An adorable piece of Animal Crossing fan art highlights the evolution of the games' villagers. The villagers of Animal Crossing play a significant role in the narrative of the game, since those characters are what interact with the world, so showcasing the evolution of villager designs can be certainly exciting for the community to see.
Animal Crossing can be described as a life simulation game with cute and fun activities to enjoy, like designing little towns. Some players choose to invest many hours into designing their dream town to fit a certain theme, like one player who created an amazing Jurassic Park island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Towns are not the only thing that can be customized in the game, Animal Crossing’s playable character, the villager, can be customized to the player’s liking as well. Throughout the Animal Crossing series, the villager’s appearance has changed, allowing for more design options.
One fan, -amythest-art-, shared their digital illustration on Reddit that directly compares the first villager and the latest villager in similar pink and white plaid outfits. The differences are evident, where the older model is shorter and pixy-like, and the newer model is taller and human-like with more complex clothing designs. The appreciation of the playable villager’s evolution was displayed in the comments of the Reddit post, with fans reminiscing about the older games. Even though the option was still available in older versions, the new villager model is able to sport more customizable clothing that can be manually created, such as a player's Animal Crossing apparel designs for Fall.
Customization is a huge aspect of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, encouraging players to design their island from the ground up. Utilizing a design tool on their Nook Phone called "Custom Designs," players are able to manually create any design that can be used as multiple things like pathways, artwork, face paint, and clothing. One player combined several apparel items and a custom design to create a horrifying KK Slider costume in Animal Crossing just in time for Halloween. Nearly anything from the player’s imagination can be recreated in the game with dedication and creativity.
Animal Crossing is not the only life simulation game that has balanced both a cute and fun style. Disney’s new game, Disney Dreamlight Valley, is able to capture the same atmosphere. However, some of Animal Crossing’s activities can be used to help with its gameplay. The Animal Crossing series is iconic with fans, as well as all the villager designs throughout the years.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now for Nintendo Switch.