Inspiration for designs inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonscan come from anywhere, but one player drew from the world ofPokémonto create a set of custom cat villagers. Custom images can be downloaded from anywhere inAnimal Crossingto help players create the village of their dreams, sometimes serving as a launch point for art as well. In the case of this fan, while the Pokémon villagers won’t be roaming around their island, they caused a great deal of excitement within theAnimal Crossingcommunity.
Redditorsleeptoadst00lposted their designs to theAnimal Crossingsubreddit to much acclaim from the community.They redesigned the cat villager to look like several different Pokémon, including famous Pokémon like Mew and Meowth.
Animal Crossingas a franchise has a history of official crossovers that are usually within the Nintendo family, soACNHfans were excited to see someone imagine what a crossover with a mega-franchise like Pokémon could look like. RedditorRosenrot_84wrote,“This is the crossover I need! Amazing Work!”
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Villagers are an integral part of theAnimal Crossingexperience but are limited in how much players can change them, except when it comes to clothing. So,sleepytoadst00l designed some snazzy outfits for theirPokémon-themed villagers that corresponded with the Pokémon’s type. For example, the fire-type Litten was given an outfit called “blaze” that included a picture of fire on its shirt. TheAnimal Crossingcommunity has found creative ways to engage with villagers, like one player who built agraveyard for the villagerswho left their island, and thisPokémoncrossover is no exception.
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Animal Crossing: New Horizonswas released in 2020, and the mega-hit continues to foster a thriving community of player designs, likehyper-realistic vacation homes for villagersand now crossover fan art. Comments on the thread praised the art for being accurate to all the Pokémon, particularly Meowth and Litten, andmany wished they could have the Pokémon villagers on their islands.RedditorN3rdyMamawrote,“I would for sure be using all my Nook Miles to find Sprig. The first starter I ever chose that wasn’t a fire Pokémon.”
Our Take: Animal Crossing Should Do More Official Crossovers
The Reaction To The Pokémon Fan Art Shows The Appeal For Actual Crossovers
Animal Crossing: New Horizons’s massive audience should be enticing for other franchises, but there hasn’t been much crossover outside of memes or fan art like this.It seems like a missed opportunity not to havePokémoninvolved inACNH, as the exploration and collecting elements ofAnimal Crossingwould go hand-in-hand with almost anyPokémongame. Collecting villagers is sort of like catching Pokémon, so combining the two would be a natural fit. AsAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsfans dream of features for a sequel, expanding the opportunities to interact with other franchises should also make the wish list.
