It's unlikely that any gamer within the past year has not heard of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It has cemented Animal Crossing's iconic status among Nintendo franchises and is one of the biggest Switch releases. For those who only know New Horizons, it may be surprising to learn that the series has actually been going since 2001. Here are some of the defining moments in Animal Crossing's history.
Animal Crossing was born from an idea of its creator Katsuya Eguchi. He had worked on various Nintendo projects beforehand such as Super Mario Bros. 3 and Star Fox. Eguchi wanted to create a game based on his experiences of being alone in a new town, setting up a new life away from friends and family. This concept inspired the series.
Animal Crossing was originally released for Nintendo 64 in Japan in April 2001 under the title Dōbutsu no Mori. Later in the year it reworked and released on the GameCube in Japan as Dōbutsu no Mori e+. From there, the game was localized and released across various regions on GameCube in the subsequent years.
The GameCube title was the archetype for the series. Each Animal Crossing game begins with the player setting up a new life in a new location, befriending anthropomorphic NPCs and celebrating events throughout the year while paying off a mortgage and decorating their house. As there was limited internet connectivity for earlier consoles, multiplayer features were limited to local play and involved players creating their own characters using the same memory card.
Animal Crossing received wide critical acclaim for its relaxed nature, open-ended gameplay and player freedom, and is still widely viewed as one of the best GameCube games of all time. It was so successful that an animated film was created for exclusive release in Japan, called Dōbutsu no Mori, and a sequel to the game was developed for the Nintendo DS.
Today's Animal Crossing fans will undoubtedly remember its Nintendo DS release, Animal Crossing: Wild World. The game received great scores from critics, but it was heavily criticized for not expanding much on the original game. It was seen largely as a portable version of the original Animal Crossing that retained most of the original's features, including fishing, bug catching and notable returning characters like Tom Nook.
One of the biggest features of the game was its highly praised multiplayer that used the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. It allowed players to hop between each others' worlds and share resources. This was a popular addition that really helped sales. As such, Wild World sits at number nine on the list of bestselling Nintendo DS games.
Animal Crossing: City Folk was the 2008 release of the series for the Wii. It's arguably the lesser-known and lesser-favored edition of the series, with a significant sales drop compared to Wild World, despite the popularity of the Wii. The gameplay largely remained the same, but a city area was added so players could access features such as buying clothes, meeting special characters and going to the theater. City Folk was mainly criticized for being far too similar to its predecessors.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf was the next game in the series and released on Nintendo 3DS in 2012. Like past entries, most of the gameplay and features were unchanged. A major difference is in the storyline though, where the player becomes the mayor of the town opposed to just being a resident. This impacted gameplay as it allowed players to have more control over their village between Public Works Projects, Town Ordinances and other features.
While there were some spin-offs after New Leaf released, the audience was waiting on news about the next core entry. Nintendo surprised fans in 2017 with the launch of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp instead, a mobile Animal Crossing title. Like Nintendo's other mobile games, it was a condensed experience similar to its console counterpart. Still, Pocket Camp had its own ideas. The player decorates a campsite and gathers materials to create furniture orders, while of course befriending NPCs like in previous games. The title features microtransactions which allow players to craft without materials among other benefits.
With the release of the Switch, many fans were hotly anticipating a new Animal Crossing. Finally, New Horizons launched in 2020. This title is the biggest departure from past games and adds the most new features. Players are able to terraform their island, visit other locations, craft furniture and work toward achievements. Post-launch updates have kept players busy, too. With a greater online focus for New Horizons, Nintendo will likely support the game much longer than past titles.
New Horizons is currently the second best-selling Switch game, due in part to the respite it has provided during COVID-19-related lockdowns and quarantines. The worldwide pandemic created the perfect opportunity for this long-running and cozy franchise to find the mainstream success that it was always working toward, but New Horizons is the culmination of twenty years' worth of growth.