The game of Animal Crossing consists of many duties for you to perform, many of them requiring one of four tools.

We have the:
Shovel - For digging up fossils for the museum and tree stumps left from cutting down trees.
Fishing Pole - For catching fish for the museum and random villager errands.
Net - For catching bugs for the museum and random villager errands.
Ax - For cutting down trees.

All of these tools can be purchased from Tom Nook's store throughout gameplay.

As you play, you may find yourself thinking, "I wish my net was bigger," or "I wish my ax wouldn't break." Well, I've got some good news for you. IT IS POSSIBLE!!!

There exists, in this wonderful game, four golden tools that have bonus attributes that the regular tools lack.

They are the:

Golden Shovel - Has a chance of digging up money bags when you dig holes.
Golden Fishing Pole - Attracts the fish to the bait more than the normal pole.
Golden Net - Is twice the size of the normal net.
Golden Ax - DOES NOT BREAK!

While obtaining these tools may be hard work, it definitely pays off in the end. Below are the steps necessary to securing these priceless treasures.

The Golden Shovel:

The Golden Shovel is, by far, the easiest of the four to obtain. To start, you will need two shovels. While walking around town, you will occasionally see a shining spot in the ground, that when dug up, produces 1,000 bells (or rarely 10,000 bells, if you're "lucky"). To get the Golden Shovel, you must bury your extra shovel in the shiny spot, after you dig up the money, but before filling in the whole. If done correctly, a gold tree sapling will pop out of the ground. When that sapling grows to full size, shaking it will release your first golden tool!

To reduce the risk of your tree not growing to full height, make sure that the hole you bury your shovel in is not right next to anything. Rocks, building, or other trees that prevent you from being able to walk a complete circle around your hole increases the chance that the tree will not grow.

The Golden Fishing Pole:

To obtain the Golden Fishing Pole, you have to prove that you're a master angler. To do so, you must catch one of EVERY FISH IN THE GAME! This means that (without Time-Traveling) it will take a good part of a whole year to receive this treat, because some fish can only be caught during certain times in the year. After you "catch 'em all" (to reference Pokemon), Tortimer will award you with the Golden Fishing Pole the next time you start the game. Congratulations, that's number 2!

The Golden Net:

Like the Golden Fishing Pole, you must prove your mad, bug-catching skills by catching one of each bug in the game to get it. Also like the pole, the Golden Net takes close to a year to obtain, because some bugs can only be caught during certain seasons. When you complete this daunting task, Tortimer will present you with the Golden Net the next time you start the game. Merry Christmas, we've got 3!

The Golden Ax:

By unanimous decision, the hardest of all the golden tools to collect is the Golden Ax. To get this, you must bring your town status to PERFECT, and keep it there for TWO WHOLE WEEKS. The town status is based on how many trees are in each acre, and how they are positioned. You can check on the status of your town by asking the Wishing Well.

Basically, what you need to have is:

+ About 12 trees in every acre (excluding ones like your house, the museum, the beaches, the Wishing Well, and the Lake)
+ No trees touching (You must be able to walk a complete circle around every tree, excluding tree that were up against the walls of the town when you started)
+ No more than 30 weeds in your town, with no more than 3 in any single acre
+ No trash lying around (Which, oddly enough, includes the dump. Just take whatever trash you get from fishing and sell it to Tom Nook.)
*As a side note, tree stumps and failed saplings count as weeds.*

After two weeks of having the Wishing Well tell you that your town is perfect, the spirit of the Well will present you with the Golden Ax!

There you go, you are officially among the elite AC:GC players! Pat yourself on the back, and treat yourself to a nice dinner, 'cause you are VICTORIOUS!!!

P.S. The Golden Tools are NOT REPLACEABLE!!! If you sell one, or give it away, you can never get a new one, unless someone trades you theirs.

Any questions or comments, feel free to post them here or PT me. I hope this helps some people out. Enjoy.

-BowserBasher (8/25/2009 2:50:44 PM)
Sticky

This should be a sticky!

Thanks! If I knew how to get it stickied, I might try.

I'll try to get this guide stickied.

Wow, very good guide for a new member. I'll PT a mod to get it stickied.

Thank you very much.

Just so you know, axe is spelled like "axe".

Still hoped this is stickied...I wonder why nobody thought of this yet.

I'd like to fix it, but it won't let me. Sorry. Thanks for pointing that out, though.

You could always get some of the golden items through codes at Tom Nook (I'm pretty sure they all have codes), so they are sort of replaceable.

Note: This comment is NOT reffering to hacking. You're able to get pretty much anything from Tom Nook as long as you tell him the right code.