler - Visit other towns 100 times
World Traveler - Visit other towns 250 times
Space Traveler - Visit other towns 500 times
Good Hostess - Be visited by others 50 times
Great Hostess - Be visited by others 200 times
Goodwill Ambassador - Be visited by others 500 times
Dreamer - Visit 50 Dream Towns
Heavy Sleeper - Visit 200 Dream Towns
Mrs. Sandman - Visit 500 Dream Towns
Village Representative - Play for 50 hours
Village Leader - Play for 200 hours
Villager of Honor - Play for 500 hours

As you might have guessed from the highlighting I currently have 23 out of 72 medals (about 32%).  

Right now I've got a strategy in place for a few of them as well.

I've been tracking my uses of the Dream Suite (as mentioned in this post) and I've taken to writing letters as much as I remember to (usually I'll buy the two paper sets and send off 8 in one day). 

IMHO my letters are pretty hilarious in their own right, often including messages like "You could move away now." or other extra-friendly things (though I try to send good ones the first time, in case they pull them out later).

I've developed a strategy for the Turnips/Stalk Market that I'll write about in another post soon, and some of the others will sort of happen organically (play time, favors/villager requests, planting).

Most of them will probably require very dedicated effort (like the bug/fish/dive catches, weeding, balloons), but I'm up for the challenge!

WISH ME LUCK! :)

~Mayor Blair