One of the fans of Nintendo's Animal Crossing shared with fellow fans that they found a very familiar furniture piece, the Froggy Chair, in a new episode of SpongeBob SquarePants. With the cartoon series having aired since 1999, it is not surprising for the illustrators to take inspiration from one of the most-played life sim video games in today's generation.
The gaming community likely does not find it strange that popular video games are being used as references in other titles, pop culture films, series, or shows. Given that the Animal Crossing series has been around since 2001 in Japan, there are plenty of franchises that are inspired by the game's different features and elements. This can be seen in similar life sim video games that have been produced and released throughout the decades, and even now, in the famous animated comedy series SpongeBob SquarePants.
On Reddit, user douglyjohnny posted that they spotted the Froggy Chair, one of the most popular pieces of furniture in the Animal Crossing series, in one of the newer episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants. In the image they shared, the cartoon scene featured two very familiar chairs at the center of the shot, with a cute table in between them. Given that there was no mistaking the shape and color of the furniture pieces, Animal Crossing fans were quick to respond and comment on douglyjohnny's thread. As of writing, the Reddit post has over 50 comments and is already 99% upvoted, indicating that there are many fans of SpongeBob SquarePants in the forums as well.
Replies on the Reddit thread showed a mix of those that were surprised by the furniture's cameo and those who already knew that it was only a matter of time before Animal Crossing showed up in a mainstream animated series like SpongeBob SquarePants. Some commenters pointed out that the Animal Crossing Froggy Chair design had been based on a real-life frog chair, so fans should not give the game complete credit for the furniture being put into the show. However, others also argued that the Froggy Chair in the SpongeBob episode clearly looked the one designed by the game's developers.
Nevertheless, whether the Froggy Chair in SpongeBob SquarePants was based on Animal Crossing or not, the gaming community likely found it amusing to see something so recognizable in such a popular show. Hopefully this will inspire the future generation of gamers to check out the Animal Crossing series when they are able to make their own choices on the games they will play in the future.