Animal Crossing is one of those little franchises by Nintendo that happens to be overshadowed by the likes of Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda most of the time. Don’t let its humble name fool you though, the Animal Crossing franchise has a huge following and with the latest entry, Animal Crossing: New Horizons releasing this March 20, you can bet that the fans are hyped up.
Just to let you in on this game, Animal Crossing is a light sim game featuring you as a human villager and a diverse cast of lovely animals as your neighbor. You build your house and you build amazing relationships with your friends. If you are interested in this franchise, here are a few things you should know about it first.
The Logo
The logo of the Animal Crossing is the signature leaf. This has a lot of meaning in Japanese culture. Tanookis, which Tom Nook is based on is said to be able to turn leaves into money.
Animal Crossing origins
Series creator Katsuya Eguchi worked on games like Super Mario Bros. 3 and Star Fox. His inspiration for Animal Crossing was that Eguchi wanted to emulate what it was like during his early years when he was alone in a new place. He was, of course, referring to when he moved to Chiba Prefecture, Japan where he studied and worked under Nintendo.
It wasn’t for the GameCube
The first Animal Crossing launched on Nintendo’s successful GameCube. However, the game was initially developed for the even more popular Nintendo 64. However, when the game finally arrived in 2001 in Japan, the Nintendo 64 was already nearing the end of its lifespan.
K.K. Slider
Fans of the series know K.K. Slider as the white dog that loves to play his guitar and sing. The character was inspired by none other than the series’ composer Kazumi Totaka. In fact, the Japanese version of the original game referred to K.K. as Totakeke, a play on Totaka’s name.
Villagers get fleas
A majority of the characters in the series are furry animals. Yes, they do get fleas occasionally and if you want to, you can use your bug net to catch their fleas and help the villagers out.
These are just some of the cool Animal Crossing facts you need to know about. These will certainly get you ready for when Animal Crossing New Horizons launches for the Nintendo Switch on March 20.
